How I Apply For A Job

I just lost one of my revenue-streams and now time’s are getting a little desperate. In order to stay a float, I’m going to have to do something. Getting a roommate would be enough, but I’ve grown really fond of living alone. I can go hard and pull some clients and jobs, but that’s never a guarantee. It seems like it might be time to get a job. A temporary job. My cash will be fine in 4-5 months, but it’s something like anxiety until then.

First: Look Who’s Hiring

The easiest way I’ve found to do this is by going to the electronic classifieds and sorting them by newest ads. I only scan the ads for today. This way I don’t waste time reviewing anything I may have already seen. I’m using a number of criteria to select a job:

1. Companies / decision makers I’ve done business with.
2. Companies that I share like agenda with.
3. Companies I can easily build relationships with.
4. Companies I can do a real favor.

I feel sorry for anyone who gets a job for money. Money is the means to an end. If your means of getting money is fulfilling an objective in and of it’s own, the job will be much more rewarding.

Second: Identify Prospects

As of today, my first day looking, there are two worthwhile business; Mild2Wild and Poppy’s. I’m a rafter and Mild2Wild is an obvious choice. I’ve interacted a little with one of the owners as well. We both used to attend this “Social Media Round-Table” type deal the Rochester threw every week. From that event, I know that the owners are aware of the importance of inbound marketing.

Poppy’s, on the other hand, doesn’t have a website, and I do both web development and SEO.

I am way over-qualified for a sandwich shop, but have an extensive restaurant background and enjoy working in the kitchen. The family printshop does minimal work with them, and the company hasn’t even posted to Facebook in over a year. It’s a very small, locally owned business that probably doesn’t have that large of a marketing budget.

Best of all, they’re hiring part-time which is exactly what I need to “fill the gap” in my income. So what may sound like a lame job, could actually turn into an opportunity; If one can see it right.

Whatever job I get I don’t plan on holding for any longer than half a year. From being on the opposite side of things (I will *NEVER* own a business) I know how difficult it is to hire, train and deal with employees in general. Therefore, it almost guilts me to go job-hunting knowing I’m just going to jump ship in a matter of months.

Anywhere I go I want to be able to leave a lasting impact. I don’t want to do something that will die when I leave the business. If I can implement things that will have a lifelong value, I don’t feel guilty leaving.

Remember, this is day 1 of the job search. Tomorrow there will be at least 10 new opportunities in the classifieds. Agenda may change, but watch the next move.

Third: Over-The-Top Rockstar Move

Ready for the credulous move? I’m an SEO and a WordPress developer. Therefore it’s nothing for me to deploy a niche site. What works even more in my favor, is that our area sucks at SEO and inbound marketing. So, I do some browsing for keyword-rick domains for a sandwich shop and sure enough one’s available. I burn $10 out of PayPal, toss it on one of my hosting plans and I’ve got an instant local Durango sandwich site.

But how does this get a job, you ask? It doesn’t, exactly. It is a selling point though, and one that’s too good to be true. Imagine if you’re hiring for an entry-level position and a prospective employee came in with a website already ranking for valuable search terms, stating; “Yo, this could be yours free. I don’t want outrageous pay for doing your web as well, this is something that’s just easy for me”.

And if it doesn’t get the job; The majority of the businesses contained in the directory do not currently have websites. Seeing how I got the domain and the rankings, I could bundle that with WordPress development and pitch all the other sandwich themed restaurants. I’m sure someone will bite.

If nobody wants to buy it, maybe I propose a business trade-off. I wouldn’t “give-up” the website, but for a certain monthly store-credit, I’d be willing to “lease it”. If the business ever wanted their own site, I’d gladly help them transfer the content.

Read more: Full Local Durango SEO Experiment

My Thoughts & Conclusion

This is the first day, and if every day is this productive, I might be fine even without finding a job 😉 Don’t make your job-hunt about finding employment. That’s how you end-up stuck with that stupid mindset about work that everyone has. Don’t be an employee. Be an ambitious individual and a member of the community. It’ll get you further in the long-run.

Now to build up the directory pages for the niche site 😉