If you’ve vowed to make 2005 the year to get your career in order, it’s time to focus on “enlightened self-interest.”
It may sound like jargon, but that approach is essential to career success, said author Martin Yate.
The latest of his 11 books on job searching, “Knock “em Dead 2005: The Ultimate Job Seeker’s Guide,” says, among other things, that it’s time to shed the antiquated notion that faithfully plugging away at work will guarantee any career security.
“Everyone in the workplace today was raised by the thought that loyalty to a company will be rewarded,” said Yate, who has 30 years of career management expertise. “It’s just not true.”
Frequent job changes
Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate that workers will change jobs an average of once every three or four years.
“Anyone with a brain knows there needs to be a shift from loyalty to a corporation to a little enlightened self-interest,” he said. “Simply put, it’s about learning something about career management.”
Yate recently discussed ways workers can improve their careers.
What do workers need to know about career management?
When I talk about enlightened self-interest, I’m talking about growing professionally and learning new skills, because so many become obsolete in a year’s time. You’ve got to secure the job you’ve got and enhance your employability elsewhere at the same time.
How?
It’s about investing in your own future. Give up one 30-minute sitcom a week and invest that time in understanding career management. Use that time to read a book about it, join a professional association and go to their meetings or update your resume.
A lot of people say they just aren’t good at networking. Any advice for them?
There’s less rejection when you network because companies love hiring by personal referrals because it’s cheap and it’s quick.
Join a professional network and go to the meetings. People who are shy can try online networking. Join college alumni associations. Plus, a lot of companies see past employees as hiring leads, and they’re starting corporate alumni associations.
What’s the best way to hunt for a job?
There are a dozen different ways and there is no magic bullet. A man or woman who has a headhunting company will tell you resumes don’t work, only headhunters do. And a man or woman who has a resume business will say resumes are the only way. Neither is true.
Newspaper (help-wanted) ads are as good as ever, and so are smaller Internet job sites that are industry-specific.
Some still have success with smoke stacking, which is walking around and looking for companies that might hire you and dropping your resume off.
It’s about thinking globally and acting locally and using your networks.
What about acing an interview?
Most people don’t know diddly about what to say at a job interview, and that’s really where the rubber hits the road, because if you can’t perform you’re not going to get the job.
Anyone hired at any level, in any town, in any country is hired for the same reasons: The ability to do the job. Motivation.
In a tight job race with two equally qualified candidates, the job is always going to go to the most enthusiastic. And you need to convince the employer you’ve got the ability to work independently and as a team. The only reason a job is added to the payroll is to solve problems.
—
(c) 2005, North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Visit The Record Online at http://www.northjersey.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
—–
PHOTO (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): WRK-JOBSEEK
AP-NY-02-08-05 0617EST
Comments are no longer available on this story