The Truth About Employment References

I recently got a text message from a job seeker who was agonizing over what to put down under "references". The job application asked for the names and contact info of 2 people not related to him who also didn't work for the employer. 

He couldn't think of 2 people not related to him who would say nothing but good things about him if an employer asked. 

Employers don't ask you for personal references because they expect to get truthful, objective information about your potential value as an employee. Employers know that, unless you are a total moron, any reference provided by the applicant is going to say that the applicant walks on water and gives the workplace the pleasant smell of cookies. Employers ask for references for several reasons:
1. As a starting point for the REAL reference check. Employers use the references you provide to lead them to other people who may not tell them you smell like cookies and walk on water.  If you list a guy who worked with you at Theory X Management Corp a skilled reference checker knows how to get the applicant-provided reference talking and mentioning co-workers and others who may not have good things to say about you. The references you provide are a hunting license. 
2. Employers use the references you provide as a way of seeing if you have the judgment to provide references who might actually have knowledge of your work. If, for example, you list your pastor or your hairdresser you just demonstrated that you lack judgment to provide pertinent, relevant information when asked. 
3. Employers use your references to see if you know any business contacts that might benefit them if they hire you. 
4. Employers use your references to confirm or contradict items on your resume. 

There's a chance that some employers won't check your references at all because, as I said above, they know that if you're not a moron you won't list people who say bad things about you. Such employers just move on to finding references you don't know about; people connected to you on Linkedin, for example. 

This is the point where some so-called employment experts tell you to coach your references to say exactly what you want them to say and to stay "on script" and offer no information beyond what you coach them to say. This didn't even work before there was social media but nowadays it's impossible to coach all the people an employer may find who are willing to answer questions about you.

But I've buried the lead. Here's what you really need to know about references: if your candidacy for a job really hangs on what your references say about you or what your enemies say about you then you're probably not sufficiently well-connected to the employer to get the job. If an employer is actually contacting people to ask them questions about you there's a good chance you are still in the stranger category with that employer and, as I have written here before, in decades of headhunting work I never once saw an employer hire somebody to whom they weren't already networked through a mutual friend or trusted colleague or other trusted professional. 

Don't agonize over the references but do figure out who you and your potential boss know in common and ask that person to introduce you to the employer. Flattered that you consider them to be so influential, you'll be amazed at how many people are happy to introduce you to somebody they know who can hire you. 

Remember: you don't want to be in the position of playing the low percentage game of filling out applications, sending resumes to strangers and then sitting in a room or hallway waiting for an interview. You want to be in the high percentage game of being introduced to your new boss over coffee at Starbucks while the suckers send resumes to strangers.  if you're sufficiently well-connected to the employer you'll leap-frog over better qualified candidates and you may not even be asked for a resume until you already have the job.

---

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Where Does An Information Junkie Go To Get "Hyper Local" News And Information?

As my regular readers know, I've been calling the Charleston radio market a "talk radio desert" because, with the dismantling of John Raese's Rick Johnson-Mike Agnello conservative talk show from 3-6 on WCHS, Charleston no longer has live, local talk radio. I've been saying that the live local talk format is an opportunity for some enterprising radio cluster to convert one of their underperforming stations (I'm looking at you, Dotsy Klei at LM Communications) to a format they can have all to themselves. I've reminded local radio executives of the Second Immutable Law of Marketing: if you can't be first or second in a category, create a new category you can have all to yourselves. 

I've said here in my blog that the new Executive Director at West Virginia Public Radio, Scott Finn,  has a chance to go live local talk on a statewide basis. 

I was partly wrong.  Instead of promoting live local talk I should have been promoting what some call "hyper local" communications of which live local talk is but one example.  Before all the small town newspapers died and all the radio stations became the personal iPods for programing people who don't even listen to the stations they program, people could get lots of hyper local news and information. But now most of the news and information options are national and world news. You can't get any local news and info on Sirius XM. The Big Cluster radio companies that control Charleston (Bristol Broadcasting, LM Communications, West Virginia Radio Corporation) mostly give you world and national news if any. One Big Cluster radio executive told me over coffee that the cluster he/she runs doesn't have news at all. 

How does an information junkie in Dunbar get news about his city council? He's lucky if he gets a few column inches once a week in the Charleston Gazette or Daily Mail. How does a news and info junkie in St. Albans get information and news about neighborhood watch if he doesn't know about the St. Albans Neighborhood Watch email lists or text blasts or the Public Group For St. Albans Neighborhood Watch? Once in a while a TV crew shows up at a neighborhood watch meeting and there's 8 seconds of neighborhood watch coverage on the 11PM news.

