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This is DREAM JOB DYNAMIC Episode 006, addressing a common question  I get from some of our more senior seekers. Recently I got an email from Timothy B. who said, “Hi, David. Many of my fellow Boomer friends are counting the hours to retirement and they don’t understand my reluctance to retire. How do you answer the question “Isn’t it exciting to be approaching retirement?”    I’ll tell you what Timothy, your question is common, so I thought I’d give you my two cents in this podcast episode and the blog we’re calling: Retirement lasts how long?” Stick around!

Our objective is to identify your selection of Dream Jobs, connect you with the Decision Makers, giving you  choices relative to your next and possibly best Career Boost yet. My hope is to point you in the right direction, using many of the tools and techniques that allowed me to land my own personally perfect dream job several years ago at the age of at the age of 64 ½!   In my recent adventure, by practicing what I teach, I was able to identify three companies with Construction Management opportunities. All three invited me to interview. All three responded immediately with offers of employment and the rest is a Dream Job Delight.   My point in sharing my story is to emphasize the point that there are many employers who know and appreciate the value of a Boomer who is still interested in Bringin’ it. That’s the real point of this conversation.   Many employers do actually realize that while being young, recently educated and IT proficient is a winning combination, it’s just not the solution for every situations and certainly not every job assignment. For many potential hiring decisions, youth and a fresh diploma, by itself, are simply not the deciding factor.

This is DREAM JOB DYNAMIC, dedicated to DISCOVERING YOUR PERSONALLY PERFECT DREAM JOB in 7 SIMPLE STEPS!   Whether you’re  a BOOMER, a BEGINNER or a SOMEWHERE-IN-BETWEENER…,  Whether you’re plan is to:    RAMP UP YOUR ROUTINE EASE OFF THE GAS A BIT  OR TO TAKE  A SIDE ROAD IN A TOTALLY NEW DIRECTION…,  With a DREAM JOB DISCOVERY as your target, you’ll learn to  DEFINE IT! LOCATE IT! And LAND IT! If today’s title seems a tad bit negative, don’t be concerned. The REJECTION FACTOR is accurate, but it’s not the end of the story. The high probability that any given resume will be rejected, applies to everyone posted to any JOB SEARCH ENGINE. That’s actually rather depressing, but before you react to this reality, let’s dig a little deeper. It’s not all bad news! Before we get into the discussion of resumes, we need to consider the function of any JOB SEARCH ENGINE. They actually do their job quite nicely and provide valuable information for their clients. While you have a virtually unlimited selection of Search Engines to choose from, this point must be made very clear, right up front: AS THE JOB APPLICANT, YOU ARE NOT THEIR CUSTOMER! While your resume and personal job preferences are a key factor in this cyber-search system, the primary objective of every JOB SEARCH ENGINE is to provide acceptable candidates to fill positions for the businesses who are paying for their services. Companies pay hefty fees to gain access to the data banks of each engine and your personal details play a valuable, all be it, insignificant part in the grand scheme of things.  I promise the news gets better.   For all intents and purposes, the Search Engine is the VENDOR, a Business with a job opening is the paid CLIENT and you, my friend are the PRODUCT.  Without you (and millions like you) the system wouldn’t work. Trust me, there are many just like you, all looking for a dream connection.  We’re almost to the good part. The employers are generally happy to pay for the services, because it provides them with literally thousands of candidates for every open position. A critical challenge for any business is to maintain a full staff and to fill openings with qualified candidates ……IMMEDIATELY!   The Search Engine algorithm offers good news for the employer, BUT for the individual Job Seekers (present company included), not so much. I’m sure you can imagine, that with every open position, the odds against your profile being the chosen one is possibly a thousand to one against you. With those odds, it might as well be a million to one. Stick with me. There is a positive message in this. I promise. Standing up and stepping out of the crowd will be much easier than you might think.The critical difference between you and all the rest is that you and I will focus on attracting the attention of YOUR DREAM JOB BOSSand………you’re fellow seekers won’t. BOOM THAT! SHOTGUNS VS. LASERS In our discussion about maximizing your employment potential, we frequently refer to the difference between hunting with a shotgun (aka: SEARCH ENGINE) and zeroing in on your target DREAM JOB BOSS with a laser.  