Toby Dayton brought it to my attention that Dept of Labor says the average un employed person spends 18 minutes a day searching for a job. I wrote about it yesterday here and on the Career Section of US NEWS.

Evidently, this stimulated a lot of folks to make a comment on my blog or via Twitter or in direct emails. Most of them were career advisors, resume helpers, and so forth. Few job seekers came to their own defense. Oprah re-runs.

Most people were gentle, nice even. As in, ‘let’s don’t upset this poor job seeker. He or she has enough problems.” Maybe. Or, the un employed person who only spends 18 minutes a day on a job search is IGNORANT.

Ignorance is the state in which one lacks knowledge, is unaware of something or chooses to subjectively ignore information. This should not be confused with being unintelligent, as one’s level of intelligence and level of education or general awareness are not the same. The word “Ignorant” is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware. The term may be used specifically (e.g. “One can be an expert in math, and totally ignorant of history.”) or generally (e.g. “an ignorant person.”) — although the second use is used less as a descriptive and more as an imprecise personal insult. —wikipedia

Too harsh? I don’t think so. I attended a conference years ago where the managers and spouses all attended this all day event. Team building exercise they called it—now THAT is another topic, completely. Anyway…one of the spouses asked a question, basically saying that it wasn’t her fault that she didn’t know how to do something, no one had ever told her or showed her the right way. The session leader simply said, “That’s because you are ignorant.” He obviously knew the above definition, he didn’t mean she was stupid or un intelligent only that in this subject she was IGNORANT. But I have to tell you…she was crushed. Being called IGNORANT in front of a group. OMG. Can you imagine? But..you know the rest of the story. She said to herself that no one would ever be able to call her ignorant again. She read. She studied. She learned.

So, Mr or Mrs or Ms Job Seeker–you are ignorant about job searching. Either accept it or get better at it. But make no mistake, it is not the fault of HR for ignoring your same same resume and perfect cover letter in the hyper blue font. It is not even President Obama’s fault. It is your ignorance.

You are ignorant because:

1. You don’t know what companies need or want. They want solutions to their problems. If you can demonstrate how you can solve a problem for them, you can get the job. Even if it not currently available. That is just how badly companies NEED people who can solve problems.

2. You do what everyone else does. Everyone searches Monster and Simply Hired. How has that been working for you, so far? Stop doing stuff that doesn’t work.

3. You refuse to read and learn from experts who are only about helping you. In my file BLOGS I READ over to the right, I have listed a lot of experts. Some are better than others, but all have relevant and helpful ideas.

That’s pretty much all I have to say now about this. Oh, one last thought. Get smart about job searching or quit your whining.