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Sweet Tweets and Other Job-finding Strategies
By Elyse Umlauf-Garneau
After 22 years with the City of Santa Barbara Parks & Recreation in
California, fifty-something Billy Goodnick got a pink slip. His last day was
in June.
Rather than viewing the job loss as the end of his life, Goodnick
immediately started assessing his experience and talent and using them to
repackage and market himself.
Employment coaches and recruiters say it's exactly what every aged 50-plus
job-seeker should do.
Here are eight strategies that can help you land your next job.
1. Repackage yourself-Assess skills that are transferable to other
industries. A few years ago, Goodnick started a landscape consulting
business on the side and blogged about the work. He's parlayed that
gardening passion into a new career niche. This fall, for instance, he'll be
teaching a gardening class at a community college. And a recent National
Public Radio story
http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_795_SSame_Skills_New_Industry.mp3/view
told of a laid-off auto industry worker who transferred her skills to a new
job in medical manufacturing. "Another strategy is to look at other
applications for the same customers you've worked with," suggests K. David
Umlauf, principal of Executive Search Consultants, a Chicago-based financial
services recruiting firm. He says that too often resumes are so geared to a
specific industry that it's difficult for readers to see that a person isn't
married to that one niche. Just one simple example Umlauf offers is someone
who sells text books to school districts. The skills and industry knowledge
transfer directly to other product lines-paste, computers, office supplies,
and so forth--that schools purchase.
2. Talk to recruiters-Established, successful recruiters have inside
knowledge of companies' open positions. And they're able to provide insight
on hiring practices, a firm's cultural landscape and insight into industry
trends and hiring practices.
3. Develop technology skills-Community colleges, distance learning programs
and online venues are all places to go to sharpen the technology skills that
are pertinent to your industry. If you're unsure of what's required in your
field, scour job ads to see what expertise employers are seeking, suggest
Lisa Pasbjerg, president and CEO of Focused Coaching, in Ann Arbor,
Michigan. And then acquire those skills. Pasbjerg specializes in coaching
and training executives and managers, and has a specialty working with
job-seekers in transition.
4. Seek online help-Several jobs sites geared to the over-50 crowd have
emerged, such as http://www.workforce50.com <http://www.workforce50.com/> ,
http://www.seniorjobbank.com/, http://www.retirementjobs.com
<http://www.retirementjobs.com/> , http://www.retiredbrains.com
<http://www.retiredbrains.com/> . And AARP offers resources at
http://www.aarp.org/money/work/?cnn=yes that address everything from
difficult interview questions to anticipate to the best companies for
50-plus workers.
5. Eliminate dated terms-Gal, those kids, hon and back in the day all are
words and phrases that immediately place you in the old fogey crowd.
Pasbjerg also suggests avoiding dated business terms, such as "think outside
the box." And keep the cute grandkid stories to yourself.
6. Network-"Do the one thing that everyone hates," says Umlauf. "Call
someone." Your neighbors, former colleagues and recruiters can be potent
sources of information and jobs. Pasbjerg finds that many clients are too
passive in their job hunts, often roaming around in their jammies until
early afternoon and responding to five or six job ads with generic resumes.
Then they wait. But job-finding needs to be an active process. She
recommends creating lists of everyone you and your spouse know and getting
in touch to let them know you're looking for a job. Always ask whether they
can recommend someone else to call for information on a lead, insight into a
company or someone looking to hire. "Try to come away with at least one or
two new names each time," she says.
7. Accept part-time work- Pasbjerg says people frequently refuse to accept
jobs they perceive to be beneath their skill, status or salary level. Then
desperation sets in and they end up accepting a full-time job for $20,000
less than they were hoping for. But then they're exhausted by the new,
less-than-desirable full-time job and have limited time to search for
something better. She suggests taking a part-time job-anything from a
position in a vet's office, a wine shop or at a community college-while
you're seeking a new job. "It brings in some money, gets people out of the
house and it's another opportunity to network. It also reduces that sense of
panic," she observes. "Yet you still have plenty of time to look for
full-time work and go on interviews."
8. Broaden your social networking-Maintain an active presence on social
networking sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. It may seem like a
timewaster, but don't underestimate its power. Goodnick posted a Tweet that
was spotted by a Fine Gardening editor. She got in touch and Goodnick now is
writing his own blog on sustainable landscaping
(http://www.finegardening.com/blog/sustainable-landscaping) for the
magazine. Of course, it was likely helpful that Goodnick has distinctive
writing style that he describes as "opinionated, cheeky, humorous and
authoritative on the topic of sustainable landscape design."
Once you land an interview, here are some crucial points to keep in mind:
-"Identify your value pitch," suggests Stephen R. Balzac, president of 7
Steps Ahead, a Stow, Mass., organizational development firm that helps
businesses increase revenue. He points to how salespeople quickly outline
why a product is beneficial to a prospective buyer and says, "You are your
own product. How will the company benefit from your presence?"
-Don't view interviewers as opponents to be defeated, but as partners who
can enable you to demonstrate your value. Balzac, who is also an adjunct
professor of industrial and organizational psychology at Boston's Wentworth
Institute of Technology, suggests getting interviewers to talk by asking
about their concerns and goals. Then respond with relevant, brief vignettes
about your accomplishments in previous jobs "The hiring manager needs a
certain set of skills to accomplish something," Umlauf comments. "Find out
what that something is and then illustrate why you can do it better than the
other job seekers."
-Adhere to basic etiquette-Arrive on time, turn off your cell phone and send
a thank-you note. Pasbjerg sees considerable resistance to writing thank-you
notes. "It's an opportunity to reiterate your main selling points," she
says. One client balked, telling Pasbjerg, "No one does that."
And that's the best reason to do it.
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