The Number One Job Hunting Book in the World!

“The Number One
Job Hunting Book
In The World”
Jim Stroud

2
FOREWORD
In 2013, Randstad Sourceright offered me the opportunity
to lead its North American employer brand department, a
role I was already fulfilling for the company in the
UK. This was an amazing opportunity, but still required
careful consideration… until, that is, I was told I would be
joining another new hire, a guy by the name of Jim Stroud.
When Chase Wilson, the head of Randstad Sourceright’s
Center of Expertise told me that Jim would be leading the
attraction and sourcing department, I called my wife and
said, "Carolina, how do you fancy living in the US?"
You see, I knew of Jim long before we met. I'd read his
previous book, Resume Forensics, and recommended it to
a number of colleagues. I'd also seen him present at the
Sourcing Summit, Europe, on the importance of promo-
tion through content marketing, something I talk a lot
about myself. Like many, I am a big fan of Jim Stroud. In
whatever medium you receive his knowledge you get an
overwhelming sense that this is a man that loves what he
does. He's an innovator, a futurist, and a man hell-bent on
improving the world around him. Knowing him as a friend
and colleague, and seeing him as a husband and father, I
can tell you he does just that, both professionally and
personally.
As for me, I spend my days advising clients on the impor-
tance of their employer brand, essentially “managing the
perception of an organization as an employer.” The em-
phasis is firmly on “perception.” This leads to a question
that Jim asked me to answer here: is perception manage-
ment only applicable to organizations?
Each and every one of us is constantly shaping a
perception through our actions and our interactions. It is a
perception of ourselves through the eyes of others, and
that perception is our own personal brand.

3
So how important is our personal brand? Well, typing
"the importance of personal" into Google gave me “brand”
at number five, so we can assume it’s a topic people are
looking to better understand. According to Wikipedia, the
term was first used in 1937, but it wasn’t picked up again
until 1981. It gained real popularity in 1997; only six years
after the World Wide Web became publicly available.
That’s no coincidence.
Prior to the public emergence of the Internet, you’d need
to be Donald Trump to afford the kind of publicity it would
take to build even a single-country personal brand. The
Internet offered a low-cost option to brand ourselves at a
potentially global level - and brand ourselves we did, for
better or worse, whether we meant to or not.
Since then, a steady stream of innovations has exponen-
tially expanded the power - and the risks - of our personal
branding capability. LinkedIn came along in 2003,
followed by Facebook in 2004. YouTube joined us in 2005
and Twitter in 2006. Though the first blog was launched in
the mid-90s, it wasn’t until ten years later that blogging
went truly mainstream. Since then, personal branding has
become a part of our lives, whether we are actively manag-
ing it or not. If you want to see what I mean, Google “social
media employment fails” for some hilarious, cringe-worthy
examples. This is what has created the need for what I
refer to as “personal brand perception management.”
If you want to build and/or manage your personal brand,
here are three simple rules. One, think about how you
want your brand to be perceived, and create content to
support this. Be consistent and avoid hypocrisy. Nothing
will damage your brand more than a super professional
LinkedIn profile, followed by a Facebook post or YouTube
video to the contrary. Employers use the likes of LinkedIn,
Facebook, and Twitter to vet candidates, so even if you
aren’t actively promoting your personal brand, it pays to
manage your brand perception.

4
Two, build as much visibility, using as many channels, as
you can. We call these “brand assets”, and the more you
have, the more you will bring your brand to life. There are
many ways of building your personal brand. Deciding up
front what you want to achieve will help you to build a
strategy in much the same way that you would if building a
product or service brand. For many, the idea of building
and maintaining multiple personal brand assets seems like
too much work. If this is the case, then having an up-to-
date LinkedIn profile could be all you need. Just make sure
you maximize this asset by tailoring the messaging to-
wards your desired perception. Asking colleagues for
LinkedIn references on this topic will help a lot.
If you are looking to go a step further, then utilize other
channels such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to
support your brand and drive it to a wider and potentially
new demographic. Writing a blog will really help by
elevating you as a thought leader. Just be careful to keep
the momentum going. There’s nothing wrong with being a
monthly poster, but if you start daily, move to weekly and
end up monthly or longer, followers may start to wander.
Tell them what they are getting and stick to it. Most
successful bloggers write content as they think of it and
release articles at a steady rate, giving them a back-library
to reduce the pressure of being creative-to-order, and
allow them to remain consistent during holidays or busy
periods.
Looking for more? Then be prepared to leave the comfort
and safety of your desk and get out in front of people.
Speaking at events is one of the best ways you can show
people who you really are, and if you can have these
recorded, you have some great content to push out through
your social channels. Many years ago I would never have
thought I could get up on stage. At first I just wanted to say
my piece and head to the bar, but as I gained confidence I
found that I thrived off of audience participation. Over the

5
years it’s something I’ve come to enjoy.
If speaking is something you want to do but you don’t have
the confidence to do it, don’t put yourself under too much
pressure. Start with a small audience and go with some-
thing short. Co-presenting can be a great way to share the
pressure and get into your comfort zone. Don’t overthink
it. Allow yourself an opportunity to do it a few times until
you figure out what works for you; then you can write
presentations that will play to your strengths. Once you get
over the fear of presenting, you’ll actually enjoy it, and
then you will discover that sharing your knowledge with
people is hugely rewarding. And that brings me onto my
third rule…
Rule number three (this may surprise you): your personal
brand isn’t about you; it’s about how others view you.
Doing things to help others will build a stronger brand
than ‘self-promotion.’ Self-promotion isn’t building a
personal brand; promotion is merely the vehicle you use to
drive the message. So let the message be one that is useful
to others, that helps them to be better at doing what they
do. Like a corporate brand, be authentic, be honest, and
give people a reason to want to listen to what you have to
say.
Personal branding is not about telling people how success-
ful you are or what you have achieved. It’s about being a
mentor in your industry. It’s about helping others. A good
friend of mine, and leading Employer Brand author,
Richard Mosely, used a quote in one of his presentations
that sums this up perfectly, “If you want to be a comedian,
don’t tell people you’re funny, make them laugh”.
Lastly, if you’ve done all of the above and people recognize
you as a true leader in your industry, give them a real gift
and write them a book. That’s what Jim Stroud has done
for us, and his brand is one of the best in the business.
-James Foley

6
INTRODUCTION
Hi! I don’t know what time it is for you now so, let me say
“good morning, good day, good evening and good night.”
There is a chance that you might already be familiar with
my content. I have been quite prolific in producing blogs,
podcasts, videos and comics but, chances are you have
never heard of me. So if you please, may I introduce
myself?
My name is Jim Stroud; most folks call me Jim Stroud, so
feel free to do the same. I have been working in the recruit-
ing field since 1997 for such companies as Google,
Microsoft, Siemens, MCI, Bernard Hodes Group and Lanta
Technology Group. I currently serve as a senior director at
Randstad Sourceright. (Best job ever!) As an entrepre-
neur, I have created and sold four online properties,
managed an award-winning blog, published a weekly
newsletter for jobseekers, a recruiter training magazine
and co-hosted a popular technology podcast.
I am the author of two recruiting related books (“Resume
Forensics” and “Content is the New Sourcing”). I was
quoted in, or was a contributor to, the following books
“Hired! Paths to Employment In the Social Media Era,”
“Size Matters! How Big is Your Social Footprint,” “Social
Networking for Career Success,” “The Executive Search
Process,” “Tweet This! Twitter for Business,” “Guerilla
Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0,” “Happy About: LinkedIn
for Recruiting,” “Predictions and Trends for Data-Driven
Hiring in 2015,” “Employed for Life: 21st Century Career
Trends” and “Social Recruiting Predictions and Trends for
2014.” I have also written several career blog posts for
Dice, Glassdoor and several other career related websites
as a ghostwriter.
But I digress, I’ve always wanted to write “the number one
job hunting book in the world.” By my reckoning, I have

7
two means to accomplish this goal: one, write a book with
that as the title (check) and two, inspire revolutionary
thought in how people find work and stay employed. When
writing this book, I kept asking myself, “Is this idea worth
a jobseeker’s time and effort? Will these tips inspire some-
one who has been out of work for a long period of time?
Am I saying something new or at the least, giving advice
that has not been given a hundred times before?” I truly
hope so. I want this book to be a breath of fresh air to every
unemployed, under-employed and unhappily-employed
person who happens to find it.
On the off chance that you are skimming this book inside
of a bookstore, previewing it via an online store or
thumbing through a friend’s copy, let me share the cliff’s
notes version of what you can expect.
1. Believe it or not, now is a good time to be looking for
work because companies are having difficulty finding
talented people. In fact, it is a worldwide concern.
2. Rather than send your resume everywhere, position
yourself to be found and attract career opportunities
your way.
3. Do not job search alone. Increase your chances of find-
ing work and reduce your workload and stress by
working with a team of like-minded job hunters.
4. Make money while in between jobs by starting an
online business that requires minimal overhead.
5. Leverage social media to find hidden jobs, establish a
personal brand and protect your online reputation.
My book is unapologetically quirky, aspires to be amusing
yet manages to inform and inspire. At least, that was my
intention. I leave it for you to determine how successful my
effort was.
Happy Job hunting!
-Jim Stroud

8
Scene: Inside
Coffee shop
Scene: Jim waiting inside coffee
shop.
Jim: Hmm… They should be here
in a few minutes.
Scene: Picture of my laptop and
notebook set up at a table.
Jim enjoys his nap.
Say
what?
Someone at
the door?

9
Scene: Jim looking at coffee grounds
for sale and wonders if he should buy
some for his wife.
Close up of my notebook which has a to do
list: 1 ) Pick up dry cleaning, 2) Get oil
change, 3 ) Meet a friend and help them
w i t h t h e i r j o b s e a r c h .
[ 1 and 2 are checked off ]
[ Drawing of me as a stick man and doodles
around stuff I will be discussing. ]
Oh yeah, I
almost forgot.

10
The Number One Job Hunting Book In The World
Copyright 2015 by Jim Stroud. All rights reserved. No part
of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and
reviews.
First edition.
Image on page 67 was taken by Julian Carvajal.

