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“I just hate reaching out to people, begging for a job.”

Sound familiar? Have you said that yourself a few times? Well, you absolutely should hate begging for a job. Begging is degrading. So, let’s try something else.

Think about the hiring decision makers out there. What’s going on in their worlds? They’re often worried, overworked, and stressed out. They are frantically trying to keep the ship afloat. They need help.

Their jobs and careers depend on finding good people—like you. Of course, many of them don’t have the resources to hire you. Even so, they have their feelers out looking for talent. Granted, their time is limited. Many of them have the gatekeepers working overtime to keep the unemployed masses away from them. Still, some will want to have a conversation with you—even if they don’t have a job for you right now.

How can you get the boss (or anyone else) to want to talk to you?

Think of yourself as a contributor
First, change your mindset. You are a contributor who can make a real difference for a stressed-out boss and his organization.

Have a polished presentation in plain English
Be able to clearly articulate what you want, what you do well, and the contributions you make. Don’t use worn-out job hunting jargon like, “I’m a results-oriented, team playing, self starter who makes a big impact on the bottom line.” Without this presentation, most people won’t want to talk to you. Remember, we all are tuned into WIFM (what’s in it for me?) Be able to tell the boss why it’s in his best interest to talk to you.

Approach people intelligently
Send a professional letter and/or email, then follow up with a phone call requesting a brief meeting. Come prepared with intelligent questions.

Remember ways you can benefit others:
a) You can make them feel important.
Who doesn’t like to be sought out and asked for advice? It inflates our egos. Plus, deep down, most of us really enjoy helping others. If you helped someone get a great job, wouldn’t you feel great?

b) You can help them to be more important.
Watch “The Godfather” movie, and notice how much time he spends doing favors for others. Sure, the favors are often violent, illegal, and reprehensible. Still, he knows that his power derives from his ability to be of service to others. Helping others builds stature and inspires loyalty.

c) You can help people to advance their careers and make more money.
For months, the company has been trying to find someone for that key position, but has only found incompetence. If you (the boss) find the right person, you look good—and this can help you get a promotion and better pay. If you’re not the boss, and you help the boss find the right person, you also look good.

d) What goes around comes around.
These days, few of us feel really secure in our positions. If someone helps you today, you might be able to help them tomorrow.

Sear it into your mind that you are a valuable contributor and people will benefit from speaking to you. It will make a big difference.

If you’re still employed
Don’t wait until you’re out of work to build your network. Take action now. People skilled in networking know there’s more to it than passing around resumes. It is building relationships over time. Start building them now.

In tough times, the bonus or the raise you got last year–and were hoping to get this year–may not show up. Is all lost? Nope.

1. Don’t Take it Personally

Here’s what to do. First, don’t take it personally. Maybe it sounds silly in the era of Trillion Dollar Meltdown that some people would think this is directed at them. But we’re not always rational when it comes to money, and some people grumble, “How could they do this to me – after all my hard work?!”

2. Make Your Employer’s Wish Come True

It may seem counter intuitive, but in the era when there are 100 job hunters for every 5 jobs, your employer wants to keep you. If you’re good at your work and deserving of a bonus, the boss doesn’t care how many other qualified people there are. S/he doesn’t want to lose you. Second, know that s/he wishes s/he could give you a bonus — it’s up to you to take his/her wish and make it real.

3. Ask – but not Right Away

Third: ask. How? Don’t ask right away. As long as people are still griping or telling company broke jokes at the water cooler, it’s too soon. Parity in the case of corporate-wide bonuses is sacrosanct. They can’t give you a bonus and deny it to your buddy in the next cubicle. So you want some distance from the bad news that came with the company’s “There’ll be no bonus” e-mail.

Wait for Things to Cool Off – Then Think Contribution

Things cooled off? Then, now’s the time. Think carefully about your contribution last year. Set an appointment with your boss. Explain LOYALTY first. “Boss, I’ve really been working hard, and I understand that the bonus (Or company-profitability portion of the bonus) is gone this year. I have an alternate idea I hope you’ll entertain.”