Shotgun job hunting will be the only plan for most of your fellow seekers. Many with great expectations will go wide with their search and cross their fingers, while waiting to be chosen. The first good news is that where their search ends is precisely where yours will shift into overdrive. So with that goal in mind, let’s charge up your laser and get focused. WARNING: PLAYING THE LOTTERY AND COUNTING ON IT ARE VERY DIFFERENT SCENARIOS!     MOST JOB SEEKERS BELIEVE THAT POSTING TO A JOB SEARCH ENGINE IS THEIR TICKET TO A DREAM JOB Most of the millions of job seekers will continue to assume that posting a resume is the end of the game.  You will learn as we continue, that while it’s definitely not the last step, neither is it the first step.  We’ll talk about the real starting point in an upcoming session, but I wanted to be sure that you didn’t launch into CYBER SEARCH MODE, before you made yourself DISCOVERABLE. Let’s take a moment to look at the way a search engine really works. Let’s check out the crowded and popular route and then analyze your options in more detail.   First things first, let’s look at the job search process as viewed by your competition. As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, the Standard Operating Procedure (S.O.P.) for the average, run of the mill job seeker is limited to a simple three to five  step process: 1. Dust off and update a previous resume. 2. Post said resume to a Search Engine. 3. Sit back with fingers crossed and wait for the phone to ring. 4…and WAIT 5…and WAIT! We call this the TRADITIONAL JOB SEARCH LOTTERY. Since there are a seemingly unlimited number of job seekers in the system and a smaller number of actual job opportunities, the employers are guaranteed a warm body to fill their personnel gap, but most of the multitude of seekers will not find their DREAM JOB. I know I promised that we’d discuss a more positive prognosis and we will. First let’s take a look at the search process that will be used by most of your former competition.   Now is the perfect time to look under the hood to see what a Search Engine really is, what it can do and what it can’t. When we’re done you may end up asking, “Who would want to put their faith in a system that rejects most of the players?” The answer is almost everyone and that’s pretty good news.  

003 – DREAM JOB SEEKERS: MEET YOUR FUTURE FORMER COMPETITION “DREAM JOB SEEKERS:  MEET YOUR FUTURE FORMER COMPETITION” Each week, we’ll focus on one of the 7 SIMPLE STEPS TO DREAM JOB DISCOVERY. Our objective is to provide the tools and techniques necessary to power-up, streamline and optimize your DREAM JOB DISCOVERY process. When the time is right for you to ramp up your routine, I hope that you will take advantage of the tools, best practices, counsel and community at our home base at: www.DreamJobDynamic.com.  One of the resources I’d like to share is called our QUICK-START GUIDE to DREAM JOB DISCOVERY in 7 SIMPLE STEPS. This FREE FAST TRACK TOOL may give you all of the direction you need to set your search on a productive course. Download it here: DreamJobDynamic.com/Welcome   Today, let’s take a quick look at that process from the perspective of your friends in the group that we call your FUTURE FORMER COMPETITION.  The value in today’s conversation will be to learn from the most common mistakes of others enabling you to avoid the missteps of the masses. By reviewing just a few of the most common errors made by your fellow Seekers, you can benefit from their missteps. Our objective is to help you to BE YOUR BEST, NOT LIKE THE REST.  The purpose of today’s conversation is to point out some of the most common problems your Fellow Seekers will experience. Their problems will begin when they start a new search (which they will) without preparing for the process (which they won’t).   The best advice for powering-up your personal Career Boosting Campaign is to, just for a moment, consider the fumbles and failures of your FUTURE FORMER COMPETITION. As a group, they will fail to locate and land a Dream Job, simply due to their lack of planning.  