11
Jim: Hey you! Good to see you.
Pull up a chair and get
comfortable.
Jim: Now, I understand you are
unemployed, under-employed
or… unhappily-employed. Yes?
Jim: Well, no matter the
situation, I came prepared to
share my $24.95 worth of
advice. (wink )
Coming!
Welcome.
Mi casa es
su casa.*
*All the Spanish
Jim knows.

12
JIM: Okay, to start, no! I’ m not
going to look over your resume.
That should be a secondary
concern of yours...
Jim: oh, look at me, I ’ m rambling.
I do that sometimes and I get dis-
tracted at times. So, understand
that as we go forward because...
Jim is distracted by someone or
something in the coffee shop.
Squirrel...
I’m all set for you!
Please have a seat.
I understand that you are
open to new opportunities?
Unemployed, under-employed,
unhappily–employed…?

13
Umm...
Oh, look at me. I’m
rambling. I do that
sometimes and get
distracted easily at
other times and...
No matter. I’m not going to
look over your resume. That
should be a secondary concern
to you at this stage in the
game* and…
*$24.95 worth of advice begins now.

14
*Look at me! I’m
in a book! Whoo-
hoo! Yay me!!
Yeah...

15
Ah! See what I mean? (Just bear with me.) Now, where
was I? Oh yes. When it comes to any career move you have
to ask yourself a very important question.
Before you answer that question for yourself (keeping in
mind that we are speaking in terms of employability), you
have to consider a few facts and figures from the world of
labor.
Can you guess what keeps HR up at night? I imagine that
you have no clue, so let me just tell you - “employee
retention.”
GEEK TIP: Employee retention is a systematic
effort by employers to encourage valued
employees to remain with their organization.
There is an old blues song by Johnnie Taylor called, “Its
Cheaper to Keep Her.” The gist of the tune (look it up on
YouTube) is that a struggling marriage is preferable to an
expensive divorce. HR could very well sing the same song
when it comes to their workforce. Its more affordable to
( J im in a model pose. )
“ Am I hot or not? “
Am I hot or not?

16
keep an existing workforce and retain valuable
company information than it is to seek out new
talent.
As someone open to new opportunities, you might not
have given much thought as to the leverage you may have
as a passive candidate or active job seeker.
GEEK TIP AND A RANT: A “passive
candidate” is a qualified candidate for employ-
ment who isn't necessarily looking for work,
but who may be interested if the right job
comes along.
Hiring managers tend to think that passive candidates are
more valuable than active jobseekers, especially during
times of recession. Why? Conventional wisdom says if
economic times are tough, a company holds on tightly to
their star players as long as they can. (I never held that
mindset, but I think I am in the minority. Umm… no pun
intended.)
Some employers also think that active job seekers who are
passionate about finding work (i.e. constantly calling for
updates on their resume status) are not as qualified as
those who do not call as much. Weird. Asinine. Regard-
less, I have witnessed some employers with that mindset.
But I digress…
According to my beloved employer - Randstad, there is a
massive skill shortage pretty much everywhere in the
United States. Here is a quote from our website…
“When asked to assess the skills of today’s work-
force, two-thirds of respondents somewhat or
strongly agree that a skills shortage exists, and

17
slightly over one-half say the skills deficit has
negatively impacted their businesses. Hiring man-
agers also delivered a strong message that it’s
difficult to find the right people for open
positions…”
Here are a couple of images from an infographic that
Randstad created in support of their data. What stands
out to you, if anything? (Take your time. I have all day.)

18
All of the industries cited in the “industry spotlight”
section of the infographic (Healthcare, IT, Engineering,
etc.) are having trouble finding people with certain skills
and because of that they are missing their hiring goals.
That being said, if you want to be considered “hot” by
today’s recruiters, I suggest that you steer your career in
the industries cited and study up on the skills employers
are clamoring for.
Figuring out what skills are hot in the current market is
not difficult; once you know how. I’m going to share with
you a few resources that will help you do that. However,
before I do, I have to ask, do you have a QR code reader?
Even if that term is foreign to you, I am more than
confident that you have seen them around. For example…
Jim shrugs his shoulders and says,
“How can I know what employers are
looking for?”
Scan this to go to the Randstad
survey I was talking about earlier.
How can we know
what employers are
looking for?

19
If you have an iPhone (like me) you can download a free
“QR code reader” from the app store. I’m sure there are
some freebies out there for Android and other smartphone
devices and tablets. So, take a look. I will be sharing a lot
of resources throughout and will be using QR codes to do
so.
Okay, here is the first of several resources I want to share
with you.
The “Occupational Outlook
Handbook” is a a guide to
career information about
hundreds of occupations.
There is a lot of data on this
site, the least of which are
government projections on
the fastest growing jobs and
the highest paying jobs.
www.bls.gov/ooh/

20
CareerBuilder posts a
Job Forecast every
year. This is a link to
the 2015 report.
http://goo.gl/9aJFyN
CareerBuilder has a
skills gap report that
says “More than half
of employers nation-
wide have an open job
for which they cannot
find qualified candi-
dates, and 8 in 10
have difficulty filling
positions altogether.”
http://goo.gl/ZgLGsq
Are you studying
computer program-
ming? These are the
p r o g r a m m i n g
languages employers
want the most.
Ranked by Tiobe.
http://goo.gl/nhJbIi
Indeed has an
“Industry Employ-
ment Trends” that
measures how indus-
tries are hiring on a
monthly, quarterly
and yearly basis.
http://goo.gl/jjKht2
Indeed’s “Job Trends”
page shows you how
popular ce rtain
keywords are in job
descriptions.
http://goo.gl/vqzb0c
This is a link to a
Google search. I am
seeking web docu-
ments citing “retail
industry trends” that
were added online in
the past year. Change
“retail” to whatever
industry you’re in for
the latest data.
http://goo.gl/3srUsg

21
Jim: I tend to think of USA when I discuss
things like this but, the problem is indeed global.
I read this report recently from, um… I forget. Oh wait! I
remember now. ( * blush *) It was a report published by
the World Economic Forum. Check out some of the
findings from that report!
 The USA will need to add 25 million
more workers to the labor force by 2030 to
sustain economic growth. Western
Europe will have to add 45 million.
 1/4th of the population in North and
West Africa is under the age of 15!
Unemployment rates for young people is above 30%.
 Due to diverse standards in education, multinational
companies think only 25% of Indian professionals are
employable. Only 20% of Russian professionals are
considered employable.
 In China, 12.5 % of the nation’s population is at least
60 years old. | source: http://goo.gl/mdhgPC
All that to say, if you find it hard to find work in the USA,
there are other countries that would love to have you.
Jim: Oh wait! Do you want to work in
another country? If so, I have a couple of
tips for you. Actually, a couple of arti-
cles...
I tend to think of USA
when I discuss things
like this but... The problem is
indeed global.
Oh wait! Do you
want to work in
another country?
If so, I have a couple
of tips for you.

22
Do you know what a TLD (top level domain) is? Wikipedia
describes it like this…
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at
the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name
System of the Internet. The top-level domain names
are installed in the root zone of the name space. For
all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the
domain name, that is, the last label of a fully
qualified domain name.
That’s a bit verbose for my taste. I would simply say its the
suffix of an internet address. For example… “.com,” “.net”
or “.org.” Okay, now you know, so what does it matter?
Well, it matters plenty if you are looking for work overseas.
Each country has its own TLD and as such, you can limit
your Google searches for results that are only on that TLD.
Umm… Okay, I’m losing you. Let me show you a few
things.
Let’s say I wanted to find a Project Manager job in Austra-
lia. To do so, I would consult Google . [ See picture:
Australian Search ]
Just in case you are new to my job search kung fu, this is
what my search is asking Google to do.
 site:au – Search for documents that are on the web-
sites ending in “au” which is the top level domain for
Australia.
How To Look for Work
In Other Countries

23
Australian Search
 intitle:jobs – Search for the word “jobs” in the title of
a web document.
 intitle:project.manager - Search for web documents
that have “project manager” in its title
 I want the words “submit” and “apply” in the results I
find because on job descriptions I typically see “submit
your resume” or “apply to this job.”
 inurl:job - Finally, I am asking Google to restrict my
search results to those documents that have “job” in its
URL as well.
The advantage of this type of search is that Google indexes
a lot of websites that you have never heard of and among
them, job boards you’ve never heard of. So… Yeah, you
get it. Search Google this way and you will find jobs in spe-
cific regions from job boards that you have never heard of.

24
(Really cool!) Now this type of search will work with any
TLD, so you can target any country you like. Here are a few
more searches to spark your imagination.
 To find programmer jobs in the United Kingdom
site:co.uk intitle:jobs intitle:programmer submit apply
 To find electrical engineering jobs in Ireland
site:ie intitle:jobs intitle:electrical.engineer apply your
 To find chemist jobs in South Africa
site:za intitle:jobs intitle:chemist submit apply
See how that works? If you don’t know the TLD for a
particular country that you want to relocate to, consult this
list: http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db
Now, imagine that you are a recruiter based in Germany.
More than likely, if you were posting a job it would be in
German and on German sites. So, it stands to reason that
there may be jobs you are missing out on by only searching
in English. Make sense? Let me show you a couple of ways
to find them. The first method is to use Google
Translate to find translated keywords for your search.
[ https://translate.google.com/ ]
Check out the demo on the opposite page. In the search
slot, I added “sales and marketing jobs.” (If that is not your
skill set, type in something else.) Make sure “English” (A)
is entered as the phrase to be translated (assuming that is
your native language) and that “German” (B) is the
language you want your phrase translated to. (FYI - Google
offers several languages for translation.)
Once you have your keyword or phrase entered in, Google
instantly changes it to the German equivalent (C).

