Brian Graham - Get Hired Fast!: Tap The Hidden Job Market In 15 Days

GET HIRED
FAST!

Tap the Hidden Job Market
in 15 Days

Brian Graham

For Brenda

Copyright 2005 by Brian Graham
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Published by Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 13: 978-1-59337-263-7
ISBN 10: 1-59337-263-9
eISBN: 978-1-44051-878-2
Printed in the United States of America.
J I H G F

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Graham, Brian.
Get hired fast! / Brian Graham.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-59337-263-9
1. Job hunting. 2. Employment interviewing. I. Title.
HF5382.7.G697 2005
650.14dc22

2004025973

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the
American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.

CONTENTS

When the Rules Dont Work, Change the Game:
Why Direct Calling Works When Nothing Else Does

Learn why its often tough to get a job, why it isnt your fault, and why
todays job market is so challenging and unpredictable.

In todays market, when most of the jobs are invisible, the
direct-calling strategy is the proven way to get a great job.

Find out how to supplement your search by using networking, job boards, and
other old-fashioned techniques in a smart and time-efficient way.

The Fifteen-Day Direct-Calling Campaign:
Your Game Plan for Success

Well before you pick up the phone, your successful direct-calling
campaign begins with a well-organized research program.

Your mission: fifteen days of intense effort. Your goal: three
interviews in three weeks. Your reward: a job.

Discover how to turn an initial phone conversation into the
face-to-face meeting that could land you a job.

Be prepared to make the best possible impression in your interview, and learn
how to counter even the toughest of questions with a winning response.

You can turn that hoped-for job offer into an even better job, and you can even
convert a job rejection into a positive for your career.

Take Control of Your Future: How to Enhance Your Job
SecurityAndYour Long-Term Career Security

Make yourself indispensable from the first day you start your new job.

With the days of a one-company career long gone, you need to learn how to
continually develop new and better job opportunities.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T his project began at the suggestion of Doug Wolf, author or coauthor of more than thirty outstanding books. Thank you, Doug, for the insight and recommendations that became the foundation for this work.

Thanks are also due to my agent, Margot Maley Hutchison of Waterside Productions, for her support and trust in a first-time author. I am also grateful to my editor, Jill Alexander of Adams Media, for immediately recognizing the potential of this new and exciting job-hunting approach, and for enthusiastically embracing this project. Many thanks to her and the team at Adams Media for making this book a reality. Thanks also to Alison Blake for her knowledge, intuition, and guidance in preparing this manuscript.

I want to express my appreciation to eleven leaders in the human resources and recruiting professions who shaped and influenced my thinking, and subsequently the content of this book: Dick Doman-ski, VP of Human Resources at ADP; Mark Smith and Alma Tcruz, human resources consultants; Andrea Jupina, successful author and founder of Andrea Jupina Associates; Chris Reardon, Senior Director of Staffing at Exel Logistics; Jim Armstrong, former Director of Human Resources at Sequent Computer Systems; Twilla Skelton, VP of Staffing at ACS, Inc.; Jim Lang, founder, Jim Lang and Associates; Jeff Simmons, Director of Executive Search, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Pam Ferrell, Manager of Bringing in Really Cool Talent, Texas Instruments, Inc. (her actual title!); and Bill Donovan, Founder and CEO of Proviture, Inc. I am indebted to all of you for the opportunities you gave me, and the experiences we shared. The knowledge I gained as a result of our association contributed greatly to the content of this work.

An undertaking like this is not possible without the support of family and friends. Id like to thank my parents, John and Sally Graham, and my mother-in-law, Zita Wiebler, for their unwavering confidence and their support of this project. Thanks also to my eight brothers, who have contributed indirectly to this work: Scott, John Jr., Andy, Bruce, Doug, Don, Dave, and Mike. (My next book should be about you guysoh, the stories I could tell!) Id also like to thank my good friend Brent Roberts for his contribution to this book. To my daughters Claire and Lucywithout even trying, you make life special, and I am so proud of both of you. And most of all, special thanks to my beautiful wife Brenda for her encouragement, insight, sense of humor, and support during this project. Youre lucky if once in a lifetime you meet someone special enough to change your life for the better. I was fortunate enough to marry that person, and my deepest thanks go to her.

PART
ONE
When the Rules Dont Work,
Change the Game: Why Direct Calling
Works When Nothing Else Does

CHAPTER
ONE
This Used to Be EasyWhat Happened?

Last time you needed a job, you posted your resume on Monster.com and got six calls the first day. Youre just as qualified nowbut the phone isnt ringing. This chapter will explain why jobs can be hard to find, and why you need to adapt your job-search strategies to uncover the ones that are out there.

R emember the good old days? A few years ago, finding a job was simple: You posted your resume on Monster.com, put the word out to your friends, sent hard copies of your resume to a few companies, and got in touch with the recruiters whod been pestering you for months. Then you ordered a pizza, sat down with a good book, and waited for the phone to ring.

Usually, you didnt have to wait long. Back then, employers hired nearly everyone in sight, and workersespecially those in high-tech jobscould name their price. With the dot-com boom in full swing, and employment hovering at 4 percent (and only 1.3 percent in places like Silicon Valley), employers were desperate, offering huge signing bonuses and high salaries to anyone with skills. Theyd even pay their staff thousands of dollars just for referring new employees.

That was then. Now, just a few years later, its a new world. Fortunately, were emerging from the shadow of the latest recession and recovering from the terrible hits our country took at the start of the new millennium: the tragedy of September 11, the dot-com crash, the scandals that brought down major corporations. Hiring is picking up, and were getting back to normalbut its a new normal, and the job market will never be the same again.