by Kristin Davie, exclusive for WWDS. Kristin is a 2009 college graduate who is still looking for her first job. She writes about her search for all of us.

In the popular 1989 movie Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner is commanded by an unknown force to build a baseball field in his Iowa corn field because, “if you build it, he will come.”

Lately, friends and I have wondered whether the same is true regarding jobs. After facing weeks of rejection in our respective demographics, recent graduates are broadening their search. Many are turning to different states, different coasts, and even different countries, all in desperate pursuit of that first paycheck.

I’m no different. Although New York City remains at the top of my list, I’ve forced myself to apply for jobs outside of my comfort zone- and my time zone. While I once may have disregarded job advertisements in Boston or Chicago, I now purposely research positions in those and other areas.

After all, if you build it, they will come.

But should we? And do employers really want us there?

In this economy, it’s easy to understand why companies might prefer local applicants, especially when enticing relocation packages can no longer be afforded. Still, candidates are looking to expand their search, and many are willing to swallow the cost in return for a full-time position and new social opportunities (or if you happen to be Ray Liotta, a baseball field).

So should graduates bother to apply to positions that would require relocation, and if so, how do we convey our willingness to in a cover letter?

Perhaps the fault lies with the job seekers. Are we overlooking local prospects in pursuit of a more glamorous option? Are we ignorant to the potential of nearby businesses? Maybe the blame is meant to be shared. Are local organizations doing enough to attract and retain young adults?

With such a struggling economy and competitive market, should graduates focus on relocating or re-evaluating themselves?

Ed Note: The key for Kristin would be to use LINKUP, the only job search engine that presents ONLY jobs from company websites. By searching LinkUp, she can beat hundreds of job seekers to apply.

By Kristin Davie, special for WWDS

I was never a fan of monkey-in-the-middle as a child. I didn’t have a growth spurt until I was in high school and my brother seemed to come out of the womb at 6”3.

My distaste has only seemed to have grown in adulthood, even at a respectable height of 5”8.

After perusing what must be hundreds of job advertisements and applying to a sizable fraction, I’ve become unnaturally adept at recognizing certain trends within the market. One of the most frustrating I’ve come across lately is the sizable gap between college internships and associate positions requiring 2-3 years experience- juuust outside the reach of a recent graduate.

As I approach my fourth month of unemployment (yikes), I’ve decided to focus my search on paying internships, hoping that additional experience may help my chances of landing a full-time, entry-level position.

The problem?

Well, besides the fact that paid internships are harder to come by than Lindsay Lohan’s underwear, many online listings insist that “only those currently enrolled in college apply,” and that they “will not consider recent college graduates.”

Ouch.

So what’s a post-grad to do? Applications for coveted (and extremely scarce) entry-level positions are cut-throat, and without additional experience, we’ll never be considered for an associate or junior-level position (which, at this rate, I may not land until I’m 45).

It’s quite the conundrum- even for a 5”8 college-educated monkey.

Ed. Note: Gary Cohen is a friend of mine here in Minnesota. He is a proven entrepreneur, one of the companies he started went from two employees to over 2,000. Seriously. He is a thoughtful, interesting guy to say the least. As he was developing his business, he discovered how important being a leader was instead of just being a manager. That started him off on a lifetime of learning about leadership. His study of leadership took him on an interesting nearly three year journey that culminated with the publication of his new book JUST ASK LEADERSHIP.

I am not a book reviewer. But I did find the story of how a business leader developed even more leadership skills himself to be fascinating. But not nearly as fascinating as the story of how a guy with a learning disability applied his entrepreneural skills to publishing a book. I don’t think many business writers approach their writings with such determination. I hope you like this Q and A format. Warning: it is long. You should buy the book.

Here is the interview with Gary Cohen, author of JUST ASK LEADERSHIP.

Gary, what caused you to write this book? Was there something you just had to say? What was the inspiration?

What is it? I don’t know, really. What is it that continued to bother me? It was not the desire to write a book. It was not about creating a business. I had just left one and was on a sabbatical. I was enjoying the downtime – although my mind was a bit restless. It was this nagging sense of something unsaid on the subject of leadership. This is a subject that is well documented , has many scholarly opinions and many practitioners working to develop models to make it easier to comprehend for the next generation of leaders. Still, the entire subject has always fascinated me and the more I studied, and learned from others, the more I felt a longer lasting commitment to it.

What was it that you wanted to contribute that, frankly, has not been covered in so many ways by so many different authors?

I had taken part in many leadership programs from Outward Bound, OPM at Harvard Business School, Covey Leadership Institute, Disney Leadership Institute, and lastly as a Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. I have learned so much through these programs about being a better leader and yet something kept gnawing at me. It was a missing a piece. How did these things connect with me and how I went about my day as a leader?

Interesting. We all have left these programs, all excited and motivated but fail to see how we can change our own life in a productive way.

Exactly. How do we apply these lessons? If I had an cultural anthropologist follow me and mark down all of my behaviors during my business day, they would have seen me asking a lot of questions. The questions start off with a sense of not knowing then moving to a sense of knowing, and then finally back to where it began to realizing how little I actually knew. Asking questions is where I spent my day – and yet even with all the wisdom from all of these programs the one missing obvious piece was that leadership starts with a question and then continues.

Very few people get to study leadership to the degree you have, and then to find something missing about the subject, that is unique. How would you describe the missing element?

My working hypothesis for this future study was simply: “All leaders use questions as a strategy to lead others.”

But you didn’t stop there, did you? You kept at it.
I knew it was not my style to do a quantitative study of leadership. I will leave that to my academic colleagues and those I have partnered up with since writing the book. The one thing people say about me is that I know a lot of people ( I just really love people). So I began networking to identify leaders and then increased my efforts to find exceptional leaders.

It is one thing to get a meeting, I think many leaders of organizations are more accessible than is typically believed, but what did you do to get the information out of them that you needed?

Before I began I drew up a list of questions that I thought would explore the practice of using questions. I looked at them as drop in points to keep the conversation dynamic. If something caught my attention in the conversation I would go deeper into that topic area further until I was satisfied that I understood the point well enough to communicate it to the reader. I tape recorded every interview so that I could have transcripts made along the way. If I got some new insight I would test it out on future leaders to see if they had similar experiences. I was looking for those pieces that would bring this all together. Some coherent model that others could expedite their leadership from if I could distill it with the help of these exceptional leaders.