25
A B
C
Now do a search on the translated term. In this case,
“vertrieb und marketing jobs.” Google will display a
link to translate the results. (See arrow on the image
below?)
Once you read the results, apply as per usual or… find an
American office for that company and inquire that way.
Easy peasy. At least, in theory, as I must confess to not
ever looking for work overseas. If anyone reading this has
had that experience, I would love to hear your reaction to
this strategy. (Tweet me @jimstroud)
Hmm… As I think of it, there may be an even easier way to
do this. Google has several country specific domains and

26
you can find a list of them on Wikipedia by searching for
“List of Google Domains.” To do the same search as
before, I would visit www.Google.de. As I am on a Chrome
browser, Google asks me if I want to automatically
translate Google from German to English? I choose the
“Change to English ” option. (See arrow below.)
Now when the search results are returned, they are auto-
matically translated and presented as per normal. When
you take a close look at the URLs, you will see they are
all based in Germany as per the “.de” domain.

27
Okay, I feel like I am rambling a bit at this stage. Please do
give this a go and let me know your progress. Please? Or
rather, “bitte?”
Jim: Okay… I think I was rambling a bit
there. Got off on a tangent. I know I was
saying something before… Umm…
Jim: Looking stymied and embarrassed.
He thinks, “So what do I say now?”
Jim: Ah! Let’s flip back a couple of pages
and recap before going forward… (I look
like I am getting a new idea.)
Okay… Umm… What
was I was saying
before? (I forget.)
Okay… I sense you
have forgotten as
well. (It happens.)
Let’s flip back a couple
of pages to recap
before going forward.

28
If you want to be considered a hot commodity by
recruiters , one sure fire way is to work in an industry that
is short on talent and focus on jobs that recruiters have a
hard time filling. Another way, to be considered a hot
commodity is to work in leading companies.
When job hunting, it is to your long-term advantage to
work for companies with good branding and reputation .
Case in point, if you had to hire a network engineer to
make sure your data was secure and you had a choice
between John Doe who works at Google and Mary Sue who
works at Joe's Software Shack, who would you choose?
Most likely, you would go with the candidate from Google
because Google has a great brand reputation in relation to
technology and Joe's Software Shack does not. Does this
mean that Mary Sue is less qualified? Certainly not! In fact,
she may be overqualified. However, more often than not,
she might lose out on opportunities because of the
company she elected to work for.
Such being the case, I would suggest trying to get hired
into companies with stellar brand recognition (Fortune
500 companies and the like) or, connecting with
companies that are gaining in brand recognition. How do
you find companies like that?
Jim: As you may recall, we were discuss-
ing if you were hot or not. (Yeah, that’s
right!)
I am looking a bit embarrassed as I play
off my last fumble.
As you may recall,
we were discussing
if you were hot or
Uh, yeah, that’s
right...

29
Recruiters and others in the biz of HR often talk about “the
war for talent.” It is a term originating from Steven Hankin
of McKinsey & Company in 1997 and a book by Ed
Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones and Beth Axelrod. To
quote Wikipedia, “…war for talent refers to an increasingly
competitive landscape for recruiting and retaining talented
employees.” The question I pose to you is, “How talented
are you?” Sure, you could point to your resume and what
you achieved. No doubt, you could argue your qualifica-
tions ad nauseum in any interview. However, before you
can initiate your case to a hiring body you need to be
chosen as a potential candidate. I am going to show you
how to stack the deck in your favor. But first, an
unpleasant truth I want you to consider.
Do you know who is looking at your resume? To be clear,
once you send it in to your prospective employer, who
evaluates it? The cynical among you will no doubt say that
a machine is viewing it first and you would be correct.
However all things being wonderful, a human being will be
amazed by your work history and contact you for potential
employment. Yet, this returns me to my previous question,
although slightly edited. Who is the human being looking
at your resume? Are they a senior recruiter able to scan
your resume in three seconds and discern whether or not
you are qualified or are they a junior recruiter only looking
for a certain number of keywords? No way to know, for
How To Find Jobs that Boost
Your Entire Career

30
sure. In order to satisfy the cursory view of either type of
professional, I suggest being as strategic as possible with
your choice of employment. Why? All things being equal, a
software developer from Google will be more coveted than
a software developer from Joe’s Software Shack. (I made
that last company name up. Apologies to any “Software
Shacks” owned by a “Joe”)
Such being the case, jobs at the “best” companies will con-
tinue to pay off for the duration of your career as recruit-
ers consider your resume. Yet, not everyone can work at
Google or Facebook or (insert hot company name here).
An alternative is to work for the “next” Google or Facebook
or (insert hot company name here). How do you that? Glad
you asked.
One way to find up and coming companies that could be
the “next big thing” is to search out enterprises that are
attracting funding or award citations. I’m focusing my
search around cybersecurity firms. Feel free to change
“cybersecurity” in the search to whatever interests you.
Google search for
cybersecurity
companies named
“fastest growing.”
goo.gl/QIxQ1c
Google search for
cybersecurity
companies named
“best of breed.”
goo.gl/oi9ktg
Google search for
award-winning
cybersecurity
companies.
goo.gl/9MvHce

31
Monitoring acqui-
sition rumors
could lead you to
hot companies to
target.
goo.gl/9o24CH
Who is investing
major funding in
hot startup com-
panies?
goo.gl/X2K0Ty
Startups getting
funding.
goo.gl/erdNv1
Startups getting
funding.
goo.gl/gEUhY0
Startups getting
funding.
goo.gl/uSHgUW
Startups that have
been funded.
goo.gl/PgL6XZ
Hmm…. Maybe, okay, maybe I
will look at your resume. Your
resume from the future!
Hahahahahahaha...

32
At a jobseeker networking function many years ago, I told
jobseekers, “If you want to advance your career, write
your resume in advance. Most people write or tweak their
resume once they begin a job hunt. That’s the slow way to
success.”
This statement still rings true today. If you are managing
your career in reaction to a circumstance (i.e. layoffs, feel-
ing burned out) then you are missing out on the benefits
that a proactive job search can bring. And what is that, ex-
actly? In a nutshell, when you are proactive with your job
search you do not feel trapped in your current role, you are
seen as a “mover and a shaker” and as such, more valuable
to your employer. Finally, your market value increases and
you are able to negotiate a higher salary for your next job.
Step One: Figure out what you want to be when
you grow up.
Okay, I’ll stop laughing now and tell you, “How to advance
your career by writing your resume in advance.”
“Wow!” You may be thinking to yourself, “How is all that
possible?”
Okay, I’ll stop
laughing now and
tell you...
How to Advance Your
Career By Writing Your
Resume In Advance.
You may be thinking to
yourself, “How is all
that possible?”

33
Let’s do a quick exercise. Look at the famous people below
(Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother
Teresa) and describe them in a single word.
What word did you pick for Abraham Lincoln? Was it
“president?” How about Martin Luther King, Jr.? Was it
“freedom?” And for Mother Teresa, did you choose
“mercy?” Sure, there is more, much more, to each person
than any one word could say. My key point is that each of
these individuals had a strong personal brand
Consider your own work history and ask yourself, what is
your brand? Could a recruiter look at your resume and
sum you up in a single word? If not, I suggest you do some
soul searching on what you want to be when you grow up.
As you do, research how hot that field will be in the future
by consulting the Occupational Outlook (as mentioned
earlier).
If, somehow, you are still at a loss on how to position your
career; I suggest taking stock in your personality. There
are several sites online that will provide insight into your
personality then, give suggestions on the type of work you
are best suited for. Simply go to Google (or the search
engine you prefer), and search on “personality test for
jobs.”
I would suggest taking a few of these tests and seeing what
comes up the most. One result could be a fluke, but if the
same thing comes up over a variety of tests… Well, that
might be too big a coincidence to ignore. Make sense?

34
Another way to figure out your career aim is to search job
descriptions for keywords and phrases that speak to your
interests. Here is an example search to illustrate what I
mean.
And this is what I am asking Google to do.
“see the world”
I am looking for a job that involves a lot of travel, so
I am looking for web documents that have the
phrase “see the world” on them.
(intitle:jobs OR careers)
I am asking Google to look for documents that have
the word “jobs” or “careers” in their title as they
would most likely be on a job description page.
Atlanta
I am looking for a job in Atlanta. Duh! Oh, I guess
you figured that part out already, hm?

35
(submit OR apply)
I am looking for a web results that have the word
“submit” or the word “apply” because those would
most likely be on a job description. For example,
“To apply for this job, please submit your resume.”
Make sense?
Among the results are companies promising careers that
allow you to see the world. For example, McCormick has a
testimonial of world travel on its career center website.
On the Covidien website, it states that “Whether you want
a rewarding career on your doorstep or one that will let
you see the world.”

36
Step two: Study the work history of those who
have been where you want to go.
Another thing you can do is do a search for the work
history of people already in the role you want, then look at
what they did prior to their present role. You could then
follow their footsteps in the hopes of landing where they
are now. Make sense?
I want to share with you a couple of ways of tracking down
that kind of data and both methods involve freely available
public information. Let’s pretend that you want to work in
manufacturing as a… umm… “transportation systems
analyst.” Here is one way I would find the resume of
someone like that.
To break it down:
intitle:my.resume
I’m looking for pages online that have “my resume”
in the title of the page. In most cases, those will be
resumes.

37
“transportation systems analyst”
I’m looking for a resume that would include that
job title.
-submit –apply
I don’t want “submit” or “apply” to be on the pages
that are returned because most likely they would be
on a job description. For example, “submit your
resume” or “apply for this job.” Make sense?
ext:pdf
I am asking Google to only return documents
formatted in PDF as that increases the chances of
my getting a resume back. (There are a lot of
resumes formatted in PDF.)
At this writing, there are not a lot of results. No biggie. I
only wanted one to show as an example. Clicking on the
results, I find a resume with the following data.
So, by virtue of this resume, I know that a “Transportation
Systems Analyst” starts their career in retail as an Account
Representative, becomes an Inside Sales Manager, morphs
into a Customer Service Supervisor before being
promoted to Transportation Systems Analyst. Make
sense?

38
Another way to find work histories to study is to simply
search LinkedIn. In the screenshot below, I am looking for
the profiles of Transportation Systems Analysts. I find
1000+ results! From this point, I would do as before,
review profiles and see how their career progressed.
Step three: Be strategic with the data you find.
Once you have researched the work history of others
currently working in the position that you covet, take
advantage of what you have learned. Answer the following
questions after you have surveyed at least, 5-10 different
resumes and/or LinkedIn profiles.
 What are the basic duties of people in this role?
 How many years of experience do they tend to have
before being promoted into their next position?
 What are some notable accomplishments made by
the people in the role?

