The current employment situation is very challenging for employers, but a ripe opportunity for employees. People who are dissatisfied with their job or workplace can easily find jobs they prefer, especially for those with sought after skills.
I covered the reasons why people were leaving their jobs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in a previous article and video. That was based on a webinar I attended called Future of Work Requires a Connected Experience. It was presented by David Johnson a principal analyst with Forrester Research.
According to the research, the five reasons people leave their jobs is:
No feedback
No development opportunities
Feeling unrecognized
Lack of trust
Feeling overworked or burned out
To be attractive to potential candidates who are feeling confident of their job prospects and opportunities, you need to show how you are an organization that values and promotes
Giving feedback
Providing development opportunities
Recognizing good performance
Trustworthiness and integrity
Employee well-being
The five items above are what your organization needs to be doing to keep and attract enough good employees. How well are you doing? Rate yourself on a scale of 1-5, 5 being excellent.
I suggest forming a team to discuss these items and come to consensus on how you score, and what you can do to improve. You may have a lot of solutions you can act on. Start with one that would be most impactful and easiest to implement.
I created a worksheet to help you come up with solutions after discussion with your team. Consider including a few employees in the team to work on this improvement opportunity how to market yourself as an employer of choice because you put into practice those five items that people are looking for. Subscribe now to my newsletter to get notified of the next article.
Have you ever thought of writing a book to market and showcase your expertise and sell your services?
Writing and publishing a book is a great way to establish yourself a subject matter expert and to attract potential customers or employers.
This way people interested in your expertise can come to you rather than you having to chase them.
If so, my friend and best-selling marketing author Michael DeLon has a special training just for you:
The Credibility Upgrade™: How to Stand Out From Your Competitors With Your Own Book—Without Having to Write a Single Word
At this training webinar, Michael demonstrates how you can become the go-to expert who never has to chase unresponsive leads. His method might be what you’re looking for if you:
Are tired of the gurus promoting the latest fad
Are frustrated with marketing agencies that make big promises but fail to deliver
Don’t want to use complicated online funnels
Have tried everything you’re “supposed to do” and still feel like you’re spinning your wheels
Have better things to do than spend countless hours on marketing efforts that don’t work
Michael will show you how to make all the obstacles disappear so you can enjoy the peace of mind and prosperity that come from being a respected and in-demand expert.
He’ll demonstrate how to become your prospects’ obvious choice by becoming the best-selling author of your own book… without having to write a single word!
Michael only does these live events once a month and the next one is going down in around 5 days’ time. There is nothing to buy so leave your credit card tucked away. It’s a live demo, pure and simple.
(Michael is adamant there will be no replay, so you must attend live or miss out.)
Professionals who offer advice, products, or services where your average sale price is a thousand dollars or more
What you’ll discover when you attend this event:
The Speak-to-Write Method: How you can become a published author WITHOUT spending your nights and weekends suffering in front of a blank word document (like Michael did when he published his first book)
The Pre-Conditioning Advantage: How to persuade your prospects to buy from you before you ever meet with them
The Profitable Podcast: How to implement the model Michael has used to connect with influencers like Dave Dee, Ray Edwards, and Cliff Ravenscraft, resulting in big referrals plus tens of thousands of dollars in revenue
The “C.B. Conundrum”: How to get out of the “comparison trap” that most small businesses are stuck in and be viewed as a unique expert
The “Won’t Hold Water” Test: How to determine if your lead gen is leaving money on the table because of this common problem
The Hammer Time Principle: How to align your marketing efforts so you’re always top-of-mind with your prospects
The Credibility Game Plan: How to stop “random acts of marketing” and start benefiting from a proven, repeatable system instead
Michael only does these live events once a month and the next one is going down in about 5 days’ time. Please note that Michael has an ironclad “no replays ever” policy so you will need to attend live to avoid missing out.
The demo will take 45 minutes and then Michael will host a Q&A.
If you have anything else booked for the time of this training, then move it. I’m serious. I mention that because Michael’s clients have gotten up to a 40x ROI using his credibility marketing model.
In part one of how to land your ideal job I showed the steps to prepare a vision board. The vision board is used to help you clarify what you are looking for in a job. This encompasses elements such as recognizing your expertise and what you really enjoy working on. It covers the type of company you want to work for and the people you want to work with. I suggest consulting that article and video along with reading this one.
Research
The next step is to research potential companies that meet your criteria for an ideal job. This should be clear if you have gone through part one and created your vision board, which engages your emotional and instinctive intelligences. This makes you like a magnet that is attracting opportunities for landing your ideal job and for connecting with people who can help you.
