Lee Gamelin

Teaching personal marketing skills as an essential component of your career services curriculum.

No matterhow your career services curriculum is designed, make the distinction between
career planning and the actual process of marketing skills for gainful employment. They are both essential elements of a complete career services education and training program.

Cutting right to the chase, without personal marketing skills the chances of earning jobs
a person really wants in the pursuit of their career are quite limited. Most of the advice about seeking employment is still oriented around big companies. Unfortunately, the Fortune 500 has been
responsible for a net loss in jobs over the last twenty years. All the growth (and the best chance to be hired) is from companies most job seekers probably never heard of.

Smaller employers tend not to have a human resources department, so the traditional job search approaches of the 20^th century are no longer effective, especially then the hiring authority is the
owner.

This is the 21^st century where job seekers are far more transparent, so personal marketing and consultative selling skills are tantamount to success in the job market.

Today’s success formula includes all the skills needed to market a small service business, and understand and implement the strategies of the Universal Marketing Cycle: filling the pipeline of prospective employers that can use the skills of the job seeker; following up systematically;
conducting benefits-oriented meetings with prospective employers, and closing on job offers skillfully.

Without these essential personal marketing skills, the new graduate will be at a substantial loss no matter to well they have been prepared to make committed career decisions.

Elements of an effective and successful career services department in the 21st century

To be effective it must train people to built their own ship instead of waiting for one to come in.  It must train people how to market themselves successfully in all circumstances.

The learning component must help people identify the best job search strategies for their personal goals; to know exactly what to do and when to do it; stay motivated in the face of frustration and rejection.

To be successful it must include an outreach program to prospective employers and search firms to ensure a continual flow of job leads,  and a coaching component that supports people to

• Develop a specific focus in their job search.
• Enhance their personal development.
• Maintain drive and determination.
• Build confidence, and
• Strip away the "stuff" that isn't working.

It must also include a résumé writing service led by professionals who have an acute understanding that résumés and cover letters are personal marketing tools, NOT a rehash of templates found in Microsoft Word.

Most advice provided by so-called experts with HR and academic backgrounds  about job seeking is oriented around big companies. The notion of a standard résumé, using Internet job boards, of dealing with the HR department--even the idea of interviews--is all built around the Fortune 500.

Unfortunately, the Fortune 500 has been responsible for a net loss in jobs over the last twenty years. All the growth (and the best chance to get hired) is from companies most job seekers probably never heard of.  And when the hiring authority is also the owner, the rules are very different.   And with different rules comes the need for different skills.

Small businesses aren’t hiring to fill a slot. Unlike a big company with an organizational chart and pay levels, the very small business is an organism, not a grid. The owner is far more likely to bring in a freelancer or someone working on spec than they are to go run a classified help wanted ad.

Teach your students personal marketing skills targeted to small businesses and watch your placements rates climb.

Exciting career move

I have made a very exciting career move on two fronts. First, I resigned my position as School Director and Director of Career Services at New Horizons Computer Learning Center, but have entered into a General Contract of Services with New Horizons to provide career services to their students through my new company, FindJobsQuickly, LLC.

Second, I accepted a position as director of a start-up career school, America’s Mortgage Institute (AMI) in Cherry Hill, NJ. Initially, I will be taking AMI through a 3 state licensure process to enable the school to recruit and train individuals from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

AMI will provide individuals pursuing licensure as a Mortgage Loan Originator the only opportunity to learn their profession in a Traditional Instructor-Led Training platform. In addition, AMI, under my leadership, will provide career services that are significantly, noticeably and remarkably superior to anything else available at most training and development institution.

AMI will open its doors to enrolling students in the late summer or early fall of this year.

100% Placement!

One hundred percent placement is an elusive idea, akin to 100% employment, but for the 4 month period from June through September, 2010, we achieved it at New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Greater Philadelphia!  And what makes it even more astonishing is the fact that most of it came from self-directed job search efforts.  This is what my career services program attempts to achieve, and at least for this 4 month period, we have been successful.

My program is based on an ancient Taoist principle:  “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.”

Providing students the opportunity to learn self-directed job search skills is absolutely essential is this era where a job search has become an asset building personal marketing campaign, not just an annoying and unfortunate part of a person’s work life.

