Having said that, I have learned—or observed—there are some tried and true steps to getting a job.

1.  Learn stuff.  It might be proper grammar or spelling or how to trim trees or do high level math.  Try to get or develop a skill, any skill.  If you are lucky, it will be skill someone will pay you for.

2.  Be nice or likeable.  The truth is that most jobs are landed because of this very subjective but important attribute.  This is not to say that you are un-hireable if you are not nice, but it helps. Oh, yeah, here is an article on that.

3.  Finding passion is more about you than the job itself.  I am going to slit my wrists if I hear someone say AGAIN, that they want to find a job they can have passion about.  Like we didn’t?  You do not know what or where your true passion is.  Be someone who can create passion no matter what the job.

4.  If you want a job where you are told exactly what to do, day in and day out, get really good at asking “Do you want fries with that?”  Most jobs are yours to improve, handle and figure out.  The bigger the job, the harder those three things will be.

5.  It is legal to move.  I am struck by how many people stay in areas that have NO jobs.  Sure, you will have to leave Aunt Hilda behind, but it is legal to pack up your stuff and live somewhere else.  You’ll live.

6.  There is only one real reason why an employer will hire YOU.  You MUST help them fix a problem and make them money in so doing.  Obviously, this is not true in Guv-Ment type jobs.

7.  The corollary to “Learn stuff” is “Know people.”  It is easiest to find a job if someone you know can recommend you to a hiring person.  Since you will have 20 jobs during your career, you may as well start collecting friends and LinkedIn contacts now.  Be authentic, genuine and helpful in return to said friends.

8.  Don’t expect much from randomly broadcasting your resume or applications.  Go ahead and do it if that is what it takes to continue to get those Un employment checks.  Just don’t get all depressed when you don’t get a call back.

9.  Finding a job is just like sales.  Here are the key steps in most sales situations:  Find out the current situation (what problems are they having), enhance the pain they are experiencing with these problems by good open ended questions that demonstrate you know their business, present your solution (You) to those painful examples, and then ASK for the order (to work there).

10.  After you get this job, work hard and do well.  The better you do, the greater your chances of getting your next job.

Ok, that is about it.

Alexandra Levit is one of the people in this field I read and watch.  She has helped put together an online course, called JOBSTART 101, that helps recent college graduates navigate through this first job experience. You can find it here. Give it a try…Hey, it’s only 90 minutes.

Here is the OFFICIAL news release on the product.

Washington – Business Roundtable and HR Policy Association today announced the release of JobSTART 101: Smart Tips and Real-World Training, an online course for college students and recent graduates, which introduces both the professional skills necessary for entry-level employees to succeed in the workplace and the challenges and expectations they will face. Accenture, a member of both organizations, provided instructional design, content and program management expertise for the course.

A free, first-of-its-kind course, JobSTART 101 covers topics ranging from how to communicate and solve problems to how to develop a professional persona that helps drive a career for long-term success.  Designed to be engaging and fast-paced, students have the option to complete the entire course in approximately 90 minutes or tackle the six topical modules one at a time, and participate in interactive components, such as videos and workbooks.

“While our nation remains focused on job creation, it’s equally important to ensure that our workforce has the skills and training to succeed in today’s economy,” said William D. Green, chairman and chief executive officer of Accenture and Chairman of Business Roundtable’s Education, Innovation and Workforce Initiative. “By building communication and analytical skills, JobSTART 101 helps prepare new employees to meet the challenges of the job market, thereby helping to create a more competitive workforce.”

“A student or young professional who spends 90 minutes with this course will be a more productive employee and experience greater satisfaction in his/her first job without having to undergo extensive – and expensive – coursework or training,” says Alexandra Levit, an expert on business and workplace issues and the online instructor for JobSTART 101.

Students at six institutions – California State University at East Bay, Coppin State University, DeVry University, Duke University, Northern Virginia Community College and University of Michigan – participated in the pilot evaluation. The majority reported that the course engaged their interest and included useful information and relevant examples that would help prepare them for situations they would face at work.

