Third Letter

Someone asked me the other day why I called my blog "Seven Letters."  Well, 7 is my favorite number.  I was born on August 7th.  My first and last name both have 7 letters in them.  On a side note:  when I was a pee-wee hockey player, someone on my team already had #7 so my dad helped me choose a new one - "What's better than 7?" he asked me.  "Double 7's!"

Back to the job hunt.  I've spent the past two weeks immersing myself in books, thoughts, conversations, and dream-career exercises.  It's fascinating how much research has been done on the job hunt.  A lot of really smart folks have figured out how effective sending a resume is (8%) versus stopping by your favorite company for an informal interview (80%).  What color ink should you use in letter writing? (blue is universally preferred over black but never red).  How much should I talk during an interview? (studies suggest that the interviewer/interviewee talking ratio should be 50:50 and that your responses should be only about 2 minutes).  No doubt, job hunting is a science!

In my mind, though, it's still an art form.  There's so much of your own personality that goes into (and should go into) your search for a new job.  We're told over and over again to be so formal and "professional" in the job hunt, but who says that being professional means you have to be cold and stuffy.  Be a good, friendly person and people will want to work with you.  Be confident in your past experience and the experience you hope to gain, and companies will want you to work for them.  Your best strategy to get a new job is to lean on the great relationships you've formed in the past.  Close friends and family members are the biggest source for jobs, bar none!

So I'm changing up my ways for round two of my job hunt.  I'm taking all of my new knowledge and putting myself out there more.  As it turns out, I'm a pretty likable guy.  I'm hoping a few companies out there think so too!

Sincerely, J