What a great vision. But let’s avoid one of the first traps which could turn your quest to serve into a complex web of spent energy. To navigate through the maze of good versus great options, consider the following criteria:

a. Something which fulfills your passion to make a difference

b. Something which matches your wiring, your natural talents

At this point, to choose a satisfying opportunity to make a difference, it doesn’t matter if you are thinking part-time, volunteer, overseas or a new paid job in your sweet spot. The key ingredients for all these options are the same: it needs to be fulfilling and it needs to fit your natural strengths.

So, let’s separate these two criteria and then bring them together. First, the passion:  Whatever you choose to do, there needs to be that spark of interest, deep value, and joy of making a difference. It can be feeding the hungry, mentoring marginalized youth, raising funds for a new school in your area, or designing the interior of a new nonprofit headquarters building. Some already know a cause worth giving to and others need prompting with some suggestions, like a list of nonprofit organizations.  The key point is to direct your passion to serve so that it leads you to a team of like-minded people. That means there are others out there who believe as deeply as you do about a specific cause and together you can make a more significant difference.  Just where can you find this team of others? They are working and volunteering for an organization such as Food for the Hungry, Friends of the Children, and Southern California Charter School.

Now that you have found a place where you can serve, the next big question comes up: What is the job title?  In order to be in your sweet spot, what will you do with that team of others? lick envelopes? sweep the floors? drive people to the airport? You get it, the job you do is just as important as the organization you join.

You realize that you have to identify two important goals to determine your best service option.  You need a type of organization and then the job title in that organization which fits your strengths. Separating the search to identify each of these simplifies the process. Once each part is understood, then you can tie them together like the two sides of a coin.

Now, the final part: If you are considering a commitment more than a few hours a week of volunteer time, like a CEO, Director of Development, or Community Relations Specialist, you will need to determine how your 38 years of occupational skills will transfer to this new field you want to pursue. This all begins with the familiar informational interview. The interview helps confirm the organization and position you are seeking, but also helps you get some insider tips on how to get hired.

Most boomers I counsel do not want to go back to school and most certainly do not want an entry level job.  They want some level of responsibility and challenge which they have experienced in their work life.

This sounds like a lot to do, and it is. But, you can spend your time driving in circles or driving in a straight line which will get you where you want to go.

Persevere, you can do it!

Actually, your friends really want to help you.  The disconnect is they don’t know how to help you.  They are more cautious in giving you names if they don’t know what you are planning to say to their contacts.  So, you and your friends get embarrassed and just don’t bring up the topic of job hunting.

There is a better way.  Your friends will make all the difference in the world in your job hunting.  During high unemployment, the person who knows someone on the inside has an important advantage.  They are in the first row.  If you don’t know someone inside, don’t waste your time because there is an applicant who knows the general manager or the president.

With that high bar of needing to know someone, let’s focus on how you can do this.  Follow these steps:

Step One:  Prepare your job search plan.  Write it out.  It should contain at least two goals:

1. You are seeking employment within this type of organization (description of product or service).
2. You are seeking a job that is similar to (state a job title).

Step Two:  Explain how you plan to contact decision makers in the types of organizations you want to pursue.  Offer what you plan to say when you call to ask for an appointment.

Step Three:  Make no more than five calls during the morning or afternoon (morning is best).  Be sure you have a calling script you have practiced so that you don’t read while you are calling.  Remember you are calling a friend of a friend.  The person you are calling is doing your mutual friend a favor by seeing you.

Step Four:  Don’t ask for a job or even take your resume.  Set the goal for your meeting to talk about the economy or the future of the industry.  If things appear to be growing or stable, then ask to meet again to discuss the growth process.

If you give your friends this type of a plan and they realize that you will not be hitting on their contacts for a job, the names will begin to flow.  You will feel better asking and your friend will feel better doing you a favor.  Once you meet with a referral, be sure to thank your friend and explain how the visit went.

You can do it!  Keep going!

Initially, thinking about “checking out the employer” seems to be a very reasonable thing to do.  However, it can develop into a mind-set and tone of crossing one’s arms and wrinkling the forehead. Overall, it comes across to the employer “I am checking you out.”  As a job hunter you may not be aware that you have this approach, but you may be subconsciously projecting a more analytical or critical approach during your first meeting. 