We have got to show people how to rely on their personal power; the power to take action and employ “right action” methods, and coach them to this end.  Otherwise, they will eventually be left behind to pick up the scraps of those who have learned how to integrate enthusiastic pro-action with right action, no matter how successful we are in getting agencies and employers to recruit our graduates.

This is the era where most smart employers seek only those who can bring added value to their company, not to “just do their job.”  This requires personal marketing skills to convey, and it is our responsibility to rise above teaching passive traditional methods, and launch ourselves, and our students, into a new era of positive, enthusiastic, asset-building pro-action.

Goal Achieved

My original goal for the Career Services Department at New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Greater Philadelphia, was to achieve a 93% placement rate, or what I prefer to call, an employment success rate.  This rate is the aggregate for those who completed their programs from June through September 2010; 100% for those who completed their programs in the months of August and September.  I believe this employment success rate is due mostly to the cutting-edge job search skills programs I've created that enables our students and graduates to integrate pro-action with right action.  I'm very proud of this program, and the graduates who have implemented what they learned.

Major Milestone

When I was hired last June by New Horizons of Greater Philadelphia, my principle responsibility was to increase the employment success rate of our graduates substantially.  I am very proud to announce that the aggregate employment success rate for those who completed their programs from June through September 2010 is 86%, and 100% for those who completed their programs in the month of August 2010 alone.  This will certainly have a major impact on the credibility of our training programs.

Get Read to Get Hired!

What's the one letter that always gets opened?

FedEx.

Smart marketers know this and send sales letters for big-ticket items via express delivery.

To make sure your cover letter gets read, send it FedEx 2-Day to the decision maker (never HR) at an employer. It costs less than $10-15 in most cases.

Can you do this for every job? No. Can you do this for your dream job? Yes, if your dream job is worth $15.

Protecting the soft spot

We all have one; or more than one. It's that place where we can get hurt, the one we seek to defend.

For some people, it's the fear of making that first phone call to a hiring manager. For someone else, it's not knowing what to say at an interview.  For someone else, it's being confronted with the problem of finding a job you really want--but the effort just seems too great.

The key question is this: how much does the act of protecting the soft spot actually make it more likely you will be hurt?

It turns out that the more you angle yourself, the harder you work to protect the soft spot, and the more likely it is that you'll get hurt.

All the time and effort you put into ducking and hiding and holding and avoiding might be sending the job market a signal... the irony of your effort is that it's probably making the problem worse.

Are you doing a good job!

I just received this blog entry from Seth Godin.  Seth Godin is an American entrepreneur, author and public speaker. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing.  I can't think of better justification for teaching, learning and practicing cutting-edge job search skills.

One way to approach your work: "I come in on time, even a little early. I do what the boss asks, a bit faster than she expects. I stay on time and on budget, and I'm hardworking and loyal."

The other way: "What aren't they asking me to do that I can do, learn from, make an impact, and possibly fail (yet survive)? What's not on my agenda that I can fight to put there? Who can I frighten, what can I learn, how can I go faster, what sort of legacy am I creating?"

You might very well be doing a good job. But that doesn't mean you're a linchpin, the one we'll miss. For that, you have to stop thinking about the job and start thinking about your platform, your point of view and your mission.

It's entirely possible you work somewhere that gives you no option but to merely do a job. If that's actually true, I wonder why someone with your potential would stay...

In the post-industrial revolution, the very nature of a job is outmoded. Doing a good job is no guarantee of security, advancement or delight.

The Absolute Formula for Success

Borrowing from the works of Mark Joyner, a high school dropout who went on to earn millions, and adding from my experience working with thousands of adult job seekers:

• To be successful, you must Input Time, Energy or Money to do so.
• There is no other way to be successful.
• Success doesn't just fall in your lap.
• Success doesn't come from wishful thinking or believing you're entitled.
• Success comes as a direct result of deliberate actions you take.
• No matter how impoverish you may be; no matter what bad hands may have been dealt to you; no matter how bad family, school or work life was or is, success is a direct result of you investing either your Time, Energy, or Money; or a combination of all three.

Successful outcomes are a direct result of the intelligent application of your Power.  The Power that is nothing more than your inherent ability to bring about a result.  Combine pro-action with right action, and you will definitely get results!