What does one tell a new turkey about learning the ropes? (A new turkey is a now unemployed person who has yet to realize that, de facto, they are a turkey!)
When this one turkey contacted me for help, he seemed pretty far up on the learning curve. He had a networking profile! Although he didn’t call it that. He thought it was just a short one page resume that he used for “non specific job opportunities”. But, that’s for another email.
So, it wasn’t long (less than a week), that I saw something that clicked his name in my mind. (I put any active turkey’s networking profile on my wall — not for them — to remind me it’ll be my turn soon!) The email’s quoted below. I immediately drop kicked to him. My thinking was that just because it wasn’t spot on, it was a GREAT opportunity in several dimensions.
My thought was that he could springboard off it to: (1) make contact with one of my silver hunters for future consideration; (2) learn everything he could about the 18 other opportunities that she said she was trying to source; (3) identify all those companies or agencies who were hiring; (4) identify all those supplier, customers, competitors, and cooperators who might have needs. AND (5) possibly trigger an idea for a new product, service, or niche that he could exploit.
Because he was presenting (A term I like from the TV show ER) like an experienced turkey, I did NOT go into this level of detail. I just mumbled something about it not being “spot on” but “exploitable”.
He kicked it back with he didn’t want to do intra-week travel on a steady basis.
First, he was focused tactically; I was thinking strategically.
Second, in consulting, there’s travel, and then there’s “travel”. I had a consulting job with 100% travel, and never left the tri-state area. What they meant was that you didn’t have an office. I was either working from my in home office or the client prem. So, he closed it down without learning what does travel really mean. (I was “out” when that consulting gig said “100% travel” and I was hungry enough to say “yes, but what does that mean?”!)
Third, he missed the point. Early in the jobsearch, you want a huge sales funnel. Premature pruning of leads eliminates all possibilities.
If you have and use a methodology, then you won’t do this. It used to be, when I was “out”, and I may well be “out” again, to never say “no”. That wasn’t my job. My job was to be always saying “yes”. “yes, maybe”, “yes, perhaps”, “yes what if”, but always “yes”.
When we hit them saying “no”, that’s when I would stop. (Usually because there was nothing further to be gained.) But not before I drained every drop of value.
A premature “no” in this case denied him the chance to find out who this silver hunter knew, to learn what he truly might not know that no one can tell him, and to practice the craft of interviewing.
(Yeah, yeah, you know what’s coming … a long boring lecture on the Johari window.)
We don’t know what we don’t know. Watch the quiz shows when someone gets a question wrong that they were 100% dead certain they knew. We need to minimize that column (i.e., that which we can’t see).
So, I would suggest that all turkeys always need to be thinking strategically and that a methodology will help you do that. It can be Lucht’s, Parachute’s, or a roll your own. The methodology will help decide when it is safe to safe “nah!”, “ney”, “nyet”, “no”, or “are you kidding me”.
***Begin Quote***
From: A Silver Headhunter
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 12:42 PM
To: John Reinke http://public.2idi.com/=reinkefj
Subject: Can you recommend someone for this job?
If you have a moment, I’d appreciate your help. Please take a look and forward this job on to anyone you think would be interested in the position, or anyone else who could help me find a great candidate.
We also have needs for the following types of people:
BLAH, blah, blah.
Thanks for your help!
-Lauren
Company: Management Consulting Firm
Job Title: ASSOCIATE PARTNER-OPERATIONS STRATEGY
FOR MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Description: INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE: Defense & Aerospace; Manufacturing, Automotive, or Hi-Tech
LOCATIONS: Most Major Cities
TRAVEL: Mon- Fri
The Candidate must meet the following requirements to be considered qualified:
BLAH, Blah, blah
COMPENSATION: 165-200K + bonus (35%)
———-
This email was sent to you by XYZ through LinkedIn because XYZ thought you might be interested in this job opening or know people who would be interested in applying.
If you wish to change how you receive future job notifications, please click here.
***End Quote***
###30###
Reinke Faces Life 