Share the Accomplishment and be Specific

Then share the accomplishment list (above) and monetize it as well as possible. [i.e. don't just say, "worked hard at keeping customers"; instead, say, "Kept three big accounts who were thinking of switching to our competitor -- which adds up to saving about $135,000 in annual sales."]

4. Think Non-cash Bonus

Fourth: wrap up with, “So, since there isn’t cash for a general bonus, I wonder if given my individual performance, there might be a non-cash bonus.”

Non cash? Yes. Leaving Fridays at noon? More vacation? Health club membership? Early bonus in 2010 for some specified level of performance? An assistant (so you can cut down your overtime)? etc. Be creative.

Think Win-Win
When two people are motivated towards the same goal: compensation that will keep you happy [enough to stay], that goal is likely to be achieved.

A lot of job candidates complain about phone interviews, but they’re not much better from the boss’s perspective. I’m sure many hiring decision makers feel the same intense frustration of the boss quoted below after he had conducted a number of phone interviews for a key position on his staff. Every single candidate failed miserably. The boss’s comments are in italics below.

The basics: be prepared
Boss: One candidate was driving when I called for our scheduled appointment. Three times he interrupted me, saying he would have to call me back. “What is he doing?” I wondered, and cut the interview short.

Don’t let this happen to you! Be ready for your appointment. Make sure you are in a quiet interruption-free room. Use a quality phone so you don’t annoy the employer with a phone that’s hard to hear or keeps cutting out.

Have ready access to your resume, important points of your company research, talking points, and questions you want to ask. Take advantage of the positive side of phone interviews-they can’t see you. If possible, log onto the internet so you can quickly Google information.

More basics: Be knowledgeable
Boss: Most of the candidates I interviewed had no idea of what our company does. I can’t even tell you how off-putting that was.

Make sure you know about the company, its products and services, and how you could help them (Note: in an upcoming newsletter, we’ll discuss how to research a company).

Talk the boss’s language
Boss: Every candidate spoke in very vague terms about their experience. No one said anything interesting. I remember venting to another manager, “I wish somebody would tell me something—anything—that would make me think they could do this job.”

The boss cares about results. Have a repertoire of stories prepared so that you can quickly convey to the boss how good you are. The stories should be carefully crafted to be concise and to powerfully convey the impact you have. Aim for one minute stories.

Convey enthusiasm
Boss: One candidate sounded so flat on the phone, I thought he was going to go to sleep while we were talking.

In person, you communicate with the way you’re dressed, your handshake, smile, gestures, and other body language. Over the phone, all you’ve got is your voice. Make sure you sound upbeat. Practice interviewing over the phone with a friend or spouse or a tape recorders to get comfortable with it.

Keep Your Answers Short–and probe
Boss: Another candidate, obviously nervous, droned on and on and on. I cut that interview short too.

If you’re prone to talking too much, pay special attention to the adage, “You’ve got two ears and only one mouth for a reason.” Keep your answers crisp and concise. Answer the question, then probe with questions of your own. Find out what the boss wants, why he/she is hiring and what problems the boss hopes you’ll be able to solve.

Smile and relax
Take a tip from successful telemarketers who put a mirror in front of them to remind themselves to smile. Although they can’t see you, the smile is conveyed in your voice. Take deep breaths and speak distinctly.

Find out follow up procedures
Find out how to follow up with the interviewers, what the next step in the process will be, and ask if they would like you to provide any additional information.

Keep track of what you have discussed
Go into the interview with an agenda: these are the points I want to convey during the interview. As you make each point, cross it off so that you won’t repeat it, and you can see clearly what else is on your list.

Postpone if they catch you off guard
If the employer calls you for an unscheduled interview and catches you when you’re clutching a towel around your dripping-wet body, just say, “I’m so glad you called, but it’s not a good time to talk. How about in half an hour (or this afternoon)?”

Be prepared to fend off premature salary discussions
Don’t let yourself be eliminated by probes about past salary or salary expectations. This is a topic we’ve discussed in past newsletters. If you missed it, we can send you a copy–send an email to Careersinc@aol.com with the words “Salary article” in the subject line.

