Showing posts with label help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label help. Show all posts

Friday, July 8, 2011

A Rule

Make it easy for others to help you.

Yep, that's it.

Nothing more.

If you are unemployed and need to find another job, you need other people to help you in a countless variety of ways.

Searching for your next employer is a team sport.

So you need to assemble your team. But your team needs to know what to do and have the right equipment, knowledge and skills to help you succeed.

You have to give others direction, the more precise, the more detailed, the better.

You have to share your goal, your objectives, your plan, your progress with your team. Share with them what you have done and what you plan on doing on a regular basis. Let them know where you have applied, where you plan to apply and with whom you would like to connect.

All these pieces are what will equip your team to be able to help you. And your activity, your efforts and your initiative will motivate them to keep on helping until you reach your goal.

If you wait for something to happen, you will keep your team waiting and they will not wait for very long, if at all.

If you depend entirely on your team to make it happen, then you are showing them that you are not ready, not willing or even able to help them help you.

When you do not share with others what you have been doing in your job search, to them it is the same as doing nothing.

Even if you are very active, without keeping your team informed, naturally they will assume you are doing nothing. And then they will do nothing in return.

And do not ask of others what you can do yourself. The more you do yourself, along with the more detailed direction you can provide, the easier you can make it for others to help and the more likely you will get the help you need.

And do not forget to offer and give help to those who help you.

By the way, if you limit the information you give to employers about your qualifications, experience and education to just applications and resumes, then you make it harder for employers to learn about you. And chances are they will be in contact with other applicants -- not you.

Make it easier for them to select you for the interview. Make other and more direct contacts like in person visits and referrals from your connections. LinkedIn and Facebook are used by 95% of employers because those sources are quick and easy ways for companies to learn more about applicants of interest.

If you are not using these online resources, what else are you doing to help the employer learn more about you?

Make it easy for others to help you.

Make it easy for JVS to help and take the first step.
Visit our website, www.jvsdet.org for more information.

And you can always contact me, Walt Tarrow, via email, wtarrow@jvsdet.org, on LinkedIn, and by phone at 248.233.4231.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Wishing You Good Will

"May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way to your door." Irish saying

Are you making the first steps in your job search about how you can be of help to others?

What skills, experience, education and knowledge, successes can you use to help your next boss, your next co-workers, your next company?

Have you identified what you have of value and appeal to your employer market?

Make that your first step.

Identify how you can help potential employers be successful.

How can you put a smile on their faces, joy in their hearts and money in their pockets?

And how can you do the same for your fellow job seekers?

How can you be of help to those who are ready, willing and able to help you?

Do you have "warm words" for them on those "cold evenings" during this tough economy?

Do you bring the light of hope, the "full moon," when it is hard for all to see that during "dark nights?"

Do you help make the road easier, "downhill all the way to their door?"

Start by thinking first and always foremost about how you can spread good will and be of help to your next employer and to those who already care about you.

We at JVS want to help.

Visit us at www.jvsdet.org.

Attend any or all of our events, meetings, and seminars as shown on our calendars at www.ParnossahWorksDetroit.org and our main website.

Join me and my groups on LinkedIn.

"May good fortune be yours. May your joys never end."

Monday, May 11, 2009

Getting Started

So something happened. So you lost your job. So now what?

You are tired. It hurt. It's scary. You don't want to think about it.

What about tomorrow?

Maybe it's time to take that break. That break you earned, you really deserve.

Okay, it's your choice. It's always your choice.

Maybe you didn't choose to leave your job, to change everything, to lose what you had. But you can choose what you do about it.

But taking that deserved time off would be a good thing, right?

Maybe...but you can't get too comfortable with that...you can't turn your break into an overextended denial vacation.

Maybe after a couple weeks or so it would be time to get back to work.

The work of finding your next job, making your next opportunity, getting back into the thick of things...back to the land of the living.

Start with open discussions with your family and your friends. Share your thoughts and your feelings and ask for their advice, their help. Make it okay for both you and your family to be open about how you all feel.

No blame, no wrongdoing, just healing and help...and all help is welcome...even if the help sounds less than helpful, it is someone trying to help...and we all need help.

Negative feelings are to be acknowledged, but not embraced. Positive feelings are to be celebrated and shared.

It's about taking action, about doing something, anything to keep moving, to find and go after that next chapter. It is more difficult to hold onto negative thoughts and feelings when you are active and involved.

Don't be a problem dweller. Be a problem solver.

Okay, start with that break, that time off. Maybe you already have. Maybe it's time to get back to work. Maybe you don't have a choice and you HAVE to get back to work. Well, get started!

