How to invest in job futures

On August 30, 2021
How to invest in job futures

Question

I sought out a couple of companies that I want to work with, researched them, found actual names to contact personally, and got interviews. They are impressed with my background and they want the talent I offer in their organization, but do not have a position open right at the moment. What can I say, or how can I continue to approach them so they do not forget about me?

Nick’s Reply

job futuresI’m going to show you how to stop trying to get a job today, and how to invest in job futures.

You have accomplished what all job hunters set out to do: You got a company interested in you. Even though neither of these two can hire you now, they are very real, long-term prospects and you’d be remiss if you did not cultivate them properly.

But here’s the important lesson: This is how most good opportunities germinate.

Job futures

It’s far more likely for an employer to meet impressive candidates than it is to hire one. Even after the interview, you remain impressive. It’s just that, no matter how impressed it was, the employer forgets you. It’s on you to keep that spark of interest alive by investing in it. Most people just flat-out fail to recognize and nurture “job futures.” Future opportunities are some of the very best if you keep tending them. Don’t let this one die on the vine.

Good opportunities germinate in a first encounter, and bear fruit later.

Imagine if during your life you had five or ten companies express this level of interest in you. At some point in the future, one or more of these seeds could blossom into a serious opportunity, but only if you tend it during all that time. The next step you take is potentially far more important than responding to job postings or tweaking your LinkedIn profile. So get moving.

They won’t forget you

I would e-mail or call the managers you spoke with. Give a gracious thank-you, and ask if there are other positions open — positions for which you might be able to recommend other candidates. Yes, you are offering a professional courtesy. You are helping these managers fill other jobs and you’re establishing a valuable relationship, and you’re helping a friend get a job. (Don’t worry that you’re creating your own competition by referring someone else! If these managers think you’d fit one of those other jobs, they now have even more reason to consider you — they already know you!)

They won’t forget you.

Then ask for a favor in return: Do they know managers in other good companies — managers they respect — to whom they would recommend you? Add, “And if nothing works out, I promise to stay in touch with you in the event a position opens up in your company.” Ping them every three months. Share a relevant article you’ve read, ask for advice about some work-related topic, and otherwise gently cultivate your connection.

Keep tending this investment and they won’t forget you. This is how I cultivate good candidates I’ve found but have not placed. Yet.

Invest now

I’ve seen people miss out on great opportunities because they failed to understand how long-term business relationships work, and because they are in a rush. They want a job now, so they disregard a chance to develop a lasting relationship they will need in the future. Today’s job often arises from diligent follow-up work you started years ago.

In three years, you’ll wish you’d started doing this now.

Has a rejection ever turned into a job offer for you later on? Do you stay in touch with managers you “clicked” with but who didn’t hire you? Do you have other examples of such contrarian experiences, where a thoughtful courtesy — I call it investing in job futures — results in a benefit later on?

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Job-search blasphemy: Ask for the boss’s resume

On August 24, 2021
Job-search blasphemy: Ask for the boss’s resume

Question

60 years of experience have taught me that most managers are not qualified to manage. But most job applicants never check them out before accepting a job. Nor do they check out the managers several layers up. It’s a recipe for disaster and it’s so obvious. What are your thoughts?

Nick’s Reply

boss's resumeEver ask a hiring manager for their resume before you agree to a job interview? No? Why not?

This is the danger of applying for lots and lots of jobs. The more jobs a person applies for, the less due diligence they do on any of them, including on the managers they’d go to work for. When one of 20 job applications yields an interview, there’s no good way to do your homework in time. In fact, the smartest approach is to do your homework before you apply! (Don’t miss What if there’s no time to prepare for the interview?)

Who’s your boss?

I believe the failure to do such due diligence increases the chances you’ll go to work for a lousy manager, simply because the baseline probability that any particular manager is inept is significant.

“Nor do they check out the managers several layers up.”

Resume Challenge: Who’s the boss?
I invite managers, HR, career experts, even job seekers to give us one good reason why hiring managers should not provide their resumes to job applicants. Use the Comments section below.
Now you’re literally “taking this to the next level!” I mean as a job seeking strategy. Job seekers typically “research a company” before an interview, but their research is cursory at best. Here’s the key: “It’s the people, Stupid!” You need to know who’s your boss. (The other key is Never work with jerks.)

