The Cat in The Hat's advice

The sun did not shine.

It was too wet to play.

So we sat in the house

All that cold, cold, wet day.

I sat there with Sally.

We sat there, we two.

And I said, "How I wish

We had something to do!"

Of course, when you are searching for your next job, there is plenty to do. Not like in Dr Seuss's The Cat in The Hat.

There are job boards to check: Monster.com, Craigslist.org
The Ladders LinkedIn has job postings too!

There is your network to care for. Reach out to wish someone a happy birthday, or a nice day. Check in to see how they are doing.

Always be looking for an opportunity to position yourself.

The Cat in the Hat said

"I will pick up the hook.

You will see something new.

Two things. And I call them

Thing One and Thing Two.

These things will not bite you.

They want to have fun."

Then out of the box

Came Thing Two and Thing One!

And they ran to us fast.

They said, "How do you do?

Would you like to shake hands 

With Thing One and Thing Two?"

See, coming right out of the box, the two Things were immediately networking!

So what is the real message from Dr Seuss and The Cat in the Hat?
1 - take care of your network
2 - don't be afraid to have some fun!

I hope this was of some help for your job search effort!

-----

Other entries in the Dr Seuss series can be found here :


1 - McElligot's Pool Dr Seuss was right!
define your niche, be consistent with personal branding

2 - On Beyond Zebra Dr Seuss extends the alphabet

don't be limited by conventional thought

3 - If I ran the Zoo Dr Seuss, the first nerd

create and deliver your value add

4 - And to think that I saw it on Mulberry St  Dr Seuss watches Mulberry St
Finding inspiration in rejection

5 - Marvin K Mooney, Will you please go now! Dr Seuss says go!
Action is required for your job search


6 - Fox in Socks What Dr Seuss does to your tongue, you shouldn't to your resume
Be careful with the language and key words

7 - The Foot Book - Dr Seuss on foot notes
Networking resources


8 - One Fish, Two Fish - Dr Seuss goes fishing
competition is tough but not impossible

Dr Seuss goes fishing

one fish

two fish

red fish

blue fish

....

This one has

a little star

This one has a little car.

Say! What a lot 

of fish there are.

Such is the familiar opening for Dr Seuss' book written in 1960. How does that help those on the job search?

One of the demographic factors of this recession is how the downturn has affected folks of all ages (although there are age groups where they have been affected more so than any other).

From the US Dept of Labor JOLT Summary

Net Change in Employment

Over the 12 months ending in January, hires totaled 48.4 million and separations totaled 52.4 million, yielding a net employment loss of 4.0 million.

What is JOLT? The Job Opening and Labor Turnover report. There is good new in the report:

There were 2.7 million job openings on the last business day of January 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The job openings rate rose over the month to 2.1 percent, the highest the rate has been since February 2009.

What does this mean for those looking for a job?

There are really a whole lot of fish in the sea. The competition is tough but not impossible.

Dr Seuss closed "one fish two fish red fish blue fish" with:

Today is gone. Today was fun.

Tomorrow is another one.

Every day,

from here to there,

funny things are everywhere.

Be confident! Be yourself!

Network and have some fun meeting folks along the way.

Help them in whatever way you can.

One of them will help you.

One of them will be the fish you need to land your dream position.

Good luck! I hope this has been helpful for you.

-----

Other entries in the Dr Seuss series can be found here :


1 - McElligot's Pool Dr Seuss was right!
define your niche, be consistent with personal branding

2 - On Beyond Zebra Dr Seuss extends the alphabet

don't be limited by conventional thought

3 - If I ran the Zoo Dr Seuss, the first nerd

create and deliver your value add

4 - And to think that I saw it on Mulberry St  Dr Seuss watches Mulberry St
Finding inspiration in rejection

5 - Marvin K Mooney, Will you please go now! Dr Seuss says go!
Action is required for your job search


6 - Fox in Socks What Dr Seuss does to your tongue, you shouldn't to your resume
Be careful with the language and key words

7 - The Foot Book - Dr Seuss on foot notes
Networking resources

Dr Seuss on foot notes

Dr Seuss can help the job search?
Yes, he did more than write children's books.

In Dr Seuss's usual good manner, he goes directly to the foot of the matter in this book. As a beginning reader, the text is simple and to the point. What is the message?