Bottom line, THEY SUCK AT THE SEARCH! Through our ongoing conversations you will be able to avoid membership in that crowded community.  Experts tell us that, in any challenge, whatever your goal, to find someone doing it right and duplicate their process is an excellent starting point. In this particular instance, I’d like to suggest a variation on that theme.  We’re told that fully eighty percent (80%) of all job seekers, past and present, have NEVER HAD A DREAM JOB and DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIND ONE. With so many examples of poor job search planning, there really is a lot to learn by simply taking note of what doesn’t work.  You may think that since the vast majority have never found a Dream Job, that finding one is impossible or at least difficult. That would be FALSE in either case. The seemingly universal problem is not that finding a Dream Job is difficult. The problem is that most people follow traditional, poorly planned search techniques that don’t set them up for success.   The HALLELUJAH MOMENT in your own search will come when you stop following the pack down a dead end road and start fresh with a new, more direct route to ramping up your routine. We’re going to break that process down into 7 SIMPLE STEPS.  Now, I wouldn’t expect you to take my advice concerning JOB SEARCHING BLUNDERS simply because I’ve been there and made those mistakes myself. (Which I have.) Rather, I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned by studying the job search process for over 40 years while helping many interested Seekers step up their game and  to discover their personally perfect DREAM JOB. (Which BTW, happens to be my personal Pay it Forward Passion Project).  As promised, one way to perfect your discovery process is to watch how others fumble theirs. We will uncover what works, by highlighting what doesn’t.   Many of your fellow Seekers will get what may appear to be an aggressive head start by blasting out of the blocks in a rush to nowhere specific. Pushing the panic button, they will  rush off, hopefully, to find some job, without asking themselves “What’s my plan?”   A faulty plan of attack that, for obvious reasons, doesn’t generally lead to DREAM JOB DISCOVERY is: “Find a paycheck, right now!” If your only objective is to find a paycheck, the odds are actually in your favor, as long as you’ll be satisfied with ANOTHER JOB, just like THE OTHER JOB, that you LOST, LEFT or can’t wait to LEAVEbehind.  That’s precisely why were told that 80% of all working humans:  Have never had a DREAM JOB. Don’t know how to find one.  Don’t expect to get one.  Before you begin your search, the first critical point to address begins with planning (which is different than hoping) to land a DREAM JOB. It’s a point your F.F.C.s will blow right by. They will miss a critical PREP STEP that we’ll discuss in an upcoming session. We call it simple STEP # 1 – DEFINING YOUR WHY!   An observation to keep in mind, in the words of Winston Churchill, “Failing to plan, DREAMER, is planning to fail.” Following the lead of your fellow seekers, by pushing the PANIC BUTTON and launching  a search without a plan or a prayer is not a recipe for success, regardless of your objective.   Back to DEFINING YOUR WHY, DREAM JOB DISCOVERY requires taking a moment before you launch your search to do a quick PREP CHECK, a little DEJA VU all about you, if you will. While defining your why will test your memory, it is, in fact, a test where you and only you already have all the answers.  The details that we will discuss and your FUTURE FORMER COMPETITION won’t, will prepare you to articulate first for yourself and later for your DREAM JOB BOSS, exactly WHO you are. WHAT you do and WHY you do it. That’s your WHY. Launching a Job Search without knowing WHY is the reason, for most Seekers, the job search process becomes distressing and depressing. (Which it doesn’t need to be.) So, WHY ask WHY in the first place? Let me answer that question with another question:  SIMPLE QUESTION: HOW can you possibly expect to know WHERE you want to work, WHO you want to work with and WHAT you want to do when you get there, if you don’t first know WHY you’re looking in the first place?  SIMPLE ANSWER: YOU CAN’T. That’s WHY our conversation needs to begin at STEP 1-DEFINING YOUR WHY! As I mentioned,with four decades of thinkin’ like a Boss under my belt, I can tell you one thing for certain. The best results will be acheived when you take a moment to look in your own Career-View Mirror for a  simple personal history review.  