A prudent job seeker checks out the hiring manager who owns the job, and the bosses above the manager. Your success at a job depends heavily on the people that run the joint. While the conventional wisdom focuses on winning an offer, that’s not the goal. The goal is a job working for good managers and a good company.

So I agree with you completely. Check out the management stack before you invest time pursuing a job. Because if you don’t, and you invest heavily in interviews, and they make you an offer, you’re very likely to take an offer from the wrong people — and you will rationalize your decision simply because you put so much time into it.

Due diligence

Pick your target companies and managers thoughtfully. This is the time for due diligence.

Before you interview:

  • Ask who will interview you.
  • Ask who the hiring manager is.
  • Ask who is the manager’s boss and who their boss is.
  • Use Google and LinkedIn to check them out further. Be thorough.
  • Ask around — who knows these managers?

After you interview with the hiring manager, ask to briefly meet their bosses.

In Fearless Job Hunting, Book 5: Get The Right Employer’s Attention, I show how to conduct due diligence before and during the interview, and before accepting a job offer. These are just a few tips to help keep you out of trouble.

In the interview, don’t miss these points:

  • What must the company do to meet its goals? Is your job important in meeting these objectives? How?
  • Check out the tools that will be at your disposal. If they’re not part of the deal today, don’t expect you’ll get what you need later.
  • Who, in other departments, will affect your ability to do your job successfully? Meet them. Look for facilitators and debilitators—people that will help and hinder your performance.

From “Is this a Mickey Mouse operation?”, pp. 13-15

Have you seen your boss’s resume?

The alternative is to request what they demand from you — the bosses’ resumes. Does this all seem inappropriate and awkward? Perhaps even blasphemous? Contrary to how we’re programmed to (not) think when we’re job hunting, seeing your new bosses’ resumes would be a prudent, reasonable thing before you decide to throw in with them.

They want to know who you are before they’ll interview you. They want your resume. They want to talk to your former bosses (references). And you can bet they’re going to check you out online.

Maybe you won’t see their resumes, but by job offer time, make sure you know who your bosses are. Judge them all, because your success depends largely on who you’re working with.

Do you know who your bosses will be when you’re considering a job offer? Is it so unreasonable to want to read a new boss’s resume? How do you avoid taking a job with the wrong people? How else can you check out, in advance, who you’ll be working with?

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Jobs for old managers?

On August 23, 2021
Jobs for old managers?

How Contractors Can Successfully Manage from the Outside

Source: Knowledge@Wharton
By Staff

old managersWharton management professor Peter Cappelli ran into a former student who noticed an increasing number of managers being hired on contract. These weren’t consultants or people angling for full-time work, but contractors who were being handed over control of company employees to execute a project or tackle a problem.

Despite being outsiders with no personal connections or networks, these contractor-managers were doing a terrific job. “They don’t have anything to gain by taking credit from you,” Cappelli said. “You can trust them much more than you can trust your own boss by revealing problems. They’re not going to punish you for that, but do you trust your own manager not to do that?”

If contractor-managers don’t want any credit, and they aren’t interested in getting their foot in the door at a company, what’s really in it for them? Cappelli explained that most of them are retired or in the late stage of their careers, they have amassed a certain amount of knowledge, and they want the flexibility that comes with being an independent contractor.

“It’s an interesting self-selection,” he said. “They are people who aren’t necessarily young and hungry, not desperate for work. What they appreciate is the ability to have some choice over what they do and how they do it.”

 

Continue reading

Nick’s take

Peter Cappelli’s survey reveals that outsiders can be the best managers at a company. More important: An uptick in contract management jobs may be a boon for retired (older!) managers who still want to work. Cappelli also points out the gotchas in such jobs. But if I were a retired manager or an unemployed manager of any age, I’d be looking at consulting firms that fill such jobs. Cappelli names one in the article.

What’s your take? First, can an “outsider” manager really pull off what insiders can’t? To my point, could this be a good career channel for unemployed managers — especially retired ones?

 

 

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How can I “hang out” to make new contacts?

On August 16, 2021
How can I “hang out” to make new contacts?

Question

make new contacts“The best way to land a new job is to make new contacts. Hang out with people who do the work you want to do.” Nick, you often write that and it makes me misty for the days when that was possible. [See last week’s column.]

