Byron Wilson is having a rough go at the job search thing. As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, he was let go from Smith Barney last August, and is still unemployed. I read about him at eFinancial Careers in Lessons from a Fruitless Quest.
Excerpts:
Inquirer writer Monica Yant Kinney details the number of chief executives and recruiters Wilson has written to, the number of networking e-mails he has sent, and his job-search-related expenditures. But the only important statistic is his interview count after almost a year of full-time job-hunting: zero.
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Wilson has written to more than 1,200 recruiters, 1,600 CEOs and 1,600 alumni of his undergrad alma mater (Notre Dame) and his MBA program (Columbia).
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When asked if he has “a drop-dead date before changing strategy or standards,” Kinney says Wilson “tensed up.”
There is more than one way to approach a job search, and if your way is working for you, great. But after 10 months of job searching, and zero interviews, a job seeker needs a new approach. (Or way, way before then!)
I’ve blogged about networking being more effective than resume blanketing before. But I think the big idea here is that you need to regularly analyze your efforts. If you are getting no traction, it may be time to ask for help.
The Hiring Room 