Welcome to the world. Not even the real world, just the world that at least most of us live in where we have go to a job, usually five days a week, and put in an agreed amount of hours.  To land that kind of a job/career there are certain steps we go through with the first one being — looking for a job!

This week I posted a question on LinkedIn asking if in three sentences or less, could you concisely and accurately tell the world what your ideal job/career would be? Several people answered with general responses of what they would desire in a position but not with specifics although I have to say one person answered what she does with numbers for a company in such a beautifully creative way that I really hope she uses her three sentences as a tag line at the top of her resume when applying for jobs. I know her resume will move to the top of several lists because of it.

What I’m witnessing with other people and experiencing myself out on the streets is that many of us are so shell-shocked with fear of never landing any job that we’re all blindly scrambling around submitting our resume if the job posting has even the scent of a word within it’s description that could be a match for us (you know, like how you make a perfect martini is to wave a Vermouth bottle over the vodka….).  I was looking through some postings on LI and found one for a Facilitator and upon reading through the job description found they were looking for someone with Agile Software experience. So that position would eliminate quite a few of us out here who although may be qualified to be a great facilitator, certainly don’t have Agile Software experience.  Have the respect and with-it-ness to read through the postings you’re submitting your resume for, especially if you’re submitting to the same company.  Trust me. Even though they may receive hundreds of resumes a day, if you continually submit your resume to all kinds of positions no matter if you are qualified or not, your name will be recognized and remembered and you will not be taken seriously.

Earlier this week I met with a friend who I have a ton of respect for because she has all parts of her brain working, not just the left or right side.  Such a smart gal. Anyway, back in the hay day of a global corporation where she worked for years, she was a senior vp/business partner and has the kind of experience and knowledge that I know many CEOs and Senior Vice Presidents would so value having within their inner.  Yet, does she do the reconnaissance to find out what companies are out there she would be interested in working  today? Maybe. But she submits her resume through the usual channels.  I would imagine that most of the people at the level of screening resumes and/or even hiring might not have the sense or the power to see that my friend could be a very valuable part of their organization and should be considered.  At her level of experience, it is my opinion that she would be best served to look through her great network of friends and business acquaintances (including her boyfriends) to find out who knows who until she discovers a way to meet with the CEOs and/or decision makers of companies she’s interested in working with these days.  I know it’s a conundrum that on the one-hand for many of us with lot’s of great experience are finding ourselves treading the waters of bureaucracy just to get ourselves considered for a job but on the other-hand I have seen life-altering decisions made in a matter of minutes by someone who had the clout to make it happen.

For wishful thinkers, this is something we have to watch out for because although it can happen very quickly, it does not mean that leading up to the meeting, discussion, and finally the consideration was effortless. Think of yourself as Mr. or Mrs. Bond doing the stealth research necessary behind the scenes so that when you finally get in front of the decision-makers they know that you are definitely someone they need on their team.

This is your mission should you choose to take it.  Good luck.