Instigator Blog

100 years ago companies started putting job ads in newspapers. They still do, although much less.

That’s because they’re putting those same job ads online. The Internet took hold offering hundreds of places employers could post their job ads.

So what?

Compare a job ad from 100 years ago to a job ad today and they’ll look almost identical. The buzzwords have changed, but the format, style and general dullness have not.

Here are 9 signs the online job market is broken:

1. Companies can’t differentiate themselves. Almost every online job ad looks the same. There’s a few reasons for that. Online job sites don’t offer any way for companies to stand out. And employers look at what everyone else is doing and do the same thing. Job ads are written by HR departments, which means they’re buzzword-laden and generic. “Unique offerings. World-class team. Fast paced. A leader in…” Oops, sorry about that. Did you fall asleep on me?

Wait, I’m not finished. “We need 5 years experience in Java. 2 years experience in HTML. A university degree in something relevant.”

I love this: “The people that we continually seek are highly motivated, bright, and growth oriented.” As opposed to unmotivated, stupid and stunted?

2. Job sites like Monster.com are loaded with too much spam. When looking for work, the two best opportunities are through recruiters or anonymous companies on Monster.com. Right? Too much junk, too much spam and no way for a candidate to get through it all easily.
3. Jobster.com now offers free job postings. They couldn’t figure out how to get people to pay for them, so they offered job postings for free. My take: They should be free. They’re largely worthless.
4. Niche job boards don’t offer enough. Niche job boards are a response to the massive job sites out there. That’s a sign people realize the job market is broken. The problem is that niche job boards aren’t the answer. We’ve seen plenty of niche job boards spring up. At least they’re targeted, but the job ads are still the same, boring stuff.

   And now, anyone can put up a job board on their site or blog. Companies like JobCoin and JobThread make it insanely easy. But so what? What’s the difference? Where’s the advantage?

5. The best candidates aren’t surfing job sites looking for work. The top talent doesn’t spend time surfing job websites for fun. They’ve already got jobs. They’re busy. And even if they find themselves unemployed, you can be sure they don’t spend much time surfing for work. They know how to stand out, and they’re busy making that clear through referrals and their network of contacts.
6. It’s too easy for candidates to apply. Technology is a wonderful thing. There are millions of examples of technology making our lives easier. When it comes to applying for a job, it’s now too easy. Someone can apply for hundreds of jobs with a few mouse clicks. Boilerplate cover letter, standard resume…click, click, click, click. And don’t forget, “references made available upon request.”
7. It’s too hard for employers to assess talent. The result of everyone on the planet applying for every single job is that employers spend insane amounts of time filtering resumes. And in a global marketplace where you know nearly nothing about the educational institutions or companies in foreign countries, it’s almost impossible to pick out the best candidates. Employers do what they can to filter out the crap. And they’ll catch most of it, but not all of it. And they’ll lose some good ones in the process.
8. Companies use the services because they’re there, not because they work. Job websites continue to make money because they’re there. Not because they work. Employers are at a loss for what to do. They’ll try anything. And they’ll keep trying it by default. It’s almost automatic. You’ve got a job opening, you go through the routine: post on the job websites, ask your friends, hit up a job fair or two, etc. You can just picture the HR people asking themselves, “We know the job sites don’t work, but what if, just this one time, we miss a killer candidate by not posting?”
9. Lots of money and time is going into the online job market space. The job market is hot. SimplyHired. Jobster. itzBig. Indeed. CareerBuilder. In July 2006 it was announced that Jobster took $18 million more in financing (hitting around $50 million.) Lots of money, lots of energy.

   And let’s not forget - people are talking about the problems in the online job market. Steve Poland wrote: Online Job Hunt 10 Years Later - Still Sucks.

My good friend, Austin Hill, is looking to hire people for his new startup company, dubbed “Project Ojibwe.” He’s looking for a Python Wrangler. Instead of just telling you what he wants (and boring you with the same job ad everyone else is writing), Austin filmed a video job ad. He’s trying to show you want he’s looking for.

Business success is like a puzzle.

You have a bunch of pieces that have to go together. The trick is the order.