39
 How do you think their previous jobs prepared
them for the role they are in now?
 What type of companies do they tend to work for?
Large companies? Small companies? Startups?
 Based on the various resumes (and LinkedIn
profiles) you’ve surveyed, could you write a job
description that adequately captures the essence of
the role you want? Great! Write it! If you want to
simply cut and paste duties found on the resumes
(and LinkedIn profiles) you reviewed, that’s okay
too.
 How does the job description you wrote differ from
the job descriptions found on various job boards
such as Monster, CareerBuilder or Indeed?)
 Take a look at some job boards and consider what
they have written verses what you have researched.
What do you think is missing? Write that down.
Once you have answered all of these questions and written
your job description, take a good look at your resume.
Based on your research, are you on track towards your
goal? What percentage of the work you are doing now is in
line with the type of work you want to do? If not at all or,
just a little or, even if you are ahead of the curve, I want
you to do the following.
 Add to your resume as honestly as you can,
everything listed in the job description you created.
 Consider everything from your job description.
This is your to-do list. I want you to figure out
how to get those tasks and accomplishments on
your resume. To do so, you may need to do things
like: volunteer for a charity, take on certain projects
or, transfer to a different department inside your
present company (if you are currently working) so
you can get that experience. The end goal is doing
what you can to get those details honestly on
your resume. Get me?

40
Step four: Begin to immerse yourself in the culture
of the company where you want to work.
In other words, I want you to stalk the company you have
an interest in working for. I want you to know it so well
that by the time you do land an interview with them, you
will give the impression that you would fit in so well that
speaking with a recruiter is nothing more than a formality.
Hey, such may seem far-fetched but believe me, it is
entirely possible. Here are a few ways to give a really great
first impression in an interview.
 Most companies have a “News” section on their
website where they post press releases about their
enterprise. Read them all. Study them as if there
will be a test because, there will be.
 Go to Glassdoor.com and review the comments of
people who work there or used to work there. Find
out what they have to say about the company and
take note.
 Go over the company website with a fine tooth
comb, so to speak. Take notice of the charities and/
or causes they support. Can you involve yourself
with those initiatives?
 Go to Google News and read the recent press about
the company.
 Search social media sites (i.e. Glassdoor) to see how
the company is regarded by the public as well as by
employees. Who is discussing the company the
most? Are they a raving fan of the company? Maybe
a chat with them could lead to an employment
referral.
 Research online groups where the company
employees might frequent and become active in
those forums. (Why? Give recruiters and hiring
managers something good to find when they
research your background.)
 Research blog posts that discuss the company and
leave positive feedback in the comments field of

41
those blogs. (Why? Give recruiters and hiring
managers something good to find when they
research your background.)
I was talking so much that I overlooked your question?
Sorry about that.
Oh! You want to know more about how I find free re-
sumes online? Not a problem. I feel a tangent coming on.
Step five
is… What?
I was talking so
much I overlooked
your question.
Sorry about that.
Oh! You want to
know more
about finding
free resumes. Not a problem! I feel
a tangent coming on.

42
Take a moment and study the chart below.
Every year, an organization called “Career Crossroads”
produces a “Source of Hire” report, which is basically a
survey where leading companies are interviewed and asked
which sources are mainly used to find the people they hire.
As you can see in the data above, the most popular places
companies find talent is via referrals, their own career
sites, job boards and “direct sourcing” rounding out the
top four.
So, what does this tell you? If nothing else, it reminds you
how important it is to network since referrals are the num-
ber one way that companies find people. It also tells you
that it is important to look at the career sections of com-
pany websites since resumes submitted from that portal
are certainly not ignored. For that matter, neither are
resumes from job boards (believe it or not). What is most
significant in these results (to me) is the fact that the top 3
sources of hire are trending down whereas “direct sourc-
ing” is trending up—big time! In fact, when you consider
all the various ways that companies find talent, direct
sourcing is the most favored strategy. That being said, you
may be wondering, what is direct sourcing?
In a nutshell, direct sourcing is finding online information

43
about people you want to hire, typically for free. Remem-
ber a few pages back when I looked up the “Transportation
Systems Analyst” resume on Google? That is an example
of direct sourcing. It was relevant and actionable
information and it was—FREE!
As a job seeker, one thing you do not consider when sub-
mitting your resume to Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice, et
cetera is that it costs money for recruiters to use
those services. As such, a company might pay for one or
a few of those websites, but certainly not all of them. That
being said, it works to your advantage to have your resume
on the web where all recruiters can find it for free. If your
resume is only on job boards, only those recruiters who
have paid to access those services will be able to see it.
Make sense?
There are a number of ways that you can make your work
history available to any recruiter with access to Google or
any other search engine. I’m going to share several means
and they are all free. (Yay!)
One quick and easy way to make your data available is to
leverage personal branding sites. I think of them as virtual
business cards because the info is very basic. One of the
more popular of this genre is About.me. I have one such
site and recommend it for a number of reasons: 1) Easy to
set up, 2) I can track who has viewed my profile, 3) free
stats on the activity of my about.me page and 4) I can
freely contact others on the site. (A screenshot of my
about.me page is on the next page.)
As much as I like About.me, they are not the only game in
town. I suggest setting up a presence on all of these sites.
Why? The more data is out there, the more likely search
engines will discover you and guide recruiters your way.
Oh! Keep in mind that while these services are similar,
they might not all offer the same options as About.me.

44
www.about.me/jimstroud
Flavors.me BrandYourself.com Re.vu
Another way to position yourself to be found is to complete
the “About” section on your Facebook profile. Why? A
couple of reasons. For one, there are tools available that
allow recruiters to search the “About” section of Facebook
profiles. Now this does not mean that they have access to
your photos or anything else you have marked “private.” It
only means that the section of Facebook where you have
input data on your work history (and have chosen to make
public) can be found.
Check out the top image on next page. The arrow points to

45
LinkedIn envy?
Does Facebook have LinkedIn envy?
the “About” section of my Facebook profile. Over the years,
I have noticed Facebook become more determined to make
my work history more prominent. Initially, you had to click
and look for it. Now, it is featured on the front of my
profile. I suspect Facebook wants to go after the
professional market in the same way that LinkedIn has.
There are certainly enough rumors about that floating
online, at this writing. As a matter of fact, the “Financial
Times” in November 2014 reported that Facebook was
secretly working on a website called “Facebook at
Work.”
Just in case the rumors are true, and even if not, adding
your work history to your Facebook profile would
definitely increase the chances of your being found by
recruiters. Of course, along with that, is the chance of
things being seen that you wish to remain private. Towards
that end, I suggest that you become well acquainted with
the privacy controls on Facebook by clicking the padlock
icon (as shown on the next page).

46
Clicking the padlock reveals several privacy shortcuts and
basic information about privacy concerns on Facebook.
Read it all, then adjust your work history so that it
remains public while everything else you want private
stays private.
Padlock
Now, I want to go
one step further
and show you a few
more things like this
but...
I feel a tangent coming on
about “online reputation.”

47
Every year a company called “Jobvite” produces a Social
Recruiting Survey which tallies how companies use
social media to recruit, among other things. Among some
of the 2014 findings were these statistics:
 93% of recruiters will review a candidate’s social
profile before making a hiring decision.
 55% of recruiters have reconsidered a candidate based
on the information they saw on a social profile
 When asked, “Which of the following social networks
do you use for recruiting?” Responses were:
 94% -LinkedIn
 66% - Facebook
 52% - Twitter
 21% - Google Plus
 20% - Blogs
 15% - YouTube
Did you know that you
were fired from jobs that you were unaware of? Believe or
not, it's true and all due to your online presence, or lack
thereof. Recruiters are always on the hunt for new talent
and the internet is a prime resource. If they are looking for
someone with your skill set and you are not out
there networking in online forums, sharing your expertise
or presenting yourself as an expert in your field, then how
would they know to consider you for roles they are trying
to fill? And if you decide that submitting a resume is all the
proof of your expertise that a recruiter needs, think again.
How To get Fired Before You
Even Start (Tangent!)

48
More often than not, a hiring manager is choosing between
a few candidates with equal strengths and needs
something to help him decide between them or validate
their choice. So, where do they go? They look online to see
what a search engine gives them. If the information found
in the search showcases your skills and expertise in your
field, then so much the better. If it depicts you in a
negative light, so much the worse.
In order to position yourself as a valuable candidate in the
eyes of recruiters, you must do the following:
1. Keep your professional life and your personal
life separate.
I call this my “Superman” rule. When Superman is fight-
ing crime and saving kittens in trees, he portrays himself a
certain way. No one recognizes him as Clark Kent when he
is out of uniform. Should someone wonder if Superman is
good for a job and do their research, they will find nothing
on his life as Clark Kent because the two are separate.
Make sense? If not, let me say it another way: when you
are discussing your work or your industry, use your real
name. Should you feel the need to dance on top of tables
with a lampshade on your head, call yourself “boogie
dancer 21.” When recruiters are doing a search on your
background, they will be looking for data connected to
your real name and not “boogie dancer 21.”
2. Remember why you are online!
As “boogie dancer 21” you can say and do anything online.
However, when using your real name, you must be very
careful about how you portray yourself. The things you do
and say can come back to haunt you. Case in point, what
do you think has happened to the people who sent out the
following tweets? (Note, these are real world examples).