Get on your feet, get moving!

Meet people! The book ends with:

Left foot. Right foot.
Feet. Feet. Feet.
Oh how many
feet you meet!

The art of networking is meeting people, making connections, finding things in common.

The in-person networking is a must. Online networking is effective but more so when the individuals can meet face to face.

Meetup.com is a good source for networking groups. If you don't find one in your area, you can easily start one.

Check on LinkedIn for groups in your subject area.

Check with your local unemployment agency for information on groups in your neighborhood.

Once you are part of one group, you can find out about others. The one good thing about networking groups is that they are a benefit to all new and regular participants.

I hope this helps your job searching effort! Ge out and meet folks, one of these connections will be the one to lead you to land your ideal position.

-----

Other entries in the Dr Seuss series can be found here :


1 - McElligot's Pool Dr Seuss was right!
define your niche, be consistent with personal branding

2 - On Beyond Zebra Dr Seuss extends the alphabet

don't be limited by conventional thought

3 - If I ran the Zoo Dr Seuss, the first nerd

create and deliver your value add

4 - And to think that I saw it on Mulberry St  Dr Seuss watches Mulberry St
Finding inspiration in rejection

5 - Marvin K Mooney, Will you please go now! Dr Seuss says go!
Action is required for your job search


6 - Fox in Socks What Dr Seuss does to your tongue, you shouldn't to your resume
Be careful with the language and key words

what Dr Seuss does to your tongue, you shouldn't to your resume

Indeed, Dr Seuss' book Fox in Socks builds from simple tongue twisters to rather elaborate and complex ones.

The book begins by introducing the main characters, Fox and Knox (sometimes called "Mr. Fox" and "Mr. Knox") together with some props (a box and a pair of socks). After taking those four rhyming items though several permutations, more items are added (chicks, bricks, blocks, clocks), and so on. As the book progresses the Fox describes each situation with rhymes that progress in complexity, with Knox periodically complaining of the difficulty of the tongue-twisters

.
What does this have to do with the job search?

Have you read your resume out loud and really listened to it?

Does it contain any tongue twisters?

Acronyms beyond comprehension?

Buzz words that sound great and mean nothing?

While I am open to the initial nature of an assignment, I am decidedly disposed that it be so oriented as to at least partially incorporate the experience enjoyed heretofore and that it be configured so as to ultimately lead to the application of more rarefied facets of financial management as the major sphere of responsibility.

Other bad examples can be found here


Make your resume a good one.


Keep your terms simple and to the point. Show action. Show measurable achievements.


If you need help with your resume, there are hundreds if not thousands of resume writers. You can pay for help or you can get a group together and work it out for yourself. Peer review will help.


Don't make it sound like Fox in Socks!





Other entries in the Dr Seuss series can be found here :


1 - McElligot's Pool Dr Seuss was right!
define your niche, be consistent with personal branding

2 - On Beyond Zebra Dr Seuss extends the alphabet

don't be limited by conventional thought

3 - If I ran the Zoo Dr Seuss, the first nerd

create and deliver your value add

4 - And to think that I saw it on Mulberry St  Dr Seuss watches Mulberry St
Finding inspiration in rejection

5 - Marvin K Mooney, Will you please go now! Dr Seuss says go!
Action is required for your job search

Dr Seuss says go!

What has Dr Seuss got to do with the job search?

Didn't he write books for children?
Yes, he did. He told a story in a simple manner. There is a message in most of his stories. This is one of a series revealing the message that can help those of us with the job search effort.

The time has come.

The time has come.

The time is now.

Just go!

Go!

GO!

I don't care how!

This opens Dr Seuss' book "Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now." Marvin is told in so many ways to simply go away. He finally does, when he decides he wants to.

What is the message for us?

Action is required for your job search and only you can take the proper steps to get it going. Procrastination will not help. Get going.

If you lack in confidence, get with someone to help build up your confidence.

Ultimately, the choice is yours. The actions are yours. When you decide, then the job you seek will too be yours!


