Has it been a hard day’s night?
I’m introducing a new series of blogs where I take words of wisdom from famous rock bands and channel them to the career/job search process. Since this career coach has always loved rock from the 1960s through the 1990s, let’s let the masters guide us. We all know the songs, but could they help us get a job in addition to getting high and increasing our love life?
Yes, yes, and yes.
Here we go…
Let It Be?
“Let’s just wait until after the holidays and start to look for a job in January.” I hear this expression all the time from job searchers. They are thinking that they’ll just “Let it Be” since it will be a new year, a fresh start, and budgets will be reset. Just chill. That’s a nice idea, but in this case it’s not a good approach.
When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
(Let it Be, The Beatles 1968)
Praying for a career (new or old) is good karma; In fact, I pray for a lot of things I want. However, the problem with “Let it Be” is that if it will take you 6-9 months to find a job, you need to start now. You can’t wait until after the holidays to start to earnestly looking for a job since other qualified candidates are way ahead of you.
How do I get to Strawberry Fields?
Aggressive professionals get to “Strawberry Fields” because they really work at it. They work longer and harder. Think about the 5 most important accomplishments in your personal or professional life. I bet you worked your tail off. You kept a clear view of what you wanted and went after it.
Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
(Strawberry Fields Forever, The Beatles 1967)
Close your eyes to how competitive it is out there and you will misunderstand that job postings are mostly fake and recruiters only help if you fit a role perfectly. Open your eyes, enhance your resume, and optimize your LinkedIn profile.
I Think You’ll Understand …
You need to create an army of professionals actively looking out for you, letting you know of positions never posted, jobs that are part of the hidden job market. Let them “hold your hand” and lead you to a new job opening and get in early with an internal recommendation.
Oh, yeah, I’ll tell you something
I think you’ll understand
When I say that something
I wanna hold your hand
(I Want to Hold Your Hand, The Beatles 1963)
If you build your army right, people will want to hold you and help you.
“Here comes the Sun”.
New President, new vaccines, rallying stock market, risk back in vogue.
Here comes the sun, do, dun, do, do
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right
Little darling, the smile’s returning to their faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here
(Here comes the Sun, The Beatles 1969)
However you feel about the election, the markets like certainty. Everything around us is picking up, despite a surge in COVID, at least from a professional point of view. Catch a ray, catch this trend now!
You need to “Come Together” with your network to nurture, strengthen, and build new relationships.
I have blogged about three buckets of networking techniques in the past. Please see “The #1 Job Search Tool” Part 1: Leveraging alumni, Part 2: Leveraging prior common employers, and Part 3: Leveraging LinkedIn 2nd connections.
You might not be able to climb the Stairway to Heaven, but you can climb the corporate ladder. Ok, threw some Zeppelin in there.
Suggest a band for next week and win a free resume review even if I don’t pick your choice!
Be sure to check out my free 15-minute Job Accelerator webinar below.