Benefit from the Haldane Approach and Network

While the information in this book will help you conduct referral and job interviews on your own, at the same time, you may want to take advantage of the Bernard Haldane Associates network of support services which consists of hundreds of career professionals, called Career Advisors, in more than 80 offices in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom (see the Appendix for a complete listing of this network of offices). Anyone can conduct a job search on his or her own and find a job. But we assume you don't want to find just any job. You want a high quality job that is the right "fit" for both you and the employer—one you really enjoy doing and one that benefits both you and the employer. Unfortunately, the novice do-it-yourself approach often results in taking shortcuts rather than doing first things first. For example, most job seekers begin their job search by first writing their resume rather than doing the necessary foundation work that should be the basis for their resume and other key job search activities, such as networking, interviewing, and negotiating. After all, they say, isn't that what you're supposed to do first, because that's what others always do? Some, as indicated by the popularity of resume example books, even go so far as to creatively plagiarize others' resumes. By following the crowd, they literally put the horse before the cart and thereby immediately handicap their job search with an ill-fitting resume that may communicate all the wrong messages!

		You owe it to yourself to present your very best self to employers. That means taking the time and spending some money to do first things first when conducting a job search. The prerequisite foundation work involves self-assessment and goal setting—two activities that may be best done with the assistance of a professional career advisor or career coach. If you fail to do this foundation work and go directly to writing your resume and interviewing for jobs, you will most likely join thousands of other do-it-yourself job seekers who meander through the job market trying to find a job they can fit into. You will find a job but chances are it will not be a good fit. You may be well advised to work with a professional career advisor or career coach to identify what it is you do well and enjoy doing. The Haldane approach, which also is known as Success Factor Analysis, has helped thousands of clients who use Haldane's career management services for coaching them through the job search process. With the assistance of a professional career coach who helps them with assessment, goal setting, resume writing, referral interviews, and job interviews, these individuals go on to find jobs that are excellent fits. While these same individuals could conduct a job search on their own, they choose to work with a professional who can assist them every step of the way. The professional does not find them a job. Instead, their career coach provides important career services, advice, and structure that enables the individual to become successful on his or her own terms. In the process, individuals acquire important long-term career development skills that will serve them well throughout their worklife. Let's talk truth about what we're dealing with in the world of self-help and enlightenment. It can be very lonely and depressing out there in the job market. Our experience, as well as that of most career advisors, is that very few job seekers conduct this process well on their own. Not that they can't; it's just that they won't and thus they don't. Understanding, yes; action, some, but not enough sustained, purposeful action to make things happen the way they should. Most job seekers can cognitively understand what's involved in conducting a successful job search, but the actual process of putting it all together, finding time, implementing each step properly, remaining focused, and maintaining a high level of motivation and energy in the face of no responses or ego-wrenching rejections is something that is very difficult to do on their own. It's not surprising that people normally used to being effective all of a sudden feel ineffective when conducting their own job search. Nothing seems to work according to expectation, or perhaps expectations are either too high or are misplaced. They procrastinate, find excuses, get depressed, and give up in what is often a cycle of good intentions and dashed expectations with sustained action conspicuously absent. Indeed, very few people ever do it right on their own. Accordingly, most people can benefit tremendously by using the services of professional career advisors. A career management professional can save you a great deal of time, money, and headaches because he/she combines expertise with a structure for implementing a job search campaign. This expertise comes in many forms: • testing and assessing • developing and targeting a job search plan • assisting with writing resumes and letters • honing networking skills • implementing an action plan • coaching for job interviews and negotiations Client Feedback "Right from the beginning, Haldane's techniques helped build my self esteem, gave me direction and helped me increase my salary 100% more than my previous position with less frustration and stress than before." —M.H. Most important of all, a professional can serve as a mentor who helps you maintain your focus and motivation as well as provides a critical structure for routinely implementing each phase of your job search. At the same time, you need to be cautious in using so-called professional career services. This is a big business fraught with snake-oil salesmen and varying levels of competence. Professional career services come in many different forms, from testing and assessment centers to full-blown career marketing operations. Some individuals and companies offer career services at an hourly rate while others charge a flat contract price. If you work with someone who charges by the hour, be sure to know exactly what you need. Otherwise, you may be putting together a piece-meal job search that will most likely produce less than desirable outcomes. We prefer a contract arrangement that covers the complete job finding process, from start to finish. This type of arrangement avoids the chaos and excuses attendant with piece-meal activities; it focuses on every element in a successful job search. Above all, it commits the individual to seeing the process through at each step and doing every-thing possible to ensure success. Individuals use their time efficiently, remain focused, and handle well the psychological ups and downs of finding a job. Without such a long-term commitment and structure to move through the process expeditiously, individuals tend to conduct a haphazard job search, experience lots of psychological downs, and short-change their future by conducting a relatively ineffective job search. Unfortunately, some career operations also are fraudulent. They take your money in exchange for broken promises. The promises usually come in the form of finding you a job. Many of these firms promise to do all the work for you—write your resume, broadcast it to hundreds of employers, and schedule interviews. All you have to do is write a check for this service and then sit back for the phone to ring. While this may sound good, because it appears to be a quick and easy way to find a job, such an approach is antithetical to the more than 50 years of Haldane experience. At Bernard Haldane Associates we believe in doing first things first and coaching job seekers to do their very best. You team up with an experienced Career Advisor who literally takes you step-by-step through the complete career planning and job search process, from assessment, goal setting, researching, and resume and letter writing to networking, interviewing, and negotiating salary. Our clients also have access to Haldane's new Career Strategy 2000 electronic program. Designed specifically for Haldane's clients, this rich and powerful electronic program uses the Internet for conducting research, networking, distributing resumes, and targeting employers. We do not find you a job. That's not what we do nor should be doing for you. Instead, we help you find your own job through a well-structured process. This is an important distinction often lost in the job search business. It's a distinction that is central to writing a Haldane resume and conducting Haldane referral and job interviews that should ultimately represent the "unique you" to employers.