I want to thank you for giving us your best advice for job seekers. You guys are awesome. Seriously, the list is an amazing collection of tips from HR professionals, recruiters, job coaches, and regular old joes.
My best advice? Stop being needy.
- No one is doing you a favor by interviewing you.
- When you are speaking to a potential employer, remind yourself that you don’t need the job.
- If you really needed a job, you would work at Wal-Mart.
Work is an exchange of goods & services. Your company exists to make a profit, and you work to earn money so you can support the things in life that have the most meaning for you.
Too many of us are involved in co-dependent relationships with our previous employers. We bring that psychological baggage into our interviews. There’s no bigger turn-off than a clingy, needy, desperate candidate who lacks confidence and self-awareness.
If you lack meaning in your life, and if you feel disconnected from the ones you love, a job will not fill that void. Dump those insecurities, re-prioritize your life and think about why you’re working, and engage each potential employer with a sense of determination and confidence.
I know you can do it.
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YOU are an awesome dude Laurie.
Simply. Eff-ing. Awesome.
I love you in the “This is awkward, but I think I like it” way.
(OK, too much?)
Seriously – as a hiring manager I can’t tell you how many times I’ve interviewed a candidate who’s modesty and self consciousness overwhelmed.
I want to know that you can do the job and do it well. I don’t want to feel like I’m taking a chance on you; so I need you to be certain that you’ve got this covered. The more certain you are, the more confident I am.
I’m not saying be a prick about it. But I am saying look me in the eye and challenge me to be good enough to win you as an employee.
At the end of the day (and this is true in most aspects of life) cowards are rarely able to do business with each other. Now put two courageous lions in a room together and you can count on coming away with a deal in some form.
Not sure why it is, but it is.
As always, IMHO.
Sid.
I am not an HR person. I’m just a regular worker bee kind of employee. But I’ve known Laurie for many years and when I read this latest post, I felt compelled to post.
Laurie, you are so right on about this. A job is a contract between an employer who needs work to be done and an employee who agrees to do that work in exchange for agreed upon compensation.
Anything else that interferes with that simple contract will subvert its best conclusion — be it unrealistic expectations on the part of the employee, a labor union, a government mandate, a minimum wage law, etc.
Of course, you’re not saying any HR professional should violate laws in their hiring practices, but it’s good to see that at least your *philosophy* on the purity of the employment contract is on the money.
Huzzah!
@Sid When I see someone who has been beaten down by the system, I want to hug him and send him to therapy. I don’t want to hire him. I want him to be healthy and come & see me in six months when things are better. I don’t want that baggage at my office.
@Jeff What about an unrealistic expectation of an employer who tries to disrupt our social system in America by holding our wages hostage through the threat of outsourcing the jobs to India and China? I don’t believe in that, either. Free market is neither free nor fair. (You, my friend, are still awesome. Miss you.)
Yes– I agree. Where in the job description does it say “Looking to hire Weenie.”? Here’s a quarter…etc.
Correction: Even Wal-Mart isn’t hiring these days.
No wiser words ever spoken..er…written: “If you lack meaning in your life, and if you feel disconnected from the ones you love, a job will not fill that void.” Too many folks hope that next job will be the one that finally makes their life perfect. Spoiler alert: It won’t unless it’s like 95% perfect already!
Laurie…you should make this into a t-shirt or maybe a poster similar to an old one with a fish on a bicycle. (Ref dates me I’m afraid.)
Peace out and in.
Word, Laurie. Word.
Yep – if I needed to feed my family I would work anywhere…if I want fulfillment – it takes more.
Also, advice to job seekers…ask questions during the interview…don’t just nod and say “sounds great.” If you have concerns/questions ask…
I am not a hiring manager but was part of a team that would interview and evaluate potential hires for my former dept. Those who asked the “tough” questions of me got my recommendation…those who didn’t did not.
I am glad to have found this site off media bistro. Question – what happens when you have a boss who tell you you will be getting health insurance, then tells you he never said it and you are advised by other employees to not ask again or you’ll be terminated?
Also, what happens when said employer will not allow you time off to get a root canal and you are working in pain and you just have to suck it up and you cant go to the ER because, well, see first issue – no health insurance! bascially , my job was threatened and I had to suck it up because I needed the job and my dentists hours conflicted with my work hours. The I got terminated for being late for a cracked tooth. I was in agony. so, I worked there for 2 years. I never got my health insurance or time off to take care of things like a busted tooth or to move.
Suggestions? I just want to make sure I get my unemploymnet as i support myself.
This is a topic we are discussing currently. Social media is the future and mobile recruiting as an extension is going to be critical for most organizations (the present for some). The obvious number of mobile phone users makes this a methodology that just cannot be ignored.
Laurie,
I couldn’t agree more. There’s no crying in job hunting! http://bit.ly/BlWrJ
@Laurie I love you like my own sister, but your reply is so loaded with assumptions that it is difficult to know where to begin a response.
What is “unrealistic” about an employer wanting to contract with labor for the lowest possible cost? If less expensive workers can be hired abroad, the business’s goods can be sold more cheaply (thereby rendering them more widely available) or the company can reap greater profits which will then find their way into the economy as a whole. When prices go down, everyone benefits.
You talk about “our” social system, but I don’t recall ever adopting it or voting for it. I sort of inherited it with no one asking me if I wanted it. You also mention “our” wages, as if they were somehow due to the employee by mandate. Until the employer and employee contract for the labor to be performed, there is no set amount to the wages. It’s not as if foreign labor is a tactic or a bluff — it’s reality. We must adapt or die.
For an original post that seemed to be saying that a potential employee is not entitled to anything from a prospective employer, you seem to be implying in your reply to my comment that the potential employee is indeed entitled to quite a bit. Which is it?
I know this post may be off-topic for your blog, so I’ll gladly take my response off the air. You know how to reach me if you wish to administer a thrashing.
@Jeff This blog doesn’t allow for a deep dive because, well, that’s boring. Honestly, no one gives a shit re: our opinions on labor relations, unions, Taft-Hartley, and foreign outsourcing of jobs. We can hash this out over coffee and Denny’s like the good old days. Let’s get some fries and onion rings. PS — I will say this much: I want to live in a society where a corporation isn’t viewed as a person and given more rights than an American citizen. If we fix that problem, many other problems will go away. This is why I supported and donated to Al Franken.
@Staci LOL!!
@Keith I’m with you on mobile. It’s like ignoring the TV in the mid-50s. You can’t do it.
@allison Whoa, that’s a big situation. Email me at yo@punkrockhr.com and we can talk offline.
@Leanne It’s all a matter of confidence.
@Jackbuilt Aw shucks. I bow down to you and your awesome experience. You’ve seen it all, too.
@Ronnie Ann Thank you for the compliment. Coming from you, I’m really honored. xxxooo
@MattyMat Wal-Mart hires if you can pass the drug test. I’m just saying, buddy.
@Laurie I’ll see you at Denny’s, chum.
@Jeff Awesome! Dare we dream!