IAN ALLAN - The Job Hunting Book

THE

JOB HUNTING BOOK

Career mentoring

and

job seeking tips

(graduate edition)

IAN ALLAN

For intern, new graduate and early career job seekers. Includes worked examples of rsums for an

Copyright statement:

First published in 2022 by Geocode Mapping and Analysis Pty Ltd, Melbourne. Australia

Copyright Geocode Mapping and Analysis Pty Ltd, 2022

Illustrations Nitty Gritty Graphics 2022

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data: Creator: Allan. Ian. 1963 author.

Title: The Job Hunting Book

Subtitle: Career mentoring and job seeking tips - graduate edition

ISBN (epub): 978-0-6454465-3-1

Notes: Includes table of contents.

Subjects: Career, Career guidance, Job hunting, Job hunting book, Job interview, Resume, Cover letter, Self help

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. Enquiries via ian@ianallanauthor.com.

Graphic design by Sandy Coventry, Nitty Gritty Graphics, nittygrittygraphics.com.au

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is general in nature only. It does not represent professional advice. Everybodys circumstances are different. If expert assistance is required, the service of an appropriate professional should be sought. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from them taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

Ian Allan is not affiliated with and does not endorse any of the corporate entities mentioned in or involved in the distribution of this work, or any third party entities whose trademarks and logos may appear on this work.

Quantity sales

Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. Special print runs that include with compliments from [your business] can also be arranged. For details, contact me at ian@ianallanauthor.com

Life has a way of throwing up challenges. Mine happened in my late teens. In the final year of my apprenticeship a nasty workplace accident forced me to rethink my career.

Fast forward to my early 30s, Id been a furniture restorer, a furniture removalist, a bingo caller, a pedestrian accident researcher, a condom tycoon (for some reason that failed to impress my girlfriends mother), a software engineer, and a lecturer and researcher in mapping science. I won jobs, sometimes due to my tenacity, but looking back, mostly through word of mouth.

In the 90s I started a consultancy and did map modelling for universities, the water industry, all levels of the Australian government and the UN. Magically, consulting work and now my employees came via word of mouth.

So, after 40 years as an employee and as a consultant, Ive learnt that the secret sauce for getting work is relationships, especially professional relationships. These need not be insincere or manipulative. Opportunities naturally arise if you make the effort. The trick to giving relationships their best chance of yielding work is to put yourself in the other persons boots and empathize with their problems, their hopes and their dreams. Getting work becomes a simpler exercise when youve customized your offering to meet someones needs. And that, in a nutshell, is what this book is about.

Im a teacher at heart. Now, in my 50s, I can look back on my career as an employee looking for work, as a consultant winning work, and as an employer hiring and firing. When I started out, the guidance I give you in the following pages was not around for me. In the absence of a mentor, I had to work it out for myself. And so here it is for you. For all you early career job seekers, I hope The Job Hunting Book makes your job seeking journey an easier one.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE #1 ALEX HASNT READ THIS BOOK YET.

Job hunting is frustrating. This must be Alex one hundredth job application. Alex has downloaded a rsum template from the web, filled it in, and by changing the job and employers details, has been very efficient and emailed it to five employers just today

Lou is overworked and understaffed. The right employee would take the pressure off. The responses from last weeks ad keep coming in. Over two hundred already. Evaluating them is another job on top of everything else. It wouldnt be so bad if they were all killer candidates, but so far, they all seem hell-bent on sabotaging their chances. None have made the effort to address Lous carefully crafted job description, so only a few have made it into the maybe pile

Returning from a break, Lou sits down to check more emails. Spam, spam, spam, spam. Oh. Heres one. My new employee perhaps? Bla, bla, bla...promising...rsum attached...hmmm...

I bet they emailed this to 20 employers just today...Lets give them the benefit of doubt...Check them out on LinkedIn. Ahhhhh! Just as I thought. Alex is a student at a university. Nothing more. Why bother? Theres time Ill never get back!

Even good people have bad days, and its one of those days for Lou.

https://bit.ly/wsjsd-0-1 (9 minutes)

People talking about job seeking are like teenagers talking about sex. Most proclaim to be experts. Some have success stories to tell. Others, failure stories. Others are conspicuously quiet. Theres lots of talk. Lots of experts. But usually little actual experience.

Likewise, job seekers trade stories about a killer rsum or interview trick that landed a friend their dream job. Inevitably though, few have any strategic understanding of the job market. To be fair, few people do.

The key to getting a job is simple. You need to put yourself in the boots of your employer. The odds are, they just want to employ the most personable, most professional, most qualified person for the job, and with the least amount of effort on their part. I want this person to be you! Thats why this book focusses on three ideas that many job seeking books do not.

Your presence will allow you to tap into jobs more easily. Marketers call this a personal brand. The Kardashians and Oprah are two extreme examples. Your presence need only be a micro-brand. One that will make you just famous enough to turn an otherwise cold-call on an employer (think telemarketers at mealtime) into a warm-call (think coffee with a new friend).

Whether they like the idea or not, everybody has a personal brand. Lazy, party-animal, angry, spiteful... are not desirable ones to an employer. Better ones might be intelligent, hard working, professional, personable...

Your presence that well build together is everything about yourself that will make you the ideal candidate for your new job. Its what will give an employer the confidence to employ you. Its the research that youve done to understand your new job. Its your LinkedIn profile, informed by your research, that an employer can discreetly look at to find out more about you. Its the professionalism and confidence, underpinned by your job research, that you radiate when youre networking.