Darnell Clarke, author of Employmentology and a veteran Fortune 100 hiring manager says, “Despite recent gains, U.S. employment rates will remain tumultuous irrespective of federal intervention.”
Clarke also indicates that “Competition for available jobs will remain fierce for years to come as hiring managers across all industries are inundated with more qualified candidates than they need to fill open positions.”
Amid the enduring employment supply-and-demand disparity that presents extraordinarily difficult hiring odds for candidates, there’s one overarching, shocking truth Clarke asserts job seekers must know: “the person who gets the job isn’t the most qualified for the job but rather the most qualified at getting the job.
“Meaning, if you want to get employed, you must become an expert at finding and obtaining employment. You must be relentless, persistent and unyielding. You must be committed! Until you are committed, there is hesitancy; a chance for you to draw-back.”
Darnell shares the 6 key steps to gainful employment:
Step 1: Find your Passion
One of the seeds to success is finding your Purpose, your Passion, and your Chief Aim in Life. Your success in life will be largely determined by your ability to find your true calling. You will only be truly happy when you discover what you were meant to do. This book will prepare you to find and obtain employment, but until you know what your true purpose is, you will not, you cannot, be great at anything. At best, all you will be is average! You can’t be great at something if you don’t like it. You can’t like something without being good at it. And you can’t be good at anything unless you derive some satisfaction of doing it. Your Purpose, your Passion, and your Chief Aim in Life will tell you what you were born to do. So what does this mean to all you job seekers? It means before you submit one more resume or complete one more job application, you must take some time to define your purpose and your passion in life. “Chase your Passion, not your Pension”.
Step 2: Creating your Resume
First of all the format of the resume is NOT the most important part to finding employment. Contrary to popular belief, your resume is not that important. Also, never spend any money having someone else write your resume. You possess the skills to write it yourself. “The only rule is that there are no rules”. Resumes should be error free—no typos or spelling mistakes—but beyond that, use any format that conveys your information well. (ONLY SUBMIT YOUR RESUME TO OPEN POSITIONS THAT YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO WORK!)
Step 3: Create Company List
The old way vs. the new way…
Creating a short and giant master list of companies you would like to work for that fits your skill-set or qualifications by capturing each firm’s career job posting website URL link. Use Google to find their websites
The Fortune 1000
The Fortune global 500
Fortune’s 100 fastest growing firms
Fortune’s 100 best firms to work for
Fortune’s 50 top firms for minorities
The 500 largest private firms
Forbes best small firms
Local Chamber of Commerce
Step 4: The Job Search
Start your job search first by traversing through the Short List then pursue the Giant Master List of Companies. Every Monday morning start with the first company on your short list and don’t stop until you check every career website on that list. You should continue to go through your giant master list of companies Tuesday thru Friday. You must check every company on your master list. You must do this each week without fail.
Step 5: Networking
Get the word out. Tell everyone you know that you’re looking for a new position because a job search these days requires the “law of large numbers”. Tell everyone you know because the job they interviewed for last week and didn't get just might be your new job! There is no shame in seeking a job. The more people who know you’re looking the more likely you are to find a job.
Step 6: Interviewing that will get you employed
The person who gets the job is not the most qualified for the job; it’s the person who is the most qualified at getting a job. If you don’t remember anything else, remember that quote! Your resume was created and submitted for only one reason; TO GET AN INTERVIEW! Interviewing is addressing one question and that is; “What can you do for me”? What “Value Added Proposition” (VAP) can you bring to an organization that will help solve a business problem? This is the ‘bottom line’ question that all employers want YOU to answer. The better you can answer this question the better chance you will get hired. You must be in the problem solving business. Everything you do and say in the interview must address this VAP question.
What is a VAP? Briefly, the Value Added Proposition (VAP) addresses, why should I hire you? What sets you a part from others? What makes you or what you have to offer unique and worthwhile. You should be able to sum up your VAP in as few sentences as possible. Your VAP is a personal version of a mission statement. Your VAP pitch is NOT a rehash of your resume. Employers want to hear about your real-life attributes and skills.
“If you want to get employed, you must become an expert at finding and obtaining employment,” Clarke urges. “You must be relentless, persistent and unyielding. You must be committed! Until you are committed, there is hesitancy; a chance for you to draw-back. Ultimately, the main reason most fail to get hired is they don’t use a systematic approach—a methodology--to find employment. Without such structure and discipline hopefuls will be hard-pressed to get that job. It is that simple. Not easy but that simple.”
Learn more about Clarke’s systematic and methodology approach in his book, Employmentology.
Darnell Clarke has submitted over 5,000 resumes, taken over 300 phone and/or face-to-face interviews, and worked for 16 companies with salaries in excess of $100,000. In his book, Employmentology, he provides “a practical methodology of finding employment from the prospective of a hiring manager.”
Click here to read excerpts from Darnell’s book.
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