Unemployed in Des Moines

Judi Perkins, the How-To Career Coach, was a recruiter for 22 years, consulting with hundreds of hiring authorities throughout the hiring process. She’s seen over 500,000 resumes, knows how hiring authorities think and how they hire. As a result she understands and teaches what other coaches don’t: why the typical strategies in finding a job so often fail, what to do instead, and why. She’s been on PBS’s Frontline, will be in the May issue of Smart Money magazine, and has been quoted frequently in numerous articles for CareerBuilder, MSN Careers, Yahoo Hot Jobs, and the New York Times, among others. She’s also been featured as an expert in numerous career books. Sign up for her free newsletter at http://www.findtheperfectjob.com/

That to which you give attention, grows. If you’re having a terrible time with your job search, you’re the reason. Those who stop reading here are especially the ones who should continue. Do any of these phrases sound familiar?

• Craig’s Consulting laid off 150 consultants. Now the market is flooded.
• It’s hard to find a job when the economy is so terrible.
• No one is hiring me! I’ll never find a job!

If you’re uttering these types of phrases, stop it. Thought precedes action precedes results. Whether you’re aware of it or not, your actions support your thoughts. Negative statements such as these perpetuate themselves unconsciously with every ensuing decision. It becomes useless to improve your resume. You disqualify yourself from ads. Your efforts become less intense. Look at what’s going wrong, and if you don’t know what it is – and you probably don’t or it wouldn’t be happening – then find someone who can tell you.

Notice the automatic phrases and beliefs to which people subscribe without even realizing it. For example:

1. I can’t believe I’m always doing stupid things!
2. This day started off badly, and it just keeps getting worse!
3. Why am I always losing things?
4. I’m so bad with names!

Those who repeatedly experience such situations do so because they give continued attention to what is, thus it stays that way. Here’s the insight:

1. You’re doing stupid things, because you perpetuate in believing you do stupid things. When you decide that you’re sick of doing “stupid things” and choose to change the situation by reframing how you see it, then you’ll stop doing “stupid” things.
2. You were cut off in traffic and got mad. You stayed mad, because you unconsciously chose to. Hang with me here…part of you likes it! You have a great story to tell when you get to work (“Can you believe what he did to me?”). Drama can be very satisfying for some, and bad days make for good drama. So the bad continues to be dwelt on and thus keeps happening, until for some reason, you decide to snap out of it when something “makes” you happy.
3. When you become tired of losing things, you’ll start paying attention to where you put them and stop losing them.
4. Repeat the name and make a point of remembering it. Stop using that phrase as an excuse.

What do all these things have in common? Choice. You control your thoughts, you control your choices, you control your actions, you control the results.

When it comes to finding your perfect job, first you have to choose to believe there is such a thing, because you can’t find it if you don’t believe it exists.

Yep, you heard me.

I personally haven’t received the threatening letter, but several unemployed have. Below is the entire letter:

This letter is to provide you with a second notice that you have been selected to receive customized services through Iowa’s Re-Employment Services Program. In order for us to support your pursuit in a new career and/or job, we are prepared to provide you with exceptional Re-Employment Services.

The orientation you are scheduled for will assist you in the development of the most effective reemployment plan. As part of this process, it will be necessary for you to report to the location listed below for an orientation and assessment. Failure to appear on the date and time listed below WILL result in the denial of unemployment insurance benefits. (The red is all me)

Please bring this notice and a resume (if available) with you on the day you are scheduled

• Time to Report: 9AM-3PM (Please plan accordingly and pack items for 30 minute lunch and 15 minute breaks. Fast food restaurants are located nearby the IWD office.)
• Report to: Success Center (DMACC), 800 Porter Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50315-5154

The unemployed have enough to deal with, but now they are being threatened with a discontinuation of benefits for not attending this program? What if this particular person lived out of state and couldn’t attend the program? What if they had a job interview scheduled for this date and time?

Fortunately, (unfortunately for him ) Jeff Johnson, Local Veterans Employment Specialist at IowaWorks, stopped by Unemployed in Des Moines Networking last week at Smokey Row – just as I got my hands on this letter. Boy, did the group have some questions for Jeff!