49
 "I hate my job. I'm going to start applying to new ones
soon"
 "Pretty sure my boss is related to satan"
 "I get some of my best thinking done while my boss is
talking to me"
Maybe their present employer has not noticed them yet.
Or, maybe a jealous co-worker decides to send copies of
those tweets to HR in an attempt to get them fired. Or,
nothing happened at all and the tweets are forgotten about
only to show up later at an inopportune time. Who knows?
The point of it all is, why put yourself in a negative light
when it can be avoided by simply thinking before sharing?
When online using your real name (and not “boogie dancer
21”) keep in mind that the whole world has access to your
content, so give them what you want them to see. Promote
your skills and competence, watch out for bad grammar
and typos, and make sure that what you post is consistent
with your personal brand. That last bit is crucial. Why take
the chance?
3. Protect your online reputation
When you are looking for a job (or career advancement in
your present job), the last thing you want is negative or
embarrassing information about you to appear before a
recruiter or hiring manager. Auditing your online
activities from time to time is a good thing to do. However,
timing can be everything. What if Google adds some
negative data on you a mere moment ahead of someone
who was researching your professional profile? Worse yet,
what if the person is not you, but someone who shares
your same name? Shouldn’t you know what info is out
there so you can protect your reputation or explain the
situation in case it ever comes up? I think so.

50
One way to place the protection of your online reputa-
tion on automatic is to use Google Alerts (shown below).
I suggest that you type your name in quotes and also any
derivative thereof. For example, say your name is “John
Doe.” In the search box I would add “john doe” OR
“Jonathan doe” OR “johnny doe”. Notice next to the
“CREATE ALERT” button (a) is a “Show options” link (b).
Clicking that link gives you, well… options.
See the choices I made? I want to be notified as soon as
possible when my search turns up a result within the
United States. I have the alerts set to be delivered to my
email address and from all the sources available (news,
blogs, video, et cetera) which is why “automatic” is chosen.
(As depicted on the next page.) I also have “All results”
selected because I want to see everything and make my

51
own decision on what is relevant to me. If I wanted Google
to figure it out, I would have chosen “only the best results”
as my option.
Beneath my preferences is an “Alert preview” giving me
an idea of the kind of results I can expect in the future.
Okay, Google Alerts will help you keep tabs on new data
that hits the web. Great! But what about the stuff you
don’t want anyone to find, especially recruiters? If
that thought crossed your mind, no worries, I have some
ideas and resources for you to consider.
First and foremost, Google your name, then repeat the
process and search for your name on
Yahoo, Bing, Ask and AOLSearch. Those are the top 5

52
search engines (at this writing) and although Google is
number one by a wide margin, you never know which
search engine a recruiter could be using.
What can you do if you find something unflattering
associated with your real name and want it deleted? Here
are some recommendations:
1. Check to see if you volunteered the information.
For example, a comment on a blog post. In many cases,
you can edit old comments by logging into whatever
system you used to make that post.
2. Contact the owner of the website and ask (nicely)
if they would remove whatever information that puts
you in a bad light. Point out that such information
might hamper your job hunting efforts.
3. Consider changing your name on websites that
you are a member of by adding a middle name or ini-
tial. So, instead of being David Wright on your re-
sume, you change it to “David B. Wright” and do the
same for all of the social networks you use. In this way,
anything under “David Wright” is not you (at least
when speaking to recruiters) as you refer to yourself as
“David B. Wright.” Make sense?
4. Should all of the above fail for you, you can always
contact the search engines directly and ask them
to remove the data. Such is not a quick fix, but it does
work.
Google Online
reputation man-
agement tool.
goo.gl/wvyjNI
To remove
content from
Bing.
goo.gl/qbd6ot
To remove
content from
Yahoo.
goo.gl/8ZZwB1

53
Oh yeah! One more point to make before progressing.
Search engines are giving preference to social networks
when it comes to researching people. Case in point, when
I search my name on Bing, on page one of the search
results is the following:
 My blog—Jim Stroud.com
 My LinkedIn profile
 My Twitter profile
 My YouTube profile
 Facebook profile of my video series - The Jim Stroud
Show.
 Links to two blogs I am affiliated with “The
Searchologist” and “The Recruiters Lounge.”
 Several pictures of me.
When I searched my name on Google, Yahoo, Ask and AOL
Search, I found more of the same. Most of the results were
links to my social networks and blogs. In some cases, I
saw links to my books as well.
The point I want to make with this is, even if I was not
active on those various social networks, my name would
still come up in a search. Therefore, I recommend you set
up a complete profile and create a presence on LinkedIn,
Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus and a blog (I suggest
Wordpress.com). On those channels, represent yourself
professionally so when recruiters look you up online they
will see the data you want them to see. Make sense?
Okay, I said a lot these past few pages. Let me take a sip.
Wow! That was a long tangent. Still, I feel
like I could say a few things more. Hmm…
A few pages back, I was talking about…
something. Let me flip back and see.
(Be right back).

54
Jim drinks some coffee or tea.
2002 was not a happy time for me; at least, not initially. I
was in a position where my wife was laid off, I was laid off,
I had a little one to take care of and bills that would not
stop coming in. So, being the responsible man of the
house, I go into job search mode.
Ahhh… Okay, now let ‘s tackle the biggest problem that all
job hunters have. And what’s that?
Its doing the same thing but expecting different results
(especially during a recession). Let me tell you a story.
Okay, let’s now deal
with the biggest
problem job hunters
have.
And what’s
that? It’s doing the same
thing you’ve always
done, but expecting
different results. Let
me tell you a story.

55
This was my checklist:
[X] Post my resume on Monster
[X] Search every (insert expletive of your choice) online
job board I could find
[X] Newspaper Want-ads
[X] Email Recruiters and Contacts for leads
[X] Go to Networking Events
[X] Go to Job Fairs
[X] Department of Labor Office
[X] Contact Temp Employment Agencies
[X] Walk into companies and fill out applications
And the more I did these things, the more frustrated I
became because I was not getting the results I needed. I
blamed the economy, I blamed others for not recognizing
my skills, I shifted the blame to there being too much
competition in the workplace and eventually I began to
doubt myself. I tried to laugh at the situation as I
considered the irony at the time, me, a recruiter, looking
for work.
The turning point for me came about 2 weeks into my job
search. Sure, not a long time by other measures, but the
uncertainty and feeling of desperation was real nonethe-
less. I was at the kitchen table with a stack of bills on one
side of me and a pile of printed off job descriptions on the
other when I said (in jest mind you), “God, something has
got to happen and quick.”
And then, a light illuminated my face and angels began to
sing and my next job appeared before my eyes. Hah! Not
really, not even half of that, but dramatic nonetheless. It
occurred to me that I was doing the same thing, in the
same way as everyone else and getting the same results –

56
no job.
“Do something different,” I said out loud, and from that
moment on, I did.
It was not uncommon in 2002, to be unemployed for sev-
eral months before landing a position. Once I changed
my job search strategy, I was working in two
months. It was a simple thing, well two things actually.
1. I positioned myself to be easily found by recruit-
ers online (I’ve already covered a lot of that already.)
2. I treated job search like a team sport.
These two methods have helped me find work
relatively quickly during the 2002 recession, 2008
recession and two surprise layoffs. If that does not sound
remarkable to you then, you have been very fortunate in
your career and have not suffered job loss during a tough
economic time.
But I digress, my intention is not to brag on my success,
but to help you with yours. I have not forgotten what it felt
like to be without a job and no prospects and I don't wish
that on anyone.
Okay, this strategy is simple and very, very, very effective! I
don’t know why it took a recession for me to get this but,
Job Hunting Is a
Team Sport!

57
here it is.
DO NOT JOB SEARCH ON YOUR OWN!
Teaming up with other like-minded individuals pursuing a
common goal will help you save money, save time and save
some personal sanity. It will help you work smart and
speed up your results exponentially without extra effort.
I actually got the idea for this based on an article I wrote so
many years ago. In the article I… Hmm… Let me just
share it with you now.
Jobseekers! Look For Smoke, Not Fire
"If you always do what you've always done, you will always
get what you've always received," said some wise person.
This is certainly true when it comes to job-hunting, espe-
cially during a "sucky" economy. How many times have
you applied to a job on Monster.com? Now ask yourself,
"How many other people have applied for the same
position?" The numbers are discouraging I assure you.
Should this keep you from applying to jobs online? By no
means, job boards are a necessary part of the process.
However, if you limit your jobsearch to seeking only those
jobs that you are qualified for then you are making a mis-
take. Am I suggesting that you do a "shotgun" approach
with your resume and apply to as many jobs as you can
Okay, so this is a tangent.
Its worth it ‘though. At
least, I think so.

58
hoping that by some miraculous twist of fate you catch a
recruiter's eye? No... and yes, in a way.
Let's put on our imagination cap for a minute and think of
a horrific fire in a subdivision at the peak of rush-hour
traffic. What is your immediate focus? The fire blazing
bright? Sure... Are you concerned for the people in the sub-
division? I hope so... "Now breathe deeply and concen-
trate," I say in my Yoda voice. "See more, you will, young
Jedi." Could it be that you see smoke? Could it be that you
hear a fire engine? Perhaps a helicopter with a reporter
giving the TV viewers a scoop on what is happening? Per-
haps there is another chopper for radio listeners? Perhaps
in the distance are people who don't know about the fire
yet and are honking their horns and cursing the 5 o'clock
commute? Perhaps all of this and more and why are they
all there? Well, duh... they are all there because of a fire.
Now, I know what you're thinking, "What does all that
have to do with my getting a job?" "Everything," I say
smugly.
Let's say that you are looking for a job as a network engi-
neer. What do you do? You look for Network Engineer
jobs, which is a good start but not the finish. Consider the
events and surroundings concerning your job and imagine
what surrounds that job. Let's see... to network computers,
there must be a group of unconnected computers some-
where. For a group of unconnected computers to be sitting
somewhere, that would mean that some salesperson had to
sell them to somebody else. So, who sells the computers
that I am qualified to connect? Why "Computer Company
A" sells the kind of computers I am qualified to connect.
Why don't I call Computer Company A and ask for a
friendly sales person? Perhaps with my powers of persua-
sion (and a little bribery of lunch), I can get him to tell me
who his best customers are. I bet his best customers could
use a network engineer to hook up all the machines they