So you didn’t just read the questions?

Oh no, what I did not do is read each question verbatim with the leader and wait for the answer to compare the answer among them. Because I did not know what I was looking for I was truly exploring with each leader.

Was it difficult to get in to see them? The list of leaders you interviewed is made up of the nation’s top leaders.
I asked for an hour and a half to interview them on the subject of the book. I did this first by email explaining what I was doing and how I thought they could be helpful. I gave them a list of names of people I had already spoken to and the ones that I intended to. The level of openness, candor and willingness to help was a pleasant surprise. Of the many people I asked, I was turned down by only three and had over one hundred interviews in all.

After you started the interviews, did your basic hypothesis change at all?
While I conducted interviews I noticed I would have to modify the original thought. It is exceptional leaders not all leaders that understand the power of asking questions. And the mission I was taking on was moving people from telling to asking and if I did there could be a ground swell of change in organizations.

Exceptional leaders ask questions, is that the quick summary? It has to be deeper than that?

Yes, I think so. I can recall walking down Main Street in Aspen talking with Josh Ramo, who happened to be the youngest editor ever in the history of Time Magazine. I was sharing with him my disappointment in what has been written about leadership. We had been selected along with 18 other young leaders to meet at the Aspen Institute for a week each summer over three years to discuss our leadership and develop our skills to a deeper and richer level. It was to help us all moving from success to significance. In his casual reporter like fashion he started to draw my thinking out further.

Was this the real ah-ha moment for you, in terms of writing a book? It sounds like you have had the practical side of leadership, where you grew a company from nothing to something quickly, coupled with all these professional courses, seminars and relationships, but it took one moment to bring it all together?

Maybe. I remember discussing with Josh how all these books have either an academic tone so far removed from leadership I don’t find them helpful. Or they are so much about the person writing them it is difficult to find your own leadership style in reading them. Most of the accounts are so historic in nature they identify the speeches or the writings but not the questions that lead the leadership at the time. I couldn’t imagine President Kennedy in the oval office telling everyone what to do during the Bay of Pigs. My image is that of a thoughtful leader asking other well informed people what they think should be done? What has been done? What are we going to do about this situation? But how would that look to see our President asking questions rather than sounding like John Wayne? I told Josh that leadership to me was more up close and personal, it is not about telling people what to do, it is about asking people what should we do. I spend 80 percent of my time asking questions. When I asked Josh if he did the same thing, he said “That seems right but I have never considered it before.”

That was the point when you decided to write the book?

It was at that moment I knew a book was in my future. Who ever thought that a kid with a learning difference as severe as mine would grow up to be so impassioned by a subject that he would suffer for two years to get these thoughts down on paper.

Some people would have not started given your learning deficiencies, did you have to get some help?

For the longest time I tried to do it the way others do with a ghost writer but after two tries I gave it up. My friend Bill McLaughlin who is CEO of Select Comfort invited me to his cabin to visit one afternoon. When I shared with him my dilemma he said, “Gary you need to write this yourself.” I went on and on about my learning challenges and he kept yes, asking me more questions that only lead me to one answer. I had to write this book myself in my voice. Thanks to Harry Beckwith, one of the best selling business book writers of our time, best known for Selling the Invisible, I was hooked up with his first editor Eric Vrooman. Eric has this great ability to take my writing and make it sound like the voice in my head or the word from my mouth.

How did you determine who would be interviewed?

This was not an academic pursuit where I picked the top performing companies or organization from around the country. This was a pursuit of a personal kind from an entrepreneur not an academic. It was simpler–who did I know that could lead me to very successful leaders who were well respected by their peers and employees. I formally interviewed over 50 highly effective leaders from around the country. I say formally because a dear friend of mine Marcy Syms told me how she was asked for an interview for a book on leadership and she agreed. They sent her a form and asked her to send it back. After the edits she could not recognize her opinion as her own. I have also heard professors giving speeches when they say, “When we interviewed xyz leader for the book.” That to me is code for the professor did not do the interviews him/her self. By doing all these interviews myself, the reader of JUST ASK can go along with me, on my personal journey of discovery.

How long were the interviews?

The shortest interview was an hour in length and the longest was with Mike Harper former CEO of ConAgra who was just so generous with his time and his wisdom. We spent 4 enlightening hours together that have been invaluable to me.

Who else were noteworthy subjects?

General Jack Chain a four-star Army General, Ken Stinson who runs one of the world’s largest construction companies.. In Minneapoliis, Gary Stern, the President of the Federal Reserve, and Mary Brainerd, one of the most innovative leaders in Health Care today. There are so many. I met and interviewed several people from the Aspen Institute including Walter Issacson, former head of CNN and author of “Benjamin Franklin” and “Einstein,” Tom Pritzker, CEO and Chairman of the Hyatt Corporation, Arne Duncan ,Chief Education Officer for Chicago, and Lester Crown, who I am proud to call my mentor. I attended the Harvard OPM program for entrepreneurs and again have had the chance to become friends with some amazing leaders, Marcy Syms, Tom Oreck, Henry Chidgey, Glenn Rothman and many more. Each of these friends have been so helpful and supportive to me on my quest for learning and understanding how leaders use questions to manifest the characteristics of leadership that we hear about in our popular trade publications and books on leadership. One of the funniest interviews for me was J. Peterman – not the one from Seinfeld but the real one.

Was it that simple to get meetings with these people? There must be more to it?

You get out your rolodex or look through Inc Magazine, Fortune, Forbes and you say “OK let’s start networking.” I have been accused of being one of the world’s best networkers – I love people and I love to understand them and help them. It is no wonder I have chosen Executive Coaching as my Second Career. I love connecting people to others. In this case I reversed that desire and asked people to connect me with who they know that were either great leaders or well known leaders. The well known part became more important only after I decided this was about the book. Sadly our country is caught up in the desire to extol the virtues of the famous. If I selected names only that way all I would have here is another book on leadership for featuring the same old leaders.” This time I thought it was worth sharing what I learned with the rest of the world. This began as a selfish journey of discovery and ended up a journey of passion to share what I have learned with the larger world – moving from success to significance.

Tell us about the process. What happened after each interview?