Let’s contrast this with a different job applicant who is positive, up beat and projects “I really like your company and want to receive an offer”.    See the contrast the employer is viewing in the first 30 minutes or so: “I really like this job and want to receive an offer” versus “I am checking you out to be sure that you are a safe employer.”

Let’s go to the antidote, the Ibuprofen. YES, you really need to check out the employer, the work environment, the management style, etc., before you go to work there. NO, you should not do this during the first, second or even third interview. Save it for after the offer. When you give a verbal or nonverbal cue that you are checking someone out, you emit more negative vibes which get in the way of the other person’s positive feelings about you. But deep down inside you have to know if this is a safe place to work. You reason to yourself, “I really want to know if this is a safe place to work, but I can’t ask until after the offer.”  Once you give yourself permission to “check out the employer” but only after the offer, then you can smile during the interview. 

Wait a minute; doesn’t this sound two faced?  Aren’t you being untrue to your feelings? Look at it this way. Richard Bolles in What Color is Your Parachute, the classic job hunter’s guide, says “If I like you I may hire you; if I don’t like you I won’t hire you.” It doesn’t matter how good your technical or professional skills are.  If there is no positive chemistry between you and the hiring person, there will not be an offer.  You need to put on a positive disposition until you get the offer. Concentrate on being pro-active, putting your best foot forward. Trying to figure someone out hinders any positive flow in starting a relationship. 

Getting an offer does not mean you are obligated to accept it. The same is true when a buyer makes an offer on your house for sale. You are not obligated to accept the offer. Once you receive a job offer, you thank the employer and then state that this is a very important decision for both of you. The employer has had the opportunity to evaluate your skills and aptitudes; you would appreciate getting to know some key issues about the organization. Could you meet with someone who has been with the company for five years or more (and also reports to the same person)?   If there is any hesitation or implication that you do not trust the employer, do not go further, as there is usually something to hide that is not safe for you. 

You can do it, keep going. 

JOHN BRADLEY

 My response is YES and NO. YES, getting inside as a non paid contributor really works. NO, positioning oneself as a “volunteer” will not lead to a job you want.

 Volunteering has the stigma of Kleenex or “gofer”. Kleenex is expendable, “gofers” will do anything most others don’t want to do. If your goal by volunteering is to get inside an organization and to meet the department heads, I believe you are doing yourself a disservice by carrying the brand of “volunteer”. If you want to be hired because you have something unique to offer, being labeled as a volunteer won’t get you there.

 On the other hand, volunteering your time as an intern is another story.  I strongly advocate this approach. In three short months you could position yourself for the dream job. So, what is the difference?  Are internships truly treated differently from volunteer opportunities? Absolutely yes! According to the US Department of Labor’s own definition of internship, this needs to be an educational on-the-job experience which benefits the student more than the employer. Actually, if an employer agrees to take an intern and that person ends up doing “gofer” work, that is not the spirit of what an internship should be (that’s volunteering where anything goes).

 How do you qualify for an internship if you are not a registered college student? Most job hunters in this tight economy are 30-55 years old. Aren’t there complicated qualifications as to what can/cannot be identified as internship quality learning experiences? It is simpler than you realize. Follow these steps.

1. Begin by identifying the ideal type of position you want to be hired for. Let me use  a recent client as an example.  This client wants to work in a museum in restoring artifacts or art, but the market is very tight.  To even qualify for this type of work requires direct experience and academic preparation. So, we begin by listing all of the museums within driving distance of her home.
2. Second, we identify the departments in the museums which have any direct application to exhibits, artifacts, art, library, bookstore, exhibit packaging/transportation, etc., and get the names of the department heads.
3. Third, we find a 2-unit community college class which teaches some aspect of introduction to art conservation, archaeology, museum careers, etc.
4. Fourth, my client meets with the professor of the class (mentioned in #3 above) and asks for more details about the course and if there are any former students who now work at any of the local museums.
5. Fifth and last, my client goes to each museum, starting with those who have  former students of the professor, and inquire about an internship as a way to apply the course material. My client clarifies that the internship itself will be personal to her and not to be one for which the student is receiving academic credit. Internships for which a student has to pay for credit requires several layers of supervision by both the campus and the employer. All of this is by-passed if one does not seek academic credit for the hands-on experience.

