This is an entire article from Seth Godin’s Blog called “Beggars can’t be Choosers” and it applies directly to how to get hired for the over 40 & unemployed!

“If you’d rather be a chooser, enter a market or a transaction where you have something to trade, something of value, something to offer that’s difficult to get everywhere else.

If all you have is the desire to get picked, that’s not sufficient.”

Two things.

1.  I wish I could be this impactful using so few words!
2.  This article demonstrates the exact difference between how to get hired and a job search.

Most people go through a job search to “not get eliminated.”  To do more things right and fewer things wrong than the other candidates so they are “chosen” for the job. This is the biggest cause for the frustration of people that are over 40 and unemployed.

Instead, go through the process to get hired.  Few people go through the “hiring” process to get the answers they need, to be assertive or to create a transaction.

Too many people are passengers in the process sitting by and waiting for instructions.  Too many people put their fate in the hands of overworked managers who really could care less about you or your personal situation.

Here is a simple fix for you if you are considered to be a “mature” candidate (over 40) and out there looking to get hired.

• Change your focus from “Searching for a job” to “Searching for what YOU want and need.”
• Change your language from “job search” to “Investigating Opportunities.”
• Change your attitude from “interviewing” to “negotiating” for your new job.

Once you know what YOU want, those opportunities will become clear to you.  Once the opportunities become clear, investigate them. Once you investigate them and get in the door – negotiate your new opportunity. Get Hired – Stop Searching!

Comments?  Let me have them!