I've started using Twitter to get as live and local as possible. I no longer follow people who tweet about politics or their new TV show, I only follow interesting local people who may tweet something hyper local, something the TV reporters won't cover. For instance, I follow the handful  of local city council members and mayors and WV House and Senate members who tweet. I follow local people who are thought leaders or "tribal" leaders on subjects of interest. And, yes, I follow all the non-sports and non-weather journalists because sometimes they tweet stuff hours before it goes on the air or on their website.

I subscribe to several text messaging services where I can get local news before it's on TV or internet.

And there's the opportunity for an enterprising terrestrial radio executive like Dotsy Klei, Mike Robinson or Scott Finn. People who don't have internet or don't know how to get texts on their phones will listen to live, locally-originating call-in radio. And right now, none of the Big Clusters in Charleston offer it. 

Back  in the 90s I was walking down the street with a radio station GM in Lexington, KY, who predicted that "in ten years" there would be no humans in the radio studios of any Lexington. His prediction was overly pessimistic but he was a lost right, There are still humans in the studios but there is no live, local news on the air in many radio markets including ours. 

One Big Box radio exec told me there is no budget to hire an on-air "personality". I told her/him that the lack of a paid talent provides the station a chance to put hyper-local volunteers on the air. You can't tell me there are people all over the Kanawha Valley who would gladly volunteer to be radio hosts on your live, local, call-in shows. 


---

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Jobless Despite Doing Everything The Employment Experts Told You To Do? Perhaps They Didn't Tell You The Most Important Thing.

If you're still jobless or underemployed despite doing everything the experts have told you  to do to get a job, it's time you consider the possibility that the experts haven't told you the whole story. Let me show you what I mean then let me pick up where employment experts leave off.

One employment expert begins his workshop with triage. 

"By show of hands, who has sent hundreds or even thousands of resumes without getting an interview?"

When people raise their hands the expert declares that there is something wrong with their resumes and asks them to get up out of their seats and cluster together and await further instruction.

"By show of hands, who has gotten lots of first interviews but no second interviews?"

When they raise their hands the expert declares that they need help with their interviewing skills. He asks these people to cluster together and await further instruction.

"By show of hands, who gets second and third interviews but no job offers?"

When these people raise their hands the expert declares that these people have something in their backgrounds that keeps them from getting offers and he asks them to cluster together and await further instruction.

So, according to this employment expert, the attendees who couldn't get a job offer had bad resumes, bad interviewing skills or bad backgrounds. 

After the event I asked the employment expert how he got his job as an employment expert for the worldwide organization that pays his salary and travel expenses. 

He told me the most important fact he could have but chose not to tell is audience; that he got his job because somebody who knew him recommended him for the job. He confessed to me that he wasn't particularly well-qualified for the job and that he didn't become an expert in employment matters until after he was offered the job.

I've often said that competence gets job seekers into a game that relationships win but here was a case where even the lack of competence did not hinder a man with the right relationship, the right co-signer. 

Your logic professor may say it this way: "Most of the time competence is necessary but not sufficient to get the job offer, but not in the case of the employment expert who leapfrogged over competent candidates to get a job for which his only qualification was that he had an internal promoter who made sure he got a job at which he was not yet competent."

Why didn't this employment expert tell his audience the single most important thing he could have told them about how jobs really get filled? Did he not think it important? Was he embarrassed? 

Sometimes so-called employment experts don't tell their audiences the whole truth because they want to sell resume-writing services or interviewing tips. I've known job seekers who paid as much as five thousand dollars to get a better resume, interviewing tips and even job leads all to no avail. 

But in my workshops, my newspaper articles, my magazine articles and in my blog I have already told you the truth, free of charge,  about how people really get jobs. Look through my archives. 

If your job search efforts aren't working, don't double down and do even more of the same things that haven't worked for you. It's time to trade the low percentage game of sending resumes and going too interviews for the high percentage game of getting somebody you already know to recommend you to your next boss. 

---

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

How St. Albans Fills Vacant Council Seats

Dan Cain has resigned from his 5th ward council seat.

Here is what St. Albans' codified ordinances says about filling a vacant council seat:

	SECTION 8.  FILLING VACANCY IN OFFICE.

		A vacancy in the office of Mayor or Councilman, resulting from any cause, shall be filled by the Council within three months thereafter; such Mayor and Councilman, so chosen by the Council, shall hold office for the unexpired portion of the original term.