After each interview I often got totally excited by some new discovery and could not wait to write an entry for the book. My fingers could not keep up with my mind when I get this excited. Some of the thoughts did not come out clear but clear enough for me to make sense. People who spend time with me say what they like about how I retell situations is that I don’t go on and on about the details. I move to the point quickly.

That sounds like you broke the rules of good storytelling.

Exactly, I am sure it has a lot to do with my impatience. When someone is telling me a story and they go on and on about the chronology of events I get totally impatient, “just get to the point,” I am thinking.. It may also be that I have a pretty attuned predictive skill so I am finishing the story in my head before they get to the end. I can’t say that is true for my writing. It does not seem to carry my voice that I use when I speak and I must say that I prefer the one I hear verses the one I read.

Did you do all of the writing yourself?

At first, I thought I needed a ghost writer, someone who could take my words and clean them up a bit. The first one I found was very good but found that his availability and mine did not line up so I moved on. The next idea I had was to hire a PHD student to work with who was a terrific writer and she really understood the material. This again was a failed attempt. Then I reached out to a couple others and began getting frustrated between my lack of ability or at least my lack of confidence in myself to put words to screen or to find a solution to finding a ghost writer.

Tell us about the editing process.

Instead of finding a ghostwriter I decided to find an editor. Harry Beckwith suggested Eric Vrooman, who edited his first book. Eric and I decided this would be a good working relationship and it was then I could really envision something great happening. He had the ability to match my written word with my speaking voice. And his affirmation and support of what I provided him to work with kept inspiring me to write. We would push each other to move the book along. It was a three-year journey. We didn’t know where we were going but trusted in the journey to carry us to exactly what we needed to put the many pieces together. In the end it was amazing what we had accomplished. Or so we thought.

In this process of editing, did you arrive at any new solutions because of your executive experience as opposed to being a professional author?

Here is an example: I met the CEO of Content Connection. They were launching a new product with Holly McAllister called Author Bound. Content connection was in the business of working for publishers to validate the projects that they were working on via research. Think of it as a continuing focus group except only for content. David and I hit it off and they agreed to use me as a case study for this new product. This was the most amazing process to put a book through prior to publishing or even before selling to a publisher. In fact he has done this work for six authors to date and everyone one has gotten a book deal with a major publisher. The took me through there entire ACCESS model which allowed us to understand the viability of the book and where the book would need to change to increase its appeal to the market we were targeting. ACCESS stands for Audience, Concept, Competition, Execution, Sales Viability and Social Networks.

That sounds pretty rigorous. I imagine most authors would not want the feedback at this early stage?

You are right…talk about putting me through the paces. It is a very extensive process that significantly changed the final version. The first deep dive into the material had to do with what readers would want from a book like this. Normally this would be done before the book was written – not after it had been written. We put it out to the market and asked them what they wanted based on the concept? What would they name this book? What did they think about the chapter’s names and the content we were proposing. Who did they think the book was written for?

How much of the book did you change? Was JUST ASK LEADERSHIP the working title?

Based on this research we changed the original name from Ask, Don’t Tell to Just Ask. Just Ask is not what I thought the title should be – my favorite was Ask, Don’t Tell. The participants described the issues they had with the chapters. Based on their feedback we took an entire chapter out of the book and we changed every chapter’s title, including some of the content. We became more focused on our market and found a great deal of interest in the educational market because there were some professors in the focus group, for example.

How much did this effort match with a normal focus group?

Very similar, we tested the book against two comparable best selling books. QBQ (Question Behind the Question) and True North. In the focus group participants read a chapter of each book and then were asked their preference based upon what they read without knowing the name of the book. Additionally, we use copy from the cover of each book and had them compare their interest in the topic based on the text.. In the first focus group we beat both books and in the second QBQ came out slightly ahead. This was before we incorporated the many changes and alterations that were suggested in both the first and second process of ACCESS.

This sounds helpful but a little scarey to a first time writer?

I’d say unnerving. They sent each chapter to a group of participants that were business leaders and professors of Business. In this research they asked the participants to grade each chapter A, B, C, D or F based on six categories such as voice of the author, usefulness of content, readability, usefulness of examples and quality of examples. Fifty people were part of the sample and this was a tough group including a President of a University, Professors of MBA Programs, CEOs of multinational organizations, some great business authors, and many more. Each group of ten would review a chapter and grade it and give very specific criticism and suggestions on how to improve the book. The book received a grade of 3.6 out of 4 before we made any improvements. And boy, did we make improvements. We cut out some of the entries, pulled some examples and strengthened the writing. Areas of confusion were straightened out. One person gave us an F which prompted me to call him. He said that is why he gave the F he want to get my attention so that we did not pass up on his comments.

Did you worry that your original inspiration would become diluted with so many cooks spoiling the broth as it were?

Some might worry that this type of editing would bring the book to the reader’s point of view and lose the author’s voice. We did not find this.. David Brake, Holly McAllister, Eric Vrooman and I would debate what we learned and if we agreed or disagreed with the comment. Many we did agree with and made the changes. The whole notion of this process was so important given the topic of the book , which is to ask. It really took a great deal of courage to be graded by your reader and yet in order to produce the best possible book it would be impossible to do this without such a set of tools.

This sounds like a very complete and thoughtful process. Were there any missteps or things you tried that didn’t work?

Based upon what I thought it would take to get a book deal and get it published, I decided to use a small PR firm in Steamboat, CO, called Fryer and Associates. Sharri Fryer specializes in promoting Executive Coaches, HR professionals and consultants. It was a perfect fit and she delivered big time – within that year I was in Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Business Week, HR.com, ASTD T&D Magazine to mention only a few.

The only issue was my timing was off by about two years. So what turned out to be not so helpful in building momentum for the book was very helpful in building a credible platform for my business. It had to help build my credibility for later efforts.

So now you were ready to find a publisher?

First, if you are publishing a business book and you are from Minneapolis, the first name on the agent list is Jonathan Lazear. After signing with him, I noticed Jonathan was really quite involved with many projects and he and I agreed that he could not maximize the opportunity for me. He and Eric spoke and we decided that John Larson would be a great Literary Agent for us. Both of these men have represented many best selling titles in their career. While this was all happening David Brake from the Content Connection was insistent that I join he and Holly McAllister at the Annual BEA (Major Book Expo) in LA. He wanted me to personally meet all the major publishers and he was going to make these introductions. Could I ask for any more help? I think not. By the end of the two days I had met with the folks at Wiley, McGraw Hill, Penguin and a number of others. It was pretty clear that several of them had a keen interest in the book.

