You’ve heard of the three Rs of education: reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. But have you heard of the two Ps of job hunting? They are proof and persistence.To get hired for your ideal job - or better yet, to have that job created just for you - you need to prove you can do the work, and persist past the point where others give up.Here’s how one woman did just that. What can you learn from her story?“I was dashing from the o...

You can learn a lot from books.The solution to almost any problem can be found in a book somewhere, and that includes problems you may be having with your job search.In fact, there’s one book I’ve used since 1996 to generate creative new ideas - at will - to produce job-hunting breakthroughs for my clients and readers.Here’s the funny part: It’s not even a book.It’s a collection of 56 idea-generating cards, called, “Thinkpa...

Last week, I wrote about how to use three principles from the book, “Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck,” by Michael Michalko, to find work faster.To recap, Michalko’s book helps you brainstorm solutions by forcing you to look at problems in nine different ways, arranged around the mnemonic SCAMPER. They are: Substitute; Combine; Adapt; Modify or Magnify; Put to other uses; Eliminate; Reverse or Rearrange.This week, I’ll a...

Every job search is a sales campaign. You knew that, right?Before getting hired for any job - from accountant to zoologist - you must first sell an employer on the idea of “buying” the services you offer as an employee. So, the more sales tricks you know, the shorter your next job search is likely to be.With that in mind, I interviewed sales expert Jeffrey Gitomer, author of several best-sellers, including the “Little Red B...

Yesterday, I was reading the book, “Make Success Measurable,” by Douglas K. Smith, and it reminded me of a management mantra they have at FedEx (and other innovative companies): You can’t improve what you don’t measure.Which got me thinking about job hunting…Here’s the thought: What parts of your job search do you measure? If you’re thinking, “Huh?” or “I don’t measure anything,” you are like a dieter who doesn’t own a scal...

Recruiters, also called headhunters, get paid by companies to beat the bushes for talented employees.Recruiters can be an important tool in your job-search arsenal.So, anything you can do to get noticed by more recruiters can ultimately help you get hired faster by employers. Here are two ways to do just that. One is new and high-tech. The other is neither. 1) Tweet on TwitterYou may have heard about Twitter.com. It’s a soc...

Networking to find a job is like yard work or exercise: If you really want to avoid it, any excuse will do.Some of the most frequent excuses I hear from job seekers about why they’re not networking effectively are, “I’m too shy,” “I’m too busy,” and “I really don’t need any help.” (Show of hands anyone?)But if you’re mired in a prolonged job search, maybe it’s time to rethink your networking strategy and confront those excu...

Most people looking for a job will tell you they are networking. And most people are wrong.All you have to do is carry a small notebook around, log how you spend your time during the day, and you’ll likely discover you weren’t networking as much as you thought. Probably not even 25%.Networking is like dieting. Most people on a diet will tell you they don’t snack between meals. And most people are wrong. Just tape a piece of...

The unemployment rate in April was little changed, at 5.0%, according to the latest U.S. Department of Labor report. Employment continued to decline in construction, manufacturing, and retail, while jobs were added in professional and technical services, and health care. Tip: The jobs are out there, but hiring demand is shifting from industry to industry. Changing labor conditions are among the only things that don’t cha...

Good follow-up is a highly effective job search tactic. Not only can it help you land your dream job, but it can help you land that dream job in less than thirty minutes.Everybody talks about meeting new people and renewing old contacts as a way to uncover job leads.But after you speak to someone about your job search, then what?You follow up with them later, that's what.Follow-up is an often-neglected part of networking th...