Send a thank you
Boss: When interviewing for another position, I was impressed with one woman, but was disappointed that she didn’t have the courtesy to send a thank you note. She didn’t get the job.
Promptly send a thank you letter to all the interviewers. This often-overlooked courtesy can make a big difference.

As with any interview, preparation and follow through are the key to success.

“I’m putting off MY job hunt until after the holidays. Nobody’s hiring now.” We have heard too many people say this.his misconception stated by many of our clients. Often job hunters think the time from Thanksgiving to the end of the year is a bad time for job hunting because people have parties, not business on their minds. Therefore they postpone their job search until January. This way of thinking is a big mistake and can lead to missed opportunities. The truth is, the holiday season, like any other time of the year, has job openings.

A position becomes open due to growth of the business or replacement of an employee who has quit, transferred, retired, been fired, promoted or become sick. That makes seven reasons for a job to open up, none of which have anything to do with a particular season.

When January brings in the new year, it is a great time to begin something new. Many organizations department’s budgets have been approved and fresh money is available for hiring new employees.

Since the recruitment of candidates, initial screening, interviewing, final selection and approval, and training all consume lots of time, it is not unreasonable that a January hire would be put into motion in October or November. Anyone who slacks off on their job hunt during the holiday season, risks losing a strategic advantage. Part of this advantage stems from staying in the hunt while others sit on the sidelines, telling themselves there is no point in looking right now. Then, the holiday season carries a psychological advantage. There is a sense of good cheer in the air. People are a bit more approachable due to the holiday spirit, which can’t help but engulf us at this time of the year.

Instead of contacts being hard to reach this time of year, they are in town this month because they’re planning to attend a lot of parties and do some networking themselves. Here’s how to get the most job seeking mileage out of holiday events:

1) Check the newspaper for association-sponsored holiday events (or breakfasts and luncheons), and try to attend as many as possible.

2) Take your business cards or resumes everywhere.

3) Resolve to meet at least ten people at each event.

4) Search out and thank the party organizers, and be sure to compliment them on the good job they did.

5) Organize a networking event of your own, with people you have been meaning to contact.
6) Attend your own trade or professional association’s holiday-season event. This gives you a chance to meet all the new members and to see all of your old contacts who haven’t been at any recent meetings.

A little partying can provide a lot of contacts. Every person you meet can give you additional names of people who can help you in your job hunt. By networking you can open the “hidden job market”—those jobs that have yet to be advertised, or never will be.

Remember, openings do occur without regard to the calendar. The need of the employer to get a suitable employee overrides all other considerations. When they need help, they will hire and there is no way to predict when it will happen. The best bet is to keep a job campaign moving at all times.

A lot of people have been out on the job hunt for months and can’t articulate their skills effectively. Or they articulate them in a bland, uninspiring way, like this:

I’m a hard worker.

OR

I’m a great communicator.

OR

I’m an effective leader.

These things may be true, but they do nothing to distinguish you from everyone else who wants the job you’re after. In fact, saying you are a hard worker doesn’t even distinguish you from people who want jobs that don’t interest you or that you’re not qualified for: baseball player, auto mechanic, and lion tamer.

Distinguishing yourself from the competition is the name of the game in marketing—and that’s what you’re trying to do in a job search. So how do you distinguish yourself?

Let’s take “effective leader.” Remember that as leaders go, Adolph Hitler was very effective—at war and mass murder. Bobby Knight, the basketball coach, is effective, but he screams at people and throws chairs around. Obviously, you are very different from them. How so? The key here is precision in your vocabulary.

After some reflection, one manager said:

I create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation that develops top talent.
Another said:

I find and mold good people into highly-motivated and effective teams.

Two others said:

I can come in at the last minute, take charge of failing projects, and make them successful.
And…

I overcome language and cultural barriers to make virtual teams effective on complex technical projects.

Precise language separates you from the pack and gives you an edge on the competition.