If you don’t have a strategy for putting a puzzle together you might still get it finished, but it’s going to take you a lot longer.

People often talk about execution being the key to a successful business. That’s true. Execution is critical. But don’t confuse execution with simply “doing.”

Doing stuff isn’t a strategy.

Working isn’t even a strategy — unless you’ve taken the time, energy and brain power to figure out the right order of steps you need to succeed.

Knowing all the steps is great, knowing what order to put them in is even better.

Generally, meetings suck. We all accept that as truth but we have them anyway. Endless, endless meetings…

I think we’re addicted.

Given our love for meetings, we need to make them more effective. Having recently “enjoyed” several truly pointless meetings, I know there’s a better way.

The easiest answer is: “don’t have them at all.” That might work, but generally that’s impossible. So…

1. Make sure the meeting has a clear purpose. If I could scream this, I would: “What is the purpose of this meeting?” If you can’t define the purpose clearly, or you’re obfuscating it in order to get me into the meeting then shame on you.
2. Avoid suspense. There’s no place in meetings for suspense. Whether you’re delivering bad news or good news - just get to the point. You can explain all the circumstances of your news after the fact, but don’t keep people sitting around waiting.
3. Document what’s going on. The best thing about a meeting is not remembering what was talked about 5 minutes after it was finished. I suppose to avoid pointless meetings I could say, “be remarkable and memorable” but barring that, pick one person as secretary and have them distribute their notes later on.
4. Avoid distractions. Every meeting has at least one guy that’s distracted by something. He’s looking at his computer screen, staring out the window, signaling to people walking by the conference room, or picking his nose. Boot his butt out of there, he’s Mr. Pointless Meeting.
5. Have an agenda. This won’t work for impromptu meetings, but an agenda is a very good way to keep people on track. Distribute it beforehand. Don’t ask for everyone’s approval. If you do, and don’t get it, you’ll have a harder time following the agenda. Agendas are an opt-out effort; if someone doesn’t put in suggestions or request changes (or respond in any way) they’ve - by default - accepted the agenda.
6. Avoid regular meetings if there’s no agenda. Following point #4, if you’re having a regular, weekly meeting but there’s no agenda, why have the meeting? If you say “habit” then poke yourself in the eye. Meetings aren’t meant to satisfy your need for organization and habitual, mindless behaviors; they’re there to solve problems.
7. Schedule something critical right after. If you have the sense that a meeting may be pointless schedule something important right after. Tell the attendees as soon as you get in there, so you’ve got an escape route setup. You could always fake it, or even have someone call you during the meeting to get out, but it’s much more effective if you legitimately have to move on. It’ll help you keep others focused, moving through the agenda and accomplishing something.

Meetings don’t have to suck.

Many of them do, and our corporate culture seems bent on enforcing as many hours of meetings as possible. But there are better ways.

What are your tips and tricks for having effective meetings and avoiding the bad ones?

Forget the extra mile. How about an extra inch? That’s all it takes to provide customers with a great experience and win them over. And it’s so darn easy, it’s amazing more people don’t go…that…one…extra…inch.

A couple of days ago I went to a store to purchase a gift. The cashier wouldn’t have really known it was a gift until I asked the price of the bags that were conveniently positioned at the front. They were $2. (Incidentally, why don’t more stores have inexpensive gift bags available when you checkout? Some give them away for free, but stores are missing out here.)

I purchased a bag and was ready to go on my way to assemble the gift (put items in bag, purchase tissue paper, scrunch up tissue paper, position tissue paper appropriately…)

It was at this point that the cashier went an extra inch. “Would you like me to remove the price tags?”

“Oh, sure,” I replied, thinking that’d be one less step I’d have to do.

As he’s picking at the sticky price tags I look behind me. There’s a lineup of people. None of them seem concerned with the extra time the cashier is taking.

I go to collect my items, but the cashier is still going an extra inch. He opens up the bag and places the items carefully inside. Another step I won’t have to take, I’m liking this guy more and more.

I go to grab the bag’s handles to complete the transaction, but he’s still not done. From behind the counter he pulls out perfectly matching tissue paper!

Sweet mother of shopping experiences! Will this guy write the card for me too?