The Springboard Project – an independent commission of thought leaders convened by Business Roundtable – identified the need for JobSTART 101 and recommended specific actions that would help Americans get the education and training they need to succeed in the evolving economy. A recent survey by The Springboard Project revealed that 61 percent of U.S. employers report difficulty finding qualified workers to fill vacancies at their companies. Experts urged employers to better communicate workforce needs and expectations to students and increase Americans’ workplace readiness and competitiveness.

For more information, please visit www.JobSTART101.org.

1.  Can you tell me a little more about your company?  What you do, what you make, etc?

2.  What is the pay and how soon can I start to get raises?

3.  Is it possible to work from my home?

4.  What is the sick leave policy?

5.  Can I bring my dog to work?

No question it is hard to find a good sales rep.  All candidates look good in a suit and mill around smartly.  Some can even sell.

But if you have to evaluate candidates, here are a few things to look for.

1.  I love ex-athletes.  Not the Geico-caveman sort, but the sort of person who excelled on his or her team.   There is something about learning to play a sport at a high level that makes a great sales rep.  At the beginning none of us could even catch a ball, or balance on the high beam….to gain a sporting skill, it requires discipline, practice and and an ability work hard.  I like that in sales people.  Corollary:  THE best candidate, an ex-coach.

2.  I love people in the band.  Seriously.  I mean, who picks up the tuba in the fifth grade and stays with it through high school.  If he or she can play the violin or tuba or piano, they have most of the attitude skills it takes.  They can learn sales.  Tamborines don’t count.

3. THE best candidate is someone who has joined a direct sales company like Tupperware or Amway.  I don’t like these companies, but I love the people who are confident enough to pay MONEY to join those companies and who buy their products to sell.  There is nothing that teaches sales skills more than walking past a garage-full of nutritional supplements.

4.  I have told this story before but it does make a point.  I interviewed a nice young guy once, with absolutely no sales experience.  I almost begged him to tell me something that would suggest to me that he could sell.  ”Well,” he said, “I married the prettiest girl in my little town.”  I hired him.

But earlier this week, I was in a meeting and everyone was talking about “The Double Rainbow Guy.” Who?  They rolled their eyes at me the way you do at Uncle Curly when he stands on his head at Thanksgiving Dinner because I had no idea who the DR guy was.  ”Google it,” they told me.

Turns out the DR Guy’s YouTube thing has almost 16 million views.  (Pres. Obama’s Inauguration speech has 4.5 million.)

I admit it, I watched the Double Rainbow video, and still don’t quite get it.  I get the dancing babies and all, but this? I am now officially my own dad, I am so out of it.

Which goes to show you that if you are in marketing (Hurry-239 open ‘viral marketing’ jobs at LINKUP.com) and are spending ANY of your time on ways to “GO VIRAL,” you will never-ever succeed at it.  It is too random.

Here is the Double Rainbow Video.  Will someone please explain this to me?

[youtube OQSNhk5ICTI]

1.  You can get your company’s jobs into our sponsored listings by contacting us.  We are basically like Google and are leading the transformation from the pay to post model of the job boards to a job search engine where you only pay when someone clicks on your job.

2.  We do not accept jobs on a per job or per opening basis.  We ONLY get jobs off company websites.

3.  If your company has jobs on their website, just send us the exact domain, as in www.MyCompanyJobsForYouGL.com/careersandjobsfor you.  That last part is key.

4.  Yes, your news organization or blog can request and obtain a specific feed of the LINKUP.com jobs.  We can give you a feed for your city, state or niche.  That way, your site visitors will appreciate seeing and finding legit jobs offered up by you.

5.  Yes, if you have seen a company’s FACEBOOK page and have noticed the CURRENT JOBS AT OUR COMPANY section, that be us, and you can get that too.

6.  We do not take feeds from other job boards.  If you need to see the same job over and over and over and over, we recommend SimplyHired.