• Jeff confirmed that benefits will cease of the person doesn’t attend the program – THIS IS REAL FOLKS!
• Those who have been unemployed for an extended period of time are the most likely to be “invited” to attend. IowaWorks wants to offer these “customized services” to those most in need.

I’ve spoken with a couple people who have attended this program and here are some of their thoughts:

• One person was hopeful that they were going to get some amazing training. Little did she know that the person leading the program had been with IowaWorks for 25 years and was only in the job because it was easy money and she was close to retirement. The leader was more interested in leaving early than in helping the attendees with their resumes.
• Another attendee said that they were given examples of resumes which he would NEVER use in an application process because the layout and content wasn’t fresh for today’s job market.

IowaWorks has begun listing some of their workshop offerings on their convoluted website. They’re extremely difficult to find, so here’s a link. As you can see, these classes are so basic and predominately geared towards the blue collared worker. That’s not going to cut it today. There are also white collared workers out of a job who have different needs. They need to be brought up to speed on LinkedIn and how to use other social media tools in their job search. What about the Informational Interview? We all know by now that networking is important, but a “How To” class would be helpful.

If IowaWorks is going to threaten the unemployed, they should at least offer useful programming instead of curriculum from the 1990s…

Thoughts?

Harry Urschel has over 20 years experience as a technology recruiter in Minnesota. He currently operates as e-Executives, writes a blog for Job Seekers called The Wise Job Search, and can be found on Twitter as @eExecutives.

Over the past 5 years, having taught over 20 – 8 week classes on job transition skills, I’ve consistently seen many people resist applying the ideas and techniques I talk about.

Although they nod in agreement in class, they rarely, if ever, change any of their activities throughout the week. They continue doing the same things they’ve always done and expect different results (isn’t that a definition of insanity?).

Why do they do that? And how do you change if that’s been you? Do you know if you have been resisting? How can you tell and what can you do?

Here are some points that can help…

In one of my recent classes, one of the participants came had an epiphany about half way through. She said she realized that she had been resisting anything new so strongly that it was certainly hindering her from getting a new job she so desperately needed. For her, it was simply a matter of coming to the realization of how much she was fighting it that finally caused her to decide to apply some of the ideas we had been discussing.

Ask yourself some questions! Examine your attitude and your activities. When you hear or read an idea that might be helpful in your job search, how do you respond? Do you…

• …immediately think it wouldn’t work in your situation?
• …think it’s a good idea, but you don’t do anything with it?
• …immediately judge it to be a dumb, or impractical idea?
• …think it’s interesting but doesn’t fit your “style”?

If those are your responses, you may be resisting. If so, ask yourself “Why?” If you are getting exposed to potentially helpful techniques, why wouldn’t you try them? Examine whether you have fears, anger, bitterness, or stubbornness that are keeping you from stepping outside your box!

Seek out and learn effective techniques! You can’t apply any new ideas if you don’t know what they are. The internet, your local library, state job service office, and local networking groups are full of good ideas, advice, and help. Check them out. Find things that have worked for others. Learn how to apply them in your situation, and practice. The first step in breaking out of your rut, is to learn new ways to do it.

Give it a try! Particularly if you’ve been in a job search for a while, what have you got to lose by trying something new? What you have been doing so far hasn’t worked, so what is likely to be worse by applying a different approach? Don’t try something once and assume it’s not effective because it didn’t produce immediate results. Virtually nothing does. But take a new approach or technique and try it over and over again for a period of time. If it then still doesn’t produce improved results, try something else. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying something new.

Don’t sit still! One of the biggest obstacles to gaining positive results in your job search is inaction! Often, when people don’t make progress in their search it’s because they have mentally or emotionally frozen up. They are frustrated with the lack of progress, and unconsciously decide that nothing works for them so they won’t even try. The best way to overcome the problem is motion! Regardless of your emotions, keep doing things necessary to keep the job search process going. Often, one of the best ways to keep hope alive is to try something new. Keep moving and don’t allow yourself to become stagnant in your daily activities.

A job search, especially in this economy, can be a frustrating and draining activity. The more deliberate you are about keeping it fresh, being flexible and open to new ideas, the more likely you will land in your new job faster.

Don’t be a resistor! Find and apply new ideas throughout your search!