---

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Dan Cain's Resignation

St. Albans Mayor Dick Callaway emailed me a copy of Councilman Dan Cain's resignation letter. Here is the text of the letter:

"Dick,
 
 
     After much introspection and soul searching I have decided to resign from my position on the Saint Albans City Council.  Truly I have enjoyed serving and doing my small part in attempting to improve the community.  I wish everyone on the Council the very best in the future and, for practical purposes, I will make my resignation effective and the end of December, 31st to be exact.
 
 
                                                                                    Sincerely,
 
                                                                                    Dan Cain, Sr."

---

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

I've just been informed by an employee at St. Albans city hall that a city councilman's resignation is imminent.

I've just been informed by an employee at St. Albans city hall that a city councilman's resignation is imminent.
---

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

What The St. Albans Codified Ordinances Document Says About Removal of Officers And Employees

By now, most St. Albans City Council members, the mayor and my regular readers know that on Monday I published a racist and offensive email that a St. Albans City Council member sent to me, the mayor and to others.

I have not yet publicly identified the City Councilman who sent the offensive email.  As you can see from the passage from the city code below, the racist city councilman will save himself a lot of humiliation - assuming he is capable of being humiliated - and the city a lot of controversy and embarrassment if he simply resigns. 

The decision to send offensive emails was a test of the man's character and judgment. He failed that test.

The decision about whether to resign is a test of his love for the city. If he gives a damn about St. Albans he will spare St. Albans the from the procedures described in the code below.

Now, to answer a few questions I've received, here are some verifiable facts that are not in dispute:

1. The offender admitted to me via email that he sent me offensive emails. 

2. The mayor and others were on the recipient list for the racist email I published.

3. The mayor acknowledges to me via email that he received this and other offensive emails.

4. At no time have I identified either orally or in writing the identity of the city council member who sent the racist email and other offensive emails to me and the mayor among others.

Below is the section of the city code that deals with removal of appointed officers and employees.

Chapter 5 Administrative

ARTICLE 167
Personnel Rules

SECTION 9.  REMOVAL OF APPOINTED OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES.

		Any appointed officer or any employee of the City may be removed from office for official misconduct, incompetence, neglect of duty, or gross immorality. After receiving charges or grounds, filed in writing by any person, the Council may forthwith suspend such officer or employee for a period of thirty days. A copy of such charges or grounds shall be forthwith served upon the individual concerned in the manner provided by the statutes of West Virginia, for the service of notices. Such person shall have ten days from the date of such service in which to file a reply in writing with the Clerk.  Such person may, in the reply, request a public or private hearing by the Council. The date for such hearing shall be set by the Clerk at any reasonable time, not less than twenty nor more than forty days after the date of service above referred to, at which hearing, such person may be represented by counsel. All persons testifying at such hearing shall do so under oath, administered by the Mayor, Clerk or any Councilman. Such hearing may be continued for not more than a total of thirty days, by the Mayor, for due cause, at the request of any interested person or any City official. After such hearing, which shall be constituted a special meeting of the Council, the said Council, by a two-thirds vote of all of its members, may adopt a final resolution of removal, whereupon such person shall be deemed removed from office or employment, whether his successor be appointed and qualify, or not. If such officer or employee be suspended by the Council and be removed, he shall receive no compensation from the date of such suspension; if suspended and not removed, he shall receive his usual compensation from the date of such suspension; if not suspended, but removed, he shall receive his usual compensation up to the date of the vote by the Council to remove, and not thereafter. When paid in full, as hereinabove provided, the liability of the City to such person under his contract of employment shall be terminated. The City shall not be subject to any suit for libel or other damage, nor shall any officer or employee of the City be subject to any suit for libel, slander or other damage, as a result of any charges or grounds filed in writing, or any testimony given in such proceeding, whether the person is removed or not. Nothing herein contained or elsewhere contained in this Charter, is intended to restrict or prevent any office of the City or of the Council, to lay off, furlough or otherwise remove from employment, any employee of the City because of shortage of funds, reduction in work, seasonal or otherwise, or because of the abolishment of a job.

This document is available at the city website.
---

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Here's An Example of The Racist Emails Sent To Me And Others By A St. Albans City Council Member

Here's an example of the racist emails a St. Albans City Council member sent to me and others including Mayor Callaway:

Snow White... 
Disney is in an uproar...... 
Walt Disney's new film called "Jet Black," the African-American version of "Snow White," has been put on hold. 
All of the 7 dwarfs: Dealer, Stealer, Mugger, Forger, Drive By, Pimp, andSkank, have refused to sing "Hi Ho" because they say it offends black prostitutes. 
They also say they have no intention of singing, "It's off to work we go".

To all you lurkers out there who try to comment anonymously or don't comment at all, I'd really like your comments on this. 
---

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

A St. Albans City Councilman Has Been Sending Me (and others) Obscene and Racist Emails

St. Albans has its very own Carl Paladino.

