October 2005
JOB SEARCH IS LIKE DATING!
by Susan Reynolds

Find a great spouse, find a great job: The techniques for a successful search are probably more alike than you might think! This month I'm going to give you job search advice by helping you see the correlation between finding partnerships of either the work or marital variety.

First of all:
DATE LIKE YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED! It might look like not such a good opportunity at first, but don't be so quick to judge. Many wonderful career positions initially began by looking like not enough money, not enough growth, the wrong company, the wrong product, the wrong people. After a number of meetings, however, all these negatives were answered with flexibility and solutions leading to a customized growth position with much better pay and opportunity than initially seemed possible. Don't be so quick to screen yourself out of contention. Talk it through. Be proactive. Aggressively pursue getting in the right doors. The good ones aren't going to just come looking for you, you've got to go to them.

MAKE THEM FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU! You aren't going to have to accept every proposal, but don't you think you stand a better chance of success if you make sure they see the value you could be to their organization? It's not necessarily the best-qualified person who gets a job offer; it's whoever does the best job of communicating their worth to the organization. Don't sit back and let your background do the talking… Be ready to tell why you're the right answer for the company. Compete! Be the best answer to the problems they're having.

NEVER TALK MARRIAGE ON THE FIRST DATE! One of the first things everyone wants to talk about is money. Don't do it. Yes, I know this is hard. Work to find out what an organization's needs are, then translate your skills and qualifications accordingly. Once you and they have found common ground THEN you can arrive at a fair price for your services to their company.

DON'T SAY YES TO EVERY PROPOSAL! No, you won't have wasted time, you will have carefully investigated an opportunity and built new relationships for the future, even if you can't arrive at a deal at this time. You and they will have still had benefit, and you can move on to an opportunity that suits you better.

Who knows? Maybe you'll find a much better career position AND a much niftier spouse than you ever would have imagined!

Susan Reynolds is a senior partner at Newmarket Careers in Santa Clarita, a job search and career strategy firm geared toward managerial, executive, and senior level professional careers. She can be reached at sreynolds@newmarketcareers.com or 661-702-1345.

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