6 Month Anniversary of Unemployment: Lessons Learned from the Job Market

I’ve looked for work before: 2000, 1996, 1988, 1982 and multiple times in the 1970’s.  The job market for technical executive people like myself is very difficult... the closest thing compared to this was 1982, in the beginning of Reagan’s recession.  The problem with the job market is it is a very strong hirer’s market and the way you find a job is different in kind from how jobs were located during the candidate’s markets of the 1990’s.  Job sites are worse than worthless... they are simply engines of automated commoditization of job functions.  LinkedIn is more useful because it does open doors for differentiated job search, however, it doesn’t close deals.

What you need in this job markets is someone special inside the hiring company... someone who is willing to take career risk for you.  This is all about depth of relationships, not about breadth of networks.  Your inside person needs to vouch for you, to create a position for you, to create a sense of urgency for you, to unstick stuck hiring processes, to stand up and swear that you are worth the price premium, the special consideration or the extra incentive to close the deal.  This is different in kind from the most recent job markets I’ve participated in.  This is not just a question of doing all the old things you did before, only more often, faster, etc.

In 1982, when I decided to leave physics and Kansas State University, I had a number of industries that were interested in me: oil and gas exploration, weapons development, and telecommunications.   As the recession deepened through the spring, opportunities dried up right and left.  One Oklahoma petroleum lab sent me tickets to fly for a round of interviews and then a few days later, asked for the tickets back as hiring had been shut down.  Bell Labs shut down hiring too, however, a professor friend at KSU had an old high-school buddy from Taiwan whose organization was still looking for physics talent.  They were able to work around the HR system to get me an interview and a job in the Government Communications Department.  In this hirer’s market, Bell Labs had sent me an offer letter with monthly and annual salary figures that didn’t agree.  I was asked to accept the lower of the two and I did.  I had no bargaining power and the salary was still more than twice what I’d made as an Assistant Professor.

Who are these special people who will take a risk on you?  For the most part they are people who have taken a risk on you before... either because you reported to them, they reported to you or in some extraordinary circumstance (special project, emergency task force, mentoring relationship, etc.) a strong bond was created that withstood adversity.  Most people do not have many of these relationships, even if they have worked hard and behaved with integrity.  The right strategy in this market is to dig deep, identify these people (say the “Golden 20” in your career) and work to increase the depth of your relationships.  Communicate frequently and personally, bring quality with each contact, be thoughtful and generous with your time. Do whatever you can to help these people, especially if they are out of work too.

What’s your experience in this job market?  Have you thought about your “Golden 20” professional relationships recently?