This was a major aha! moment in my job search.

I was on a call with a friend who worked in HR and talking about my job search.  I was confiding in him all of my job search woes and pains and I sounded, well, glum.  I’m sure I sounded glum.

In fact, he told me something, somewhat tactfully, that made me realize how glum I had sounded… read the post here: I smell blood!

(see other Favorite Friday posts here)

Have you ever seen my business card?  If you’ve been at one of my presentations you probably have one.

The front is boring.  Just the normal stuff you’d expect to see (except I don’t put my phone numbers on my business card).

The back is what gets chuckles.  I bet the rate that people throw my card away is much lower than normal cards… here’s what the back looks like:

Sorry for the blur… it is pretty sharp in real life.  Some thoughts:

1. Pink is BOLD… I never, ever thought I’d have a PINK business card!  But…
2. It is totally ON BRAND!  I get LOLs and ROFLs when people see my card.  They remember me because
3. I CONNECT with them, and make fun of a situation that is normally grave, sad and serious!  I can do that because
4. I’m one of YOU.  I’m not an outsider to unemployment and job search!  It’s an inside joke, and we’re both insiders!

Can YOU come up with a business card idea that is BOLD, ON-BRAND, helps you CONNECT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE, and shows you are talking with them, not at them, because you are ONE OF THEM?

P.S. I blogged about this a long, long time ago… but I’m doing it again because I got some (er, 2,500) new business cards. Different business cards. The back is what you see above… the front…. ah, the front… it is pure genius! (I’ll test them out on my next few trips and if, indeed, it is genius, I’ll let you in on it)

I just read a great post by Karen Katz about Cody Ross, aka “Babe Ross.” Karen is a JibberJobber Partner and a career coach near Philadelphia and talks about “encore careers.”

If you look at Cody Ross’ history you might guess that he doesn’t have a place as a successful baseball player.  Nonetheless, he has done awesome.

Karen relates that to YOU…  read her post to see the smart analogies.  Do you relate?

I got another “delete my account” message that I have to share here.  I’ve gotten this 2 other times (in 4+ years):

“i get nonstop mail i do not want”

In response, I have to make this statement: We are very, very, very careful about what email messages we send out.

In fact, we send out far less than we should, for fear of having our email server plagued and flagged as a spamming server.  Here’s what you get:

• When you sign up, you get a confirmation email to the email address you put in… that way we can know you actually own that email address.
• Birthday emails… when you put a birthday in the system for any of your contacts you’ll get (a) one email at the beginning of each month for upcoming birthdays and (b) an email for each contact.
• Action item emails… if you are premium, you’ll get an email for each Action Item based on your preferences.
• Maybe, out of the blue, and email from me… I try to send emails regularly but it’s about once a year.

IF you are getting other emails, spammy stuff, then let me share some thoughts. I was an email admin for a few years and my opinion is that spammers are winning, and will win, on the war against spam.

If you are getting spam, welcome to the Internet.

If you are getting more spam since you signed up for JibberJobber, I can tell you, it’s not from, or because of, us.  We don’t share or sell your contact information with anyone.

No one.  Period.

Maybe it’s because of a general uptick in spam.

Maybe it’s from another site/service you have visited.

But it isn’t because of, or from, JibberJobber.com.

I hired a lawyer to do a contract for me.

I have talked to lots and lots of lawyers, but this one was in the right time at the right place.  I heard him speak at a conference (boring, right?) and I was impressed with something: he was me.

In addition to being a lawyer (I’m not a lawyer), he is an entrepreneur.  He has a ski business.  He takes his law firm hat off and puts on his entrepreneur hat.

I knew he could understand my concerns and issues and how sensitive I was to spending money. These are issues you deeply feel if you are accountable for your business success and future.

Let’s switch gears.  I usually connect with my speaking audiences because, while I speak, I’m the downtrodden (but optimistic) job seeker.  I don’t speak AT them, I speak WITH them.