Other entries in the Dr Seuss series can be found here :


1 - McElligot's Pool Dr Seuss was right!
define your niche, be consistent with personal branding

2 - On Beyond Zebra Dr Seuss extends the alphabet

don't be limited by conventional thought

3 - If I ran the Zoo Dr Seuss, the first nerd

create and deliver your value add

4 - And to think that I saw it on Mulberry St  Dr Seuss watches Mulberry St
Finding inspiration in rejection

Dr Seuss watches Mulberry St

Did you know that the first book Dr Seuss published was "And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry St". And that it was finally published in 1937 after being rejected by more than 20 publishers?

And how many of your resumes have been rejected in your job search? More than 20?

Dr Seuss shares something in common with you, rejection!

The one key lesson for the job search to be taken from Dr Seuss's first book (aside from persistence) is to understand and recognize the time and place for sharing your creativity and imagination.

If you are targeting a corporate position, a totally different resume may not get you where you want to be.

No matter what position you are vying for, your behavior on Facebook and in other social media places should be reconsidered. Is it consistent with the image or brand you are trying to create?

Pictures of your weekend exploits at a drinking party or posing in scantily clad attire may not be the best thing to obtain that corporate finance position.

There is a time and a place for everything. The time for the job search is now. Time for play may be later!

I am not the only one who has been inspired by Dr Seuss. Creedence Clearwater Revival gives some credit to Dr Seuss and this book for their song "Lookin' Out My Back Door"



I hope this helps your job search effort.

-----

Other entries in the Dr Seuss series can be found here :


1 - McElligot's Pool Dr Seuss was right!
define your niche, be consistent with personal branding

2 - On Beyond Zebra Dr Seuss extends the alphabet

don't be limited by conventional thought

3 - If I ran the Zoo Dr Seuss, the first nerd

create and deliver your value add

Dr Seuss extends the alphabit

Don't you just love Dr Seuss? Why, he even provides advice for those doing the job search!

How does he do that? In his own rhyming way of course!

In On Beyond Zebra,  Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell takes us beyond the letter Z. While most would classify this work as literary nonsense, it has great advice for those of us on the job search.

cover image On Beyond Zebra from wikipedia

"You can stop, if you want, with the Z.
Because most people stop with the Z
But not me!"

So many avenues of thought can come from this simple concept of going beyond Z!

Thinking outside the box is not a trite buzzword. The concept is great. Approach something differently, approach it with child like eyes and see what you see! It is a new world to explore.

"In the places I go, there are things that I see

That I never could spell if I stopped with the Z

I'm telling you this 'cause you're one of my friends

My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends!"

Read the Long Tail!

Define your niche!

"I lead him around and tried hard to show
There are things beyond Z that most people don't know
I took him past Zebra. As far as I could.
And I think, perhaps, maybe I did him some good...
Because finally he said,
'This is really great stuff!
    And I guess the old alphabet
         just isn't enough!'"

Define (and then work to establish) your personal brand.
Be consistent! Be deliberate.


Be you!



Note: the quotes are from On Beyond Zebra by Dr Seuss published in 1955

The series on Dr Seuss was originally posted during 2010 on Steve's 2 Cents

Dr Seuss was right!

Don't you just love Dr Seuss? Why, he even provides advice for those doing the job search!

"Young man," laughed the farmer
you're sort of a fool
you'll never catch a fish
in McElligot's Pool

You have no doubt heard something like this from someone along the way haven't you?

So how did you respond?

Did you go along with the farmer's advice and seek somewhere else?

Or did you stick to your desire and proceed?

Oh, the sea is so full of a number of fish
if a fellow is patient, he might get his wish
and that's why I think
that I'm not such a fool
when I sit here and fish
in McElligot's Pool

Yes, focus on satisfying your desire for the RIGHT position.

Use your imagination and creativity!

Above all, be patient!

If you'd like some help leveraging your LinkedIn network, by figuring out how to the just the right fish in that LinkedIn pool of your connections, check out the posting I wrote here:
http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2010/03/job-search-notes-focused-linkedin.html

Today, is Dr Seuss (Theodore Geisel's birthday) so in the spirit of Dr Seuss, I have a few posts leveraging his writing for your job search.

cover image McElligot's Pool from wikipedia

Note: the quotes are from Dr Seuss' McElligot's Pool, a Caldecott Honor Book published in 1947.


This was originally posted on Steve's 2 Cents in 2010