Even before Covid, “hanging out” with people was getting more and more difficult. After-work hangouts – maybe in big cities or company towns — are just gone! In suburban metro Boston, that seems un-pin-downable! Again, even before Covid, it seems like a lot of people with serious commutes were more focused on getting home than hanging out after work, especially as they got married and had kids.

The internet does offer some possibilities to meet people and “hang out” with them virtually, but it seems like the internet killed off a lot, too!

I often wish you and your readers would talk about how they make that happen — make new contacts that might lead us to good jobs. How do you “hang out with people” these days?

Nick’s Reply

NOTE: We all know that other people are our main source of introductions and personal referrals to new jobs and work. The purpose of this week’s Q&A is to poll everyone for your ideas about how to make new contacts in a time when the pandemic has made it more difficult to meet people easily. I’ll offer this reader a few tips, and I suspect you can share even better ways of “hanging out” to make new contacts nowadays.

That’s a good question. Virtual gatherings are not as useful (or fun) as doing it in person. The virus has made socializing and meeting new people more difficult. The professional events and gatherings that served us well are curtailed. I wish I could wave a magic wand and get us all out in the real world to hang out! The internet and social media have not been an adequate substitute for having a glass of wine or a beer with people.

More ways to make new contacts

So that really forces us to consider how we can connect. During this iffy phase of the pandemic, meeting in person might be limited to outdoors, but you may still be able to pull it off. I sometimes round up a few business friends for lunch or breakfast in a safe outdoor setting, and suggest they each bring a friend, co-worker or boss — or a vendor or consultant they like. There’s no agenda. We just hang out and talk. We avoid asking about open jobs. We talk about our work and other interests.

Another way to trigger hanging out is to reconnect with people you worked with years ago but haven’t seen. Meet somewhere you all feel comfortable. The agenda can be to catch up on one another’s work, and perhaps to serve as a sounding board for one another to get a different perspective. I have two old work buddies that I go on hour-long hikes with. We each bring up a work problem we’re facing and discuss it. It’s amazing how someone outside your own field can help you see new solutions. (Learn why shared experiences are the key to good networking.) These two have introduced me to their own business buddies that I’ve met at outdoor cafes. (Not everybody likes to hike!)

Online ways to make new contacts

Does your business or field have any good online discussion forums where people talk shop? Do you belong to an association that meets via Zoom? Search Google for your type of work plus Zoom to see what you can turn up. You have to be creative and put a bit of effort into it.

If you’re in a trade or other profession (as opposed to working in an office), talk to your sources of supplies or services. Ask them who they think are the best in your line of work. Get introduced. Get in touch. If you’re not sure how to start a discussion, ask the person how they’ve handled a problem you’ve faced on the job — and say your supplier gave you their name. Offer to return the favor of their advice. You’ve made a new buddy.

Hang out on the phone

Sometimes the phone is best. About once a year I make a point of e-mailing past clients I haven’t seen or heard from in a long time. I rekindle things by suggesting we catch up by phone. These calls can go an hour! I make no sales pitches; I keep it social but professional. I always ask who they’ve met in the past year that impressed them, and that sometimes leads to introductions.

Humans are very social animals. We’re also lazy! There are ways to connect if it’s important to us, though it make take a special effort. I think it’s always worth it!

How do you meet new people and make new contacts that might lead to a job? Is hanging out with people who do the work you’d like to do still possible? Other than in-person, online or one the phone, how can we make the personal connections that open up new work opportunities? I’m sure you’ve got better ideas than mine!

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LinkedIn & Indeed aren’t good sources of hires because they don’t know anybody

On August 9, 2021
LinkedIn & Indeed aren’t good sources of hires because they don’t know anybody

Question

Whatever sources of hires you use, are you more interested in passive or active candidates? By passive I mean people that aren’t actively looking.

Nick’s Reply

sources of hiresFirst, you shouldn’t worry about what any headhunter is interested in. Headhunters are involved in relatively few hires among all jobs that get filled every day. You should be focused instead on conducting your own job search and cultivating good professional contacts. Most hires come from respected sources in your field that know and recommend you.

That’s why websites like LinkedIn and Indeed are lousy sources of hires and jobs. They have no brain! I’ll explain why it’s painfully obvious in a moment, even if employers pour billions of dollars into these third-rate database companies masquerading as second-rate database companies.

