Five Lessons from the Unemployment Line
AP File Photo
Last year as the recession took hold my employer took drastic action cutting back the marketing team. I was out of a job. In 25 years of working, it was the first time in my life that I needed unemployment benefits. While I didn’t keep an exact count, I suspect that I applied for over 300 jobs in the past 11 months. I’ve worked with at least 20 recruiters; done 150 phone screens and probably 100 face-to-face interviews. Today, 347 days after my search began, I start a new job with a great company that I’m very excited about!
Understanding how difficult the job hunting environment is now I would like to extend a hand to those who are currently looking for a job with 5 recommendations that I hope will help.
1). Make Every Moment a Learning Opportunity
While I’m writing with a focus on the online marketing world, I think this applies more broadly as well. Every conversation, all the research you do on a prospective employer, all the vendors they use, and every strategy they employ is an opportunity to add to your toolkit once you’re employed. However you don’t unearth any treasure without digging. All of the prospective employers I spoke with ask for feedback on their site and some required a formal presentation. Peel back their source code and look for analytics packages, advertising partner tracking codes and vendor partners; evaluate their PPC programs, Affiliates, CSE partners; evaluate their user experience, key site features, third-party tools used, taxonomy, key products, pricing, value proposition, branding; use tools like Compete.com to get a sense of their traffic and evaluate the best of their competition with the same rigger.
Undoubtedly in your interview you’ll share what you’ve learned with a viewpoint on the pros & cons of what you’ve found. But equally as important, ask questions that probe more deeply and give you further insight into the business strategy and tactics. If their doing something innovative that’s working, take note.
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