If you're a fresh college graduate (or not really fresh actually as this can be for any job seeker in my opinion) read on Charlie's process how to land ANY job you want and be totally Recession-Proof.
Recession-Proof
Graduate
So as soon you toss your graduation hat in the air after 4
years in college, you are now ready to enter the working class. Fresh, hungry
and competitive.
You’ve studied mercilessly for 4 years, joined different
clubs and believe that you are exactly the type of person big companies are
ideally looking for.
So why are you still unemployed?
This is exactly what Charlie Hoehn had to experience before
writing this book. 12 weeks after finishing college, and a bunch of job applications
after, he discovered the awful unbelievable truth that he is still without a
job.
What happened? What the hell is wrong?
He is exactly the cookie-cutter student that teachers and
counsellors tried to mold other students to be.
“Why wouldn’t anyone hire me? I have done everything ‘the
right way.’”
Recession.
“You gotta take what you can get in
this market.”
Surviving
recession and being functional all throughout its course is something your
professors never taught you about. You
are left wondering if your degree is really useless after all.
Charlie Hoehn
learned it the hard way and he is enthusiastic to share a method that works for
you that any fresh graduate can absolutely do.
Being
recession-proof means:
- · You have free choice of the kind of job you think you can have without economy dictating it so.
- · You don’t have to endure work that doesn't really mean to you and makes you hate your life in your 20s.
- · Learning and growing with people smarter than you.
- · Working on projects of your interests and passion.
- · Most of all, you can choose and control the kind of lifestyle you want to create for yourself ultimately.
There
will always be good jobs and the best way to find them is through your network.
Believe that
even with recession there’s always somebody out there who needs someone to help
him with something. This is a guarantee.
You just have
to look at the right places.
Don’t expect
great results from websites like Career Builder, Monster and Craigslist. These
are the sites mostly used by boring companies to lure fresh graduates with
unattractive offers and make them think there is nothing better out there.
But you have
friends.
And the
people you know (your network) is a more solid route and the best strategy for
you to find a job with very minimal effort on your part.
Ask your parents to talk to their friends. Ask your friends
to talk to their parents.
Find work that you really care about.
We all want to
wake up excited for work.
This is a bit idealistic but very very possible. Decide what
your interests are and who do you want to work with.
Self-education plays a great role in making it possible that
you are working in an industry or have the kind of work that won’t hold you
back out of hate.
Free Work
How is this different from internship?
This is very important to know because anyone of us would
instantly feel that we have done free work in the past of course in terms of
internship or might think that free work, as introduced here, is the synonymous
to internship.
Internship
doesn’t guarantee you a full position even after months of slaving.
Free work allows
you to select which industry you like to work in. Putting you in control first
and foremost.
One important thing about free work -- it has to be done
virtually (remotely).
You remove 2 risks for the employers:
- 1) wasting their time (free work)
- 2) wasting money (working remotely for free)
When setting up a deal for free work you can:
- 1) Say you’ll work for two weeks on a project and send updates through email.
- 2) Say you require little or no training required but an occasional feedback and some direction upfront should go a long way.
- 3) Agree that after 2 weeks if the work you've done will not benefit the employer then you can both move on without hard feelings from you and no money lost from the employer’s end.
- 4) Suggest that if the employer does like your work, you’d be excited to discuss setting you up for more work to do.
Huge benefits for you:
- · It will give the absolute freedom of choice for you to select what kind of projects you like to be working on and help you decide if this is still something you want to continue doing.
- · You are putting yourself at an advantage by being remarkable because of your offer for free work.
- · It gives you the chance to deliver high quality work while the employer’s expectations are low and will likely provide enough reasons for the employer to keep on working with you.
- · You can work with lots of people and they will pay you eventually if you stick long enough.
- · You can build a foundation while crafting the type of lifestyle you want to have.
- · You will certainly make more money in the future.
6 Steps to Being Recession-Proof
Step 0: Stop
acting like you’re entitled to a pay check.
Prove your worth first.
You may have earned your college degree, but
you haven’t earned the right to be paid a lot of money, yet.
This is Step Zero because it shouldn’t be a step at all.
Step 1: Choose
a few areas you’d like to work in (and a few people you’d like to work with).
The real challenge for you is:
- · what kind of lifestyle you want to create
- · what are you genuinely interested in
These two should overlap.
Your early 20’s should be the perfect time to create the
lifestyle you desire.
Step 2: Get
some skills under your belt.
Having actual skills that are both high in demand (in your
industry) and slightly difficult to learn makes you extremely valuable.
Do not fill your resume with paltry skills to dazzle
employers. Like "excellent communication skills" or "proficient in Microsoft Word".
Self-educate. Go the extra mile. Be valuable.
You don’t have to become an expert in one particular area –
you just have to get really good at a few things.
Think in terms of what skills your desired industry values,
then start your learning.
Step 3: Build
your online presence.
You will be Googled.
Charlie suggests that the best way to own your search
results in Google and make sure it contains presentable information about you
to employers is by blogging.
You can blog about anything, the key is to give people
something positive to read and look when they Google your name.
Step 4: Find a
way to pay the bills, and cut costs.
Pursuing the free work route means you won’t be making money
for a while.
This is where your skills will come in handy. Find one or
more sources of income that gives you enough money to cover the expenses.
Ignore the
temptation!
At some point, you would like to stop with this free work
route and get a job just like everyone else.
Doing free work will be tough on your bank account for a
while. Always remind yourself about the huge gains in the future without
compromising your happiness.
Step 5: Research
your target and reach out to them.
As a fresh graduate, there will be people that are seemingly
unreachable for you (high-hanging fruit) with your qualifications and standing. These
are good targets for you to do free work.
Because since you are giving your services for free, your qualifications
would matter less.It is the most important step in this process.
Work with people who already achieved a degree of success.
Go the extra mile and do enough research about what these
people do and how their business works. They will see that you are already
knowledgeable about their type of business and what they value.
Then send them an email.
Very few job seekers take the time to actually put themselves
in the shoes of the people they want to work for.
Transitioning from Free Work to Paid
Work
Imply that you are grateful for the opportunity of working
with them but lay down a deadline for when free work transitions into paid
work.
Set their expectations and say you want to get paid after
this certain time or have them help you move towards other opportunities in
their network.
If you work hard and are truly valuable, they would lose
more by not taking care of you.
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| Charlie Hoehn http://charliehoehn.com/rpgrad/ |