Most of your fellow Seekers will fire up their search, while paying little attention to the planning part. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that they won’t benefit from this planning session, since like Elvis, they’ve already LEFT THE BUILDING.  Once they decide that a new job is their immediate short term goal, experts tell us that your fellow Seekers will polish up an old resume (poorly) and head out to hang all of their hopes on the nearest Internet Job Board.  Not to worry, because even if they get there first, your fellow Seekers will not know how to maximize their potential on those Job Boards (Which you will.)  More importantly, when you enter the game, you will be prepared to stand out on any Job Board. At the same time it’s important to know that at least  80% of all job opportunities are never advertised and never, ever posted to any Job Board. That’s just one more point that you know and they won’t, because they skipped the first four of our simple prep steps:  STEP 1- DEFINING YOUR WHY STEP 2 – INTRODUCING YOU STEP 3 – YOUR SECRET SAUCE STEP 4 – YOUR RESUME TO REMEMBER I can tell you that when we do get to PREP STEP # 5-YOUR LASER FOCUSED SEARCH, we’ll discuss the simple strategy to stand out from the crowd in any Job Board Search Engine. More importantly, also in STEP 5, we’ll break down the process to get LASER FOCUSED on the jobs outside of the JOB BOARD LOTTERY which includes at least four times as many opportunities, immediately available and hidden in plain site.  Doing the math and by considering a much larger list of openings, your future DREAM JOB BOSS is likely to be waiting in that expanded collection. You need to know that their companies will be geared up and anxious to to fill an available position with your name on it and would hire you, right this minute, if the could find you. So, let’s continue the PREP PROCESS to MAKE YOU DISCOVERABLE.   Now, let’s get back to a walk up the PREP STEPS in the order that your fellow Seekers will fumble them. We talked about how your friends will skip over critical planning STEP 1-DEFINING YOUR WHY. Now let’s take a quick look at STEPS 2 & 3.   STEP 2 is called INTRODUCING YOU.  It is a simple lesson in common courtesey and I think, common sense. Imagine what would happen if you had an opportunity to connect with a potential employer or their Gatekeepers charged with keeping the rif-raf out of the office.  What kind of a reception do you think you would receive if you walked up to either person, slammed your resume on the desk and demanded to know “How do you like me so far!” OK, that’s a little extreme, but to the point, don’t you think if you first walked up and politely introduced yourself, you may make a better first impression?  In INTRODUCING YOU, we’ll talk about the importance and the specific content necessary, KEYWORDS, SIZE, SHAPE AND ALL to create a killer LETTER OF INTRODUCTION. Knowing that most of your fellow Seekers will skip an introduction, your letter will automatically stand out in a crowded pile of applicants.  Since a letter, while proper and effective, isn’t necessarily seen as

DJD-002 THE DEFINITION OF JOB SEARCH INSANITY Hi. This is DREAM JOB DYNAMIC, where the subject of this weeks Career Boosting conversation may sound a little bit crazy. We’re calling this:  HOW MOST SEEKERS FUMBLE THE JOB SEARCH PROCESS. DREAM JOB DYNAMIC is dedicated to DISCOVERING YOUR PERSONALLY PERFECT DREAM JOB in 7 SIMPLE STEPS!   Whether you’re  a BOOMER, a BEGINNER or a SOMEWHERE-IN-BETWEENER…,  Whether you’re plan is to:    RAMP UP YOUR ROUTINE EASE OFF THE GAS A BIT  OR TO TAKE  A SIDE ROAD IN A TOTALLY NEW DIRECTION…,  With a DREAM JOB DISCOVERY as your target, you’ll learn to  DEFINE IT! LOCATE IT! And LAND IT!  So, welcome in or welcome back, as the case may be, to our weekly conversation and a community dedicated to your personally perfect DREAM JOB DISCOVERY. The goal here is to walk through a few simple steps to eliminate the most common JOB SEARCH CHALLENGES and MISTAKES that plague most of your fellow Seekers. We call them, fondly, YOUR FUTURE FORMER COMPETITION.    This week’s topic was inspired by a quote from Albert Einstein that we know as the Definition of Insanity.  