Invent Your Next Job
You’ve had years of experience in your field, yet you find yourself looking for work because of the bad economy. You know what companies you’d like to work for, but after constantly checking their Web sites for new job postings, you begin to realize there just aren’t many opportunities for someone with your skills and experience. You’ve considered a career change, but you don’t want to start at the bottom at a lower salary after building a very successful career. It’s time to consider an alternative. Create your own job.
Every company is trying to increase its profits by generating more revenue while decreasing costs. Here’s a way to shorten your job search: Approach a company with a project that you can implement to help increase profits, and ask for a meeting to discuss the idea. Since a job hasn’t been posted online for the project, you’ll have very little, if any, competition.
Here are the steps to take to implement such a strategy:
1. Understand your area of expertise and your value. Review your past positions and the projects you were part of that produced quantifiable results by increasing revenues and decreasing costs for your employers. What was your contribution to those projects? A profitable project at one company can often be just as valuable for other companies in the same industry.
2. Create your brand. Once you’ve identified your proven value, in Step 1, develop an impressive, results-oriented résumé and online reputation. At www.AttractJobsNOW.com we provide an online video seminar that can help you create an impressive résumé and enhance your brand by maximizing the power of professional networking Web sites like LinkedIn.
3. Create the project. Make sure the project you present is based on a plan that you are well positioned to execute. There must be a compelling reason why they should hire you to manage and implement it, as opposed to using a current employee. Past results in similar projects or specific skills or resources you possess are the most compelling reasons.
4. Find the right contact. Think about who would most likely be your manager at the company, and identify who has the power to approve the project and hire you. If you executed a similar project for your previous employer, the person holding the title of your former manager should be a great place to start at any similar company. Work through your network, or use a business contact service like www.AttractJobsNOW.com to get contact information for hiring managers.
5. Attract employers’ interest. Write and speak in terms of results, not execution, when presenting your idea. You want to get across the quantitative benefits of your plan and the results you can provide without explaining exactly how you will do it, which is your intellectual property. Understanding the quantitative benefits enables a hiring manager to justify adopting the project and hiring you as a new employee or contractor to execute it. It also enables you to negotiate your compensation, since you can be clear about your value to the company.
As you look for any new job opportunity, remember that a job posting is only a company’s attempt to increase its profits by adding a resource. That’s why creating your own job opportunity by presenting a profitable project can be a great way to shorten your job search and maintain your salary in a tough market.
Jerome Young is the founder and president of www.AttractJobsNOW.com, a recruiting and job search consulting firm.