 Thus, my client gets “in” to experience a rich hands-on learning opportunity. Also, my client gains a relationship with the department head as well as colleagues at the museum. Internships last about 3 months.  Now my client has related work experience and an opportunity to be first in line for the next museum opening.

Yes, this has really worked especially for today’s tight job market. You can do it!

That’s right. Recently, I heard from three friends during
three different social occasions about one of our clients who recently got
hired in his dream job. He was so excited that that he must have told all his
friends, who told others. I was at the end of the grapevine.

The story is a good one in that it validates that relationships
are really the key to getting hired. Let’s call our client Mike. He had been
let go from a middle management position and had been job hunting for at least
6 months with no results. In addition to being discouraged in today’s economy,
he also told me that he wasn’t sure about his future career direction. He
asked, should he remain in his industry or look elsewhere.

We agreed to begin with a career assessment before starting
his job search. Our career assessment looks at over 90,000 career options and
recommends the top ten. One of the top career matches which caught his
attention was non profit disaster relief organizations. The more he researched
the field of helping victims of natural disasters, the more he saw how he could
make a difference in many lives.

Part of his research included a vocational survey to talk to
a department head in a disaster relief organization. He made an appointment and
gathered very useful information which confirmed his interest in that field. He
continued to meet with different department heads in the same organization
gathering information. At one meeting, a department head mentioned that a new
vacancy was coming up. The department director was taking a promotion to be a
vice president, would Mike be interested in applying for the newly vacated
position?

Up to this point, Mike was meeting with managers just asking
questions about the disaster relief career field. He had not submitted a resume
or applied for any job. He had no prior experience for the position. Nor did he
have any educational credentials related to medicine or disaster relief. His
only asset was that he had managed a department in his former company. However,
because of his visits with different managers, he had gained a warm
relationship which eventually resulted in being notified about the position and
moved his application to the top of the list of candidates.

So, the key to Mike’s success was not scanning the internet
and sending a million dollar resume, it was developing relationships with the
decision makers.  It took time for Mike
to make those contacts and to continue to follow up with meetings, but it all
paid off. In all, It took Mike about 8 weeks to get the job offer.

Are you frustrated in your job search? Remember that the key
is relationships, not internet vacancy postings or your resume. Keep at it, you
can do it.

It’s almost as if one doesn’t believe that it is possible to define a career sweet spot.

There really is a better way and it is the road less traveled. This alternative road is not more difficult, not hidden or reserved for the privileged. It can be traveled with or without a college education, with or without prior work experience. It is the rock solid bottom line of what truly matters in choosing one’s future career path.

This very basic level of thinking and planning involves two important elements. The First is your passion. To find your sweet spot, there needs to be an internal passion about what it is you want to do. I have a good friend who is a fish biologist. He thinks, dreams and talks about fish. He never tires about this subject. Evenings and weekends he is pondering about going fishing, how the weather is impacting fish migration, what the Fed agencies might be changing regarding regulations. Now, some of us are not as obvious about our passions, yes, we want to help underprivileged children, but do we want that so desperately that we will make it the cornerstone of our career life? Actually, a better approach is to determine the top ten list where your passion seems to be speaking the loudest. To translate your passion to the world of work, your motivational dynamic needs to ultimately define a type of organization which represents the passion. An example would be: an inner city educational research organization which represents the passion of  making a difference for underprivileged kids.

The second most basic element for your career thinking and planning is choosing the job you will do. This step is not based on your passion, it is based on patterns of behavior. Selecting one’s day to day duties requires a clear understanding of one’s DNA, how you are  wired.  Some are naturally gifted in mechanical applications, others in public speaking and further, others are talented in artistic applications. Now, I’m using the reference to DNA to represent your innate natural talents which enable each of us to do certain things exceeding well.  Yes, with average intelligence, we can learn to do many things, but learning how is not the same as intuitively understanding how. One can take a course in interior design, but if that person is color blind the instruction will have limited value. Natural talents are significantly enhanced by training, and they also learn by trial and error. The longer a person is using their talents, the higher the level of job productivity and fulfillment.