A St. Albans city councilman has been sending me (and others) obscene and racist emails. 

I have asked him to forget my email address and my name. He is dead to me. He is an embarrassment to his office. 

Have you received racist and obscene emails from a St. Albans city council member? If you have, please let him  know that you expect your elected officials to be exemplars of decency, inclusiveness, decorum and professionalism and that you do not expect them to behave like 8th graders who  just learned new words that make their parents ashamed of them.

If this city councilman does not stop sending me these emails I will expose him by releasing some of these offensive emails via Facebook, Twitter and my blog.

And if there is any appetite on St. Albans city council to have this man removed from office, let me know how I can help.

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Live, Local, Call-In Talk Radio in Charleston, WV: Who's Gonna Get The Franchise On That Monopoly?

"If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in." (Law 2 of Ries and Trout's 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

---
Apparently radio executives haven't read Ries and Trout's 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. If they had, they wouldn't keep pouring money into stations that are the number 3 rock or country stations in their markets when they could be using these under-performing stations to create a new category in which they can be number one.

John Raese's West Virginia Radio Corporation handed some enterprising competitor a gift when they fired Agnello and Johnson and gave up the monopoly they  had on live, call-in talk radio in the Charleston market. Perhaps other radio companies like Bristol Broadcasting and LM Communications have not yet opened the gift because they are afraid West Virginia Radio Corp's Mike Buxser isn't finished giving Mike Agnello "second chances". 

I keep hoping Scott Finn at West Virginia Public Broadcasting will accept the gift of having the monopoly on live, local, call-in talk radio. I know that Secretary Kay Goodwin, who sits on WVPB's governing board, is a fan of talk radio and WV Public Radio can actually put on a statewide show. If they don't want to go head to head against Hoppy Kercheval in the morning, they can take the old Johnson-Agnello slot from 3 to 6. 

But I'd be OK if the new GM at LM Communications, Dotsy Klei,  did it or if Mike Robinson at Bristol Broadcasting did it. 

Somebody needs to do it. Live, local, call-in talk radio.  It's a category somebody gets to have all to themselves in Charleston if they'll just accept the gift given them by John Raese and Mike Buxser. 

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Too Clever By Half: Job Seekers Disguised As Self-Employed

"Do headhunters know that self-employed guys like me are also job seekers?"

I get that question a lot and the answer is "yes", headhunters are well aware that some job seekers are disguised as self-employed. In fact, many job seekers are so well-disguised that their own friends and acquaintances don't know they'd drop the self-employed subterfuge and accept a "real job" in a heartbeat. 

I can't help you if you aren't honest with yourself but here's my advice to people who may not be getting the benefit of word-of-mouth referrals to potential employers because their "I'm starting my own business" ruse has worked too well: Go to my archive and read my last two posts. Your Linkedin profile can still say you are a self-employed consultant and you can still hand out business cards but it's time you come clean with your network of friends, colleagues and acquaintances. You can only exploit employers' clear preference for candidates who aren't total strangers to them (see what I mean when you read my last two posts) if you get introduced by a mutual friend. That won't happen if your friends all think you're prosperous and happy as a self-employed consultant.

"But if I land some contractor work or some short-term consulting gigs isn't there a chance that one of my clients will hire me full-time?" many ask me.

Yes, of course, clients sometimes hire their consultants full-time but this is a tricky high wire act to walk because, as any headhunter will tell you, employers are like insecure teenage boys who won't ask the pretty girl to the dance until they are sure her answer will be yes. If you're too convincing as a prosperous, happy consultant your clients won't ask you to work for them because they are afraid you'll say no.

Here's the bottom line for job seekers disguised as self-employed: Whatever you say on your Linkedin profile, make sure you read and comply with the advice I gave in my last two posts. 

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

What To Do When You're Skilled, Popular, Experienced And Unemployed

In yesterday's post I began answering the question "Why are so many skilled, experienced, popular, well-connected people unemployed?" I pointed out that in my 20 years of headhunting I've never seen a client hire somebody who was a total stranger to them if there was a suitable non-stranger available. I said if you are experienced, skilled, popular, well-connected and unemployed it's likely because you are a stranger to the people who can hire you and that you have to get out of the stranger category where your candidacy will move to the top of the heap. I said that becoming a non-stranger is the unfair advantage you need and that the way you get that unfair advantage is by being introduced to the people who can hire you by people you already know.  I said you need to stop spending your time on the low percentage strategy of sending resumes to strangers and spend a week making sure everybody you know understands your skills and experiences so they can have an epiphany and introduce you to somebody who can hire you. Today, I want too tell you how to make that happen.

