Courage in the Workplace

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear
--Mark Twain

Unemployment in the Seattle area is still scary at 8.5 percent (US Dept. Labor) and even though this is a better rate than many urban areas, it is still painful.

My monitoring of Monster, CareerBuilder, LinkedIn, Craigslist, NWJobs, and etc. indicate the number of jobs in the Seattle area are on the rise. There is one problem: The jobs that are opening have specific skill needs and often seek people with experience in that particular role.

Most employers are dreadfully bad at hiring talent with “transferable skills” – many hiring agents are taught to hire what/who they know, take few chances, and not think creatively. It is sad, I know. As a former recruiter, the hiring managers that I worked with wanted candidates that from a skill perspective, looked like their current employees.

So you have to gain some resilience in your search and develop some career courage. You need to leverage your experiences and create a compelling case for the employer to take a look at you. Career courage is all about trying the things that you have not yet done to secure interest, get the interview, and land the job. Here are 3 ideas that might spark your courage:

1. Write cover letters for each job that imbed information about the job in the letter. (not super courageous), but seems to be rare these days) This works on 2 levels…it separates you from the crowd and may give your application a second look. Writing a cover letter also fine tunes your interest and true qualifications for the role. Even if the employer does not read it, at least you are more in tune with the role.
2. Cold call the business/HR department (pretty darn courageous). Find the company number, get to know the job posting inside and out, and call in. Ask to speak to someone in HR…if you are really full of spunk and courage, ask to speak to the hiring manager. Be ready to say something of worth once you get through…practice!
3. Show up on their doorstep (epic level of courage). If you show up prepared, looking professional, and sounding intelligent, you may get to speak to someone associated with the job. Face:Face will separate you from the crowd. It is harder for people to overlook candidates that they have met.

All of these ideas are double edged swords. Since they require some level of job-seeker courage, they are more risky. You can win big but you could also really flop. Be sure to prepare thoroughly for any of these approaches and remember the most important points on courage: Manage your fears and be yourself.

This blog is copied from:

http://www.examiner.com/career-transition-in-seattle/leo-sevigny