The current economic situation has hit one particular segment of the population rather hard.  The middle-aged male has seen greater than average layoffs over the last year.  This has brought on a new reality to many families.  There are more stay-at-home dads.  The statistics point to many male dominated fields such as construction and manufacturing being hit especially hard, while roles with higher female population (government, healthcare, and education) have been spared, at least somewhat.

This means that the male breadwinner is becoming a little less of the norm.  If mom is working, then that often means that dad may stay home to take care of kids.  Possibly out of necessity or possibly by choice.  When time is dominated with taking care of the household looking for work becomes that much more difficult.

I’m a new dad and while I’m working, I know there are a lot of days I would like to be able to spend more time with my new son.  He is two months at the time of me writing this.  I’m keeping a blog with my thoughts and notes of my new son.  Part of me would like to take some additional time off to spend with my son, but I’m not sure I would be so enthusiastic if I was forced to do so because of layoffs.

For those Dad’s who are at home and are enjoying their family bonding time, take advantage of it while you can.  For those who are looking to get back into workforce as quickly as possible and the stay at home thing is purely a necessity I have a few basic thoughts.

My thoughts apply to everyone, especially those with time constraints.  This may include people currently working, but looking for something new, as well as mothers or fathers who want to return to work.  You suddenly don’t have the whole day to be networking and looking for jobs.  You need to be as efficient as possible.  Being able to have a plan for your search will allow you be more efficient vs. the chaotic and usually ineffective searches that so many people pursue.  In today’s environment, just throwing your resume on the internet and applying to posted jobs is like playing the lottery.  Yes, people do win, but odds are stacked against you.  You need to be able to reach out and expand your network in order to improve your odds.  It is those connections that can help you navigate through obstacles and get you closer to decision makers.

This means having a plan, organizing your job search, and connecting with those that can help you get ahead.  By doing all this you have a much higher likelihood that you can land the job you really want.  In today’s environment, we have to expect that finding a new job will take longer than ever and we’ll have to spend time and effort to make a job search successful.  I’m certainly biased, but we’ve put together a system with CardboardResume that will help you get your job search organized and keep track of your connections that can help you find that next job.  We offer a free trial with no strings attached to let you see if this method is for you.  I encourage you to try it (and I really mean try it out) as you will get out of it what you put into it.

Greg Rust has raised the question of Quality vs. Quantity on the Austin Top Guns group on LinkedIn. The heart of the question is: should I apply for everything that moves, or spend more time on fewer jobs that are more ideal. Here’s what I wrote:

Once you are clear about what Quality means, Quantity takes care of itself.

Corollary: “Once you get that quantity doesn’t matter, you realize that quantity is everything.”

You have to define Quality first. A job posting has quality if:

1. You can tell a story about how you can solve a company’s problems in the position
2. You can expect to learn something, thus increasing your future value
3. You can find a champion within the company to help you get the interview

Only apply for quality positions. Then apply to as many of them as you possibly can insinuate yourself into.

The only exception provisioning jobs: jobs that allow you to extend your job search. For provisioning work, quality looks like this:

1. You can tell a story about how you can solve a company’s problems in the position
2. You can do a good job, but will have the freedom to network and interview
3. You can find a champion within the company to help you get the interview

Notice that there’s nothing here about salary quality. I would suggest that it’s more important right now to position yourself for future job changes that come with higher salaries and better benefits. Never stop looking for your next gig.

Finally, applying to a high quantity of quality jobs means being efficient: efficient at finding champions, writing cover letters and customizing your resume. I suggest that you get good with the tools that make this possible. Consider a trial of CardboardResume, which has just launched. They are currently waiving their sign up fee, which will save you $79.

It’s not your age, it’s your generation

One of the reasons older workers are having trouble getting work is not because of their age, but because of their generation.

The most famous, highly qualified Baby Boomer who couldn’t get the job she wanted was Hillary Clinton. Obama didn’t win in the Democratic primaries because he was younger. He won because Hillary said, “I will” and he said, “We will.” He understood the shift in our culture. Hillary didn’t.

Older workers don’t yet understand the change that has happened. Younger workers are connected. They are getting jobs from their personal networks, and often use technology to keep these networks fresh and engaged. 80% of all offers are made through personal connections. Boomers still think that their qualifications are the most important reason they will get hired. Not anymore.

You don’t have to join Facebook or Twitter, but these sites are training the younger generations on how to maintain a network of loosely affiliated people. These are the people who will connect you with the companies that you want to work for.

I’ll give any job seeker over 50 a free copy of my eBook. Do the things it says for 30 days and your job search will shift significantly.

Request a copy of The Market for Me: Surviving Job Loss and Building Your Lifetime Career Network at http://budurl.com/RequestEBook.