A good place to start is LinkedIn as most companies and employees have a profile there. You can see if they are hiring and what types of jobs they have posted. Job postings can be a good way to get a sense of the companies’ values, as often they will be expressed in the job posting or on their company age. You can then dive deeper by looking at their other web presences. Perhaps they ae hosting webinars or attending trade shows where you can go and meet people working there.
Indeed, is another good source to learn about jobs in certain companies and see how current and past employees rate them. Indeed has a very good database and search function to find information about jobs and companies in specific geographical regions.
People
Part of your research should be to find people working at specific companies you target through your investigation. These people can be a resource especially if you are looking to make a transition to a new career or become specialized in the field you are familiar with.
Twitter can be a great way to follow and connect with people you want to meet or learn from, and see what concerns them. This way if you decide to approach them you will know what interests them and how you can capture their interest.
Connect
Once you have done your research on potential employers and people working there it is time to make connections. The goal is to build a relationship so you can learn from them and ask for their help. It could also be a director or manager that might need your expertise in their functional area.
You can use LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media sites to connect with resources. A LinkedIn professional subscription could be a worthwhile investment for this, but it is not essential.
Sell Yourself
Once you are ready to approach the company for a job you want to be prepared. If there is a job opening that interests you and meets with your ideal job criteria, you want to be able to demonstrate what added value you can bring that will make you standout as an applicant.
Many jobs never get posted but are filled through personal connections and word of mouth. So, when connecting with people working at a potential employer, try and find out about the challenges they are facing in the specific department. Think of what you can bring to help them address these challenges and then you can approach the hiring manager to sell yourself and how you can help him/her. This requires forethought and confidence in yourself. That’s why investing in ongoing learning and personal development is so important as it builds your skill set and belief in your abilities.
Example
Let’s suppose you are a design animator capable of both 2D and 3D designs. You really love animating in 3D and enjoy showing how mechanical machines function by animating them in 3D. You know the demand for these skills are growing but you had bad experiences working for companies who you feel did not treat you well and appreciate your contribution. You know the level you want to function at is a stretch, but you are getting better and know you can make the leap.
You look on LinkedIn and find three companies in the field you are targeting, and they are hiring but you do not meet all the criteria posted. You find people working there on LinkedIn and there are two who you have 2nd degree connections with. You can ask your first degree connection to make an introduction for you and when they accept start a conversation. Tell them you would like to know more about what they do as you are looking to grow your skills and you see they have more advanced skills. Essentially you are asking for their help.
An approach could look like this. Hello John, we have a mutual connection Brian Jones who I know from college. I would like to connect with you and learn more about what you do. Once the person accepts your invitation you can then say, thanks for accepting my invitation, John. I know you must be very busy but can we schedule a short call so I can ask you some questions about the type of work you do to help me in my career development?
Obviously, you want to word your approach in a way you feel comfortable with. The idea is to start building a relationship and trust so the person can act a guide or mentor. Once there is a good comfort level, you can explore having them connect you with a manager or director at their firm.
The above example and suggestions are things that most people will not do. By taking an approach that only highly motivated people will do sets you apart from the crowd. It shows you know what you want and are willing to go the extra mile to get it. To have an exceptional life takes courage and extraordinary action, but why settle for less. Life is short so go for what will make you happiest.
I realized that I fell short on my big goal, which was to begin my webinar series called Manage2Lead. I thought about this and concluded that if I just focus on removing the key restrainer or obstacle, the goal will be achieved quickly. The restrainer in my case is a habit of putting other things first and not protecting the time I allotted to work on my project. I had started working on a new habit of starting my day by first working on my project before doing anything else including breakfast and reading emails, which has been my routine. So now I know that I need to get back on track with my new habit as I let myself slip backwards.
Restrainers are things that stand in the way of your goal. Think of the hand or safety break on a car. You get in the car with your destination in mind, start the engine and shift into drive. But as you press the gas pedal, you feel something holding back the automobile, and that’s the handbrake. By simply releasing that brake the car can move forward to your destination.
This is what is required to reach any goal as there will always be obstacles or restrainers, usually in the form of old habits that impede your progress. Identify the restrainer or obstacle, come up with solutions and turn that into a goal that you can act on.
I have added a slide to my Year in Review, Plan for 2022 PowerPoint workbook that you can download for free. You will also find a single goal planning worksheet that you can use to set a goal to overcome the restrainer. Happy New Year and good luck with your goal planning and success in business and life.