First - and this is the boring part - I want you to make a list of everybody you know who doesn't live in a cave and who might know people who can hire you. List them by category. Neighbors. People you serve on a board with. People you went to school with. People you used to work with. People who called on you when you had a job. You get the idea. I ask you to categorize people because it helps you to remember people you might not otherwise think of. 

Then I want you to make a list of employers you think should be interested in hiring you, employers who need people like you.

Now I want you to open up your Linkedin account, your personal address book, your business card file and any other place you might have names and contact info on people who might be able to introduce you to hiring managers at your preferred employers and I want you to figure out how you're already networked to the employers you think should hire you.

Remember what I told you yesterday: in my 20 years of collecting ridiculous fees from clients not once has any client ever hired a total stranger. I told you that I have made a lot of money presenting the second-best or even third-best candidate to employers who just can't bring themselves to hire strangers. 

Who can introduce you to people who might hire you? Who can move you out of that stranger category and get you into the non-stranger category which is the category employers hire from?

Start contacting these people and telling them what you do. Don't assume they know. Tell them. 

Do this in person wherever possible. Meet them for a coffee or lunch so you can see the look in their eyes as you describe what you do. By seeing their body language and facial expressions you can literally see when you've said something that registers. Their eyes widen, they lean forward. Likewise, when you have this conversation in person you can see that deer-in-the-headlights expression people get when they don't understand what you just said. Talking to your colleagues and acquaintances in person gives you the chance to learn how to tell your story. 

\When I do live workshops I often mention my friend Jeff who learned that people don't understand when he says he's a "business analyst" so he explains to them that his company pays him to figure out how to reduce headcount and that if he doesn't do it they'll just hire somebody else who will. Nervous laughter, but you get the idea. Tell people what you actually do. Help them visualize you at work. 

When you call up somebody you haven't spoken to in 10 years, just ask for job search advice. You'll be surprised at who wants to help you. Sometimes it's the guy you once worked with that you think didn't like you - perhaps somebody you once fired or somebody you once passed over for a promotion. If you're not a jerk, you have fans out there you don't even know about. One of these fans can introduce you to your next boss.

I once "interviewed" for a job while the guy who actually got the job was literally moving into his new office right across the hall from where I was interviewing. That's the position y ou are in right now. While you're sweating over the 100th revision of your resume and sitting in the lobby waiting to talk to a total stranger, the guy who will actually get the job is sitting with the guy you're waiting to interview with being introduced to him by their mutual friend. 

Quit being a stranger. Quit sending resumes to strangers and begging strangers for an interview. Yes, people occasionally get jobs this way but nearly 100% of the professional jobs are filled by people who have been introduced to their next boss by somebody they both know. I call this "getting a professional co-signer". If somebody goes out on a limb and risks his/her relationship with the employer by introducing you, that person has, in effect, co-signed for you. The successful candidate is a friend of a friend, not a stranger. Stop being a stranger. 

I once got $26K in fees just because I called a guy whose business card I had in a book. 

Make your lists, make your calls. Somebody you already know can introduce you to your next boss.

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Why Popular, Well-Connected Job Seekers Remain Unemployed (And What They Need to Do About It)

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

If you're a job seeker, a lot of people are trying to make money from your misery which is why it's difficult to get the truth about why sending out thousands of resumes and completing thousands of online applications hasn't landed you a job. The problem is, there's no money in telling you the truth: that what you've been doing is what I call a low percentage job seeking play. 

And what you've been doing isn't working so it's time for you to realize that of you keep doing what you're doing you'll keep getting the same results you've been getting. 

And Albert Einstein says you're insane.

Stop being insane. Abandon your low percentage strategy and adopt the time-tested, high percentage job seeking strategy of getting somebody you already know to introduce you to your next boss. 

Stop believing the lies of people who perpetuate the low percentage job seeking strategy because it's the one that enables them to make money from your misery - people who charge you a fee for re-writing your resume or teaching you how to interview or people who sell you job "leads". 

Don't double down on what hasn't worked and has never worked very well. Change strategies. I'll tell you how to do it and I won't charge you a dime. I'm not trying to monetize your misery. I just want to get you to stop doing what hasn't worked and start doing what has worked for millions of people. Get somebody you already know to arrange an introduction with somebody who can hire you.

I've often said that your first clue you aren't going to get a job is that you have to fill out an application, send in a resume and interview for that job. Yes, people sometimes get jobs that way but nearly 100% or white collar jobs are filled by somebody whose name was given to the employer by a mutual friend.