Job Search Software based on book The Market for Me to bow at door64 Tech Fair.

“Two veteran Austin entrepreneurs have teamed up to create a book and software program to help job seekers use the Internet in a new way to find employment.” So begins Christopher Canlan’s article in The Austin Business Journal announcing that CardboardResume will debut in beta at the door64 Tech Fair on April 30 at the Goodwill Center in North East Austin. The full article is available in the April 24, 2009 print edition on page 8.

The book and the software were created in parallel; the book’s audience needed new tools, tools that don’t exist. CardboardResume needed to explain why it works the way it does. Hence, a perfect match.

I’ll be presenting the Job Search Attitudes that will Get You More Interviews at the Places You Want to Work. Here’s a sample:

Matthew Genovese of door64.com tells me that it is going to be standing room only for this presentation. It’s not too late to register for the event.

Job Seeker or Skills Holder?

You know the story. You get along great with your boss. You have a long string of positive performance reviews. You get along with your coworkers and have enjoyed steadily increasing responsibility in your job. You are an indispensible part of the company.

Then company profits decrease, the stock price drops, or a major client leaves along with their revenue. Your boss is instructed to let you go and, with great regret, complies.

Regardless of your personal relationships, a corporation hires without joy and fires without remorse. This is how we want our corporations to behave in a free market society. We want them to optimize their resource and deliver profits to the economy. Why, then, are employees always so surprised when they get optimized out of a job? They are surprised because they see themselves as employees, and not as skills holders. When employees are laid off, they become job seekers. When skills holders get laid off, they are still skills holders, but they are now “available.” This is the first of a number of distinctions between the job seeker and the skills holder.

The job seeker needs something. The skills holder has something. The job seeker needs another job to pay the bills. The skills holder can never lose their skills and experience. They don’t settle for a fair salary, they negotiate the best price they can get for their skills and experience. Another way to look at this is that a job seeker exchanges time for money. A skills holder exchanges value for money.

Job seekers believe in loyalty to their employer. Skills holders believe in dedication, but offer little more loyalty than the corporation can provide in return. Five million new job seekers are seeing just how much loyalty a corporation can afford.

Job seekers feel that looking for work while they are employed is a sign of disloyalty. Skills holders realize that their employer is equipped to fire them at a moment’s notice. The paperwork, processes and trained HR professionals are in place and ready to act. Skills holders are ready, too. They monitor their value in the marketplace and build relationships in the places they may want to work.

Job seekers hope to be rewarded for hard work and dedication. Skills holders leverage the skills they gain, expecting higher compensation from the marketplace, even if it means changing companies.

The job seeker is defined by their past work. The skills holder is defined by what they want to become. Skills holders know that they are more valuable as their skills and experience increase, and expect to be compensated accordingly.

Job seekers are expected to be grateful for any job they “hold” and loyal to their employers. Skills holders expect to complete a number of “hiring transactions” as they work toward higher compensation levels.

A Job Seeker is hired to do a job. A skills holder is hired to provide specific value. Job seekers stigmatize themselves when they don’t have a job. Skills holders see themselves as “back in the market,” a valuable asset waiting to serve a new team.

Physically, there is no difference between a job seeker and a skills holder. They both believe that employment is a great way to build professional satisfaction and financial freedom. The difference is simply an individual shift in perception. The job seeker plays into a way of thinking that serves the corporation, a way of thinking that has become outdated with the passing of lifetime employment and the collapse of pension programs. Skills holders realize they are part of a marketplace, and seek to gain an advantage by increasing their value and marketing themselves better.

Which are you: a job seeker or a skills holder?

Photo courtesy http://www.sxc.hu/profile/qute

You don’t have to start your own business to create financial freedom. You can generate a great income doing work you love as an employee of any one of the world’s corporations. But to do so, you must do the following:

•          Steadily increase your value as an employee by increasing the marketable skills you have.
•          Take work that is rewarding and educational.
•          Be ready to switch jobs when new opportunities arise.
•          Be ready to create new opportunities for yourself.

In short, to build professional and financial freedom, you must continually invest in yourself, and be ready to have several different jobs during your career. Taking a job and leaving a job are merely transactions on your path toward the salary and work that provides you the lifestyle you desire.

You might be reading this after having lost or left a job, and are looking for your next opportunity. If you are just now ramping up your job search-putting together your resume, assembling references, subscribing to job boards, and so on-you are already behind the curve. The company you left probably had a complete strategy for releasing you, including rules, guidelines, regulations, and papers for you to sign. They were ready. Why weren’t you?

Don’t worry. You’re in the right place, but take the following oath to prevent this from happening again:

I will never stop looking for my next job.