EditorialsBy Matt Bud, Chairman, The FENG

The mindset that is most appropriate for a job search is very much like my Army experience where we used to lament what we referred to as “hurry up and wait.”

As raw recruits, we were expected to arrive at points at the previously appointed minute, whether or not others were ready for us. We would “double time” to ensure we weren’t late and then be kept waiting for what seem like hours and often was. As we used to say: “That’s the Army for you.” (Other words were used as well, but this is a G rated newsletter and I cannot repeat them here or in mixed company.)

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that just because no one seems to be getting back to you that you have the luxury of time. You don’t.

The speed of communications today makes delay your enemy. I hear anecdotally that candidate slates for searches close in just a few hours. There are a lot of qualified folks out there and many of them are sitting at their computers on broadband hitting “send, receive” all day long.

As soon as a posting comes in, out it goes if it is even close.

On the receiving end, once they have a sufficient number of apparently qualified candidates, the late arrivals are either deleted or just placed in a folder in case more are needed, which usually means they are never reviewed. Some people are borderline insomniacs and check their email in the middle of the night — so much for waiting until the dawn of a new day.

You may be the best on the planet, but if they don’t get to your paperwork, no one will ever know.

I would remind members of this august body that restricting yourself to “the process” is not necessary. The job market is more like a knife fight, and you are fortunate to have a gun in The FENG’s membership directory. You also have tools like LinkedIn and Google at your disposal.

If you find out about any firm that is hiring, use these remarkable tools to network your way to the hiring manager.

I know everyone enjoys a fair fight, but a fair fight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Hurry up and pull out all your stops. And then sit back and see if you get into the crosshairs of the hiring manager. That’s what I call hurry up and wait on turbo.

Regards, Matt

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