In which a reader asks:
“Ben love your emails!!! I am not focusing on building an online business because I am almost done with graduate school and need to find a job to pay the bills first 🙂 Do you have any tips for grads for using email to find a job?? Thank you!! – Trixie”
Yes Trixie (your real name?), I do have some advice.
Advice I recently gave to my friend Kate.
She, too, is about to get a graduate degree.
And, well, let’s face it:
The job market is a dog-eat-dog world.
And y’awl new grads are wearing milk bone underwear…
So, that said, what can you do?
Well, here’s the advice I gave Kate:
What you do is get yourself interviewed by reporters. Can be for radio, print, tv, it doesn’t really matter (I’m partial to radio…) And you get interviewed about whatever it is you do.
I don’t know what you’re studying.
But let’s say it’s a degree like… oh… say creative writing.
And, you want a job as a teacher.
What can you do?
What I’d do is, something like this:
Contact reporters to get interviewed giving tips to younger people on how to get better grades and get the things they want in life via using the written word. (i.e. writing persuasive stories, letters to the editor, notes to companies who spurn them, etc).
Would the media interview you about this?
Yeppers.
The media is basically looking for interesting information they can give their audience (that makes them look good). And they will give you instant credibility and “celebrity appeal” if you give them what they want.
Now, imagine this:
You are going in for job interviews.
You are getting the usual questions about what your favorite color is or whatever… and you drop that you were interviewed by reporters by a local radio station.
Or a newspaper (and you attach the article to your resume.)
Or in a magazine. (ditto above).
Or, even on TV if you can swing it.
You instantly stick out.
You were in the media and all those other people applying weren’t. I have known of people who did this and it was a cakewalk for them getting the jobs they wanted. Once you get interviewed (especially multiple times) by the media you become kind of a celebrity. It’s weird, but that’s just how our celebrity-obsessed culture thinks of anyone who’s been in the media.
Might as well use it to your advantage…
Not saying every HR department will be impressed.
But some will.
And, let’s face it, you only need one to hire you…
What’s that?
You don’t know how to do this?
Sigh.
Don’t they teach people anything in school???
I’m WAY too good to my list.
I usually only give this to “Email Players”.
But, I’m in a generous mood today.
Behold…
Ben Settle
