I am once again reminded this morning, while tediously preparing my daily food logs, that weight loss and maintenance are a never ending battle. I have lost 32 pounds over the last 3 years and have kept it off for over one year! Unfortunately, I have to battle every day to prevent these pounds from coming back. One terrible weekend can result in almost a ten pound gain!

This is one reason why I can truly sympathize with job seekers during one of the worst jobs markets in my over twenty years as a technical recruiter. Many of your thoughts of despair, depression and hopelessness are ones I face daily in my quest to conquer my propensity towards obesity. It seems like The Myth of Sisyphus in which you constantly roll the boulder to the top of the mountain only to have it roll down when you are almost at the top. The philosopher Albert Camus likened this to modern life working in futile jobs in factories and offices. He said, “The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious.” Though originally published in 1942, these thoughts are very apropos today during these times of severe unemployment.

As in my case of battling weight gains, there is no easy solution. I am a strong advocate of the Power Of Push. This means that you need to push yourself hard on a daily basis to do things that you do not want to do even during your most dire moments of despair. One item that works for me is keeping a daily food log of all food intakes. In your case, I recommend keeping a daily jobs log including: 1) all successes 2) all failures and 3) thoughts for what to do differently in the future. Remember there is no easy solution during these tough times.

Late last night when I was mopping around, a friend of mine named Greg called to encourage me to go out. Though I didn’t want to I pushed myself to do so and as a result I had a great time. This is a vivid demonstration of the POWER OF PUSH! When you do not want to engage in job-hunting activities is the precise time that you should push yourself to do so. In my case if I stayed home I would have binge ate many needless calories. Instead, I pushed to go out, pushed to not eat when I was out and had a great time including meeting many interesting contacts. Once again, this is an example of what you need to do when you are “down in the dumps” and do not want to exert any effort.

Remember: LIfe is not fair and the world doesn’t revolve around you. For example, just because you sent out 1000 resumes and didn’t get an interview does not mean that you should give up! On the 1001st resume you may land a top interview which will lead to your dream job!

The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) figures for May showed 431,000 jobs created, which lead to the May  unemployment rate dropping .2% to 9.7%. Unfortunately, 411,000 of those jobs were temporary Census positions. As a result, things remain very gloomy!

However, I am reminded today by my own trials and tribulations of food loss that life is not easy. For example, I need to continue to prepare a daily food log of all food intakes to prevent me from binge eating and gaining weight. The same is true for you as a job seeker during this tough times. You need to prepare a daily log of all job-hunting activities to gauge whether you are working smart or just hard.

To commemorate the passage of Memorial Day and the great sacrifices our armed forces have made to make our country great and free, I have just released my 12th and final commandment of interview preparation. Please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/interview-preparation-tips/index.php and click on 12th (below) to view.

I have created these twelve complimentary commandments to assist you with your all-important job interviews. This month’s tip deals with one of the most overlooked parts of the interview process; follow up (or lack thereof) after an interview. It is entitled, “After the interview is over send a sales letter.”

A sales letter is a thank you letter on steroids! It is 25% thank you for your time and 75% salesmanship reinforcing 2 or 3 reasons why you are best qualified for the job. 
For example, “Mr. Jones, I really enjoyed our interview yesterday (the thank you part). As a result, I feel even more than before that I am a great fit for your organization. I say this because (list 2-3 reasons why and give examples= this is the sales part). “ 

This will provide you one more opportunity to sell yourself as a solution to that employer’s needs! So remember to send a sales letter after all your interviews.

This concludes my 12 Commandments of Interview Preparation. Please feel free to return and review all twelve at your convenience. I hope they can be a benefit to you.

Is higher learning currently worth your time and expense? An Ivy League education now costs around $200,000. Yet, 2 million college graduates are now out-of-work! Traditionally, many continued on after college to graduate programs because of the high payoffs. For example, law school had historically been a ticket to financial security. This spring 40,000 law school students braved three additional tough years of classes and the huge expense in hopes of a brighter future. Unfortunately, their situation is so bleak that many students and industry experts are rethinking the value of a law degree.

Landing a job continues to be a Herculean task especially with the official unemployment rate at 9.9%. The actual figure may be a lot higher due to many workers giving up looking for work, which leads to them not being counted by the official statistics. This problem affects young and old, skilled and unskilled. What is a worker to do?