The whole time, the line of people is filling up behind me, but none of them seem concerned. I realize most of them are probably repeat shoppers, and they know this guy and this store go the extra inch. They enjoy the shopping experience (from the style of the store to the process of paying) so they don’t mind waiting. And the whole thing only takes a few extra minutes. It’s a little inch more that this guy gives - a few extra steps that are so easy. As soon as he saw I was purchasing a gift he took an approach that would satisfy my individual needs at that moment.

Some stores offer gift wrapping, but they rarely ask. And usually you expect it already. This wasn’t a typical gift store (at least not in my expectations), so I was taken pleasantly off-guard. Reading Seth Godin’s book, “small is the new big” I can’t help but make the parallel with Seth’s frustration over people sticking to a script. No matter what feedback they’re getting from customers they treat each and every interaction the same, asking the same questions even if they don’t apply whatsoever. Scripts are necessary to process people quickly (and efficiently?) but if you can’t get away from the script and go the extra inch you’ll never provide customers with a truly wonderful experience.

The cashier saved me precious time and packaged the gift better than I ever could. The result: Happiness all around. Oh, and at least 3 direct referrals on that same day.

Go the extra inch. It’s easy and you’ll win so much more.

Photo by massdistract.

Your business is great. You’ve invented something better than sliced bread. You offer such an amazing service at such a great price that people should be knocking your door down.

And they might be. But they’re all asking for a proposal.

Proposals are a fact of life. We all do them, and we’re all trying to blow our prospects away.

But most proposals are bad. Here are 10 reasons why proposals fail:

1. They’re too long. Proposals aren’t meant for “shock and awe” - don’t try and overwhelm the prospect into submission. Edit and cut. Cut and edit. There’s no perfect length for a proposal, but how many of your prospects really read the whole thing? They scan and skim till they get to the price and timeline. Keep it short.
2. They don’t reference the prospect’s pain. Why did the prospect ask you for a proposal? You better have a crystal clear answer to that question. Too many proposals don’t reiterate the pain properly. Skipping that makes the prospect feel like you don’t get it.
3. They’re too technical. I know you’re the expert in your field, that’s why I asked for a proposal. You don’t need to inundate your proposal with buzzwords and industry-hooey. A prospect only knows a smidge of what you know about your business, and they don’t really want to know more. Your proposal fails when it sells industry mastery using language I won’t understand.
4. They’re not selling benefits. Proposals that miss out on #2 and focus too much on #3 invariably aren’t selling benefits. If you’re not selling benefits you’re sunk. And for the love of everything that is holy, spell these out as clearly as possible.
5. They’re not well structured. Proposals are stories. And every story has a beginning, middle and end. Think of your proposal as a story and write it accordingly.
6. They’ve got spelling and grammatical problems. A proposal with spelling errors is unacceptable, it’s as simple as that. Grammatical problems may be harder to catch. Three tips: Read it out loud. Write short sentences. Have someone else read it.
7. They’re poorly formatted and packaged. Style counts! On top of that, your proposal isn’t the only game in town. You want to stand out right? Take some time to format things nicely. Add some pictures. Use bigger headers, smaller paragraphs, and color where appropriate. Think jazzy. If you’ve got substance, sell it with nice packaging.
8. They’re missing testimonials and client references. I’ve rarely seen a proposal with testimonials or client references. It makes no sense. Pepper in a few testimonials to spice it up and add a feeling of success. Add in some client references with contact information to give your prospect a clear message, “you know what you’re doing and you can prove it.”
9. They’re missing a thank you. Proposals are personal. You’re not writing installation instructions for IKEA furniture are you? Unless you’re sending a proposal unsolicited (which makes little sense) someone’s given you that opportunity. Thank them for it.
10. There’s no call to action. You submit the proposal. Now what? Um…um…um…oops. Put in a crystal clear call to action. It could be a follow-up meeting, contract signature, or something else — it almost doesn’t matter. What’s important is that there is a next step and you’ve explicitly told the prospect what it is.

Your business rocks. You work hard. You deserve more business.

Don’t let proposals get in the way. Do them right and you’ll win a lot more business.