That seems easy. Was it?

I thought It could not happen this easily. At this point I was even wondering if I needed an agent. And then I decided as a first time author, I really knew nothing of the process so I should have one representing me. I am glad I did because of the protections around what rights I keep vs. the publisher. Although we had some more interest from Harvard Press it was clear it was going to be the relationship with McGraw Hill that we wanted to pursue most aggressively. Even though the time was not opportune to sell a book to a publisher between the down economy, the presidential race , many said we love the book but come and see us after the election and the swarm of economy crashing books are out. They were buying both sides of the election depending on who one – they could not be without their book on the historic moment.

Did you look at self-publishing especially after all the work you had done personally?

This has become quite an alternative for authors today – the quality of the product is truly competitive. In fact if one has a big platform to promote the book from, they will likely make more money doing it themselves. On the other hand, I wanted to be vetted by the pros – the people who read thousands of books and choose only forty to publish. I wanted the branding of an established publishing house to lift the credibility of the book. I wanted the reach of McGraw Hill has through its vast distribution system. I wanted the experience of people who knew what they were doing and do it every day – and get great satisfaction to build another success story. I was told that the speaker bureaus would find an author from a major publishing house way more credible to book for speaking engagements. And so I had made my choice. To date I am very happy with the choice.

Were you satisfied with the negotiation process?

As a first time author there is almost no leverage you have especially when you consider that every day there are over 3,000 new titles put out for sale. If you are lucky enough to get a bidding war going – you may create some leverage. That was not the case for us. We accepted their bid and worked with them on the terms. Why not negotiate more – the wisdom came from a friend who asked the question I ask all my clients, “What is your goal?” If the goal is not to maximize dollars on an upfront payment but to make fees on speaking, training, coaching then accept whatever the terms are because any delay will be lost opportunity to earning those fees.” It was sound advice and I choose to follow it.

Were there any last minute surprises?

I just assumed that because we did all this research on the title and vetted 13 different choices, some suggested by some of the best copy writers in the world, that the publisher would just go along with the title: Just Ask – Greatness Happens When You Ask. And because this was never an issue raised at our discussion when signing the contract, I simply thought that the title was the title. And yet I knew from speaking with many authors it is never that easy. They said the title would not work, and yet all the PR folks and research said we found the best title. The title was changed to a suggestion I had when I thought that this was a fight (started feeling like one) that I was going to lose. The title for a while became Engaging Leaders. This was really concerning to me given that when writing the book we thought of one thing – how do we get leaders to move from Telling to Asking. At a certain point I was more concerned about discouraging the team that I had worked so hard to get on board. So I set aside the difference and moved on in pretty good spirits. You know,my attitude was that McGraw Hill was publishing my book, how cool is that.

This must have been a pretty spirited discussion after hearing your title in your own head for months, years even?

I was in New York for a board meeting and I booked a lunch with my editor Mary Glenn. I’m thinking how fun is this going to some really cool tradition New York restaurant with my editor. The emotional feeling of this was total filling inside. I decided I would not bring up the issue of the title. And at one point Mary asked, why were you so set on the name. I explained to her those years ago I was trained by a professional speaker trainer Bob Boylan who has a book, What is your point? The message is clear when you speak you have to have a single point of view one message regardless of the number of stories that you want your audience to remember. This is because they are only going to remember one thing – either you decide or let them decide. So when I wrote this book that point of view is that exceptional leaders ask questions most of the time so how can I convince the reader that they can become exceptional too if they began asking more questions. So that is how Just Ask Leadership came to be.

So, the launch was scheduled for late summer, 2009. What else did you do to get ready for a successful launch?

The PR firm I worked with in Steamboat did not specialize in Business to Business books. I knew there were firms out there that did just this. So like everything else along the way I started asking people who knew and by the end of my search, I had narrowed the search from approximately 25 firms to 5 firms. Of the five firms I narrowed to three and of the three the one who seemed to work the hardest for the business. What I found interesting is that I employed our PEAK Leadership model in making a choice. I know I ask questions most comfortably from perspective and Action. This search required me to be much more disciplined and employ many more evaluative questions in selecting the best firm. Jane Wesman PR firm now represents the book and me.

Is this normal for an author to have his own PR firm and not the publisher?

It is a good idea to get a PR firm on board about 90 days a head of the book launch. The reason for this was only revealed to me once I was late in choosing a firm. There are about ten major business publications that require a long lead-time because of how they schedule and plan their stories in the magazines. If you miss the date you may miss the opportunity to be presented in these publications. What I did not understand about McGraw Hill is that unlike many of the other publishers they do not provide galleys. I never understood the importance of galleys until I understood how they are used. These are early publications of the books that can be sent to these magazines, editors, and journalists to give them a pre-release of the book. I am certain, and still guessing that McGraw Hill decided for what they gain in efficiency and cost savings in not having them that the early release is not that much to offset the costs. Jane was the only one who got this of all the firms I spoke to and she executed her plan perfectly, she simply asked McGraw Hill to custom copy 10 books to send out early. Having the right people on your team is a relief.

Are you planning any road trips or author parties?

I was really looking forward to doing book signings and the like. But the wisdom of the crowd was that it is both a waste of time and resources. I have chosen to host some book launch parties in Minneapolis, New York, Chicago, and Scottsdale. And while I am in those towns we plan on booking media and public speeches to maximize the travel costs.

Aren’t the economics of this effort hard to justify?

Yes, when you consider you could purchase the books and just send them to two or three times the number of people for the cost. The flaw in this thinking is two fold. Authors of Business Books rarely make money on the book. The reward is to their own business. The more established the book the more it benefits the business. Having events allows you to meet with many more people and create in-person connections around the topic of the book. It is a more powerful way to spread the word – if the word is worth spreading. Secondly, I am very reluctant to give the book away. The cost is not the issue for me it is all about the commitment that the buyer makes when deciding to spend money to purchase the book. In that transaction the purchaser is starting their process of committing to read the book. I found when I was President of my business and when authors would send me books unsolicited I rarely read them. I am a person that purchases at least three books per month on average. I love to read. Additionally if a friend gave me a book with an endorsement – it would be rare that I would not read that book. In fact they often went to the front of my reading list – which is a stack of about 20 books either in my bedroom or in the office – now more often on my Kindle. Because of this experience I find that I promote the book based upon the idea that it has to be sent by a friend with a strong relationship or it needs to be bought.

