My Greatest Lesson - The Value of Personal Contact

This is a pretty simple story to stress a very important point.

I was married in college and my wife and then one year old daughter, Jenifer, needed to find a place to live during my senior year. I saw an ad in the paper for an apartment that offered a tremendous discount on rent for a resident who would also take on the responsibility for maintaining the grounds. It was a big complex and mowing the lawn in itself was a challenge.

But, we were poor students and I jumped at the opportunity. I did what the many other interested renters did. I called the number on the ad and told an answering service of my interest. The woman on the line politely told me that she would take my number and I
should expect a call. She also mentioned that many others had called for the same reason.

When I got off the phone, I thought that I had probably already missed my chance. I was young though, 20, and I didn’t over think things too much. I was more prone to act impulsively and I really wanted and needed this. So without much thought, I drove to the complex and started walking around the perimeter of the grounds. Eventually, a man saw me and came over to see just who was trespassing on his property.

I introduced myself and explained that I was very interested in the resident maintenance position and always liked to understand any job I applied for in as much detail as I could. I didn’t know that I was talking to the owner until he introduced himself and told me he had received a number of calls and would make a decision by the end of the week. I said that would be great and did he mind if I could call him directly during the week if I had any questions. He somewhat reluctantly gave me his number and I ended the conversation by nervously telling him that “I want the job and will do a great job for you”. I explained that my father had a true “green thumb” and I had learned to love taking care of yards as well. I confess that this was perhaps a bit of a stretch since, in my earlier years, Dad usually had all he could do to get me out of bed on Saturday mornings to help in the yard.

Despite my fears, I did call the owner everyday that week to both ask a question and tell him again how much this would mean to my family. Finally on Friday, he called me and asked me to stop by. When I approached him a little later at the complex, he had an unreadable expression on his face and I thought that perhaps I’d pushed too hard. He then spoke with a somewhat exasperated tone, “Son, if you work as hard at this job as you have at getting it, it’s yours. I like your persistence.”

The lesson is obvious and every old school sales person knows it - get in front of the “customer” and ask for the sale. You can’t do this very well on the internet. In the next few entries, I’ll elaborate on ways that this simple truth still applies today and can be employed in today’s high-tech age.

A final bit of advice – buy an old paperback copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Read a chapter or a few pages a day and when you are done, start over again, and again. . . . Getting a job is about people and how you relate to them.

Do You Really Want to Find a Job?

I have had many jobs in my life - lemonade stands, Evanston Review delivery boy, newspaper deliverer, golf caddie, an egg route (yes we delivered eggs door to door but did so more gently than with the newspapers), summer camp maintenance and kitchen crew worker, camp counselor, lifeguard, bookstore salesperson, bartender, gauze factory packer, night shift movie theater cleaner, lumber yard truck loader, janitor, hod-carrier, electrician apprentice, taxi-cab driver, hospital pharmacy technician, cardio-pulmonary technician, teacher, law-clerk, attorney in private practice, in-house corporate counsel, international attorney in Hong Kong, real estate Broker/Realtor, Master's Degree instructor, adjunct college professor, hotel front desk clerk, photographer, freelance writer and more.....

I've lost jobs, been re-hired at some, quit and left some for personal reasons to seek a better opportunity. From the haywire career path above, you might think that I haven't really found my "passion" in life quite yet. This blog is not really about job passion though it will talk about the need to have a passion for life. It is primarily designed to share some lessons and a large bag of tips and tricks that I've picked up over the years during my own job searches.

I've read most of the popular books about finding one's true passion and certainly do believe in the old-adage that "if you find something you love to do, you'll never work a day in your life." You may not want to, or have the luxury these days, to spend the time creating the intricate charts designed to identify the perfect career for you; you, like many, just need to find work. If you want to spend the time first looking for that niche that best fits your personality, I'd suggest that you talk to your 5 closest friends and/or former employers and ask them candidly what they see as your strengths and weaknesses, what your good at doing and areas you may want to steer clear of. This will do for now.

This blog is going to tell some stories of persistence and good luck and share a wide range of techniques and strategies that I've picked up over the years on how to stand out from the crowd. If you are content sitting in front of the computer all day and submitting resumes with well-crafted and moving cover letters, this may not be the blog for you. If you are interested in more aggressive and unique approaches, read on.

I also want everyone to know that I am at this point in my career looking for a particular job myself. But this blog is not intended to be a job searching tool of my own. It is not a way to market myself for this position. In fact, I'm not going to even mention the goal I have in mind. But I will commit to everyone that I will follow every bit of advice that I give to you and hope to learn more from readers' comments.

You have probably gathered from the above job history that I've been around for awhile. Much of what I talk about here has been gathered from various sources - good friends, great books, advisers, mentors and free spirits. Much of this information has become part of my own life philosophy and at times it will be hard to fairly attribute a specific piece of advice to a single source. But I'll try my best to do so.

Finally, I have had a great deal of help in my life overcoming struggles, self-doubt and landing in positions I never dreamed possible. Many of those who have aided me in my journey are no longer with us. My goal here is to offer the help I can to those who are struggling today. It's a form of pay-back to the many who've helped me along the way.

I welcome comments, questions and requests for specific topics.

Tomorrow - "My Greatest Lesson."