I connect with business audiences (when I speak) because I am a business owner.

How do I do this?  I don’t assume you get it – I tell you real stories.

HOW CAN YOU TELL STORIES THAT HELP YOU CONNECT MORE, DEEPER and BETTER?

… is not hidden.

It is next door to you, at your neighbor’s house.

It is at the church you go to.

It is sitting across the table from you when you are chatting with your friends.

It is at Starbucks, on a cell phone.

It is on a Yahoo Group.

It is in your LinkedIn connections.

What is this elusive “hidden job market?”

It is simply a non-published, little-known collection of openings and opportunities that only company insiders know about.

They key is, how do you get to know about any of them?

Or maybe they key is this: how do you get the insiders to know about YOU, and what you want, and how you are the right person for the job?

The hidden job market is right in front of you, but you don’t know it, and because of poor personal branding and poor networking, it doesn’t find you.

You can try as hard as you want to find the job seeker silver bullet, but it all comes back to your brand and your network.

I got the following email from someone who deleted their JibberJobber account.

Jibber Jobber is another waste of time. The site does nothing more than utilize Indeed postings to promote search options. This is a poor excuse for finding work. Please do not contact me as I am not interested in this website. Kindly REMOVE my information.

I get that not everyone is going to flock to JibberJobber.  And I get that we do a poor job of communicating the value proposition.  And I get that it’s easy to be rude to an anonymous company without thinking anyone on the other side really cares (it is an us against them mentality).

But I want to communicate a few thoughts on this message:

>> Jibber Jobber is another waste of time.

If you spend all day on JibberJobber and ignore other things, like networking, etc., then yes, you are wasting your time. You can’t look into the magic computer screen at any site and site there until a job falls in your lap.

>> The site does nothing more than utilize Indeed postings to promote search options.

This shows that you didn’t look at JibberJobber.  It’s like driving past Home Depot and seeing all their barbecue grills and thinking “wow, that big orange store is nothing more than a BBQ grill store!”  Go in and you’ll find much, much, much more.

“Nothing more?”  Look at all of the stuff you do on this chart. Users are tracking network contacts, setting up action items, logging important calls/emails/conversations they have as they network and apply to jobs, etc.  They are wordsmithing interview responses… and much more.

Indeed is a very small part of what JibberJobber is about.  If you can’t see past that, then yes, you probably are wasting your time (in more ways than one). (note: we are putting more Indeed stuff in, and will continually tweak this as we strive to provide value to your user experience as well as find monetization opportunities that make sense)

>> This is a poor excuse for finding work.

Okay, now that you’ve said it’s a waste of time, there isn’t any depth to it, you rub it in by this critique.  I disagree, but I’m heavily biased.  Regardless of my bias, though, I’m guessing that your efforts to find work are (like mine were) based on bad job search tactics.

You don’t “find work” on JibberJobber.  You organize and manage your job search, and your professional networking.

>> Please do not contact me as I am not interested in this website. Kindly REMOVE my information.

You got it  – good luck in your job search

Okay, so, maybe I shouldn’t have responded to this on my blog… but I did want to share this since I share all the positive stuff.  Why not a balanced perspective?

It is a shame that people come out like this bash.  The sad part, though, is I’m guessing this person’s attitude comes across like this in networking and interviews… which might lead to a very long job search

I recently shared, as a Favorite Friday, my multiple income streams.  Then, I wrote about job seekers having creating multiple income streams. M. Shane Smith, a friend and job seeker advocate in the Twin Cities, sent me an email about it and I asked him if he would share his thoughts with you.  Here ya go!

Looking for a job in today’s economic conditions will be a challenge. But, IF you’re willing to learn and put in the time and effort, you will be successful. Before you start looking at multiple revenue streams, I always encourage people to get their head on square with a positive attitude.