59
just bought.
You like that? Let's go deeper...
New computers being connected suggest new office space.
If I was going to buy new office space, who would I go to?
I’d start by calling the leasing office of some business com-
plexes and ask who handles their leasing. Maybe they can
refer me to someone? Maybe they lease their own space
and will give me a tip on companies looking to move into
their space. A possibility... but better yet, I could pick up a
copy of "The Atlanta Business Chronicle" (assuming you
are in Atlanta) and review their real estate announcements
to see who bought what. Whoever is buying lots of office
space is someone I would want to talk to.
Do I have your wheels rotating yet? The trick is not to look
only for the fire (in this case, a network engineering job),
but the smoke (those people who operate on the periphery
of that job). Let me go a step even further. What happens
after a fire has been put out? There is water damage,
smoke damage, medical issues on occasion and so on.
There has to be someone or some group of some ones to
clean up the mess left behind. All that to say, as soon as
one person gets hired somewhere, there is a possibility of
an opening behind them. So, when you read in the paper
about Company X has just signed on a new CIO formerly of
Company Z, my advice is to call Company Z for a job. This
is an especially good technique if you are an Executive, be-
cause many senior management types foster a "cult follow-
ing" and bring other execs with them. (Happens all the
time...) Does this go for executives only? No, this would be
a good heads up for techies and marketing types as well.
Why? New leadership means new processes and new proc-
esses often demand people to adapt or stand aside for new
personnel who can.
"Now let's go deeper into the force," I say in a bad Darth

60
Vader accent. And imagine that you cannot imagine other
positions that are connected to the job you are qualified
for. Imagine that you are clueless on how to think along
these lines. (Anybody can draw a blank?) For these folks I
say, look for the recruiter jobs. If you see a company look-
ing to hire Recruiters, Staffing Consultants, Internet
Researchers (people who support recruiters by finding
resumes online) or Online Sourcers (same thing as Inter-
net Researcher), then that should sound like a cowbell at
dinner time.
If you are thinking to yourself, "Why should I care about
HR jobs? That's not my background." I suggest that you
rethink that. Why would a company hire recruiters? They
hire recruiters because they are about to load up on new
employees! What kind of employees? Well, look at the kind
of recruiter they want! Are they hiring technical recruiters?
Sales recruiters? Executive recruiters? Ahh... I see the light
bulb has just flashed over your head, you're with me now.
(Glad to meet you-wink).
There is an old joke by a comedian named Robin Harris
that says, "If you cannot get to the man, get next to the
man that is next to the man. And if you can't get him, get
next to the man that is next to the man that is next to the
man and so on..." If you are feeling frustrated in your
jobsearch, look beyond finding jobs that fit you, but rather
seek out people connected to what you do. If you cannot
connect with them, then connect with the person next to
them and so on and so on and so on...
Okay, I’m off that
tangent now.

61
Now, with all that being said, let’s apply that principal to
your job search.
These are the basic steps:
1. Consider your job carefully. Make a list of 3-5 job
titles of people who work alongside you, report to you
(if applicable) and your superiors. It’s important that
all of these roles relate to what you do, but do not
perform the same duties that you do. Why? If you are
an accountant and you team up with another
accountant, why should they refer accountant job leads
your way when they are seeking accounting work too?
2. Once you have your list together, connect with
people who have those job titles and are looking
for work. Let them know that you are building a job
hunting team and how it would work to mutual
advantage for you to work together.
 NOTE: There are lots of ways of finding these
people. In fact, I already shared how recruiters
find free resumes online. Other means include
looking people up on LinkedIn.com.
 NOTE: If you search “career ministries,”
“job club” or “job search meetup” along with
your city on Google, you will find some
interesting leads. Just sayin’…)
3. Create a list of companies you want to work for,
job fairs in your city, networking events related to
your industry, online job boards, staffing agencies
and professional associations related to your work.
4. Divide the work up 5 ways. (Assuming of course, you
have 5 people on your team.) Someone calls the
companies, another attends the networking events and
so on.

62
5. Set up weekly meetings to share the intelligence
gathered and how to best leverage it.
6. When you and/or a member of your team
interviews for a job, mention the other
members of your team. When the recruiter agrees
to view their resume, write a letter of introduction
bringing them together. Introducing your teammates
to potential employers incentivizes them to do likewise
and gets your resume in front of more people (who
want to view it and are actively hiring) without
additional effort on your part. Make sense?
7. Once all on your team is employed, stay in touch and
help one another advance each other’s careers forward.
Just in case you need it, I am sharing with you a template
email you can use to recruit people to your job search
team.
Of course, adapt it to fit your specific needs.
Just in case you need it, I
am sharing with you a
template email you can use
to recruit people for your
job search team.
Of course, adapt
it to fit your
specific needs.

63
From: Your Name here
Are you tired of being alone in your job search?
Why not join a Job Search Accountability Team!
If you’re like me you typically spend 30 to 50 hours per
week doing target company research and networking to get
interviews with hiring managers of your target companies.
Did you ever think about how many other people may
actually be trying to get into the same companies you are,
but in different careers? I have, and so I talked to success-
ful recruiters who have told me about Accountability
Teams! Don’t worry, there’s no fee, nothing to buy, and no
contractual commitment. It’s about job seekers with
similar career interests that meet in small support groups
to help each other’s efforts.
What is a Job Search Accountability Team?
It is a team of 5 to 6 job seekers that commit to support
one another in each other’s job search. The team is made
up of members who are in the same business, but who
would not compete for jobs. E.g., a team focused upon
“Manufacturing” could be comprised of plant Operations,
Engineering, Purchasing, Human Resources, Information
Systems, etc., all trying to find a job in the manufacturing
industry.
Can you imagine the time you would save in doing
research and networking to reach certain hiring managers
if others could help? Accountability Team members can
leverage each other’s activities, i.e.…
 Market research can be shared
 Target Company research can be shared
 Even contacts within Target Companies can be easily
shared
 Non-competing job leads can even be shared

64
Accountability Team member also commit to:
 Keeping each other focused on their job search and
achieving their weekly goals
 Supporting each other when a member encounters a
problem or “plateau” in their job search
 Give each other moral support
I am currently trying to setup an Accountability Team in
the Industrial Automation marketplace. I am an Auto-
mation Engineer/Manager with 25+ years providing and
supporting automation systems in the manufacturing
industry. I would like to team with others who would like
to share the burden of their job search.
Below are my thoughts regarding Accountability
Team member backgrounds:
Professionals looking for work providing machinery,
processes, engineered solutions, software / electrical /
mechanical products, and support services to the
industrial manufacturing and product producing
ndustries; automotive, food processing, material handling
or consumer goods industries.
I am looking to connect with:
 Engineers
 Inside Sales
 Outside Sales
 Operation Managers
Please call or email me if you would like to participate. I
can be reached at (123) 456-7890 and my email is:
johnny.b.goode@gmail.com
 Production Managers
 Purchasing
 HR Managers
 Marketing Managers

65
Okay, I really want to stop now but, I still feel like I have so
much to share. Should I stop?
Maybe… (phone rings) One sec
Ah! Its my pal Gerard! How’s it goin’?
Gerard: I hate to interrupt you in the middle of your book
and all but, you’re missing something.
Me: I am? What’s that?
Gerard: Money! What about the people living paycheck to
paycheck? They need money now!
Wait a sec’. I just
got a call from…
my dog?
*(Translation) What
about people living pay-
check to paycheck?
Woof! Woof!

66
ME: I suppose I could share some advice around being an
entrepreneur…
Gerard: Sounds like a plan! I’ll let you get back to your
book now.
ME: Okay, cool! Talk to you later and…
ME: How did he know to call me and tell me that at this
point in my book? (Gerard photo bombing in the back.)
Never mind. This is the entrepreneurial advice I was talk-
ing about.
I suppose I
could talk about
selling their
expertise
online.
*Perfect!
Is that Snoop
Dogg playing in
the background?
*Translated

67
How To Make Money In The Meantime
If you are in-between jobs (What are the odds of that ?) or
simply in need of some extra dollars to make ends meet, I
have a simple solution for you. Simply sell your
expertise online. I suggest this because it is something
you can do immediately without spending any of your
money. Let me show you what I mean.
Consider the picture below. What is his job? Let me
suggest a few possibilities: web designer, programmer,
photographer, artist, writer, paralegal, graphic designer,
sales person, help desk, data entry, translator,
administrative assistant. Look at the image closely before
making your guess.
Next question! Are they at home or at the office?
The answer to both questions is the same. It does not
Someone at a desk talking on the phone.

68
matter. The person in the photo could be doing any of
those jobs at home or in an office. They are a freelancer.
Could a freelancer role be for you? All you need to do
really is find projects to work on and for that, you need
access to a freelance site. Umm… You do know what a
freelance site is, right? If you do, pretend that you do not
so I can explain it for the benefit of those who have no
idea.
On any given day, someone will post a project up for bid on
a freelance site. Say… Someone needs a website designed.
A freelancer will step up and declare, “I will take on that
project for $x.00.” Another freelancer will make a bid and
another until eventually, the person who put the project up
for bid will make a choice. As soon as the project is
completed, the freelancer is paid and his work is rated so
many stars. The next time the freelancer bids on a project,
he may be more expensive than others bidding besides
him. However, since he has high ratings, he gets awarded
the work. Rinse and repeat this often enough and the
freelancer has a lucrative business.
Some cool sites to check out are…
Elance.com -
Check out how
much money
people have
made on this
website! Its on
their home-
page.
Ether.com -
Great platform
for a freelance
business.
PrestoEx-
perts.com - I
used this site a
few times
when it was
called LivePer-
son.com
Ingenio.com -
Sell your ser-
vices over the
phone and
charge by the
minute.

69
Reading your mind with my special powers, I see that this
concept intrigues you and you want to know how to find
customers. Am I right? (If I am, nod your head.) Cool.
How to find freelance projects:
1. Freelance job sites usually have a search function that
helps people find experts to engage. Make sure your
profile on the freelance site is well written and
promotes the skills you offer accurately.
2. Start a blog or a podcast where you share your
expertise and those curious for more information will
seek you out.
3. Look for people who are asking questions that you can
answer. Q & A sites are great for that type of thing. On
Q & A sites, someone posts a question about... some-
thing, anything. Later, someone answers the question
and their response is rated by the person who asked the
question and other people visiting the Q & A site.
More cool sites to check out are…
Fiverr.com -
Offer a sample
of your service
for $5.00 and
tempt custom-
ers to buy
more.
Quora.com - A
very popular Q
& A site.
Blitztime.com
- I am a fan of
this speed dat-
ing for busi-
ness leads
website. Very
cool
Guru.com - A
popular free-
lance website.
Enjoy.