So tell us about the speech planning?

This whole idea just sort of took off. It became a product to build that would perform well in the market place. And finally it became an idea worth spreading. And the word was going to cost a great deal of money to launch – so where was the payback if not in the book? The number one payback on books comes from speaking engagements. The first ones I booked on the topic of Just Ask was with SHERM Association, then a leadership breakfast, and from there I began getting paid from many large international organizations. The fees were good and it has been a great deal of fun spreading the idea. It seems to be universal I have had several audiences with totally international make-up and each audience was welcoming of the idea of Just Ask Leadership.

Interesting dilemma, giving a speech on Just ask when the medium, a speech is all about telling. How did you solve this issue?

The struggle with speaking on a subject dealing with questions is that such a significant paradox appears. I am going to TELL you why you should ASK Questions. That did not go over well with my need to be consistent. So I hooked up with Turning Technologies, which offers a solution to the dilemma. Using their technology I can ask the audience questions and have them respond. The results go up on the PowerPoint instantly. And then we can talk about those responses with the respondent. Because of them – people just can’t go to sleep – it is a way of having total engagement with your audience.

How can people get in touch with you?

Probably the easiest way is through my website, CO2 Partners.

Thanks Gary, and good luck with the book.

By Toby Dayton

As a continuation to yesterday’s post about Indeed, I wanted to highlight in further detail a portion of the interview with Indeed’s CEO, Paul Forster. Later in the same interview, a question was asked by Jason Alba of JibberJobber regarding Indeed’s revenue model. By far the most discerning question of the day, Jason asked, “I am curious to know about the differences in business models….Indeed isn’t making the $400 or whatever per job posting like the traditional job boards. How really do these aggregators monetize and how sustainable is this business model?”
Paul gave the following reply:

“Our model, Jason is quite correct, is not pay-per-posting. It’s actually pay-for-performance, pay-per-click. So it’s similar to the general search engines. When you advertise using Google AdWords, you’re paying per click, You’re also specifying a maximum price that you’re willing to pay per click and that’s the same with Indeed as well. So our main product is sponsored jobs and it’s a very easy product for job advertisers to use. All you have to do is specify a budget and the maximum price you’re willing to pay and that’s literally all you have to do because we’ve already got your jobs in our index and when you do that, when you sponsor them, they will appear above the organic results, highlighted in blue at the top of the results. They’ll get a tremendous boost in traffic and you don’t have to pick key words and you don’t have to post jobs because we’ve already got your jobs from your website. It’s very, very simple to do. It’s actually much easier to do than keyword advertising on the general search engines and we drive the traffic directly to the jobs on your site so it’s quite good from a branding point of view and from a cost-effectiveness point of view it’s also very, very good. So that’s our revenue model and basically all of our revenue comes from pay-per-click advertising on our site.”

While of course the answer is absolutely correct (as one would expect from a CEO), it is also extremely misleading. In reading it, it would be entirely understandable if you came away with the impression that it is employers themselves who are paying Indeed for clicks. Paul refers to his clients as ‘job advertisers,’ and one would certainly be excused for thinking that this means employers who are advertising jobs. Indeed certainly has a few employers that are running paid search campaigns directly, but this portion of Indeed’s customer base represents a tiny, tiny fraction of their customers. The vast, vast majority of advertisers running paid search campaigns on Indeed are the job boards who feed their jobs to Indeed and pay for the traffic or job seeker clicks that Indeed delivers to those job boards. The job advertisers that Paul speaks of in his answer are JOB BOARDS. Re-read Paul’s answer again with that in mind and it becomes apparent how brilliant his answer is in being truthful but entirely misleading. He has definitely got a future career in politics should he decide at some point in life to pursue one.
I am highlighting this element of Indeed’s business model not because it is wrong or flawed. The site does offer a slight benefit to some job seekers by allowing them to search hundreds of job boards through a single site. For job seekers that want to search Monster, Careerbuilder, and TheLadders, for example, and all of the other pay-to-post job boards that are filled with both real and garbage job listings, Indeed most definitely offers some convenience. And for job boards, Indeed can be a terrifically effective, less costly way for job boards to generate traffic to their site. As the traditional job boards continue to fall out of favor with both job seekers and employers, they are increasingly desperate to buy traffic wherever they can get it, and Indeed absolutely fulfills that need.
What I take issue with is the fact that both Indeed and Simplyhired pretend to be serving job seekers and employers, when in fact they are primarily serving job boards. Again, this is a perfectly acceptable and most likely a highly lucrative business model. I also believe that Indeed and Simplyhired are extremely smart to embrace a pay-per-click transaction model. Paid search is, without question, migrating into recruitment advertising faster than most would have predicted (as well it should be), and those two job search engines are certainly helping accelerate that trend. But I believe strongly that players in the recruitment advertising space, regardless of their business model, have an obligation towards the largest and most important stakeholders in the space – job seekers and employers.
By serving up scam jobs, phishing jobs, work-at-home scams, and other garbage listings, Indeed is failing to meet their obligation to job seekers. And by publishing duplicate job listings from the hundreds of job board customers that feed their jobs to Indeed, Indeed is failing to meet their obligation to both job seekers and employers. I certainly understand that few businesses can execute their vision flawlessly, and some amount of leeway should always given, especially to start-ups that are helping, to some degree, transform an industry.
I’d grant that leeway to Indeed were it not for the fact that they are appallingly disingenuous about their business model and who their real customers are.
LinkUp Growing Faster Than All Top 10 Job Sites
Posted on Tuesday 4 August 2009

Paul Forster, CEO of Indeed.com, was recently interviewed in a podcast and had some interesting things to say about their business, the Indeed job search engine, and the current environment for employers and job seekers. One of the questions posed to Paul centered around Indeed being inundated with garbage job listings including scam listings, spam jobs, work-at-home scams, and phishing/identity theft jobs. At first, Paul didn’t answer that part of a 2-part question, but he did later on in the interview which I commend him highly for. Paul responded to the question as follows:

“[bogus jobs] are something that we take very, very seriously. We take steps to remove jobs and sources of jobs that are low quality. We have a lot of aspects to our search algorithms that are designed to do exactly that. It’s a constant challenge. To some extent it’s a cat and mouse game because people are going to put up jobs that are low quality. That’s inevitable. Just on the web not everything is going to be good quality.
But we believe Indeed is better than the alternative services for actually filtering and getting rid of those low quality job listings. We try to be as responsive as possible to feedback so when people email us or contact us and say, look, this job source is not good quality or their’s spam in there, or some sort of phishing kinds of things that you occasionally see, we make sure to respond as quickly as we can to remove that kind of content. I think it’s a very good question and something that is a priority for us.”

