Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door (29 page)

Several years ago, a longtime friend from California called from out of the blue and asked me if I would advise him on getting his dream job, which he was applying for and thought he was a viable candidate. The post was the athletics directorship at a medium-sized university that wanted to take its athletic program to the next level. The bad news was the search committee was interviewing six people for the spot!

Within sixty minutes, I gave him the game plan and I assured him if he followed through on these ideas, he would automatically leapfrog over the competition. Worst-case scenario, it would be a photo finish as to whether he got the job or not. Here’s what I urged him to do:

Of course, my friend got the job, and it was the start of a phenomenal career. Each successive step was built on doing the same sort of preparation that landed him this opening, and doing the preparation better and better each time. The point of the process is this: If you really want a job, there is no such thing as a cold call. (In
Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling
, Sam Richter suggests how to develop this idea in the chapter titled “Bytes.”) If you do your homework, you should be able to anticipate every tough interview question thrown at you. If you want to convince people you are the perfect fit for a job, you have to persuade them you know what it takes to do the specific job that needs to be done.

If you’re out of work, and the landlord and bill collectors are the only incoming calls you’re getting, who’s thinking about how to find the perfect job? Are you nuts? Just give me that old-time paycheck and I’m good to go.

Likely as not, you won’t be.

Think about it. If you settle on a job just to settle your accounts, you’re likely to lose it. You’ll lose the next one. And the next one. And the one after that.

An adage true to my heart: Find a job you love, and you’ll never have to work another day in your life.

Joe McCannon is a VP of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He wrote a piece that appeared in the
Hartford Courant
and later was reprinted in the
Minneapolis Star Tribune
on eleven lessons for people about to embark on their new job.

His first piece of advice is to go after “interesting problems, not prestigious positions.” The second: “Seek responsibility, not income.” The first will keep you engaged in your work, and the second will help you shoulder tasks better.

Down the list, but important to keep in mind, McCannon warns of the “competence . . . trap . . . People who are competent and have a strong sense of responsibility will get used the most.” If you don’t remind your boss that you’re on the lookout for opportunity, you’re not likely to get it.

Some people make wish lists when they look for the perfect mate. Why not do the same as you try to find your next job? This sort of well-constructed list can tell you plenty about yourself and the kind of position in which you are likeliest to succeed. But make sure you are asking the right questions.

The ABC reality show
The Bachelor
has been around for thirteen seasons. Its longevity isn’t the most amazing fact about this show. What’s remarkable is that at last tally—of the thirteen perfect couples who finished off each season—none have yet made it to the altar, and most have broken up for good. That’s probably a lot better than a series of trips to divorce court, but it’s also evidence that people often don’t ask the right questions in making life’s big decisions.

When you design your own “perfect” job, here’s my list of the ten most important questions you should be asking yourself:

Landing a job you love is a matter of planning and design, not a matter of luck. “Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will,” quipped R. E. Shay, “but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit!”

© The New Yorker Collection 1992 Warren Miller from
cartoonbank.com
. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

When you’re getting a job, you’re working for yourself. It’s time to set higher expectations for yourself than any mean-spirited boss may have in your darkest days.

People always seem to perform better for others than they do for themselves. From time to time, you read about the psychiatrist who has helped so many of his patients rebuild their lives but whose own personal life is a wreck. How about the financial adviser who never picked a stock right for himself but managed to build a tidy pile for his clients?

Not many of us are able to do things for ourselves the same way we do them for others. That translates into whether we’re better at our jobs or better at our own affairs. Even people who make their livings negotiating can really mess up in the use of their professional skills in their own personal interests. Not every real estate expert who spends her career negotiating shopping center leases is an expert when it comes to negotiating her own compensation. The insurance company adjuster who knocks heads all day long negotiating settlements with personal injury lawyers still may be a patsy in settling his own salary differences with his employer.

When we accept a new job, most people have to represent their interests, whether they’re good at it or not. So we might as well try to learn how to be good at it. Whether or not you’ve ever negotiated anything else in your life, learn how to negotiate accepting a job offer.

Forget the flowery speeches and concentrate on knowing the other side’s strength and weaknesses. In other words, do your homework!