Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

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Clients Stuck in the Job Search? Now What Do You Do?

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Do you have clients who are stuck in the job search?

stuck in a job search

I’m sure you do. Here is one way to help nudge them and hopefully create some excitement to move forward. When I have a client who is stuck in the job search I have them create a list of 50 companies they could see themselves working for or would like to explore working for them.

Oftentimes, clients feel overwhelmed with where to start, confused, can’t see themes to explore in their job search, or for whatever reason, are just plain stuck in the job search process. By having them create a list of 50 companies to explore, they can then begin doing some research, reaching out to their network, and exploring…and it feels like forward progress. Because it is.

LIST 50 COMPANIES

The goal is to simply list 50 companies and not spend more than 5 minutes or so on any one site. Encourage them to trust their instincts and let “intentional serendipity” be their guide. “Intentional serendipity” is taking action, doing something like exploring the below website, and then be open to discovering something by accident.

Start by exploring sites similar to Best Places To Work in Maine. Most states, regions, and even cities will often have this list. I like people to begin here because most of these companies will have positive work cultures. Many clients I work with are very unhappy with their company culture or their boss and it can be difficult for them to see the positive in their career search.

Other great sites to check out might be GlassDoor.com, Indeed.com (who’s hiring), and search ‘best companies to work ____’ and see what suggestions come up below that search. My search came up with ‘best companies to work remote, part-time, and freelance’ and many others. Trust those instincts. They kept cave men alive over the years.

Go through their LinkedIn 1st connections and look for people who might be doing work that interests your client. See where these people are working, or worked. Of course, they can add any company they know of that interests them.

The goal is to get 50 names of companies, as quickly as possible, on to a list.

NOW RATE THEM

After producing a list of 50 companies go back and rate them:

1 – I really like these

2 – Seems like a nice place to work

3 – I’d like to know more about these companies

Rate between 10-15 companies a #1 and 10-15 companies a #2.

They now have 10-15 companies #1’s to start with and do additional research. Help them set a goal of researching at least ____ number of their #1’s each day or week.  By limiting the number it becomes manageable.

BEGIN RESEARCHING

Start with the #1’s and go to their website and social media sites. In a career journal begin taking notes. At this point, try not to spend more than 15 minutes on each company.

  • What industry is this in?
  • Which values align with them?
  • Are they growing? Declining in their field?
  • What jobs interest them at this company?
  • Who in their LinkedIn network is a 1st or 2nd connection, that works there currently or worked there in the past? [Go to the search box, don’t put any text in, just ENTER. Click on “all filters”]
  • Do any of these companies have anything in common? Is there a theme?

The goal is to identify the top few companies to begin further exploration. Maybe the top 3-5 so they can get some momentum going and to not be stuck in the job search anymore.

STRATEGIC CONVERSATIONS

Now have them reach out to people who work there or did in the past. Ask for 10-15 minutes of their time. This is always easier if they are ‘warm connections’ like 1st connections or people they know. Have them start simple and stay focused.

  • What do/did they like about working there?
  • Was there anything they didn’t like about the company? Or wished had been different?
  • Is/was there an opportunity to grow?
  • Where would your client’s skill set fit into the company? (Of course hopefully, this is one of the areas you are working with them on articulating)
  • Are there similar companies they could recommend?
  • Are there any people they should talk to and can they connect them?

After this, they can continue to all their #2’s and #3’s on their list of 50. The key is to break the process down into something manageable that helps them gain an understanding of what the options are out there. This will also help them focus their efforts. When you have 1000’s of companies to explore it is hard to begin. By narrowing down the list they can then prioritize. Once they identify top companies they can start paying attention to them on social media, follow them, and continue to learn more about opportunities.

It really is about effort and forward progress. “Action” is where intentional serendipity happens and sometimes it is the little things that can help someone get unstuck in their job search.

What do you do to help your clients who are
stuck in the job search?

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Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a monthly newsletter for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

Sign up here to receive my  TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON.  You can also receive the career practitioners newsletter which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more.

Peak Careers - Professional Development for Careers

How to help your clients / students create luck. (Yes you can create luck!)

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So… Can you create luck?

create luck

In Gregg Levoy’s book Callings, he devotes a chapter to synchronicity, another way to create luck in your search for your new career path. Synchronicity is a coincidence…a meaningful coincidence that can inform us, primarily through intuition.

Chemist Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Yes, you can create luck and Dr Richard Wiseman proves it in his book, The Luck Factor. (Read my book review here). Two things you need are to be open to opportunities (Pasteur’s quote above) and trust your instincts (Levoy’s chapter).

In order to create luck, I talk to my clients about embracing “intentional serendipity” taking  action and then being open to discovering something by accident. In order to do this, you have to trust your intuition and instincts.

Our instincts have gotten us to this point in humankind after 10,000 years of trying to survive. Computers and assessments are not the only way to move forward in your career search. Trusting your hunches, those instincts that help us navigate our daily lives are useful in career searching. When you create luck, through action, then you have to trust your hunches on what that action might tell you.

So how do I help my clients create luck?

First thing I do is help them determine what their “value” is in the workplace. What makes them unique? What skills, interests, passions, character traits can help organizations to solve problems. Then I have them take action…even a small action step can create results.

My “go to” action recommendations are:

1. Informational interviews: These are not just an interview to learn about a specific occupation, but an interview to discover what else is out there. I encourage my clients to interview a person about an occupation but to ask questions like: What other jobs have you thought about doing that are similar to this? If you were to do it all over again, would you do something different? Who else in your company needs these skill sets to be successful? So they are not just looking at that specific job, but any and all other jobs that person can think of. Create luck by trusting your instincts to discover what else is out there.

2 Volunteer in an area that is related to what you are exploring. When you get there, do a good job, ask lots of questions, and seek to learn what other people do for work and get their ideas on how to your skill sets might be useful. Ask if they could introduce you to someone doing work that interests you.

3. Part time job / internships. (see above advice in #2 Volunteer)

4. Research online in sites like ONET, LinkedIn, and any other site, letting your curiosity take you anywhere that looks interesting to create luck and discover something new. I like to have my clients / students play what I call a “related occupation” game. Go to ONET or Occupational Outlook Handbook and search for an occupation of interest. Click on it, and then immediately click on the “related occupations” link without reading anything else first. What do you see there that looks interesting? Just let serendipity take its course.

What are the themes? What types of jobs did you find? What do they have in common?

Trust your instincts and go where ever you want to go. Let that serendipity help you create luck in finding a potential new job.

5. Read — just about anything from blogs, newspapers, magazines, LinkedIn posts — and pay attention to what grabs your attention. Is it “heart-felt stories?”  Science?  Psychology?

Case in point. A client I was working with has a 20 year background in paralegal work and had moved recently to central Maine. I sensed she was not really interested in continuing to work in the legal world and we discussed a number of options. One piece of advice I gave was to follow your instincts and do something you love to do. She was offered three jobs, two in the legal field and one was an entry level position at the Humane Society as a ‘cat tech’. She took that one because she was “excited about it”. After a very short period of time, she was offered the Program Director position.

So, was this luck? I say yes and she created it.

She created it by trusting her instincts, trying a job that she was excited about, and she was open to opportunities that were presented to her.

What stories do you have that “created luck?”

Check out my Facebook Live:
What is ‘intentional serendipity’?
Wednesday February 28 6:30pm (Eastern)
 

*Read more about intentional serendipity, luck, and happenstance here.

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a monthly newsletter for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

Sign up here to receive my  TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON.  You can also receive the career practitioners newsletter which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more.