Experts tell us that regardless of their experience or education, most Seekers are certain to fumble their JOB SEARCH PROCESS, simply by forgetting to remember that:   “ Doing the same thing over and over  and expecting different results…  is a little bit goofy!” The message I would share with you is very simple. If you are not happy and successful in your current position, then you would be wise to remember how you found that job in the first place.  If your first instinct is to quickly brush off, tweak and re-boot your old resume, I urge you to consider a slightly different plan. No, let me be more clear. If you think that you can turn your career story into a bestseller by tacking on a new chapter and pushing print, then STOP right where you are and step away from the Job Board.  OK, that may be just a little bit melodramatic. I’ll admit, if your story has been an adventure filled with success and milestone moments, then my advice would be a little different. If in fact,your past search got amazing results, then by all means ramp it up and repeat the same search routine again. If it worked in the past, DO THAT AGAIN, with gusto. If it’s not broken , don’t fix it.  On the other hand, I do realize that if it had worked in the past, you and I probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. So, just on the off chance that your last job was somewhere between disappointing and disastrous, “WE NEED TO HAVE A LITTLE TALK!” In either case, it’s actually a good idea to consider your previous experience, before you engage the autopilot to simply clean up your old resume, rinse and repeat the same old process. In most cases it can be proven  that YOUR PROCESS WAS & WILL BE YOUR PROBLEM.  Let me just remind you of the title of our website, podcast, blog and FaceBook Group. It’s 7 SIMPLE STEPS to DREAM JOB DISCOVERY. So, before you get discouraged, I promise that we’ll get to and through those steps in short order. You will discover opportunities that have been hidden in plain sight and you will find yourself with options and opportunities that your Fellow Seekers will simply overlook. So stick with me.   I can confirm that most Career Coaches would agree that rushing out the door with fingers crossed and hoping to find something better this time around, is not a great plan. Plain and simple, it may be time to change your routine, to get better results.   While most future Seekers will continue launch into cyberspace without a plan or a target, they will all likely find a job. The problem remains that without a better plan, the next job will be simply that and not much more:   A JOB DOING SOMETHING SOME WHERE FOR SOME ONE. Odds are that f you were to catch up to them down the road, to ask how they’d rate their new opportunity, I think we’d find that nothing much had changed. We’d find them in just another J.O.B., saying “It’s OK. It pays the rent. It’s just a job. That’s about it. It is what it is.” With all due respect, OUCH!  Our goal, I can promise, is to do better than that, by preparing an individualized process that builds on your own passions and potential. The objective is to find the right DREAM JOB OPPORTUNITIES, within your area of interest. . You’ll discover organizations hidden in plain sight, where more than one DREAM JOB BOSS CANDIDATE will have openings that fit you perfectly.  POLISHING THE PROCESS We hear it said that anything worth doing is worth doing well. Assuming that to be true, it’s a little surprising that  most Job Seekers don’t give a little more thought to one of the most important activities in their work life, the search process. In order to find a DREAM JOB, you need to have a clearly defined target.  The simple solution to avoid JOB SEARCH INSANITY, is to plan your search, then search following the plan. In order to know where you’re going, we’re told that we need to have a M.A.P., which is a clever abbreviation for a MASSIVE ACTION PLAN.  Personally, I think anticipating a need to take MASSIVE ACTION is a little off putting and will cause most of your fellow seekers to take the low road to gather the low hanging fruit. Before you jump on that particular band wagon, let me share a different perspective. REPLACING MASSIVE WITH MANAGEABLE The actions needed in a successful search are neither difficult, challenging and certainly don’t require MASSIVE ACTION.  We’ve broken down the process in to our own version, that I’d prefer to call your MANAGEABLE ACTION PLAN. It’s still a M.A.P., but it will lead you up to the Boss’ office instead of sliding down and through the rabbit hole that your friends and fellow Seekers will encounter.  