Labor Day Thoughts

To most of the US, Labor Day is supposed to be a celebration of labor.  

To those in career transition, it's something entirely different. It can involve several thoughts, including: "Uh oh, time to get re-booted on the search," or "I can't believe I fell into the trap of stopping my efforts for the summer” or "Now I can REALLY get serious, because it's September and that's when things get going again."

I don't want to spend space here admonishing those who fell into the trap of thinking summer or holiday times aren't good times to look for employment. It's quite the opposite, because those times are actually great networking times.

But enough of looking backward (although we will keep this in mind when the November/December holidays approach).  

How to move forward? Statistics show that October/November/December (yes, December) are great hiring months.

For those who think they're going to go gangbusters into a post-Labor Day hiring frenzy, think again. Lots of people are returning from vacation; what are the odds they all would want to be approached immediately? I think September is a great time for researching, building networks, and preparing for a full-out campaign in the last quarter. (January is the same kind of month as September.)

Of course, these are all generalizations, and there are plenty of exceptions. But, my main recommendation is to take your time building those high-touch relationships in September, and don’t expect a flood of immediate positive results. This process is a slow-building one, and if you did indeed take off a lot of time in the summer, consider September as a gradual restart.  

After that, don't let up, ever, for the holiday periods. Losing momentum is hard, and it's even harder to regain it. Discipline and consistency are key components for successful search.  

To make your restart a little easier, the ebook edition of In Search of the Fun-Forever Job: Career Strategies that Work is on sale through September 2nd.

You can find it on Amazon, Smashwords, Apple*, Kobo*, Nook*, and Diesel*.

The paperback edition is also being offered at 25% off.

*If the sale price is not yet reflected on these channels, please purchase through Amazon or Smashwords.

Happy Labor Day!

And good luck with your search.

© Somartin | Dreamstime.com

Frequently, I need a refresher dose of reality to pull me away from going into automatic mode when explaining career issues with clients and students. What I mean is that experiences in my own life remind me what it's like to face the same issues my clients and students face. It's frequently humbling, and more often illuminating.

Sometimes, I learn, all over again, what clients go through--dealing with rejection, the lack of concrete feedback, not quite knowing if things are working right--when they're interviewing for jobs, or building a consulting practice, or just figuring out what their next moves should be.

Recently, I was reminded how building a consulting practice could be executed beautifully.  

I had decided to hire a public relations professional to help with marketing The Fun Forever Job: Career Strategies that Work, as well as to help me secure more speaking engagements that would match this marketing. While my indie publisher and I (she, a relatively new publisher, and me, a completely novice book writer) had done well (way beyond our expectations--more than 15,000 books moved in the first three months), we wanted to take things to the next level. Reach a wider audience.  

Through a little networking, I found a couple of well-recommended PR professionals. Again, I was in a novice position, never having had to work personally with someone in this arena before.  For clients, yes--but for myself, no.

I set up phone meetings with both. Unfortunately, they both used cell phones--something I encourage my clients and students to avoid because it’s bad business. The sound quality is almost always poor, especially if hands-free or speaker is used. Why make your potential customer strain to hear?   

Even so, the first publicist was terrific on the phone. Her background was impressive. She knew what she was talking about. We clicked immediately. However, she had not done much due diligence on me or my book or my professional background. In fact, she was only first checking things out while we spoke. I told her what I was looking for, and she said she would send me a proposal, with pricing in a week or two--which was fine with me.

While I enjoyed the conversation, and felt comfortable with her, her lack of preparation gave me the impression she wasn’t particularly interested in the project. She may very well be, but she certainly didn't show much enterprise in how she approached me.

And I didn’t hear from her afterward--there have been no follow-ups, no questions. Although I do expect to get the proposal within the time frame she mentioned, I already know she’s not going to get the assignment. A prospective employer needs to feel that the applicant is excited, has done her homework, and follows up.

The second publicist made a great first impression; she immediately told me she had read the entire book the night before. Yeah, of course, that was flattering, but she immediately explained how the book would lend itself to a campaign and how easy it would be to develop talking points and other materials. She was off and running. She had carefully vetted my personal website and the book website and had comments about both. In a first conversation, of course, she was complimentary about most of it, and made a few very minor, inoffensive suggestions. She was proving her value almost immediately.

I just wish the phone connection had been better.

She, too was going to send a proposal within a couple of weeks.

But! She wrote immediately afterward to thank me for the time, and to ask a few clarifying questions. We have been back and forth several times in the past week.

The kicker was that yesterday she wrote and told me that if I would write a brief blog piece on a specific topic, she thought she would be able to get it onto a major website that is significant in my field.  

One hour after I submitted it, she wrote back and said it had been accepted.

My decision has been made. I don't know about financial parameters of the proposal yet, but, assuming they're reasonable, I will work with this professional. And I do mean professional.

Her approach could not have been better. Well prepared, homework done, enthusiasm, follow- up, and a demonstration of what she could do.  

The choice will be easy.

Does this real-life personal story apply to most career transition scenarios? I definitely think so.  

© Marek Uliasz | Dreamstime.com