Richard Bolles - What Color Is Your Parachute?

To have only one plan, one option, is a sure recipe for despair. I’ll give you a simple example. In a study of 100 job-hunters who were using only one method to hunt for a job, typically 51 abandoned their search by the second month. That’s more than half of them. They lost Hope. On the other hand, of 100 job-hunters who were using two or more different ways of hunting for a job, typically only 31 of them abandoned their search by the second month. That’s less than one-third of them.

The latter kept going because they had Hope. And so this truth should always be on your mind:

If you are to hold on to Hope you must determine to always have at least two alternatives, in everything that you are doing while looking for work.

Just to be sure we’re “choosing cards from a full deck,” let’s rehearse what are the alternative options we have, when we’re out of work. There are eighteen different ways of looking for work. You probably know many of them, but just for the sake of completeness, let’s list them all. They are:

1. Self-Inventory.You do a thorough self-inventory of the transferable skills and knowledges that you most enjoy using, so you can define to yourself just exactly what it is you have to offer the world, and exactly what job ( s ) you would most like to find.

2. The Internet.82 percent of Americans now go online, for an average of nineteen hours per week apiece. If you’re among them, and your goal is to work for someone else, you use the Internet to post your resume and/or to look for employers’ “job-postings” (vacancies) on the employer’s own website or elsewhere (with omnibus job-search sites such as Indeed or SimplyHired, and of course specific “job-boards” such as CareerBuilder, Yahoo/Hot Jobs, Monster, LinkUp, Hound, “niche sites” for particular industries [see www.internetinc.com/job-search-websites for a directory ], and non-job sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or the immensely popular Craigslist). If, on the contrary, you’re considering working for yourself, you use the Internet to learn how to do this, how to establish your brand, and how to get the word out to a wider audience as to just what you have to offer.

3. Networking.You ask friends, family, or people in the community for “job-leads” ( rhymes with “Bob reads” ). There are two ways of doing this, one sort of blah , one really useful. In the first case, you use the lame “I lost my job; if you hear of anything, let me know,” which leaves your network completely baffled as to what you’re looking for, unless it’s same old same old of what you’ve always done. Far better way: after using method #1 above, you tell them in specific detail what you mean by “anything.” And then see how close they can come to that .

4. School.School means high school, trade schools, online schools, community colleges, four-year colleges, or universities. You ask a former professor or teacher or your career/alumni office at schools that you attended if they have any job-leads.

5. The Feds.You go to your local federal/state unemployment service office, or to their OneStop career centers (directory at www.careeronestop.org ) to get instruction on how to better job-hunt, and also to find job-leads.

6. Private employment agencies.You go to the private analog to the federal/state agencies (directory of such agencies can be found at www.usa.gov/Agencies/State_and_Territories.shtml ).

7. Civil Service.You take a civil service exam to compete for a government job ( http://federaljobs.net/exams.htm and/or http://tinyurl.com/9vyfqe ).

8. Newspapers.You answer local “want-ads” (in newspapers, assuming your city or town still has a newspaper, online or in print, or both). The Sunday editions usually prove most useful. See http://tinyurl.com/d58l8z for how to use them; for a directory of their online versions, see www.newslink.org. There is also a site that lets you see current news about any industry that is of interest to you ( where vacancies have just opened up?? ), at http://www.congoo.com/Industry .

9. Journals.You look at professional journals in your profession or field, and answer any ads there that intrigue you (directory at http://tinyurl.com/dlfs dz).

10. Temp Agencies.You go to temp agencies (agencies that get you short-term contracts in places that need your time and skills temporarily) and see if the agency/agencies can place you, in one place after another, until some place that you really like says, “Could you stay on, permanently?” At the very least you’ll pick up experience that you can later cite on your resume (directory of such agencies, and people’s ratings of them, at www.rateatemp.com/temp-agency-list).

11. Day Laborers.You go to places where employers pick up day workers: well-known street corners in your town (ask around), or union halls, etc., in order for you to get short-term work, for now, which may lead to more permanent work, eventually. It may initially be yard work, or work that requires you to use your hands; but no job should be “beneath you” when you’re desperate.

12. Job Clubs.You join or form a “support group” or “job club,” where you meet weekly for job-leads and emotional support. Check with your local chamber of commerce, and local churches, mosques, or synagogues, to find out if such groups exist in your community. There is an excellent directory at Susan Joyce’s job-hunt.org( http://tinyurl.com/7a9xbb ).

13. Resumes.You mail out resumes blindly to anyone and everyone, blanketing the area. Or you target particular places that interest you, and send them both digital and snail-mail copies of your resume, targeted specifically to them. Ah, but you already knew this method, didn’t you?

14. Choose Places That Interest You.You knock on doors of any employer, factory, store, organization, or office that interests you, whether they are known to have a vacancy or not. This works best, as you might have guessed, with smaller employers (those having 25 or fewer employees; then, if nothing turns up there, those places that have 50 or fewer employees; or, if nothing turns up there, then those with 100 or fewer employees, etc.).

15. The Phone Book.You use the index to your phone book’s Yellow Pages, to identify five to ten entries or categories (subjects, fields, or industries) that intrigue you—that are located in the city or town where you are, or want to be—and then phone or, better yet, visit the individual organizations listed under these headings ( again, smaller is better ) whether they are known to have a vacancy or not. Incidentally, the Personnel Manager ( http://tinyurl.com/3jnjewo ) or Human Resources office there— if they have one—is that employer’s friend, not yours. Their basic function is to screen you out, so avoid them if possible. Sometimes, to be sure, you will stumble across an HR person who likes you and is willing to become your advocate, there. If so, you’re one lucky woman (or man).

16. Volunteering.If you’re okay financially for a while, but can’t find work, you volunteer to work for nothing, short-term, at a place that has a “cause” or mission that interests you (directory of such places can be found at www.volunteermatch.org ). Your goal is not only to feel useful, even while you haven’t yet found a job, but your hope is also that down the line maybe they’ll want to actually hire you for pay. The odds of that happening in these hard times aren’t great, so don’t count on it and don’t push it; but sometimes you’ll be surprised that they ask you to stay, for pay.