70
I bet you're wondering how to price your freelance
services. Am I right? (Nod your head.) No worries. I got
you covered.
1. Charge according to the market! How? Research the
average salary for your services. (Indeed.com has a free
tool for researching the average salary of jobs.) Once
you know the annual salary of someone who would do
your service full-time (say... administrative assistance,
for example), divide that number by 120,000 to get
your per minute wage. In other words, an
administrative assistant making $40,000.00 a year
earns $0.33 a minute / $19.80 per hour. Such being the
case, an admin working freelance could price his or her
services accordingly.
2. When dealing with customers, set payment terms
upfront (half now / half upon completion or whatever
works for you) and get it in writing before you do
anything. You might want to consider various pricing
models as well. Say... one price for virtual consultations
and a higher price for in-person engagements.
3. As you gain positive feedback on the freelance sites,
gradually start raising your rates. (wink)
ME to READER:
There are a lot of advantages to working freelance just as
their are some disadvantages. I do not want to paint too
rosy a picture, so let me share the good and the bad.
(Is this glass half-full or half-empty?)
Is this glass
half-full or
half-empty?

71
Advantages
 Flexible work hours
 Flexible work location
 Choice of projects
 Wide variety of projects
 Work naked if you want to!
Disadvantages
 Financial insecurity
 Loneliness
 Blurring of home and work
 Wearing multiple hats
 Loss of salaried beneﬁts
1. Position your resume where it can be found online for
free by all recruiters.
2. Protect your online reputation because recruiters are
watching.
3. Create a job hunting team in order to cover more
ground without extra work.
4. Make money in the meantime by selling your advice
online.
If you have any questions, go ahead and ask me now. I'll
wait. (At least until you turn the page.)
Just in case you dozed off
somewhere between page one
and now, this is my job hunting
strategy in a nutshell. (Patent
pending)

72
How To Find A Job On Twitter
There has been a lot of buzz lately about Twitter becoming
a publicly traded company. At this writing, it is reported
that the stock price will be somewhere between $23 and
$25 and I, for one, plan on investing. (Just sayin’…) So
much is being speculated about what Twitter’s valuation
means to investors, the technology industry and social
media in general that one other important aspect is being
ignored: the increased awareness of Twitter is good for job
seekers.
Somebody tweets me something. (Screenshot of the tweet
goes here.) Like… Can you help me find jobs under the ra-
dar?
Hmm… Ironic that they tweeted me that . Twitter is full of
jobs? Let me give you a crash course!
Hmm… Great timing on
that tweet “ineedajob.”
Twitter is full of jobs. Let
me give you a crash
course.

73
Consider these stats: According to a recent Los Angeles
Times article, Twitter has over 230 million active users
and that is certainly going to increase post-IPO. According
to the website All Twitter, at least 10% of Americans use
Twitter during work hours. In May 2013, Twitter users
favorited tweets at a rate of 1.6 billion times! This was four
times the amount of favorites in May 2012. (For the
uninitiated, favoriting tweets is akin to Facebook likes.)
All quite impressive, you may be thinking, but how do
those stats correlate with your job search?
There are a lot of people on Twitter discussing lunch,
celebrity gossip, a bazillion things that you care absolutely
nothing about… and jobs. If you search Twitter a certain
way, you will find jobs being promoted as well as
unadvertised opportunities. Furthermore, since a
significant Twitter population is tweeting during office
hours, I suspect employment-related tweeting to increase
as well. Favoriting tweets is pretty common now and one
way of attracting someone’s attention. Perhaps, a
recruiter’s attention? Let me share a few examples.
Let’s look at the promoted jobs first by doing a search for
“now hiring.” I get lots of results like the one below.

74
If I apply a hashtag like “#job” to my search and a job title,
I can get more specific with my search. (As shown below.)
What if I wanted to get very specific? Say, I wanted to fo-
cus on tweets made within 25 miles of New York City? I
would search Twtter this way...
“now hiring” #job accountant near:nyc within:25mi

75
Have you ever heard of “Tweet My Jobs?” It is a social and
mobile job distribution network. You can target jobs on
Twitter by simply citing the hashtag “#tweetmyjobs” and a
job title.
All of the previous examples point to an advertised open-
ing of one sort of another. Wouldn’t it be great to find out
about opportunities before everyone else? Or, at the least,
before the masses do? Well, you can, if you know how to
search. Try this search on for size: “my company needs”
What you will find are people complaining that their
employer needs to do something improve the workplace or
their station personally. You will also see opportunities,
like the one shown below.

76
If you are someone versed in SEO, then that last tweet I
showed you is a definite lead for your services. Make
sense?
If you were to do a search for “looking to hire” then, you
might discover small business owners looking to save
money. After all, why pay to advertise on a job board when
a quick (and free) request for leads on Twitter might
accomplish the same result?
Looking for a gig to get you through the holidays? Try this
search “dm me” holiday job and you might get results
similar to the one below.
Here are a few more searches you might want to try as

77
well.
“my company” “looking for”
“I need to hire”
“send me your resume”
What I like most about doing these types of searches on
Twitter, well, any search for that matter, is that the results
change frequently. So, even if you do not find anything
now, try again later and something may turn up. (By later,
I mean, by the end of the day.)
So once you have found a few interesting tweets, based on
my search examples, what next? I suggest…
1. Go to their Twitter profile. Is there a link to a company
website or personal webpage? If so, why not reach out
to them that way? Just in case you do not want every-
one on Twitter to know that you are open to new
opportunities.
2. Follow them and (more than likely) they will follow you
back. Should they do so, send them a message via DM
akin to this: “Saw your tweet about X. Can we talk?
[Add a link to your LinkedIn profile]
3. Create a new Twitter profile and openly respond to
them. In this new profile, mention your expertise in the
bio section. In this way, the person you are connecting
with will be more apt to respond.
So, does any of that make sense to you? I hope so because I
got some more twitter tips coming your way on the next
page. :-)

78
One of the most underutilized Twitter features in my
opinion is its Lists feature. Have you heard of Twitter
lists? No? Well, lucky for you that you are reading this
blog! Twitter lists lets you view a curated list of Twitter
users instead of everyone you are following. Twitter lists
can be public or private. Here’s how creating Twitter lists
can help you find a new job.
To get to the Twitter lists I created and subscribed to, I
click the “lists” link on my Twitter homepage (“arrow 1” in
the image below). If I want to create a new list, I would
click the “Create new list” button but, more on that in a
moment. (“arrow 2” ) For now, check out the black
sunburst image. It is next to a Twitter list called, “Top 100
Social HR Experts.”
By clicking that link, I see a subset of people on Twitter
and not the entirety of Twitter. (Picture shown on the op-
posite page.)
Imagine now that you are an administrative assistant open
to new opportunities. Who can potentially hire you?
Hmm… Executives, managers and supervisors and sure,
you can add recruiters to the mix as well. Can you imagine
now being on Twitter and only seeing the Tweets of people

79
who could hire you? How easy would it be to strike up a
conversation with someone after reading something they
said, noticing a hashtag conversation they are involved
with or viewing a picture they just posted? Get me? To
begin the networking process, you need a good excuse to
initiate a talk (your need for a job) and a reason for the
other party to respond (a perceived common interest).
Following people on Twitter gives you that “in.”
Of course, before you can build a list, you need to figure
out who will be on it. One cool tool called Tweepz will
prove especially useful. Keeping with my example, this is
how I would find executives for my list.
Me to reader:
Check out the image on the next page. Sorry, I could not fit
it easily here.)
Check out the image
on the next page.
Sorry, I could not fit
it easily here.

80
Hmm… For the sake of demo purposes, I pick a profile at
random – Joey Styles, VP of Digital Media Content. I want
to add him to a list. So, I click the gear shift button to the
left of the “Follow” button and click “Add or remove from
lists…”
After clicking the “Add or remove from lists…” I go
through the prompts to create a list called “Job Search
Networking” and mark it private as it is intended for my
use only.
Of course, there is an even easier way of doing this,
although it is not always an option. Simply put, do a search
for Twitter lists others have created and save yourself the
trouble of making one. Unfortunately, Twitter does not
have a means for searching these lists. (Weird, I know.)
Fortunately, you can use Google as a work around. The
following search on Google finds Twitter lists with the
word “executive” in the title.

81
site:twitter.com subscribers members intext:list.subscribers
intext:list.members “a public list” intitle:executive
So what do you think? Will you be adding Twitter lists to
your job search strategy? I hope so. Hmm… I think I have
one more tip on Twitter to share. Umm… maybe two. Find
out which on the next page.
Me to reader:
You can’t see all of the search terms in the screenshot. No
worries, scan the QR code to go right to it. Or, glance at
what I have listed below.