7.  Last quick point, visit Toby Dayton’s blog at Diggings.com.  Every month, in ADVANCE of the Dept of Labor showing us their statistics that are the standard but late, bad, and shitty, Toby gives his readers a real-world glimpse into the jobs situation.  Keep in mind, we ARE a leading indicator because we know near-real time, what the nation’s employers are doing.  Our stats are based on this, not on some advertising index or survey.

So, you switched to “communications.”  The classes were easier it seemed and everything made sense.

It was all pretty much common sense and you did well.  You studied Facebook (“New Technology and Communications 101″) and you were already an expert in Facebook.  Whoohooo.  You would have aced “Texting” but that is not a class, yet.

You graduated in late May and just had to take some time off.  You and some buddies did a cross country road trip.  You are still pissed that your parents would not pay for the European trip you reallyreallyreally wanted as a graduation present.  After all: A college graduate.

You are searching for those “communications” jobs.  Your marketing professor said that you could expect a starting salary in the 60’s, minimum.  But those “jobs, ” at least the open jobs, want a lot more experience, it looks like.  But still.  You are a college graduate.  Luckily, your parents paid for college, all you have is a five-figure credit card bill.  You don’t mind living in the basement in your old room, for now.

You are holding out for a communications jobs with an international company (you still want to see Eurupe), and preferably one that is not associated with the oil industry.  You want to make a difference.

So, there you sit, sending out resume after resume to companies you know nothing about, with big jobs that you know you cannot do, but hoping some HR manager somewhere will recognize just how good you have gotten at Facebook.

If she could only see how fast you can text.

But Johnny, stay cool.  Hey, did you see the latest US WEEKLY?

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They say the best method for finding a job is via “networking.”  (The second best is to find a job on a company’s own website, made simpler by LinkUp.)  But since few of us “network” for a living, we are awfully bad at it.  I am trying to help here with a new tool you can use.

The typical networking conversation goes something like this, “I am looking for  a job, do you know anyone who is hiring?”  Ok, that might be too blunt, but generally speaking…that’s not too far off.   The networkee, the person who legitimately might want to help, is left scratching his head, hoping to remember that one company he heard about on the golf course.

Instead, imagine that you have completed a BUILDING MY NETWORK form in advance of the meeting.  The form lists the companies you are interested in, the contact people, the issues confronting the business and the department where you want to work.  This way your contact has something to react to, and to refer to later.

I would love to be given a completed form from anyone who networks with me.  Chances are pretty good, I would think, that I might know someone who knows someone who knows someone…but I need a cheat sheet, a sort of thought starter to get me started on really trying to help.

Brenda created this form for you to use.  The second image is how you might like to complete it, an example if you will.

You should be able to download and print it.  Let me know if it helps you.

Download here the blank form here.

Here is what a completed section might look like:

1.  ”See work.”  We all know what this means.  Are you the type of person who must be told every little thing?  Or are you able to see the work before it is assigned to you?  I think one of the highest compliments you can get is “He sees work.”

2.  Likeability.  I used to call this the fly-across-the-country test.  If the applicant and I traveled across the country together, at the end of our flight would we be friends or would I be hunting for the first open bar to either drown my worries or him.  I wrote a long piece on 10 Things You Can Do to Make Yourself More Likeable.  It is still pretty good.

3.  Snap.  This is overall “sharpness.”  Are your clothes clean?  Pressed?  Starched?  Shoes polished?  Have you practiced your answers to common interview questions?  Can you tell a compelling story about yourself?  Do you look me in the eye?  It’s called snap and some got it and others don’t.

4.  Appropriate.  Do you talk too much?  Do you bring up politics?  Do you swear?  Do you complain about your last company or boss?  Do you ask too many questions about salary raises, reviews, vacation days and benefits.

5.  Ability to make connections.  Can you describe how what you know and what you can do can help me?  In other words, it is not just that you have the certain skill, it is that you know how to apply it for me.

6.  Can-do, positive, confident, secure.  You know what I mean, you can sense it in people.  If you think this is NOT important, you are kidding yourself.  Sorry.

I am stopping at 6.  Everyone makes a list of Ten Things.  Six has an interesting ring to it.