When I do job seeker workshops I explain this through anecdotes and stories that illustrate what I mean but here's a fact that, when "backward-engineered" and properly analyzed, shows you why you should stop sending resumes to strangers and start spending that time talking to your friends, your former co-workers, your former suppliers, people you went to school with, people you serve on a board with, people whose kids know your kids, etc. 

Why do experienced, well-connected, popular people remain unemployed? Yes, ageism is certainly real but that's not where I want to go right now. I want to tell you something that you can actually use to get a job and here it is: if you're still unemployed after sending thousands of resumes in spite of your popularity and connections and professional experience my 20 years of headhunting experience suggests it's probably because the people who could introduce you to somebody who can hire you have no idea what your skills are and what you did in your last job, therefore, they have no idea how to recognize an employer who would be able to hire you - even though they may know such an employer. 

In 20 years of headhunting I've never seen a client hire a total stranger if a suitable non-stranger was available. Not once. I've been paid ridiculous sums of money to "find" candidates who were already professionally connected to the client. And yes, my clients expected me to find them people the couldn't find by running an ad or other conventional job search means but in 20 years of working with clients not once have any of my clients ever hired a stranger if a suitable non-stranger was available. So I actually got paid for bringing clients people they already knew. I actually got paid for giving them a "suitable" non-stranger, not the best candidate I found. 

I'm sure that somewhere there is a company that actually hired a total stranger for a white collar job but I have never seen it happen. 

Your odds of getting hired go way up if you simply get out of the "stranger" category and into the non-stranger category because, regardless what they say, employers are usually not meritocratic in their hiring. In 2 decades of headhunting, clients have never hired the best candidate I brought them unless they discovered they were already networked to him in some way. I've made a lot of big fees off the second-best or the third-best candidate because those "suitable" candidates were in the non-stranger category.

I'll tell you how to do it in my next post. 

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

St. Albans Neighborhood Watch Fact Sheet

St. Albans has about 11,000 people distributed more or less evenly throughout 9 wards.

Of those 9 wards, about 3 of them have active neighborhood watch programs, 3 have a handful of people meeting monthly and 3 have no program at all.

A citywide St. Albans Neighborhood Watch Advisory Board consisting of city council members, police and neighborhood watch volunteers has been formed to help struggling and startup watch programs succeed. 

This citywide board meets the 3rd Friday of each month.

St. Albans citizens who wish to form a neighborhood watch and would like assistance from the citywide board can email JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com or call (304) 550-6710.

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Need A Job? Ask Everybody You Know For Their Job Seeking Advice

When you need a job, don't be like the guy who had dinner with a dozen professionals and didn't tell anybody he needed a job.

The chances are very good that somebody at the table could have introduced him to his next boss had he only mentioned that he was looking for a job.

Is it pride that prevents unemployed people from taking advantage of such opportunities?

According to someone I counseled over lunch, telling your friends and acquaintances you're looking for a job feels too much like "selling".

Here's what I told my friend: then don't "sell", ask for "advice".

After all, my friend was able to call me up and ask me for advice - proof that  he knows how to do that. He survived an entire lunch hour talking with me about his job search - proof that asking for advice won't kill you.

So don't sell yourself to your acquaintances, just tell them you need their advice. They'll be flattered. They won't want to fail you. They'll ask you questions, you'll answer and then something magical will happen: one of your acquaintances will get wide eyed and exclaim "I know who you need to talk to."

That's when you say, "Can you arrange an introduction?"

Don't ask for "leads", ask for introductions.

Somebody you already know can introduce you to your next boss.

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

When It Comes To Getting Hired, Being A Friend Of A Friend Beats Being The Best Candidate

In yesterday's post I said something I've said in this blog dozens of times before: I said that  companies don't always hire the best candidate. In fact, they often pass over a great candidate who's still in the "stranger" category to hire a less qualified candidate who is not a stranger - somebody who is "networked" to the employer through another person. 

When it comes to getting a job, being a friend of a friend is way better than being the best candidate. 

Employers like to portray themselves as meritocracies where the best candidates always get hired but in all my years collecting ridiculous fees for "finding" candidates for employers I've never once placed a candidate with a client who wasn't already networked to the person they ended up hiring. Not once. Even when I conducted nationwide searches for big publicly-traded companies and brought them A+ candidates, they still hired B+ candidates to whom they were networked instead of the A+ stranger. And I still got paid. It's crazy. 

