How to create your dream job & avoid the resume run-around

17Feb09

A few weeks ago I wrote How to get a job in the advertising, design or media industry in 2009. The main message was to connect with your potential employer through alternate communications channels, ideally a channel that they are participating in actively. I encourage starting a relationship before asking for the job.

The post obviously made an impression as it went on to be the most popular ever published on this site.

Since then, it occurred to me that there was another point I’d like to add to the job hunter’s strategy, one which is probably even more relevant in the current employment climate: don’t ask for a job, create one.

Before complaining about all the potential employers who haven’t responded to your letters and emails, or didn’t give you the position after the interview, put yourself in their shoes for a minute. The economy is tough and every hire is crucial. Risk and reward are high in every employers mind.

What can you do to stand out, or even create a position where one wasn’t on offer?

Remove the risk. Make it almost impossible to ignore you.

This isn’t just some theory I have concocted, I have used this approach at least 3 times in my career. In fact, due to this approach I have never actually formally applied for a job.

In my early twenties I spent a few years in the US. I was on a travel visa and couldn’t legally work. I managed to convince a large restaurant in a resort town to employ me for two Summers as a waiter. The hook: I would work for tips only, no wage. I buckled down, worked hard and generated plenty of tips. In fact, I earned more tips than any waiter in the restaurant. Tips are usually a percentage of the total bill, so that meant I was generating good sales for my employer. It was win-win all round (if slightly illegal).

Years later I made return to the radio industry where I had worked briefly a decade earlier. At the time the station that employed me was not looking for anyone but I had stayed in touch with the right people and when I needed a job I decided to create one. I basically told them to employ me in a problem department and that If I couldn’t turn it around in 6 months I would get out of the way. Being sales, it was very results based and I further removed the risk by suggesting a lower retainer and higher commission structure.  Results were rapid and within 3 months I had been promoted. Within 6 months I was group sales manager for the two radio stations. The employer had little to lose and I had everything to gain, so it worked for both if us.

I bought my advertising agency with a similar strategy. Rather than asking for a job, I approached the owner and told him I was interested in buying his business. But first I wanted to work with him to learn the business. He had no plans to hire, but I guaranteed that I would more than pay my way with the new business I would generate. If it didn’t pan out I would leave and the potential sale would fall over. Basically I removed most of the risk for the owner and offered him the carrot of an exit from the business. It was a brave move and I have no problems in admitting I was very nervous. But fear is a great motivator which tends to focus the mind. About three months in I landed a whale and we created a significant campaign. After that everything fell into place.

Sure, many of you might consider these fairly extreme approaches, but that is a big part of why they worked. I removed risk and made it almost impossible to ignore. I wasn’t just another person asking an employer to do me a favour by giving me a job, I was actually promising to add value to the business and showed how confident I was that I could make a real difference.

This strategy isn’t limited to sales, although sales may be an easier field to make such approaches. If you can deliver new business to an employer then you are going to be valued. Creatives can adopt this approach especially if they have a track record or strong relationships with previous clients who might follow them to their new employer.

Graphic artists, copywriters, PR specialists, web designers, SEO & SEM experts and account managers could all create their own jobs at an agency (or other company) by demonstrating to potential employers how they can create new business and income streams or how they could lower the overheads of using contracted third party resources.

How about offering to work on a freelance basis if you can have a desk at the office? You’re there, ready to help at any time and hard to ignore. Then scramble to let all your contacts know where you are and how your new “employer” would love to assist your contact’s business.

Put yourself in the employer’s shoes. They’re not just looking to fill seats, they’re looking to grow their business, or in some cases stay afloat in tough times. Someone asking for a job is seen as an expense. Someone offering solutions, removing the risk, lowering outsourced expenses or delivering new business is seen as an asset.

How can you apply a similar approach to your job hunting strategy? What can you offer a potential employer that will remove the risk and provide an opportuniy to show off your skills?

Other reading: How to get a job in the advertising, design or media industry in 2009

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