Is getting a new job harder than you thought it would be?
Are you new to the job market, or want to explore what’s out there because your current work isn’t what it promised to be?
Are you frustrated with your search and asking yourself "Why is this time different?
If you haven’t been out of work for a while, or if you happened to find your last job through a recruiter, a friend, or just plain luck, you probably noticed that some things seem more difficult. "How come I answer all kinds of advertisements, go to every kind of job fair and had my resume critiqued by all kinds of people, but still no job?” The answer is easy: Times have changed.
The competition is greater. The expectations are higher. The volumes of resumes hitting the recruiters is huge. And what a recruiter sees on paper doesn’t really reflect what they’re meeting in person. Everybody is cautious. It seems like they’re looking to say "no” to weed you out, not "yes” to find the best person for the job. Hiring is really the last thing they want to do.
Magnify this with the scarcity of resources that most nonprofits face, and you can understand why just getting an interview is one of the toughest parts of a search.
But thousands of people are employed every day – and a whole lot of them aren’t even as well qualified as you! And what makes matters worse, is that most of them are getting jobs you never even knew were open! It’s frustrating at best, and can be downright depressing much of the time.
So what’s their secret?
The secret is that they don’t have a secret. Yes, some are just plain lucky. But most, whether they know it or not, are following a process that takes them from their own mission and vision of what they want to do, right through to the final solicitation for the gift… I mean, job.
Why do I know so much about this? Because I’ve been there – on both sides of the fence.
As a worker, I’ve waited for that phone call that didn’t come, and received the "thanks but no thanks letter” that tells you about your "fine credentials” but still doesn’t ask you in. And I’ve known hundreds of other people who have, too.
As an employer, I’ve run searches that took months just to find the right person – placing advertisements, sorting through resumes, making "pre-interview” calls and meeting what looked like great candidates on paper, only to find that they weren’t so great in person. I also know that I left a lot of great people in the wastebasket, because when I met them later, I said to myself, "why didn’t I interview that person?”
What I found out through all of this was that if I applied the techniques that I already knew from my fundraising work, it not only moved my search ahead, but it resulted in getting interviews for the jobs I really wanted. It also made the employer’s work a lot easier - in the end, you get the job you want, at the organization you love.
I call the method "The Campaign for You.” And if I can do it, you can too.
The Campaign for You is a system for getting a job and managing your career using the knowledge you may already have, put in a systematic fashion you may not have thought about. Its especially useful in the nonprofit world because it builds skills that you can use on the job. So you get "find a job” skills and "do a job” skills all at the same time.
There's no doubt that Matt clearly "gets it" in the Alumni Relations and Development fields. His clear understanding of the complexities of both and his ability to translate them through instruction are invaluable. —Nancy Rasmussen, Director of Alumni Relations, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
However, don’t just take my word for it by reading the paragraphs, above. I want you to take another step so you see what working with The Campaign for You can do for you.
- Sign up for Career Action Steps – The Campaign for You weekly newsletter. By signing up for Career Action Steps you get access to a number of valuable resources, such as job site links, articles on the search process and teleconferences on the search process. Best of all it’s free.
Take heart, there can be a better job waiting for you at the end of The Campaign for You.
Not sure I can help your particular situation? Click here to find out more.
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Matt’s recommended book this month:
Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Networking. Jeffrey puts his networking techniques in a compact, readable form – perfect for career management, or making the next sale. Click here to learn more.