Predictably, your fellow Seekers will blast out of the starting blocks, going full speed ahead in no specific direction. By taking just a bit more time to fuel up with the right information and to create an actual flight plan, you can highlight a M.A.P. with prearranged stops at specific points of interest along the way.  You can learn to identify, in advance, a select group of your targeted employers with opportunities. Your search will be more effective by being intentional, instead of accidental.  IT GETS BETTER When we pay attention to our life’s lessons, as Maya Angelou would always say, “We can do better when we know better”. There are very few things that we learn to master in life that don’t take, at least, a little practice.  As you may have experienced, even walking and chewing gum at the same time, can require at least a little bit of trial and error. Even our ability to speak, read and write improves over time. Riding a bike, making friends and mastering a craft, for example, all begin awkwardly, but we improve by trying, observing the results and making adjustments.  The same lesson applies to Dream Job Discovery, It will take some practice and you could certainly figure it out, over time, if you continued to learn by failing forward. The problem is that when we are in Job Search Mode, there is obviously a sense of urgency, possibly even panic, that short circuits our ability to think calmly and search systematically. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A GENIUS… Let’s consider how Albert’s observation can apply:  If, for example, your goal was to get from point A to point B and every day you found a locked door blocking your way, you’d have a number of choices:  You could give up and go home.  You could make yourself comfortable where you are and wait for someone to open the door.  ….or here’s a thought, you could  Knock on the door,  Look for a key Call someone on the inside.  …and if all else fails, you could actually look for another door or climb through the window. What a genius concept! In this scenario, there is an obstacle, the door and a logical path to success. What if that locked door was keeping you from an important life changing meeting on the inside. Let’s say on the other side of that imaginary door sat your personally selected Dream Job Boss holding a job opening with your name on it.  If you found yourself at the doorway to a Dream Job, would you keep testing the lock or would you run around to the window? The purpose of our conversation is to offer a variety of simple solutions to fast track your mastery of the Job Search Process by taking a more proactive approach.  This time around, I hope you’ll consider an observation by Henry Ford that points out a common problem and even suggests a solution. He noted:  “IF YOU CONTINUE TO DO WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE,  YOU’LL CONTINUE TO GET WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS GOTTEN!”  NOW, if have been blessed with success, because of the actions you have taken, then GOOD ON YA and keep doing that. On the other hand and here’s the moral to this particular story:   IF WHAT YOU’RE DOIN’ ISN’T WORKIN’, THEN HERE’S AN IDEA:  STOP IT AND TRY SOMETHING ELSE!  IF YOU CAN’T FIGURE IT OUT BY YOURSELF, THEN FIND SOMEONE WHO IS SUCCESSFUL AT YOUR ASPIRATION AND DUPLICATE THEIR EFFORTS.  FINALLY, IF DECODING THE PATH TO YOUR PASSION IS UNCLEAR OR ALLUSIVE, THEN CONSIDER BEING DIRECT AND ASKING A SUCCESSFUL SEEKER FOR SOME DIRECTIONS OR SUGGESTIONS. IF THOSE FIRST THREE POINTS DON’T ALTER YOU ASCENSION, THEN STICK WITH ME. THIS GETS BETTER ON STEROIDS.    DON’T DUPLICATE THE DISAPPOINTMENTS OF OTHERS By  missing the message or failing to consider it’s value, most Job Seekers will approach a Search by automatically updating an old resume and launching into to full blast search mode at the first possible opportunity, without  preparation, planning or a prayer

DREAM JOB DYNAMIC - 7 Simple Steps to DREAM JOB DISCOVERY.  Based on my first 40 years in Business Management, while supervising thousands, reviewing mountains of mind-numbing resumes and conducting countless interviews, this is my Pay It Forward Passion Project.  Whether you are a Boomer, Beginner or a Somewhere-in-Betweener, DREAM JOB DISCOVERY takes very little time and doesn't cost a dime. You can do it yourself, but you don't have to do it alone!  Join in the conversation as we set you up to DEFINE IT, LOCATE IT AND LAND IT! (Your DREAM JOB, that is.)