(1) Learn: how to sell yourself with resumes, social media, business cards, your 30 second commercial, reading books  and even keeping track of your job search and contacts. Three books I recommend are: I’m LinkedIn-Now What???, Jason Alba, Resume Magic, Susan Whitcomb, 101 Smart Questions, Ron Fry.  Of course, take advantage of JibberJobber.

(2) Time & effort: Spend at least 30 hours per week researching key companies, people, participation in career seminars (online or in person), networking groups and networking with others. Your personal brand will be much stronger if you help others (making more deposits) rather than just taking (the withdrawals) contact names. This is not a time to relax and “take time off.”

OK, you’re doing the work; you know what you want and where you’re going. Now let’s look at multiple revenue options, knowing everyone is in a different situation:

1. Unemployment benefits. While not much, it helps.
2. Find a Part time job #1. Some may think of this as a survival job. (20-30 hours per week) Holidays are a great time to land these jobs. Temp job services should not be overlooked.
3. Find a part time job #2. One that maybe is nights or weekends. (10-20 hours per week) This could be cleaning houses, yardwork, house sitting and more.
4. Volunteer. Sure, you may not make money, but the contacts you make could be worth much more than money.
5. Consult. Do you have talents that you can charge $20- $100+ per hour? Think about it. If so, get business cards and go get some projects.
6. Selling personal property. Need cash? Sell personal property before you go under water. This could be a car, house or other items that can bring in some cash during this difficult time.
7. Move. Yes, move to another state where there is LOW unemployment. No one is asking you to live there forever, but sometimes we have to do what we can and things change.

During this same time period, keeping looking for job like you just had or better yet, your dream job!

Things change and sometimes we have to make adjustments in our lives to pay bills.

Stay positive, learn, share and grow during this time of adversity.

M. Shane Smith is a founder or a founding member of over five job networking groups in the Minneapolis St. Paul area that have help thousands of individuals.  His involvement in networking groups and passion for helping others can be seen by his LinkedIn profile. During his last transition of 23 months, he implemented many of these ideas to keep the revenue flowing. Today, he has returned to work, commuting between Minnesota and California.

What do you think?

I’m headed back to D.C. for two presentations at Georgetown University.  I’m excited to talk to two different audiences (with two different presentations), and will be able to slip in a visit at an awesome job club networking group referred to the Career Network Ministry at the McLean Bible Church.

You can come to this meeting – I’ll be presenting at about 8pm on Tuesday night (November 9th).

Click here for information on what the evening entails, how to RSVP, etc.

Hope to see you there!  Please share this with your network!

I wrote about my own dark side at Depression Clouds Everything.

I also wrote about losing your identity (and other things) at I Lost More Than My Job 2 Years Ago.

Here’s input from Jeff, who left a comment on the I Lost More… post:

I lost most of what you lost and a large portion of my feeling of self worth as it drug on.

The first big change came when closely after my father passed I lost my job.

I gained a HUGE chip on my shoulder, feelings of anger, resentment, disillusionment and resounding pride… yeah pride.

When you should be humbling yourself to refocus and see whats wrong inside I went into the blame and criticize zone. It was everyone else and their companies I saw flaws with. It stunk!

I spent weeks and months determined to show them they were all stupid and wrong. What did that invested time, energy, anger and freustration get me?

NOTHING, in fact its almost cost me my marriage, my name, my friends, my family and my faith.

How did I let this govern my life? There were so many more things to be thankful for and so many things to focus my energy on while I was looking but instead I chose to self destruct.

My advice to all: DON’T GO THERE!

Go HERE:

Work hard at truly building every relationship you can. You will find an opportunity, and sometimes in the least likely places.

Do things for the benefit of others too. You’re struggling but serving will calm your mind and build relationships with those that could become your next coworker, employer or employee…

… Its amazingly frustrating how so many woes of society right now are directly linked to this (crime, divorce, abuse etc…).

It’s a hard lesson to learn. Unfortunately, based on how job seekers are still treated today, many people have yet to learn this lesson.

Thanks for sharing Jeff.