Real sources of hires (and jobs)

As a headhunter, I’m not interested in candidates. I’m interested in sources of the best candidates. It’s important to understand this. When an employer posts a job, its HR department looks in the wrong places — the job boards — to find as many candidates as it can. HR likes to say it’s “sourcing” job candidates. But it’s hardly sourcing when a job board runs a program that matches sequences of characters in a job description to characters in millions of resumes.

I’ll jump over the 200 keyword-matched candidates (passive or active) that LinkedIn or Indeed delivers, to instead talk to one or two “shining lights” in the industry or field I hunt in. These respected, successful people know a handful of workers who would be best for my client — maybe you! — and that’s all I need to fill a job. That’s what I get paid for: Having sources who know the best.

So, while I place candidates, I look for good sources first. Then I don’t have to find candidates. (I don’t care a rat’s patootie for database matches.)

What do they know?

The database jockeys behind these job boards will answer that they do recommend the best candidates — the ones with the highest matches! So, why don’t they bill for their services only when the employer hires one? (Check out Indeed sucks on a leading HR podcast.) I challenge any job board to operate under this model: Pay per hire. They’d never risk it because they don’t really know the candidate.
It’s irrelevant whether someone is active or passive, employed or out of work. What matters is what the opinion makers in your field think of you — and I’ve placed some phenomenal unemployed people that most recruiters wouldn’t even talk to. Recruiting isn’t really about filling jobs. That’s not what companies pay headhunters for. They pay us because we are a hub of sources. Good headhunters have good sources — people in a field that others go to for advice like, “Who would you recommend for this job?” Such sources put their reputation on the line every time they make an introduction.

So what matters is not whether the candidate is active or passive. It’s whether the headhunter has access to good referrals, recommendations and introductions in the professional community in which they operate. This is how we find only the few best candidates, whether they’re “looking” or not — and that’s why the headhunter doesn’t need 1,000 keyword-matched profiles.

That’s why job boards are a lousy way to fill or find a job. They deliver massive digital dumpsters full of “keyword-matched” resumes for employers to wade through, because they don’t know anybody so they cannot recommend the best candidates.

My sources need to know you

What makes this good for you is that you don’t need a headhunter (much less Indeed!). You just need to do what headhunters do: Rely on credible referrals.

  • Participate in your professional community.
  • Seek out the most skilled, talented, respected workers — the ones others turn to for opinions, advice and help.
  • Hang out with them.
  • Get to know them.
  • Help them get to know you.
  • (Don’t forget to be really good at the work you do.)

It’s up to you to be known to the sources employers and headhunters rely on. When they’re asked, you’re who they will recommend — because they know you. Then it’s up to you to decide how passive or active you want to be.

If I’m involved in the deal and you come highly recommended, I don’t care whether you’re active or passive. I do care that you’re one of a very few excellent candidates recommended by a trusted source — someone that knows you — for a job I’m working on, and my next step is to get to know you better. The same goes for any good employer (you don’t need a headhunter).

Machines, software, algorithms, databases — it seems to have escaped everyone that they don’t know anybody.

What’s the key to getting hired (or to filling a job)? Just how personal must this be? Are the job boards an adequate substitute for the a personal recommendation from a credible source? Can personal recommendations scale as sources of hires and jobs? (Is scaling even desirable?) These are big questions that database jockeys never ask much less answer. Only you can do that. Please share your answers — and ask your questions.

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Rescinded job offer: Did you dodge a bullet?

On August 2, 2021
Rescinded job offer: Did you dodge a bullet?

Question

I’d like to bring up an old subject — a rescinded job offer. I’ve been a reader for a while and have been helping my father in an interview process. He has been in the construction industry for 30-35 years and consistently climbed the ranks from laborer to owning his own construction company and hiring and managing project managers. He was recently approached for a president position at a mid-sized company. I spruced up his resume and helped him prepare for the interviews.

rescinded job offerAll went well. They said they wanted to grow the division to 3X its size under his leadership, and that they would make it worth his while. We were shocked when the offer came through without mention of any incentive plan to meet the ambitious growth objectives that were a cornerstone of their discussions. The offer was just a solid salary and a promise of a “review in 6 months.”