Make a plan. What is your goal? What kind of job are you looking for? What are your objectives? Set up your daily schedule. What are your deadlines? Assemble your team -- your family and your friends. Identify your targets -- make a list of the companies you want to contact, to connect with. Start looking for those companies on the Internet -- in the job banks, on their websites, in the news. And look for contacts with those companies with the help of your family and your friends.

And get help wherever you can.

I will be creating a number of online groups over the next few weeks including a group on LinkedIn. Join me there and elsewhere.

And I and JVS are not alone in being there for you.

I will be posting names and info about groups and resources that can help you.

And please share your thoughts and concerns and questions with me and others through your comments on my posts.

The appearance and content of this blog will change from time to time as I try to find my/our voice. Your feedback is wanted.

Walt
wtarrow@jvsdet.org

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

What's the hold up?

Why the delay?

It has been over three weeks since I started this blog and this is only the second entry.

What keeps us from doing what needs to be done?

What is keeping YOU from looking for your next job?

I got stuck because of two things.

Too many demands with too little time...many, many phone calls, emails, meetings and every caller, every emailer wants to be the most important.

And is what I blog good enough, important enough, for someone, anyone to pay attention?

How about you?

How are you managing your job search work, your job search time and all the other demands of life? What are your priorities? How did you handle all those demands when you were working the 40, 50 or more hours every week?

And why haven't you sent out your resume or set up that meeting yet? Is your resume not good enough? Are you not sure if you will make the best impression when you go to that meeting? Are you not prepared?

Well, forget all that.

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." George S. Patton

Do something, anything, now, every day, to keep moving. Something now is better than nothing now.

Take action. Your progress is measured by the number of mistakes you make.

"The man who makes no mistake does not usually make anything." Edward Phelps

By the way, even if you write the perfect resume, only as little as one out of twenty, that's 5%, of resumes ever get read by any real person. That's a 95% chance your perfect resume will go nowhere. That's the resume you worked so hard to perfect...perfect, but neglected and ignored.

Oh, yeah, the odds for your not-so-perfect, maybe even crappy, resume being read by a real person are at least as good as, if not better, than your perfect resume.

It's better to work on making good contacts, connections to the right people, than to work on making your resume perfect.

A construction foreman told me he hired a young man who came to the work site and handed him this resume.



I DO SIDDING

The young man's secret? He went to the work site. He made himself visable. He made the right impression with the right person.

Stop worrying about being perfect and get out there and meet people. Every day. Make at least that your priority.

And don't forget to come over here to JVS in Southfield any Monday evening at 6:30pm or Thursday afternoon at 1:30pm to meet and get help from even more people.

We will be looking out for you.

Walt
Email me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org
Next post: Getting started...first steps

Monday, April 6, 2009

Something Happened

Something happened.

I did not really love my job, but some things about it I liked. And I got paid so I could have a family, a home, a car, and do fun things and buy stuff I enjoyed. And I was safe from really, really bad things happening.

Then something happened.

I was worried for a long time. Maybe not the kind of worry that you think about every day, but the kind that nags you when you aren't thinking about anything in particular. I was worried when I heard talk about other people losing their jobs. But I was happy it wasn't me. And then, for a little while, I wasn't as worried.

But then something happened.

I did not believe it at first. I had been working so very, very hard to keep my job. Harder than ever in my life. But they did not see, they did not care. It was just so unfair.

Something happened and I lost my job.

Give me a break.

At first I just wanted a break, to be left alone. I had been working so hard, worrying so hard, I needed time off. Time to think, time to recover, time to feel better. My family, my friends, everybody else needed to understand that. But they did not always understand. Sure, they did not want it to happen. I did not want it to happen. But it did.

I needed a break.

No need to worry. Things will be okay. I was a valued employee. I am a hard worker. I give 100%...and more. Some company will be lucky to have me work for them. When they get my application, see my resume, they will want to talk to me. They will want to offer me the job. But they did not offer me the job, the interview, or even the time of day.

I needed a break.

Just give me a chance. Let me talk to you. I will tell you what you need to hear. I know I am perfect for the job. You will see.

Where is my break?

I do not need your help. I just need a job.

But the people who have the jobs are not helping me. What is their problem? If they give me a job, I can help them. But they do not seem to want my help. What is wrong with them? Is there something wrong with me? Am I not good enough? It is just so unfair.

I became worried. Then I was scared. Then I felt confused...and lost...and helpless...

Then I thought that maybe I do need help. Maybe I could use some help. And when I did admit that, when I opened myself to help, I found help at JVS. And when I accepted help, any and all help given, accepted it with an open heart and mind, I found more help. And when I appreciated that help, when I was thankful for that help, I found even more help. And when I began to help others, I found help everywhere.

And then something happened.

I have begun to help myself and I am no longer helpless.

And good things are beginning to happen once again.

You can find help at: http://www.jvsdet.org

Walt

wtarrow@jvsdet.org