Again, I applaud Paul for addressing the issue and being open and honest about what is unquestionably a huge problem for Indeed. Because they aggregate the vast majority of their job listings from other job boards that have all these ‘bogus’ jobs in them, Indeed’s service is plagued by those same garbage listings.
Having said that, I take issue with two of the points Paul makes. The first is that if Indeed were truly serious about addressing the issue of spam jobs, phishing jobs, work-at-home scams, etc., they could easily refuse to accept job feeds from any job board that delivered such jobs. That would eliminate the problem immediately and create a far better service for legitimate employers and job seekers alike. Of course, that would also eliminate almost all of Indeed’s revenue which is generated from job boards such as Monster, Careerbuilder, TheLadders, etc. that pay Indeed for the traffic Indeed delivers to their site.
Unfortunately like most job boards, especially in the current environment, it’s near impossible for Indeed to be serious about placing the job seeker and the quality of their user experience ahead of revenue. It’s especially difficult for Indeed, because their customers are not actually job seekers or employers but rather the job boards whose jobs Indeed publishes. These job board customers are the ones that pay Indeed for the traffic Indeed delivers to their sites. Indeed’s concern about quality job listings is genuine only to the extent that it impacts their ability to deliver and monetize the job seeker traffic that they send to their customers – the job boards that publish their job listings, bogus ones included, on Indeed.
The second issue I have is that Indeed is better than the alternatives in filtering out these ‘bogus’ jobs. Indeed may or may not be better than Simplyhired at filtering out garbage listings, but neither job search engine compares to LinkUp which ONLY indexes job listings from company websites. Because LinkUp does not publish jobs from other job boards, there are no scam jobs, phishing jobs, spam jobs, work-at-home scams, or ‘bogus’ jobs. Almost as important, there are no duplicate listings on LinkUp because our job search engine only aggregates jobs from a single source – the employer’s corporate career portal on their company website.
Those two factors, combined with a bunch of unique and sophisticated features that create an unparalleled user experience, are the reasons why LinkUp is growing at a far faster rate than both Indeed and Simplyhired. I guess job seekers have found a better alternative than Indeed.

On the show, each contestant gets to sing and then “America votes!” Thirty-five million people do so each week. Frankly, I would eliminate Ryan Seacrest, the host, but that’s just me. The judges add their critiques, which run from “Dawg, you’re dope,” by Randy Jackson to “Cruise ship-karoke level,” by Simon Cowell. I agree mostly with Simon, but then I understand what he is saying.

It appears to me that song selection is key, the young singers need to pick a song somewhere between “Titanic” and any song by The Fray. “Making it your own,” seems to be the pathway to Idol Heaven. Whatever.

Net, net,….it is all about presentation, song selection and vocal ability. As Susan Boyle just demonstrated, a “surprise,” just like those in every good presentation, works in a gigantic way, even Seth says so. Her surprise was the voice that came out of the stereotypical, English frump. Her presentation was awesome (I’m shocked, said one judge), and the song “I Have a Dream,” fit perfectly because the song matched up her dream with the dream of Britain’s Got Talent; lastly, her vocal ability caused more people to cry in the last two days than who cried at “Sophie’s Choice.”

So, Adam needs a surprise. He should select the best song from Les Miserables’ “Do You Hear the People Sing.” It is a very moving song, seems to fit our own times right now, and NO ONE in the mostly Gen X and Y audience would expect him to sing it, IF they have even heard about it. I can only imagine his take on it, his costume and the outcome. Done right, Susan would become a mere footnote to Adam’s Performance.

Judge for yourself, here’s a random guy singing it in a stage production. Adam, who would be much, much better should go for it.

[youtube 1VR1bOha40U]

I hope I get invited to the show.

Ed. Note: Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is the cadet in the middle.

OK, I could have known him. Seriously. I was two classes ahead of him at the US Air Force Academy, meaning that in the summer of 1969…you remember that summer, don’t you?…I was one of the upperclass cadets who was responsible for his first military training and who welcomed chewed his ass out, ran him silly, grilled him with a series of never ending questions, hazed him until he wanted to quit, and made fun of his hometown and his girlfriend to the Academy. I never really knew him, just his type.

But, hey Sully, good going yesterday. This morning on the TV Geraldo said they should erect a statue to you and compared you to Lindbergh. If I had known this back then, I would have treated you more like the hero you are today. If memory serves, though, didn’t your class have that ‘hero’ who came in with you, who said he had been in the Army Rangers and had a chest full of medals from VietNam to prove it? During Hell Week, we learned the truth, the guy had never had been west of San Francisco much less VietNam; anyway, he got his ass booted out. You are your class’ true hero.

You, I imagine, were nothing like him. You went about your training just like the rest of us, learning, absorbing and understanding that sometime in the future it would all pay off.

It sure did yesterday. I can remember the summer of 69 and I am sure you can, too. You got stronger that summer, mentally as well as physically. Then, after graduation you went off and flew F-4′s, just like Robin Olds. A fighter pilot has the right stuff even before we all knew what “right stuff” meant. So, it was not a surprise for me to learn what you did and how all humble you are being now, or even that you went up and down the aisle twice after everyone had left, making sure everyone else was off that sinking plane. (I was in 18th Squadron a year before you,BTW.)

I know that during your upcoming post-crash interviews….just wait: “Barack is CALLING!!”…you will do a great job and provide even more inspiration to the country, which it sorely needs.

I just hope you will say that it all started with the great training you received by the Class of 1971 at the Academy.

You can thank God first. Good job, we are proud of you.

