Lessons from a Recent Job-Fair!

Tweet: Take the following 10 lessons to heart if you want to build momentum in your career and keep moving to stay relevant in todays job market.

Last Saturday I was invited to do one-on-one sessions with the participants at a job-fair event organized by IIT-Bombay Heritage Fund. The job fair was open to all and about 300 or so showed up. The front part of the event was a Fireside chat with two of the Silicon Valleys luminariesDeep Nishar and Shalini Govil-Pai. They framed the tone of the event well by sharing their stories of career pivots, hardships in their early days, and lucky breaks they got along the way. It was a fascinating conversation and Ventkesh Shukla, the moderator, did a great job of eliciting the key stories from them both, which inspired most of the participants at the Fair.

Of course, there were on hand a dozen or so company recruiter teams present to take a look at those seeking jobs at Apple, Google, LinkedIn, and other Silicon Valley powerhouses, opening their booths immediately after the Fireside chat. I was there to conduct one-on-ones with those interested in career advice, and more importantly, acting on what they gleaned from the Fireside Chat and exploring how they could re-invent themselves to refresh their careers. Participants lined up to see me stretched all the way to end of the hallway, meeting with me one at time, and waiting patiently until their turn, and until the last one was done, some three hours later.

During those 1:1s with the attendees I was struck by how unprepared most were to present their story, ask a key question about their need in the allotted time, and probe for the right answer (I had allocated five minutes per visitor to keep things moving). Of those I saw that day, about 30% were fresh graduates; about 40% well-established professionalsmostly high-techwith jobs in development, sales, marketing, and project management, looking for a change; and the remaining 30% were out of work, looking for a job to land. Despite their seniority, experience, overall tenure, and being in a job market, here are some of things that surprised me:

1. Most people cannot articulate their value proposition in a Tweet and clearly articulate what they do, so a stranger can get it in about 60 seconds.
   Lesson: Get your unique selling proposition (USP down to a Tweet or so).
2. Nearly 90% (based on my sample that day) do not know how to ask a key question, so that someone can guide them in a productive direction. They go on and on with their lifes history forever, but cannot quickly summarize what they want from it.
   Lesson: Asking a great question takes much more preparation than just spewing out your history.
3. Almost all rsums I saw read like a job description written in the past tense (managed five software projects throughout the year, managed a large budget, etc.). No one had a bullet on their rsum that told me a story of their leadership in 2-3 lines.
   Lesson: If you cannot tell a succinct story of your leadership you do not have anything worthwhile to get someones attention.
4. They did not know what they wanted next. Almost everyone asked me after their lifes story what they should now be doing to succeed in their stagnating careers and stultifying job assignments.
   Lesson: Do not expect others to figure out your lifes next move; you must be able to articulate it well yourself.
5. Most wanted quick answers to their poorly formed statements or ambiguous questions. They also did not want to put much effort in their packaging (redoing their rsum, so it told a compelling story; having a clear point of view, not a smorgasbord of all their previous tasks listed chronologically, etc.).
   Lesson: Learn how to write and speak well, so others get it. It is one of the most underrated skills today.
6. Some wanted what was owed to them. This was particularly true of the more senior people. One person complained that they have stayed in their role with the SAME title for more than 10 years and they were not getting their next promotion. When I asked why should they get one, I did not get a clear answer, followed by a puzzled look.
   Lesson: Your promotions and career momentum are based on the value you deliver, not based on the size of your paycheck or the duration over which you have received it.
7. Rampant use of acronyms throughout our conversation made it difficult for me to understand what some were saying. I have a CS degree and no one is even inviting me for an interview, one complained. The market for entry-level software types and CS (Computer Science) majors is good in the Valley right now, so I was a bit puzzled. When I asked what courses she had taken and what grades she got, I uncovered that CS stood for Corporate Secretary (I assumed it was Computer Science). When making a conversation use everyday language and communicate clearly what you have on your mind!
   Lesson: Even though you may use your lexicon in everyday work, do not assume others are familiar with it.
8. Many senior professionals were more concerned about their next title and salary they would get, even though they wanted to make a career change. In an exploding field, such as big data, mobile payment, and other trending technologies the demand for new people is so high that many companies are willing to talk to candidates, who bring some knowledge in these areas without a lot of expertise. But, those who were stuck in their track did not want to consider a smaller pay package or a lower station in a growing field.
   Lesson: When going in a new career direction (re-invention), reflect on the value you will create and tie your salary/title expectation to that value.
9. After seeing their rsums and cover letter samples I urged many to learn how to write and communicate better by taking on some courses or by joining organizations such as Toastmasters International. I was surprised by their reluctance to pursue those avenues.
   Lesson: Just because you know what you are thinking do not assume that your mouth will put out that thought. It takes effort, practice, and awareness. Same thing with writing.
10. Many were surprisedespecially the more senior professionalsabout what it takes to pursue a new opportunity that is worth pursuing. When I laid out for them the effort it takes to package, market, network, and to follow-up, many seemed resigned to staying where they were until their next lay-off. Sad, but true!
    Lesson: If you think change is hard, try becoming irrelevant (Tom Peters).

I have painted a pessimistic picture of my takeaways from this job fair. To be honest, many 1:1s were positive and they appreciated what they needed to do differently to make a change in their lives. I find that in such events the stars are far and few between. This was confirmed by many recruiters at the fair, who said that they measure their success by the percentage of candidates they recruit at such events and this number is typically much less than 5%! Now you can appreciate, why!

Good luck!

About Author

Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader.

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