I completely understand this sentiment. “you should do this alone“ is a message we somehow adapt. In my MBA program, I DID try to do it alone.

Feeling you need to do the job hunt alone? Here is where to be “alone” in the search makes the most sense:

• You alone w/ an offer - the last one standing - of course. Or
• 1x1 in an interview advocating for yourself.

Love it!

But trying to get there all alone is not pleasant.

A few wise friends can assist you to:

• aim higher - really speak to your dream firms and not just random recruiters
• stick with the job search - not let this or that feeling come up and then get stuck or give up
• remove trial and error

At a minimum, speaking to someone just once is better than not at all.

Do you insist on doing the job hunt alone and
If so, why?

Summer is coming and I want interviews! There are ways to build a constant stream of interviews! AND...it’s our mindset / 心态 NOT a lack of anything (skills, GPA, etc) that is to blame.

Do you want interviews for a job but find that you have none scheduled? I have been in those shoes before and it STINKS.

These two profs explain what was happening in my mind at the time, just making the problem worse!

“...not having enough [interviews] can make us so maniacally focused on short-term solutions that we lose sight of our priorities.”

When you’re hungry, it’s hard to think of anything other than .

“Scarcity produces a kind of tunnel vision, and it explains why, when we're in a hole, we often lose sight of long-term priorities and dig ourselves even deeper”

#interviews #面试机会 #saturday #psychology

Source: https://www.npr.org/2017/03/23/521195903/how-the-scarcity-mindset-can-make-problems-worse

Maya Angelou has a wonderful quote that applies here.

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better."

In the comments below is my full exchange with the job seeker.

The “no response” is actually a response. It’s a sign.

Hopefully, there’s a way for you to “know better, and then to do better.”

This opportunity can come with trial and error.

Trial and error is a great teacher. Local American students might go through many months of trial and error before they get a job.

That luxury of time does not present itself to international students.

Ideally, where we spend our time and effort, is at the trial and error of conducting interviews and improving in interviews.

If you want to land a job fast, you need to remove the trial and error about how to generate those interviews.

That’s the role my program Career Accelerator plays.

If you apply to 50 jobs and are getting the “no response“...

If George Hood can hold a plank for +8 hours (and he did), what is every international student now on North American soil capable of? Here’s a thing in common between a physical feat and getting a job: It’s this experience of improving. It’s that experience that I curate for my students each day within The Career Accelerator Program - that great feeling. Job hunting is no longer that depressing thing!

Afraid to start? Here is what George says:

"Everybody has to start somewhere," Hood said.

"Every tree that's planted has roots. Once that tree is planted and those roots start to grow, whether it be 30 seconds or a minute or 5 minutes or an hour (of holding a plank), you start repeating the process and taking care of your tree, it will grow and you will improve and you will actually get better."

If your roots are planted in quicksand [online applications] they won’t sprout and grow. Find something more solid. Find a community in a dependable process. Then...

This summer in #Wuhan, I broke down the 3 dimensions of a #successful job search: focus, mindset, and method. In my so-so Mandarin, I tried to lay it out clearly here - sorry for any errors. Do you have these 3 aspects properly locked in?
If yes, great! If not, your job search will be long and winding and not end the way you want. How do I know this? My own experiences of trial and error and by observing thousands of people.

#internationalstudents #summer2020 #canadajobs #usajobs #careeraccelerator #students #wuhan #stuartsystem #jobhunting #career #chineseeconomy #chinese

Where are you and your job search now in this chart? Applying online is within the “Comfort Zone”. Getting the offer is at the “Growth Zone”.

In between, we have following up on applications, networking and generating interviews; getting better at each is in the “Learning Zone”.

The good news is that any failure you’ve experienced is a success - success in seeing how certain approaches didn’t work until now.

The other good news is that there still is enough time and there are still many companies out there.

We want to work with professionals and bosses in a fun office.

If we avoid meeting potential professionals and bosses to make that happen, we know the Fear Zone is still stopping us.

A lot of times it’s NOT the lack of willingness to move beyond the comfort zone but just not knowing how.

Rather than cater to your fear (remote internships or “trainings” that allow one to stay in your dorm and speak to no one do...

A career accelerator touring a chocolate factory today, I was thinking as always about how to help international students find success. How does a piece of chocolate candy end up tasting so good? Why do I chose that candy over another? And why do firms choose one candidate over another even when “Yes, needs sponsorship”.

Harvard’s Michael Porter has an explanation. He defines competitive advantage as layers of different individual things done well.

When it comes to the job search, that’s the #resume done well, networking done well,
#interviewing done well - layer-upon-layer, moving in sync, making that candidate the most desirable.

When training international students to be successful in getting jobs, we must teach to achieve competitive advantage, not to just one thing. Every “one thing” has to become amazing.

That has to be the standard.

In the case of networking, helping with #networking means teaching what to say, when to...

This individual took a LOOONG winter holiday break, so I’ve been on his case to get going again in his job hunt. But whether it’s the accountability we provide or the method, we call this training Career Accelerator™ for a reason. This program brings rapid access to senior executives on your terms and as you define it. And we focus on senior executives because they are the only ones who can offer a proper referral and MAKE A DECISION to HIRE YOU. Don’t necessarily avoid junior employees, but don’t confuse reaching out to junior employees with the most effective application of your limited networking time.

#networking #executive #hiring #decision #careeraccelerator #stuartsystem #jstuartbradley

As international students, we work really really hard. If you are a job seeker now, this quote above has special relevance: the GPA, the long hours of study, those things that got you to where you are now: those are exactly the things you have to loosen up about if you want to make progress.

It’s a hard thing to give up because traditionally “education” has been one thing about human fate that was deemed to be controllable when everything else was my last fixed according to ancient wisdom.

Today, a perfect GPA alone will do nothing to get you hired. Technology has made applying so easy, your perfect resume is lost in the noise.

Even if it gets found, who cares? Are you also supported by a solid referral? Do you understand the problems of the company and have suggestions on how to solve them?

In the past, when we kept our heads down and worked hard in class good things happened. There was a grace and a certainty associated with that that was so comforting.

This does not...

“It’s difficult for an international student”: not true - it’s hard for us all alike

‍“My English is not good enough”: but here you are speaking to me in great English and reading it as well.

‍“Most companies won’t sponsor”: not true, they just won’t sponsor your resume. Go out and meet people.

‍“It’s too hard to network”: Let us review what is your goal: talk to colleagues and bosses all day and get paid. THAT Sounds like you you ARE interested in networking, in meeting potential colleagues and bosses now. What holds you back?

“I tried and failed”: good. Did that stop you from learning how to ride a bicycle?

“I am not getting interviews”: This happens when applying online and hoping to hear back. I know we’ve been told to do that but that is not how the job hunt works. You’ve been trapped by the algorithm!

“Career center says it's impossible”: they are...