JohnGSelf + Partners, Inc.

NEWS ALERT: Yahoo News, New unemployment claims surged to a record high last week, topping 3 million. But that staggering leap in joblessness likely understates the full damage the coronavirus outbreak has inflicted on the U.S. labor market, according to multiple economists.

For the week ended March 21, new unemployment claims totaled 3.283 million, seasonally adjusted, or more than twice the 1.7 million consensus economists polled by Bloomberg had expected. The figure was more than four times greater than the previous record high of 695,000 from 1982.

As the unemployment forecasts become more dismal, at least for the near term, and as the job market tightens across all sectors, including healthcare, the time has come for tough love, straight talk for executives who do not comprehend that the job market has forever changed in a very substantial way.

We all make excuses.  From politics and politicians, to our waistline, even for our performance in a search for a new job. When it comes to finding a job, people rationalize why they shouldn’t change their approach even when they have been out of work for a prolonged period of time.

We all make excuses.  From politics and politicians, to our waistline, even for our performance in a search for a new job. When it comes to finding a job, people rationalize why they shouldn’t change their approach even when they have been out of work for a prolonged period of time. They come up with an explanation – an excuse – for why they didn’t do all they could have done — should have done — to achieve success.  Many remain stubbornly convinced that they have done all they could. They sit, they complain about the process and hope that the job market will somehow return to the “good old days.”

It won’t.

Here are five things an executive can do to change his or her job search outlook:

1. Develop a customizable resume with a professional summary that covers all of your experiences and skills that the prospective employer is seeking. Everything. Many candidates know they should but don’t. 
2. Be professional in all your interviews, especially the video screening session.  Video is now one of the “make or break” tests.  You must be professionally framed on the screen, well lit and appropriately dressed.  Do not discount the importance of this part of the process.  An unprofessional video or a halting, uneven performance, could, probably will, sink your chances for the job.  
3. Know what your four or five references (superiors, peers and subordinates) will say about you and use that information to prepare answers to related questions. All too often references, taken for granted, sink an applicant’s chances.
4. Research the client and rehearse your answers – the likely Core and Categorical questions you will get based on the job summary and the client’s expressed requirements. If you are not exceptionally prepared on both counts, you will most assuredly lose out.
5. Close the deal. Most applicants do not do this.  This is an easy way to differentiate yourself from the other applicants.  Every good interview begins with a great opening and ends with a sincere close, why you want the job and why the company should hire you.    

Bonus Tip: Rehearse, rehearse rehearse. Many of the questions you will be asked, you have heard before. Do not wait for that moment to develop your answers. 

Bonus Tip: Rehearse, rehearse rehearse. Many of the questions you will be asked, you have heard before. Do not wait for that moment to develop your answers. 

 I was scheduled to speak at the Congress for the American College of Healthcare Executives in Chicago yesterday (March 25), but the novel Coronavirus stepped in to change all of that.  Along with my friend and colleague Chrishonda Smith a senior Human Resource executive for OhioHealth, we were to teach a 90-minute course on interviewing skills for senior executives.  It is always a popular course.  Typically, we attract between 150 and 200 registrants. Now that this event has been cancelled, we are finding new ways to distribute this content in collaboration with ACHE as well as Webinars. Watch for an upcoming announcement on this course.  As advance warning, this content, too, will have an element of tough love for those of you who think you can ignore this seismic shift in the job market.  

© 2020 John Gregory Self

This is not the worst time to be looking for a job — the years 2008 -2009 were much worse — but they are certainly the toughest I have seen in more than 10 years and among the most challenging in more than 20 years.  That doesn’t mean job seekers should throw up their hands and retire to the sidelines.  It does mean that applicants must be much better prepared if they want to break out in a very crowded field.

In perhaps the fastest lapse time in history, the US economy has swung from boom to something approaching a free-fall.   Some business analysts are projecting that unemployment claims will explode over the next 30 days.

The good news for the candidates who do invest in preparation, they will enjoy a distinct advantage over the many who have not.  In healthcare, where the job search outlook appears much less dire, employers are being extremely selective given the flood of applicants.

The good news for the candidates who do invest in preparation, they will enjoy a distinct advantage over the many who have not.  In healthcare, where the job search outlook appears much less dire, employers are being extremely selective given the flood of applicants.

Hiring managers in most industries are currently distracted with a range of crisis-related tasks.  They have little time for applicants who are not prepared, those who fail to grasp the new rules for job search that extend from the resume to excelling in the job interview.

If you have not been in the job market in the last three years, the chance is you are not prepared.  The odds are good that you will be quickly frustrated.  This change covers everything — and I do mean everything — from the format and customization of your resume to your performance in the video screening interviews.  Employers can afford to be very critical.

If your strategy is to just show up and try to smart talk your way through the applicant screening gauntlet as you might have done in the past, you more than likely will be tossed. The first time you show them that you do not “get it” you will be eliminated from further consideration.  

If your strategy is to just show up and try to smart talk your way through the gauntlet as you might have done in the past, you more than likely will be tossed. The first time you show them that you do not “get it” you will be eliminated from further consideration.  

Now is the time to get ready, to learn the new rules of the job search road.  Find a knowledgeable friend or colleague who has the relevant experience and who will coach you for free or invest in a coach who excels in successfully teaching clients how to navigate this new world.  

The longer it takes for you to make the adjustments, the longer it will take you to find your next position.

© 2020 John Gregory Self

AT HOME – That is the dateline for an increasing number of American executives, managers and consultants who are filing their work product from their home offices in an effort to limit their exposure to the Covid-19 virus.

Newspaper reporters filing stories from another town or country, begin their dispatch with the name of the city, country and the date of the filing. It is called a dateline.  Many things have changed in the news business, but that has remained constant.  

Technically, where you file the story, not the origin of the story, determines the dateline.  

So, since I am writing this blog from my home office, and if I was filing it to a newspaper, my dateline would read:  TYLER, Texas (March 20, 2020).

There are truly many advantages to working from a home office, especially in this economic climate:

There are truly many advantages to working from a home office, especially in this economic climate:

• No long commutes or heavy traffic
• Not as many distractions or interruptions when trying to finish a report 
• Certain freedom to work on things that might be frowned on if someone was looking over your shoulder in the office – like strategic networking for career advancement purposes, spending a few minutes posting a success story on your LinkedIn profile, or chatting with members of your LinkedIn community either online or through a telephone call

Not to become too philosophical, our lives are comprised of four buckets:  our job/work, our families, our community/church activities and the fourth bucket, our careers.

Not to become too philosophical, our lives are comprised of four buckets:  our job/work, our families, our community/church activities and the fourth bucket, our careers.

If you are being asked to work from home for health safety reasons, this is an excellent opportunity to invest time with that fourth bucket.  Most of us spend all our time on the first three buckets.  Unfortunately, it is that fourth bucket, your career, that is most frequently ignored.   Over the coming weeks and months, as America’s robust economy screeches to a stunning halt, investing time with your fourth bucket issues will become increasingly important.  

Now is the time. Be prepared.  Besides, you are under no obligation to use a dateline to let the world know where you are.  

© 2020 John Gregory Self