Tough times require tough measures. One proven historical technique is networking. Instead, many candidates spend a lot of time and money developing and sending out their resumes. Regrettably, most human resource people only spend 5 to 10 seconds, when they do review your resume at all, only to screen you out! Instead, I recommend networking to generate interviews.

Though networking is not easy, it has a huge payoff. There are two types of networking: 1) traditional and 2) new, e-networking. Traditional networking has two types. First, is telling everyone you know that you are looking for a job. This includes friends and family. The second type is business networking. This includes joining associations in your field and meeting key decision makers.

The second form of networking is e-networking. This encompasses leveraging social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to meet people in your field, engage them in discussions and uncover key information about companies and bosses you wish to work for. E-networking is like networking on steroids because you can exponentially ramp up your Rolodex of contacts in a very short time! Also, you do not need to directly approach contacts for job opportunities. Instead, you can contribute to online discussions and create blog posts to become a recognized leader in your niche. This will get you noticed by hiring managers.

Whichever form of networking you choose, a valuable tool I recommend is the 30-second elevator pitch. Your goal during this pitch is to quickly convey three key items: 1) who you are? 2) What you are looking for? And 3) your 2-3 greatest strengths that you can offer an employer. You need to repeatedly practice this pitch in the mirror, in a tape recorder or on videotape until you perfect it. Then share it with everyone you know and meet.

Unfortunately, the job market remains tough. Fortunately, there are some proven techniques you can employ to increase your chances of success. One such technique is networking. By doing so you will meet key decision makers who can help you land a job.

Finding a job, like losing weight is a difficult task especially during these tough economic times. I have been fighting a propensity towards obesity my whole life. Fortunately, over the last few years I have lost over thirty pounds and kept it off for over one year! In order to achieve this success I have had to develop a stringent routine including keeping a daily food log of everything I eat, exercising hard at least five times per week and regularly employing positive self-talk to keep me on track.

Unfortunately, I do relapse including this weekend when several nights I stayed out very late (e.g. 5 a.m. on Friday night/Saturday morning) and binge ate! In order to end the rut, I had to push myself very hard today including an hour-long workout before lunch and very closely monitoring my food intakes. It was not easy, but the alternatives are disastrous. The caveat is there is no quick fix to weight loss. Instead it takes employing a lot of positive self-talk to encourage you to push yourself especially during those times when you really don’t feel like it!

The same it true for your job search. It is very easy to get discouraged during these rough times. However, as I have shared previously, you need to keep a daily journal of all your activities (similar to my food log). Furthermore, you need to push yourself when you don’t want to do certain things (e.g. networking). Keeping a daily journal keeps you on task similar to how it has assisted me during my major weight loss.

Please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/interview-preparation-tips/index.php and click on 11th (below) to view this month’s interviewing tip, which is thoroughly research your next employer.

This is an often-neglected step in landing your next job. Relying upon a friend or recruiter’s pitch is not enough. It is important to dig up a lot of employment information on the industry, the company and your next boss. Use the Internet, a local library and D&B Reports. This can take a lot of time, but failure to do so can be disastrous.

It is better to uncover a weak company before you join than six months after starting work. So remember to thoroughly research your next employer.

Executive recruiters (aka headhunters) can provide a valuable resource to help you land your next job. Unfortunately, many candidates do not understand the proper rules of engagement. Often they wrongly expect executive recruiters like myself to be unpaid servants who will gladly meet their every employment need. Instead, I am guided by the requirements of the paying customer, the employer. Employers retain me to find specific talent per their recruiting requirements. However, during the executive search process, just like a realtor who needs to balance the needs of the home buyer and seller, I too have to meet the needs of both parties because: a) hiring companies pay my fees and b) job seekers can provide a wealth of candidate referrals, which can translate into my fees.

However, in order to gain maximum benefit from a headhunter you will need to follow four simple rules. First, be aware that I am guided by the paying customer’s needs first and foremost. Second, each headhunter only has a limited number of clients and openings. Therefore, do not expect me to be a one-stop supermarket for all job openings. Instead, you need to contact several executive recruiters and follow many avenues to meet your employment needs. Third, when a recruiter like myself asks for certain information, please provide it. This will help me to best meet your needs. Finally, please do not expect a lot of personal guidance. Though I provide a lot more free resources than most recruiters including 1) a weekly blog at http://www.strategicsearch.com/interview-preparation-blog/ and 2) monthly instructional videos called “The 12 Commandments of Interviewing” at http://www.strategicsearch.com/interview-preparation-tips/index.php I cannot provide customized assistance. For that, you will need to retain me on a consulting basis.