82
There is an old saying that goes like this, “You have to kiss
a lot of frogs to find your prince.” I typically hear this a lot
when it comes to dating and marriage, but I think it
applies to networking as well. I mean, let’s face it. Anyone
can call themselves a doctor, but how do you know that
they are indeed a doctor, let alone a good one? Well, one
way to weed out the pretenders is by “crowdsourcing.” I
stumbled across an interesting blogpost called
“Crowdsourcing Definition #1: What is Collective
Intelligence?” [http://buff.ly/1yORphV] that discusses
how the wisdom of crowds is often superior to the wisdom
of the individual.
Here is a quote:
What is collective intelligence? Jeff Howe, the guy that
came up with the term crowdsourcing, says it this way, “A
central principle animating crowdsourcing is that the
group contains more knowledge than individuals.” James
Suroweicki says, “Even if most of the people within a group
are not especially well-informed or rational, it can still
reach a collectively wise decision.” This is the science that
explains why when asked for a lifeline on Who Wants to Be
a Millionaire, the crowd guesses 91% correctly, whereas
experts have a 61% likelihood of getting the right answer.
The answers that come from crowdsourcing are called
collective intelligence or wisdom of crowds. Yes, two terms
for the same thing.
When I saw that, a light bulb flickered in my head. As I
continued to read, something else jumped out at me.
So what does it take to achieve collective intelligence? Will
any group of people do? Crowdsourcing has three unique
requirements to deliver collective intelligence – (1) a

83
diverse crowd, (2) a qualified crowd, and (3) the right sized
crowd.
This sounded like Twitter to me. Why?
 Twitter has a large and diverse crowd with 200+
million members.
 Twitter members can be qualified with the right
searches.
 Whether or not the number of qualified people (and
“qualified” differs with each search) are a large enough
sample to give wise information, it is certainly large
enough to give you a significant number of pre-
qualified leads to people you may want to network
with.
Let me show you what I mean by looking up some…
umm… some iPhone developers. I begin by seeking out
Twitter followers who have been described by the
collective wisdom of Twitter users as being an iPhone
developer. Once I have found these iPhone developers, I
will look for more iPhone developers based on the opinion
of the iPhone developers that the crowd has sourced.
I use a few search strings to find Twitter lists that focus on
iPhone developers.
 site:twitter.com/*/lists/ iphone
 site:twitter.com/*/lists/ iphone developer | engineer
 intitle:*.is.following site:twitter.com iphone developer
Among the results was @joshgrenon who (according to his
bio) is an “iOS developer at @shyp, reader of success

84
books, athlete of strength, watcher of anime and lover of
tea.”
I notice that twitter users have placed him on several lists
related to iPhone development. I see this by clicking the
“Lists” section (a), then clicking “member of” (b) and
scrolling through the lists to see what I can see.
Here are some of the ways the crowd has labeled
@joshgrenon: Birmingham, iphoneappdev, programmer,
iphone-peeps, software-developer, iphone-developers,
Awesome Tech Peeps, iOS Developers, iOS Development,
mobile tech innovation and more.
So according to the Twitter crowd @joshgrenon is an
iPhone developer worthy of my networking time as he has
been cited on several Twitter lists focused on software and
iPhone development; along with several other iPhone
developers. (Of course, this assumes that I have an interest
in networking with iPhone developers.)

85
Umm… Yeah, I think I’m
tweeted out of twitter
advice. Next topic!
Good question! I
think I have a good
answer for you,
but its not here.
Its on the next
page.

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How To Dial For Dollars
Okay, so maybe you’re not one to network, research or
even market yourself online. Maybe you are one to let your
fingers do the walking and your charm do the talking.
(Hey, that rhymed! I’m a poet and didn’t even know it.)
Maybe you figure all you have to do is pick up the phone,
call into a perspective employer and badda-boom, badda-
bing, you sir (or madam) are sitting fresh and pretty on a
Monday morning at your new cubicle. Or, maybe not…
Maybe playing telemarketer with your resume is not
working so great for you. Maybe, you need a little help?
Am I talking to you? If so, then you will find this section
especially interesting. If not, well, you’ve read this much so
keep on going. (smile) I call this technique, “Dialing For
Dollars!” (Insert dramatic music here) Umm… just as the
title suggests… yeah.
In the age of the internet, I am surprised that people still
try to call their way into an interview. Well, I take that
back, I expect this from sales professionals. I mean, why
not? What better way to get a job as an Account Executive
than calling and talking your way into a job? However, for
all the other candidates who are not as polished as those
who work phones for a living, cold-calling can be a very
intimidating experience. This is why so many jobseekers
are bad at it. Before they even pick up the phone they form
a negative opinion about what is about to happen.
Is this you?
“I hate this, but I got bills to pay, so here I go.” (Hang up)
“What am I going to say? How will I get past the reception-
ist? How many other people are calling in? I’ll probably be
the 100th person to call in and ask about a job today. Ah,

87
forget it, I’ll call anyway.” (Dial phone and it rings) “Don’t
give up before you try.” (Receptionist answers) “Umm…
sorry, wrong number.” (Hang up)
Or maybe you actually have the nerve to ask for a manager
(or HR) and by a stroke of luck, you get them on the
phone. What do you say? Let me guess, you are so excited
about getting a decision-maker on the phone that you go
into selling yourself with rapid-fire pitching.
“Hi, my name is (insert your name here) and I want to be
your next (insert job here). I am a really hard-worker and
if you just give me the opportunity, I promise you won’t
regret it. (Okay, now would be a good time to stop, but you
keep going.) In my X years of (whatever) I have
accomplished yadda, yadda, yadda…
So, are you one of these people? Both? (I was both, but
more so the second person.) Hey, I know how hard calling
in cold can be. It takes tough skin to deal with all those
“not interested, send me your resume and I’ll call you
never” responses. However there is a way to counteract all
of that and get the results you are looking for. All it takes is
a little thing I like to call “practice.”
Ask yourself this, how many times have you practiced
calling a company for work before you really call them for
work? Let me guess, you figured you would “wing it,”
dazzle them with your wit and charm? Am I right? If I was
right, then you were most definitely wrong in calling
without an initial strategy. When you dive in blind, more
often than not you are perceived as unprofessional. (Think
of it this way, if you cannot represent yourself well, why
would I want you to represent my company?) If you are
determined to go dialing-for-dollars without a referral to

88
get you in the front door, I suggest that you do your home-
work on whomever you are calling first.
Do I hear whining? Do I hear, “That’s too much work or,
that takes too much time?” If I do, then remember what a
wise person once said. “If you always do what you have
always done, you will always get what you got.” (I think
that was Mike Murdock, come to think of it.) Over the
phone, like anything else for that matter, its all about
perception. Do you sound confident, as if you are indeed
worth someone taking time out of their schedule to chat
with you? Here is an even more important question, “How
do you think you sounded to the receptionist?” Believe me,
it mostly comes down to whomever picks up the phone
first. If they think you rank the attention of a decision
maker, then you have a chance. If not, more than likely you
will be dismissed and probably blown off when/if you call
again.
Are you despairing? If so, stop it now. The gatekeeper
(Receptionist, or whomever it is that catches the phone –
an Administrative Assistant usually) may turn you down
kindly or with a resounding slam of the receiver. No matter
how their reply is communicated, their direct response to
you is RARELY personal. Three seconds after you they
have gone on to something else and as such, you should
too. Losing your composure after the fact will not do any-
one any good, especially not you, so roll with the punches.
Now let’s suppose that you impress the gatekeeper
and manage to get someone on the phone that can
actually do something for you. Let me give you some
quick do’s and do-nots.
 It’s doubtful that you would forget your work history,

89
but nervousness gets the best of us. Just in case, have
your resume at hand. Also, have a cheat sheet ready on
the company you are calling with details such as:
company history, key players and recent company
developments
 Everybody likes the sound of their own name. I don’t
know why, we just do. So when you get someone on the
phone use their name. It will make you more “real” to
them (as opposed to say, a telemarketer) and helps you
remember who they are as well.
 If the person you are speaking to sounds as hyper as
Spongebob Squarepants, then sound just as hyper
when you speak with them. Are they coming off as
Lerch from The Addams Family? Return the dryness in
their voice with a similar tone in yours. The key is not
to make fun of the person, but to get them to identify
with you and over the phone, this is a quick way to
accomplish that.
 Be strong! Nothing communicates “unqualified” better
than such phrases as “maybe,” “I believe,” or “Not sure,
I think so.” Instead of saying “maybe,” it would be
better to say,” “I don’t have an answer for you now, may
I get back to you on (and give a time or date) with an
answer?”
 Always allow the other person to hang up first. You
might over hear something that could be useful to your
cause. (wink)
Now let’s suppose that the Receptionist did not
even listen to all of what you have to say and on
reflex says, “Would you like his voicemail?” If this

90
happens, always say, “Yes, thank you” because voicemail is
your friend. When used properly, your phone message can
peek someone’s interest and prompt them to call you for
more of what you have to say. Or, it could be used (as it all
too often is) as a means of screening people out. When you
get the voicemail of someone you would very much like to
talk to, understand that you have 30 seconds or less to
accomplish your mission. What is your mission? Of course,
it is to get them to call you back. How is that done Jim
Stroud? Glad you asked…
Example #1 – I’m doing you a favor by calling.
“Hi John, this is Jim Stroud. (1) I decided (2) to give you a
quick buzz after seeing something on the internet. (3)
When you get a minute dial up my office (4) 404-123-4567
and I’ll go over the details with you. (5) I appreciate your
time.” (6)
1. I called them by their first name to suggest that we are
peers and someone they can identify with. I use my full
name because they do not know who I am.
2. Subtle psychology; I am busy just like you, but I made
time to clue you in on something that might matter to
you
3. The internet is so vast and constantly changing, the
possibilities of what you may have seen are endless.
Hopefully that alone is enough to hook their interest.
4. Could your “office” be your cellphone or your kitchen?
Yes, you’re not calling for a job because you have an
office. You are however, open to new opportunities
similar to the one they are advertising.

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5. Details? What could it be that there are details
involved? Oh, the suspense!
6. The fact that you appreciate their time, conveys that
you are not wasting theirs with your call.
Notice that the message is short and sweet! This next
example is risky, but if executed correctly, has high
potential of working for you if executed right.
Example #2 – The Clicker
“John, Jim Stroud here (1) at 404-123-4567. (2) I spoke
with Charmaine earlier (3) and she said that you are the
right person to speak to (4) regarding… (Click)”
1. I called them by their first name to suggest that we are
peers and someone they can identify with. I use my full
name because they do not know who I am.
2. Phone number brought up early in the call.
3. Charmaine is the receptionist who takes dozens of calls
per hour. Are you someone important that she could
not recall? By chance, are you a million-dollar client?
Can they take that chance?
4. Whatever the reason for the call, they know at least that
they are whom you need to speak with. But what do you
want? Oh, the aggravation of not knowing!
5. (Click) You hang up the phone in the middle of a
sentence. What happened they wonder? Did the
machine cut you off? Who are you? Now they have to
call you back because it may drive them crazy until they
discover the reason for your call.

The Number One Job Hunting Book in the World!

The Number One Job Hunting Book in the World!

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