So, in summary, you can discover your best career options which match your passion and your talents.

One closing comment. How do you know for sure that you have found it? There is a simple test you can apply. Go and meet the person who is employed within your preferred  organization doing the job you have selected which matches your strengths. There should be that long awaited Aha

Well, there is a significant value you can add to your academic pursuit which will almost guarantee you a “perfect job”. This incredible value is only available to you as a student, as a person enrolled in a campus course. It is called internship. No, not the traditional internships you find in the career office to satisfy a course requirement. I mean an internship doing what you want to do after graduation in the organization you want to work for.

Sound too good to be true? Well, follow me for a few sentences. We begin the journey by knowing all the companies, government agencies or non profits which meet the description of your career goal. At this point, perhaps ½ of you reading this blog may say, but I don’t know my goal or how to get that list. Well, let’s assume you do know the how. The next step is to find out the requirements within your campus for developing your own customized internship opportunity. Who will be the supervising faculty, what are the requirements which the employer needs to meet?

The next step is to begin setting appointments with employers, the directors or department heads who would oversee your internship position. Now, don’t go to the person who has your job, but go to that person’s boss. The boss is the one who will hire you, so start there.  When you meet, you state that you are exploing a future internship opportunity do XYZ with this specific type of company/organization. You ask if this would be a possibility. At this point be prepared to explain your passion and your attributes.

After visiting with several organizations, hopefully, you should have several internship offers. Now, here is the key part. Not until you receive the offer do you ask if there might be an opportunity after you have completed the intenship. If you ask before, the offer you will have very few employers interested.

By the way, for those of you who have been unemployed for some time, this can work for you as well. You just need to enroll in one community college course which fits your career goal and start knocking on doors.

I have seen this work for clients. You can do it.

So, how does it work? Companies and non profits which are growing are always looking for new talent. The biggest barrier to growth is finding good people. Positions naturally evolve because of increased market share, or a new financial contribution, or a new surge of students. In a management meeting there is the discussion, “we need someone who can help us….”  Or, a manager meets someone whom he/she feels can move the organization to the next level and begins to recruit that individual to formulate a new position. All of this happens because of organizational growth or change.

Another key factor is that 80% of organizations have 20 personnel or less. That means that the majority of employers are very busy, do not have a full-time HR director and are just trying to keep things moving forward. Most of the advise we receive today are from the 5-10% of employers and head-hunters who serve them about how to compete for vacancies. This large 80% do not have time to publish secrets on how to get a job. These companies and non profits just find people through their business and social networks. Positions are filled and they never got posted as a vacancy.

How does an outsider gain access to this insider information about growth, or statements like “we need some one who can…..” The answer is found on that road less traveled. Only trusted individuals know about these opportunities. This means an employee recommends a neighbor, a former college friend recommends a colleague, an employee recommends a manager she appreciates in a former company. Yet, there is a way that you can become one of these “trusted” friends. Yes, there is a price to pay for developing a substitute to being that neighbor or colleague. In one word, it is all about developing a relationship. You need to develop a relationship with the decision maker who oversees the department, workgroup, division or even company you want to pursue. But, this is not just any old company or non profit, it must be one which is growing or changing.

The magic number is three in terms of how many visits it takes to discover an opportunity and turn it into an offer. Once you meet with a decision maker (whose organization is growing or changing) three times you have won the coveted trust. That person is starting to like you.

Now, what are you planning to talk about, what is the purpose for your meeting? You do not request a meeting to present your resume. That’s like saying will you marry me on the first date. You begin with developing an employer contact list of the types of organizations which fit your career objective. Your first goal is to discover which organizations are growing. Then you seek to find out what the growth needs are which may be coming up. Lastly, you want to discuss your strengths and how you can help the organization meet its growth goals. This is all very doable, but it is the road less traveled. In 35 years of job coaching, I have seen this work wonders for clients. You can do it. Try the road less traveled.