48 Days to the Work you Love by Dan Miller: Book Review
This is a continuation of the in-depth review of the book: 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. To read the Previous Chapter, follow this link: Chapter 6: 6 Job Offers in 10 Days
Chapter 7: Finding Your Unique Path
This chapter focuses on two main things. First and foremost, it does a great job on how one should conduct a job search. Second, it has a motivational/inspriational tone to it that reminds the reader not to beat themself up if they can’t find a job as quickly as they’d hoped.
The chapter starts off talking about the difference between “production work” where one does manual labor type work and gets to go home at night with a clear head; and “knowledge work” where one never really gets away because their tools of the trade is in their head. Their skills are more transferrable. On the bright side, where manual labor production can start to diminish after age 35, a knowledge worker can work well into their 80’s.
Next, the author describes the different methods for doing a job search, and the odds of landing a job using that method.
Ineffective Methods:
- Newspaper ads: 8/100
- The higher the position, the less likely landing a job using this method.
- There is a time lag by the time the job is even posted in the paper. By the time it reaches the paper, local employees have already seen the posting internally. If employees aren’t biting to take the spot and they didn’t refer any friends or family for the spot, what might that say about the position?
- If it is a desirable position, there may be over 300 applicants, the odds of your resume standing out among the pack are slim.
- The newspaper posting may just be a formality, and a candidate may already have been chosen.
- Some ads are “blind ads” without a company listed. This can be posted by recruiters in an attempt to stir up prospects without real positions available, individual companies to survey the candidate pool, or companies attempting to see if any current employers are job hunting.
- Private employement agencies/headhunters: 4 to 22/100 (depends on level)
- You can’t delegate your job search. You can’t just sign up with a couple of agencies and hope to have the work done for you.
- Answering Ads in trade journals: 7/100
- No real good explanation here as to why it’s not a good option. I am assuming that they only post for real high positions in trade journals. The example in the book told a story of a woman who went through a rigerous interview process. Out of 386 applicants it was narrowed down to 8, then 3. In the end, she didn’t get the job. The author did some follow up, and it turns out the woman was the best candidate, but there was a little bit of nepotism involved when the position was finally filled.
- Internet Ads: Less than 1%
- People using the internet as the main focus of their search are avoiding contact.
- If you find the posting on the internet, so did thousands of other applicants. Good luck standing out in the crowd.
- Companies are reporting negative experiences hiring candidates from internet responses. They are reverting to ‘behavioral interviewing’ where they spend more face time with employees in the hiring process.
- Applying directly to employer without doing research: 47/100
- Walking in the front door works almost half the time.
- Effective for lower level positions (restaurants, department stores, etc.)
- Works well for people in transition, even professionals looking to make ends meet.
Effective Methods
- Asking friends: 34/100
- Asking family: 21/100
- Don’t be hesitant to let friends and family know you are looking.
- Utilize the ‘3-foot rule’. If you can get within 3 feet of someone, tell them your situation. Even if it’s just to ask for advice. They might recommend finding a match for your skills.
- Placement office at the college you attended: 21/100
- Colleges realize finding a position for a graduate is not a one-time event. Graduates return back years later for feedback.
The author mentions, and I’ve read this elsewhere, that every $10,000 in salary takes 30 days of job-hunting. So a $60,000 job may take 6 months to land. 2/3 of job hunters spend 5 hours a week on average. People would be better off spending 35 hours a week, but in a focused effort. This leads us to:
Efficient Method
Although more time is required up front, the duration of the job search will be much shorter. This can also be done while you’re with your current employer, as the bulk of the work can be done outside of working hours.
Step 1: Identify 30-45 companies you want to work for. This will require you to figure out the types of places you want to work: large or small, corporate or non-profit, as well as specific industries: healthcare, energy, education, federal, etc. Utilize available resources to find companies in the locations you desire: Business Directories, Chamber of Commerce, local libraries, etc.
Dont’ freak out if these companies aren’t hiring or have any job postings. If they did, that would put you up against a larger number of candidates. This method may only put you up against 2 to 3.
Step 2: Send a letter of introduction to the company. The book recommends sending no more than 15 at a time so you can do appropriate follow up in the later steps. The purpose of this letter is to build name recognition. It’s using the power of 3’s. Theory has it if you can get soemone to hear about a product 3 times (you are the product), the likelihood of them buying that product goes up dramatically. This is the first time they are hearing about you.
Step 3: Send your cover letter and resume 1 week after the introduction letter. Make sure it’s addressed to a specific person, whether it’s the VP of Operations, Sales Manager, or the CEO. Just make sure you don’t send it to “HR” or “To Whom It May Concern”. The author references Hoovers (www.hoovers.com) and http://www.webopedia.com as sites that give a lot of good information about companies. This is the second time they are hearing about you.
Step 4: Call to follow up. As important as this step is, as few as 1-2% of hunters do it…but it can bring your name to the top of their list. You have to be persistant. Keep calling until you get the person, do not leave voice mails. If you hear the voicemail kick in, simply hang up the phone. If you call back and get the receptionist, ask when it is likely the person you are trying to reach will be available. When you get the person, tell them you are following up on the recent letter and resume you sent. Let them know you know the company and think you can add to its success. Ask when a good time would be to get together and talk.
The author mentions if you just send cover letters and resumes alone, you have about a 1 in 254 chance of getting a job offer. If you combine the resume and letter with a phone call, you increase your chances to 1 in 15. Incorporate the introduction letter, and they improve. The book reiterates the point here to not take the ‘shotgun approach’ and blast your resume out to 10,000 different job postings. If you do that, chances are 9,999 of them will get deleted upon receipt.
No Experience Required
Another point that is made in the chapter is that people worry they won’t be able to land a job because they don’t have the right experience. They won’t be able to land the marketing job because they’ve been practicing law for the past 20 years. The candidate should focus on his skill set in this scenario, highlighting the things he can bring to the table to get the job done. They can downplay actual job titles and history. A good skill set can be transferred from job to job.
The rest of the chapter is more motivational. It tells you not to beat yourself up if you can’t find a job right away. Don’t take the job search casually. Be persistant and change your luck by being efficient.
Continue to: Chapter 8: Do They Like Me? Do I Like Them?
Thanks for the post. I thought maybe your readers would like to know that you can view the letter of introduction from Dan’s book here.
http://books.google.com/books?id=wdN_4Zd5NE4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=letter%20of%20introduction&f=false
Thanks for your info and help!!!