1/17/2009: It was just announced that Sully’s first interview will be with Matt Lauer on the Today show, Monday, January 19, 2009. 1/19/2009: Matt Lauer announced this morning that due to concerns that the Pilots Union had re: the on-going investigation that Capt Sully would not be available this morning but would at a future date. “I completely understand,” said Matt. I don’t.

Update 1/22/09: Part of the group that brought the plane down?

1/23/2009:

Day Eight of the Where’s Capt Sully contest. Anyone know?

1/24/09:  At a Hero’s Homecoming in Danville, CA, where he lives with his wife and daughters, Captain Sullenberger finally spoke:

“Circumstance determined that it was this experienced crew that was scheduled to fly that particular flight on that particular day,” he told the crowd.

“But I know I can speak for the entire crew when I tell you we were simply doing the job we were trained to do.”

His spokesman Alex Clemon told news reporters that they had changed their minds and now Katie Couric will interview Sully first on 60 Minutes, the program to be aired February 8, fifteen days from now.  I am assuming it is February 8, 2009.  What a missed opportunity.  Even I’m losing interest.

So what can you do?

Think this through with me a little. Are they not hiring or are they not hiring you? You mean to tell me if you approach a company with a way to prove your worth, either in a cost saving way or in a revenue producing way, they would not hire you?  Of course, we they would.  But some namby-pamby, they-all-look-alike resume is not going to get you the job.  It’s going to take work, even in the job searching.

If you are not working now, what better time to work like an intern. Prove yourself to them. Work half days, Do something that makes YOU indispensable. Be flexible. Be results oriented. Figure out how they like to measure performance and offer to match that.

Offer to do a loathsome job…even part-time. Ever wonder why so many head media honchos got started in the mail room? Back then, it was always hard to get a job…and, the most aggressive, the ones who wanted to work the hardest, knew it was mostly about getting a foot in the door. The mail room was the way IN.

One thing is clear…when companies cut back on employees, over 95% of the time, they do not cut back on activities or requirements. This means that fewer people are doing the same work as before. If you can offer up a lifeline….most companies will think twice about throwing it back.

I know it is hard out there for job seekers. I am not questioning that fact. I am just hoping to help one person find a job…you.

(hat tip: Leah Metz)+Don’t forget our way-cool site LinkUp.com which only has jobs from company’s own websites, most are never advertised. There are new jobs every day in JOBDIG, in the paper and on the website that is constantly being updated.

I especially have liked interacting with Dr. Ellen Weber and her associate Robyn McMaster, both are always ready with a kind word. As is Steve Roesler, of All Things Workplace and Rowan Manahan, my favorite Irish blogger. Izabella Tabarovsky has often ‘coached’ me although I don’t think she knew she was doing so…same with JT O’ Donnell, one of the creative bloggers I know and best business people. Jacob Share from Israel really gave me some great insights on how to organize a blog to make it even better. I wish mine were as good as his.

Dave Opton, the founder of ExecuNet has been generous with his kindnesses and encouragement, both have been very generous. Jason Alba stopped by our offices one evening some months back and gave a lot of us some very generous support and ideas on social media in general. Minnesota’s own headhunter, Paul Debettignies defines generosity with his time and support of the recruiting industry.

Brad Shorr was terrific to me in the last month or so, and was very helpful in my book writing project, even making one killer suggestion that made it a lot better. Liz Wolgemuth, the outside career voice editor at us news and world report was generous to even ask me to contribute and fellow contributors Michael Wade, Alison Green, Karen Burns, Curt Rosengren ..have all been very generous with their comments and ideas. All of us are doing what we can to help any US NEWS’ reader.

Penelope Trunk, Jacqui Tom, and Rebecca Thorman are all part of the HR world, and as younger generation bloggers have been generous with their advice and help as this babyboomer learns new lessons each day. Bloggers like Paul Epps simply give out golden posts.

Here at JobDig we have numerous web properties including career centers and other sites, all requiring the best in career and job advice content. We have been very fortunate to have put together a stable of impressive thought leaders and writers who have so generously provided ideas and articles. Supporters like Alison Doyle, Andrew Rondeau, Barbara Safani, Barbara Wulf, Barton Goldsmith, Becky Cole, Bob Roth, Carole Martin, Cindy Ventrice, Claudine Vainrub Kupchik, Cliff Hakim, Dan Bobinski, David Maister, Deborah Brown Volkman, Deborah Walker, Debra Schmidt, Dennis O’Grady, Donna Cutting, Eric Pennington, Gayle Lantz, Heather Eager, Jack Chapman, Janet White, Jane Weddle, Janine Moon, Jason Keely, Jeri Hird Dutcher, Joan Lloyd, Joe Turner, John Ford, John Putzier, John West Hadley, Judi Perkins, Julie Jansen, Kathy Borheimer, Ken Moore, Keri Coffman Thiede, Kevin Donlin, Laura Smith-Prouix, Lee Salz, Leigh Branham, Linda Matias, Liz Bywater, Liz Handin, Lizz Pellet, Lois Frankel, Marshall Brown, Marty Nemko, Mary Elizabeth Bradford, Maynard Brusman, Megan Backer, Michelle Dumas, Mike Cook, Nick Reddin, Nimish Thakkar, Norine Dagliano, Patrick Lencioni, Peter Newfield, Dick Bolles, Rick Speckmann, Robin Ryan, Scott Brown, Sherri Edwards, Steve Provenzano, Sue Morem, Taunee Besson, Teena Rose, Terry Arndt, Tracy Laswell-Valdez, Wendy Adams, Todd Rhoad, Cassandra Hage, Tom Jackson, Karen P.Katz, LIsa Orrell, Yancey Thomas, Mary Jane Paris, Dale Kurow, Kimberlie Dykeman, Mark Puppe, and Candice Broom.

In a week or so, my new book DIG YOUR JOB, will be released ( we hope) via Amazon and the above have generously indicated their willingness to help get the word out about the book. I appreciate their help as well as their willingness to help all of the people who now find themselves jobless. It is time to pull together…Robert’s idea of Generosity really is important these days.