So what's the lesson for job seekers? Simple: You have to get out of the "stranger" category. You don't have to be the employer's best buddy but you do have to get out of the stranger category. The easiest way to do that is to figure out who you already know who can introduce you to the employer thus moving you from the "stranger" category to the friend-of-a-friend category.

if your friends aren't introducing you to people who can hire you, ask them if they know what you did when you were working, before your career blew up. Chances are, they don't know anything about your skills, experience or knowledge. So tell them. Instead of spending 8 hours a day sending resumes to strangers who are just going to hire a friend-of-a-friend anyway, spend 8 hours a day telling your friends and acquaintances what you do and what you're looking for. Somebody you already know can introduce you to your next boss but they won't do it until you tell them how to recognize the right company or the right job for you.

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Somebody Jim Kerrigan Already Knows Can Introduce Him To His Next Boss

Somebody Jim Kerrigan already knows can introduce Jim to his next boss. Jim would like that very much. But before that can happen, the person with the power to introduce Jim Kerrigan to his next boss would have to be able to recognize what kind of a job opening is right for Jim.  He'd have to know Jim's transferable skills. He'd have to know what Jim did with most of his adult life and what it all means.

Jim's Linkedin profile says he was an "Associate Dean of Students" but, besides those of you who work in academia, who really knows what an "Associate Dean of Students" does and what skills this title suggests?

Oh, yeah, many of my readers know Jim Kerrigan is a member of the Kanawha County Democratic Executive Committee and that he cooks great chili and that he loves his dog, Molly Collie, and that he is a yinzer and a bon vivant but none of Jim's "networking" really helps Jim with his job search until somebody figures out what Jim's transferable skills are,  right?

Like I said, somebody Jim Kerrigan already knows can introduce him to his next boss. Jim would like that very much. Jim probably has friends who would like to help him out. But before anybody can introduce Jim to his next boss, somebody has to figure out what Jim's SKEs - skills, knowledge,experience - are. 

As a recovering headhunter I can tell you that employers almost never hire a total stranger. Yeah, they hire headhunters to "find" them people they don't know but they end up actually hiring people they could have found on their own without the headhunter. When you  talk to Jim, ask him about the times I got paid ridiculous sums of money for "finding" clients somebody they already knew. Ask him how any times they passed over the  best candidate I brought them because nobody in the organization knew the person. Yeah, I got paid whether they hired my best "find" or my 2nd best find but the point is, they pass over the best candidate if he's a stranger and they hire the guy who isn't a stranger.

Don't let Jim Kerrigan be the stranger. Make him a friend of a friend.  Introduce him to his next boss. 

And if you don't know Jim Kerrigan but you, too, are one of those guys everybody thinks they know but nobody is introducing to somebody who can hire you, well, stop sending your resume to strangers and start educating your friends about what you did before your career blew up. Somebody you already know can introduce you to your next boss.

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Galloway V Greece: No Matter What The Supreme Court Decides, You'll Know That This Case Is About A Town Council That Chose The One Use Of Prayer That Would Make Some Of Its Citizens Feel Unwelcome At Town Government Meetings

The women behind the Galloway V. Greece case, Linda Stephens and Susan Galloway, have told reporters they would not have felt like outcasts at their own town meetings if council opened with a generic prayer rather than a Christian prayer. And, of course, Galloway, who is Jewish, and Stephens, who is atheist, could not be offended or made to feel as if their town council wanted to alienate them if meetings opened with a moment of silence or even if the Christians obeyed their own Bible and did their praying in secret (Matthew 6:6). 

But the town council of Greece, NY, chose the one prayer option that made an atheist and a Jew feel unwelcome and alien in their own town government meetings: government meetings are opened with a Christian prayer offered up by a Christian clergyman.There's no mistaking Greece town council's intent. These prayers are meant to send a message to Jews like Galloway and atheists like Stephens that non-Christians are unwelcome at town  meetings.

As the US Supreme Court hears arguments and debates the constitutionality of the Galloway V Greece case, journalists, judges, lawyers and historians across the nation will debate the constitutionality of opening town council  meetings with Christian prayer as if constitutionality is all that matters here. But you'll know the truth:  this case isn't just about the constitutionality of Greece, New York's practice of opening government meetings with Christian prayer. You'll know that this case is really about a town council that has chosen the one prayer policy that would make Galloway and Stephens feel unwelcome at their own town  meetings.

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Shame On All City Governments That Use Audible, Public Christian Prayers To Make non-Christians Feel Unwelcome In Their Own Council Chambers

The US Supreme Court is discussing the case of  Town of Greece V. Galloway. At issue is whether it's constitutional for the tiny town of Greece, NY, to open city council meetings with Christian prayers.

