Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
But while you spend your weekdays searching job boards for open positions, attending networking events, and having lunch with your contacts, Saturdays aren’t quite as productive…or are they?
An Infographic on choosing majors and careers
I hear from other Boomers all the time about how their age is keeping them from competing in the job market today. They claim that recruiters take one look at their face or (graying) hair and make a quick decision to move on to a younger candidate.
The temptation to hand over your precious time, labor, ideas, and energy in exchange for $0.00 dollars per hour might sound ridiculous, especially to those who are currently working and earning a regular paycheck. But for those who have been out of work for a few months or longer, your perspectives may begin to shift.
Entourages are about collaboration and relationships, which means that both parties are committed to helping each other. If you meet someone who seems disinterested in you or overly interested in himself, he’ll probably never make the cut from contact to entourage member – no matter how well connected he is.
It’s a sad fact but some hiring managers have a stigma against unemployed candidates. Here’s how to overcome this bias and land the job.
Being generous with your time, contacts and wisdom will make you attractive to the right kinds of people. You’ll find that the contacts and wisdom seem to grow exponentially as your circle of quality contacts grows.
Rivell Daniels says that there are several steps to creating a memorable brand, whether it’s for a new network or a candidate newly on the market for a job.
Recruiters are on your side. They’re out to help you, not exploit you, and they can be powerful allies during your job search process. But while you make yourself available to them and answer their questions promptly, it’s important to remember that you aren’t paying them—they’re working for their employer clients, not you. It’s their job to help their clients fill open positions as efficiently as possible, so when they have to choose between the needs of a client and a candidate, the candidate is likely to take second place. Generally, recruiters are diplomatic, respectful, kind, and pleasant to interact with.
But sometimes—there’s no harm in admitting it—they’ll tell a few white lies.
The first week that you started looking for a new position, hiring managers may not have even noticed that you were technically unemployed. And they certainly (hopefully) had the common sense not to hold this against you. But if you’ve been on the market for a few months—or years—now, things might be a bit different.