He was disappointed but still interested in the job, and he wanted to think it over for a few days. He had some concerns about the leadership team and the way this job would change his life. On day 2 they gave him a deadline to decide: evening of the next day. He replied, asking until the afternoon of day 4. On the afternoon of day 3 they rescinded the offer because they wanted someone who was “all in.”

I believe he dodged a bullet. The sudden rush for a decision, no plan to reward the ambitious growth they want him to commit to, and the sudden withdrawal of the offer —  these are all red flags to me. What are your thoughts? Am I off base?

Nick’s Reply

Last week we discussed how job opportunities go south. This is special case because a tendered job offer went south! Sometimes you cannot see an employer clearly until you witness its behavior after it makes you a job offer. These people sound like jerks, and I’ll explain what I mean in a minute.

What’s behind a rescinded job offer

First let’s look at the facts and at the employer’s behavior. These are signs a job offer might be rescinded.

  1. They came to your father; he didn’t approach them. In such situations, the employer should be extra respectful (they want you to marry them!) and deferential (no rush for intimacy!). This employer demonstrated neither the appropriate respect or deference.
  2. Their pitch was not matched by their offer. I agree – there should be terms in the offer about rewards for meeting the key objectives for the job. It appears that 3X growth is a cornerstone of this job, so where’s the support in the offer?
  3. You don’t woo someone that you really want to hire by giving them ultimatums.
  4. It seems to me this company was not “all in” on hiring your dad, and while there are several indications, it became starkly evident when they ignored his request for an extra day. Granting it would have been a courtesy — and a sign of good faith.

Based on what you’ve shared, I agree your dad dodged a bullet. I think the company rescinded the job offer because your dad’s hesitation signaled that he saw problems — and this employer likes its executives to be a little bit blind. The reason for my conclusion is simple: What you see is what you get. If he accepted the offer under these circumstances, he should expect to be treated exactly this way once he’s in the job.

Pursue dreams, not nightmares

Regular readers know that my mentor taught all his students this rule: “Never work with jerks.” The dismissive behavior of the company reveals jerks. Withholding a simple courtesy that your dad requested, and pulling the offer without any discussion, tells us all we need to know.

I know your dad is stinging a bit. It’s understandable that he was having dreams of running a larger company, growing a business, getting rewarded for doing a heavy lift (3X growth would indeed change his life!), and rising to the level he thinks he deserves. It’s hard when you can see it and taste it, it’s so close. But when we look at the reality of this deal, this company is not part of that dream. He’s got good dreams that he should absolutely pursue, except not with jerks that almost dragged him into a nightmare.

Turn the tables

More about rescinded job offers – and what to do about them
The only advice I’d offer in retrospect is this. Since your dad had reservations about the management team, he could have bought more time to consider the offer. Rather than ask for more time to think about it, he could have turned the tables and asked for one more round of meetings with the executive team.

How to Say It
“For our mutual benefit, I’d like to make sure we’re all on the same page regarding the company’s ambitious growth plans. Before we finalize our decision to work together, I’d like to suggest we meet to review our objectives and plans for growth. Is your team available tomorrow?”

I could be wrong, but I think that might have bought him more time as well as more data points on which to base this important decision. I’m guessing the employer took more than 3 days to decide to make the offer! However, I don’t think any of this would have changed the outcome, except perhaps that your dad would have been the one to end the discussions.

Rescinded job offer? On to the next!

Please congratulate your dad on getting an offer to run a company. Even jerks recognize a talented manager, even if they don’t know to treat him. I’m sure your dad knows the difference between good people and jerks. In the throes of getting a job offer, we sometimes set aside our good judgment. Having had time to consider the signals this company gave off, I think your dad might see what life probably would have been like working there.

Please tell him I suggest that, now that he knows how to sell himself as a top executive, he should pursue that kind of job with good people at a healthy company that demonstrates respect and appropriate deference.

Some might view your conclusion and mine as “sour grapes.” But I really think the evidence you’ve shared tells us your dad dodged a bullet.

I hope something I’ve said is helpful. On to the next! I wish you both the best.

Is my analysis sour grapes? What could this executive job candidate have done differently? Was the employer to blame for rescinding this job offer? Have you ever dodged a bullet? What happened?

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