Note:
On the next page are the associated websites and blogs of the above contributors. For some reason, my blogging software is not allowing me to properly link for you.

http://jobsearch.about.com/

www.asparker.com
www.greatmanagement.org
www.draudreycanaff.com
www.careersolvers.com and www.careersolvers.com/blog/
www.beckoncall-coach.com
www.bartongoldsmith.com

http://more-opportunities.blogspot.com/

www.the4realities.com
www.yourvirtualresource.com
www.maketheirday.com
www.eduplan.us
www.rethinkingwork.com
www.workplace-excellence.com
www.davidmaister.com
www.surpassyourdreams.com
www.alphaadvantage.com
www.loyaltyleader.com
www.drogrady.com
www.donnacutting.com
www.epicliving.com
www.jobdig.com
www.co2partners.com
www.workmatters.com

http://leadershipkeynote.net/consulting/high-org.htm

www.resumelines.com

www.salarynegotiations.com
www.partnerinperformance.com
www.jobmarketsecrets.com
www.cpcoaching.com
www.jibberjobber.com
www.jobgoround.com
www.workwrite.biz
www.joanlloyd.com
www.swensonturner.com
www.mediate.com
www.firstepinc.com
www.bravenewworkshop.com
www.jhacareers.com
www.findtheperfectjob.com
www.juliejansen.net
www.streetsmartjobsearch.com
www.kenmooreassociates.com
www.amazeyourself.net
www.greresumes.com
www.anexpertresume.com
www.salesarchitect.com
www.keepingthepeople.com
www.careerstrides.com
www.bywaterconsultinggroup.com
www.ultimate-resumes.com
www.emergeinternational.com
www.drloisfrankel.com
www.mbrownassociates.com
www.mbrownassociates.com
www.martynemko.com
www.maryelizabethbradford.com
www.workingresources.com
www.halleland.com
www.distinctiveweb.com
www.vitalwork.com
www.workexposedblog.com
www.saicareers.com
www.ekminspirations.com
www.tablegroup.com
www.career-resumes.com
www.jobhuntersbible.com
www.emperform.com
www.robinryan.com
www.jobsearchhandbook.com
www.shellyburke.net
www.resourcemaximizer.com
www.execareers.net
www.suemorem.com
www.careerdimensions-dfw.com and www.careerdimensions-dfw.com/wordpress
www.teenarose.com
www.lifeaftergraduation.com
www.career-magic.com
www.coachcompass.com
www.jtodonnell.com
www.blitzteamconsulting.com
www.atwtraining.com
www.careervictory.com
www.careeracceleration.net
www.theorrellgroup.com
www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com
www.posimpact.net

www.dalekurow.com
www.puresoapbox.com
www.mastermanuscripts.com

www.mommosttraveled.com

Jed Clampett was the main character on the hit TV comedy in the early 60′s, Beverly Hillbillies. Backstory: Jed was out huntin’ for some food, missed his shot, and up from the ground came a “bubblin’ crude, oil that is.” Watch the 54-second intro clip here:

[youtube 2xKAEQNhjHs]

Ok, remember that.

To improve your sales efforts, the first thing is to remember the basics.

1. Find out the current situation by asking questions. Maybe it is your own natural curiousity, but whatever it is, for you to find out if you can help your prospect or customer, you have to ask questions. It’s like meeting a pretty girl at a party, your first question is not “will you marry me?” You have to ask questions, and the more questions you ask, the more interest you are showing in the prospect, and the more you are discovering about their current situation, issues or concerns.

2. Jed’s Rule. Picture this….Jed was out hunting, right? His shot broke through the ground and up came oil. I have seen this happen countless times but in sales situations, just countless. The sales rep asks questions, and gets answers, and then asks yet another question, even if the answer describes a situation that can be solved, fixed or rescued by the rep’s products or services. Many times, rep’s questions are disjointed and do not flow naturally one from the other like they do in normal conversation. Think of your questions like Jed out hunting…when his shot struck oil, he didn’t keep shooting.  He started digging. That is exactly what great sales reps do when they uncover something uncomfortable about the prospect’s current situation. They have struck oil too, and need to start digging. They do not keep hunting and shooting aimlessly. They should start drilling with more questions.  Why don’t sales rep do this?   Simple–they are more concerned about the questions than the answers.

So next time you are talking with a customer, remember old Jed. He was much smarter than you think.

Ever since he was a kid, Conrad was the smartest kid in the room, but still played well with others. He grew up with a slide rule hanging on his belt, but mostly today it’s all about programming, from T-SQL to .NET, and he applies his wide experiences to solving business problems for his clients. A differentiator for Conrad, the developer? “I can understand what he is talking about, “ said one client. Huge.

by Conrad, the independent software developer

Here I am, riding down I-5 in California, really boring any this time of year with beauty reminiscent of I-70 in Western Kansas. But, I’m not bored. I have my laptop and my Sprint card – not to be used while driving – and the world is my oyster. I have my CrackBerry and my Bluetooth Motorola T505 that pipes my caller’s voice through my radio. My GPS can tell me how fast I’m going to the nearest .1 mph, how far I’ve come and how far to go – within 10 feet – and where the nearest Denny’s is.

Don’t kid yourself; what really draws folks into programming is the toys! We talk about our laptops like guys used to talk about their ’57 Chevys. V8 processor and 64-bit OS; 4 Gig of RAM with a Hearst Shifter; two 200-Gig Hard Drives and a 400-horsepower Intel Core 2 Duo Processor. She gets 2.5 hrs. per charge and goes from 0 to 60 in 4 nanoseconds. And this baby can multitask more things than that little Japanese guy can eat hot dogs!

To pay for them, I sell most of my time spent on them and that is a double-edged sword. Don’t they sell swords with a single edge anymore?!! Customers make me use them as tools when I’d rather be throwing rocks at trees. I don’t have one boss, I have 30! Fascinating as the technology is, I cursed my way clear over the Grapevine in Southern California when I got a phone call on my Blackberry: “You’ve got to hook up to the server. We have $75,000 that we can’t get to the bank in Omaha. It has to get there within an hour or it will cause a shortage we have no way to cover. Every time so-and-so tries to send it, we get an error message!” True story. I succeeded, but the electronic leash was choking me as we drove on a bumpy road heading into rush hour, deadline of our own at the other end so unable to pull over, and me trying to figure out what their problem was. Move the mouse, hit a bump, select the wrong thing, trigger an action I didn’t want. Carol, if I end up sending the wrong #$&!@@ thing, I’m going to kill something!

Now, I’m depressed. I hate these toys…