To demonstrate the anthethis of how to properly utilize an executive recruiter, I reference a Prima donna who contacted me today. I met this person several times at various SEO (Search Engine Optimization) functions. To date he has never sent me his resume or any relevant career information. Furthermore, when I requested pertinent information from him today by directing him to: http://www.strategicsearch.com/interview-preparation-contact.php he refused. Instead, his response was, “I’m not a resume in a database, I’m a person. When you’d like to actually follow up, please let me know.” He went on to lecture me about “his” rules of engagement including how I should comport myself, provide him regular updates and work to quickly place him in his dream job. Needless to say I will never work with this candidate.

Remember, headhunters can assist you in finding a job. However, you will need to follow these four simple rules in order to foster a good relationship.

Please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/interview-preparation-tips/index.php and click on 10TH (below) to view this month’s interviewing tip, which is “how do you handle a low-ball offer?”

For example, an employer offering you a $70,000 salary when you were making $80,000. Often times this is just a interview test to see how you will react. Unfortunately, many job candidates fail the test because they get angry and overreact!

Instead, I recommend a 3-step process:

1. Confirm. For example, “Mr. Jones, do I understand that you are offering me $70,000?” He may say no and then your comeback should be, “what are you offering me?”

2. Once you know what the real offer is, then you are ready for the 2nd step, which is compliment and postpone. For example, “Mr. Jones, I really like your company because (then offer some legitimate reasons: this is the compliment part), but I need a couple of days to crunch the numbers (the postpone). Most companies will allow this.

3. Finally, the 3rd step is negotiate. This is where you offer a counteroffer. For example, “Mr. Jones, I crunched the numbers over the last few days and I really need $77,000 because (offer some legitimate reasons why).”

The result will be you will either get the amount that you wanted or you can move on to other opportunities. So remember to employ this 3-step process to handling low-ball job offers.

You may recall from past posts that I have a propensity towards obesity. As a result, I have had to work extremely hard to keep my weight down. I am proud of the fact that over the last two years I have lost over 30 pounds and have kept it off! However, this is not by accident. Instead, my nutritionist has shared and I have adopted many rigorous routines to keep my weight in check especially my binge eating.

One of my primary strategies is keeping a daily food log. This entails writing down everything I eat in real time including calories, grams of protein and grams of fiber. Many times I despise doing this because it is very tedious and time consuming. Furthermore, I cannot take a day off even when I am on vacation. Instead I just want to splurge, eat what I want and not write anything down. Unfortunately, if I do so I will slide back into oblivion.

My nutritionist constantly reminds me that there is no magic bullet to weight loss. Instead, you have to continuously remind yourself of “the power of push.” This means incessant, positive self-talk to reinforce appropriate behaviors even when I am totally against them.

The same is true for job seekers. As I have shared numerous times previously, many job seekers work hard, but they do not work smart. They blindly send out countless resumes and get mad when they do not have any results. Instead, I recommend networking to generate interviews. Though it is very tedious to meet people and sell them on yourself, research shows that this is the most successful way to land a job.

There are two basic types of networking: 1) electronic networking and 2) traditional networking. Electronic networking entails leveraging social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to meet others and learn about useful job related information. Traditional networking is the old fashioned form of joining associations in your field and meeting key decision makers.

Whichever form of networking you choice, I recommend developing a 30-second elevator pitch. During this pitch you want to quickly convey three things: 1) who you are 2) what you are looking for and 3) your 2-3 greatest strengths for the job you seek. Practice this pitch in the mirror, in your tape recorder and on video tape until you prefect it. Then share it with everyone you meet.

Also, similar to my food log, I recommend maintaining a daily networking journal. Set a goal to meet three new persons a day and then share your 30-second elevator pitch. You never know who might know about your next job. Monitor your progress with this log. If you have a bad day, snap back tomorrow with a strong one. This is all very tedious work, but as I learned from my nutritionist, there is no magical formula! Instead, you need to push yourself every day in order to succeed in landing your next interview and in turn your next job.