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.

In the meantime, I thought this was funny, in a sad sort of way.

Here are some ‘gotcha’ questions I have heard:

What accomplishment are you most proud of at your last job? Candidate answer: “I was a whistle-blower at my last job and exposed some wrong doing, and got a couple of people fired.” Hmmm, nope, find another accomplishment and talk about that one. We admire whistle-blowers perhaps, but probably won’t go out of our way to hire one.

Where do you see yourself in 2 years? Candidate answer: “By then I’d like to be running my own business.” This might be factually correct and a dream of yours but few companies want to invest in your training and hiring when they know you are planning to leave. Think.

Do you have any questions of me about the job or the company? Candidate answer: “No, not at this time, I did not have time to do any research or look at your website, so I don’t know anything about your company.” Seriously? Always come prepared with a couple of pertinent questions about the company, its products or services. You would shocked at the number of candidates who do not even do this, making a gotcha question out of a normal interview question.

Over at US NEWS and WORLD REPORT today, I give a couple more gotcha questions and how you can handle them better.

What are the gotcha questions you have heard? There are lots of first time job seekers out there now, so any experiences would be helpful to many people.

But if you are alive today, you just have to know about all the new social media tools, how they are used, when and where. And how you can best use them in your daily and business life. Which is why you should run, not walk, to lulu.com ( lulu ) to buy a new book being released today called Age of Conversation 2, which is a total exploration of social media and its impact on business. Its kicker text is: Why Don’t They Get it? and it is broken into eight main sections;

* Manifestos
* Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation
* Moving from Conversation to Action?
* The Accidental Marketer
* A New Brand of Creative
* My Marketing Tragedy
* Business Model Evolution
* Life in the Conversation Lane

It is a book of articles and essays (limited to 400 words each) by some of the world’s best users, social media experts and writers today; 237 in all, from 15 countries, each one concise, on point, relevant and insightful. 237 viewpoints on how you can better understand the social media phenomenon….all in one book. Brilliantly organized and edited by Gavin Heaton and Drew McClellan, all proceeds from the sale of this book will go to benefit Variety, the Children’s Charity.

Here is the list of authors who contributed their time, ideas and insights:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

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.

That be me.

Sometimes this turns out ok…luckily. Others, not so good. It turned out great here at JobDig, where our employment media company is all about zigs and not about zags, or doing things how they ‘used to be.’ Frankly, it is a lot of fun to make a new business out of re-thinking common approaches.

It is with that mindset that I wrote a post today in US NEWS, suggesting a fictional letter to employees after hearing the bad financial news of yesterday. For every company that is hanging its collective heads today, I bet there are dozens more who are figuring out new, unique ways to prosper.

Do you agree?

Months back I wrote a post about Alex Bogusky, the hotshot ad guru who had been featured in Fast Company. He was readying a new advertising campaign for Microsoft. In good fun, I offered up Five Things Alex Bogusky Should Do For Microsoft. The VERY FIRST TIP was to feature Bill Gates in the ads. See here:

1. Feature Bill Gates on the ads. I know he is semi-retired, building birdhouses and out saving the world. He can do so much more by staying home and fixing his company. The world does not need another rich do-gooder meandering around the world expounding on fixing poverty, however laudable that might be. What we need are real life examples of smart, creative problem solvers who can solve really huge problems. And Microsoft has a huge one. Bring Gates back and put him in the ads. I will believe they are fixing the problems when I see him commit to me, in person.

No doubt due to my suggestion, Alex paired Bill Gates with Jerry Seinfeld for a series of ads for Microsoft.  But am I getting credit for this suggestion? Nooooooooooo.

I cannot be too mad. Because when you use The Google and type in Alex Bogusky, my original post lands at number FOUR (4).

If you have some observations yourself, leave a comment, or five.

But after a normal grieving period which all experts tell us that the unemployed must go through, it becomes time to pull yourself up and begin a new job search.

Each week in JOBDIG, in the markets we serve from Tucson and Salt Lake City to Peoria and Wichita, you can find companies who ARE hiring. These companies need you, and the jobs are AVAILABLE right now, this week.

Oh, another thing…if you want to search by your specialty, or by your chosen location, or by a company that you want to work for…you should check out LINKUP. This site contains ONLY jobs from a company’s OWN website career section. Over 50% of THESE jobs are not even advertised. At last count, there were 10,000 companies on the site. Granted Monster and HOTJOBS have more, but you never know, do you? If you have sent in your resume to a job on one of the big job boards, and NEVER HAD A SINGLE REPLY, maybe it is time to check out JOBDIG and LINKUP.

Good luck. Truly.