I'm neither a lawyer nor a judge so I won't opine on whether or not prayers before city council meetings are constitutional but here's what I know: Citizens who don't subscribe to the religion or pray to the god of the one leading in prayer should not be made to feel like outsiders when they go to a city council meeting and try to exercise their right to participate in community life. Shame on Greece, NY for letting this go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Shame on all cities that disenfranchise non-Christian citizens by subjecting them to public Christian prayers.

Make no mistake about it, cities that open council meetings with public Christian prayers are not doing so because they  think their God can only hear them  if they pray audibly  from council chambers; they insist on praying out loud in council chambers precisely because they want to make non-Christians uncomfortable and unwelcome in their own city government meetings. 

If public, audible Christian  prayers before city council meetings are not intended to disenfranchise non-Christians, then why not encourage Christians to pray silently before the meeting? Even a moment of silence in which believers could have the option of silent prayer to the god of their choice would be OK.

Shame on all city governments that use audible, public Christian prayers to make non-Christians feel unwelcome in their own council chambers. Even if the SCOTUS finds it constitutional for city councils to open meetings with audible Christian prayers, cities should stop using prayer to make their non-Christian citizens feel unwelcome in their own city government meetings.

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, 

Use This Little Known Fact To Increase Your Job Seeking Odds

I recently resigned from the Kanawha County Workforce Investment Board but I have not resigned from being a recovering headhunter, "career night panelist", newspaper employment writer or jobseeker workshop presenter so I occasionally like to offer job seeking advice - which occasionally means exploding some of the myths about job-seeking.

One of those myths is the one that says "Jobseeking is a numbers game - the more resumes you send and the more interviews you go on the higher your chances of getting a job."

It's a half-truth. Yes, of course, sending out more resumes increases your odds but what the "numbers game" advocates don't address is this: if you're sending your resumes to strangers instead of people you already know, you're still playing a low percentage game no matter how many resumes you send. 

Let me reveal one of those counterintuitive headhunter facts that most headhunters don't want to admit and human resources directors work very hard to conceal: while it's not impossible to get a job with a company to which you are not already networked in some way, most companies hire very few total strangers so your odds of getting hired go way up if you focus on places where you have some sort of an "in". It doesn't matter if that connection is a weak  one. 

Let this fact sink in: companies paid me ridiculous fees to bring them people to whom they were already networked and could have "found" on their own without my services. In fact, in all the years I charged ridiculous fees to "find" managers or VPs or sales reps or whatever for clients, I never placed a total stranger with a client; turns out, every candidate I placed was already networked to the client in some way and that client could have "found" this candidate on their own and saved the 5 figure fee they paid me.

So let's backward engineer this and see how every jobseeker can learn how to play the high percentage game of getting hired by people in your network instead of the low percentage game of trying to get hired by total strangers. 

Companies have a very, very strong bias for hiring people from their own networks. Remember what I said: in all my years of charging outrageous fees for "finding" people my clients could have found in their own networks if they tried, I never placed one candidate in a company where he didn't already have a connection - somebody he went to college with but hadn't seen in 15 years or somebody who is friends with a friend. 

Somebody you already know is more likely to hire you or introduce you to your next boss than is a total stranger who gets your resume via internet. On a recent radio talk show job-seeking expert, David Rawles, underscored the point that a very low percentage of new hires happen as a result of job-seekers scouring the internet for a new job. 

Your time is better spent within your own existing network of friends, relatives and acquaintances. Especially acquaintances. In fact, the odds of being introduced to your next boss or even being hired by someone you don't know well are higher than your odds of being helped by a close friend because you have so many acquaintances. You may only have an inner circle of a dozen or so people but you may have hundreds of colleagues, former co-workers, old college buddies and casual acquaintances who can introduce you to your next boss. 

So this week instead of playing the low percentage game of sending resumes to strangers, play this high percentage game instead: make a list of everybody you know from anywhere and start systematically and exhaustively contacting each one and asking them who they can introduce you to who might need to hire a person with your skills, knowledge and experience. Make sure your acquaintances know what you do. don't give 'em job titles, give 'em a description of the things you do and have done. Don't say "I'm a business analyst". The only people who know what a business analyst does are other business analysts. Instead, describe the work you do. Here's an example: I have a friend who is a business analyst and when he's trying to explain what he does all day he tells people he figures out the business case for laying people off and reducing head count and replacing this work with contractors or outsourcing. Grim, but descriptive and, as he says, if he doesn't do it somebody else will.

By the way, it's best to have this conversation over lunch or coffee, eyeball to eyeball, instead of via email or even phone. That way, you can see it in their face when you've said something they understand.

--

Higginbotham At Large reads all submitted comments but only publishes comments from clearly identified submitters. No Ring of Gyges for you.

Keywords: Nitro, WV, West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive,