The Voice of Job Seekers

Mark Anthony Dyson ★ Career Writer ★ Speaker ★ Thinker ★ Award-winning Blog & Podcast! ★ "The Job Scam Report" on Substack! ★ I hack and reimagine the modern job search!

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by Mark Anthony Dyson

Achieve Career Success by Defining Failure

Achieve Career Success by Defining Failure

Failure quotes
Failure quotes – Quotes – Pictures

 

Which is worse, to lose or to fail in chasing career success? Losing sounds temporary, but failing implies permanent. Most job seekers will say losing occurs more often than failure, and sometimes losing FEELS like failure. Knowing the difference between losing and failing in your career search is essential to WINNING, and getting  job offers.

We can argue that failing is OK as long as it is not a lifestyle. But if you don’t want to job search to failure, how will you know what to avoid?

Failing in the career hunt is tricky. It could appear as success at some stages. If you want an example, think of the devil. That dastardly angel with horns offer attractive and alluring temptations (so I’m told).Failing can affect you similarly that it looks good at first, but too good…well, you know the cliché.

What are you willing to lose to succeed? How do you define career search failure? This is important for you to know that for yourself. Here are some suggestions in clearly marking where career failure begins. These are signs and not a norm.

1. No steps to career success

This works 100% of the time. No plan accompanied by dreams of hot tubs and caviar means that you are shopping at the local church food pantry.

2. Lacking respect for other people’s time

It’s bad that YOU possess a reputation for being late to everything. In fact, it’s an ongoing friend and family joke until no one important respects you. Potential employers disqualify you when you are late. You don’t call to say you’re late. You call to offer excuses.

3. Un-sharing mistakes and errors

Sharing your mistakes and faults, funny, or unfunny makes you likeable. If you are not perceived as being helpful, why would a company hire you? Ever notice the people who love you know your faults?

4. Do not love challenges

What do you do when someone calls you higher? Become quiet and reserved, or appreciate that they care? Mentors who you respect and are ahead of you in the game possess more value than you can measure. Find a mentor who will challenge your decisions, judgments, and vision for yourself.

5. If it’s a numbers only game

Insecure job seekers want people to know they are trying. He or she wants people to know their desperation applying to 100 jobs a month. What that says is that you want any old job. An unfocused job search is no longer an investment into finding a meaningful and fulfilling career. So your only job leads are cattle calls to 100% commission sales positions.

6. Ignoring reasons to celebrate with others

A heart check is being happy and encouraging the success with others. It is hard sometimes to spur someone else on, but the returns are valuable.

7. Mute the noise from your conscience.

It feels wrong, it looks wrong, but lacks a manual to tell you it’s right. It’s wrong. People will tell you shortcuts to use that are lies. Those are people who you shouldn’t listen to for career advice.

8. No continual training or learning experiences

Are you seeking out training in your career, even if its free? It’s hard to pay for seminars when it exceeds what you are making a week, but are you looking for alternatives? Employers consider those things, especially if unemployed. Two places where people don’t consider looking are the community college weekend courses that run in range of $25-75 dollars, and CAN (Cable Access Network) TV. There is quality training available that can keep you moving toward your goal.

9. You rarely ask (the right) questions. Or answer (the right) questions.

Questions that cause you to think about a bad scenario deserve more air time in your brain. You don’t have to fail, especially if your plans to succeed include errors, mistakes, and wonder. You stop and Y, and why, when you need to continue. The shame.

Before you claim failure, you should define clearly what failure is to you. To get you started I suggest a few in the following areas:

  • Did I fail to pick the money off the table? Entry-level positions rarely offer opportunities for negotiating, but professional and mid-management, it is expected. Negotiating starts upon contact with demonstration of value, and never ends even at the signing table
  • Did I fail to answer important questions during interviews? Style points are irrelevant, and zero points for partially answered questions. Go back to questions left unanswered even after the interview
  • Do I fail to under promise and over deliver value? Are you looking for opportunities to bring practicality to the ideas offered?
  • Do I fail by running out of time? The one thing that college football pundits used to say about Bobby Bowden, “Bobby never loses, he  just runs out of time.” Timing is everything.

There are more suggestion I’m sure you can think of and add in the comment section below. How will you know when you have failed enough to start over?

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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Filed Under: Career, Jobseekers Tagged With: Career, Failure, Job seekers

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Why God Will Hire Noah Next Time (If There is a Flood)

A lot of people wish they had to the opportunity to hire someone. Out of the great men and women who ever lived, Noah stood alone as a man who will get a job completed by what he did, not what he said. Each job seeker must demonstrate clear competency, not just say or will the desire to work for an employer. Noah possessed the right skills, but had to have other tangible and visible talents (Read Genesis 6: 1ff).

If God is all-knowing, this is plausible and credible based on what is written. These are all my crazy ideas. I am not pushing religion on anyone. I have a perspective of that job seekers talk too much instead of offering professional acumen.

Consider Noah.

God was looking for more than just a carpenter. We can assume that carpenters were a dime a dozen, but there are attributes that weighed more than skill.

Read: Do Employers Understand You?

Character.

The day has come that a potential employee’s character is significant to the company’s brand. It is common now to sign agreements that you will behave, and not make a public spectacle of yourself. Employers are asking for Facebook passwords or requesting that you friend the company’s Facebook page to see that your activity is respectable.

Think about it. Noah was chosen amidst the chaos of the day. God didn’t need a Facebook page, but he looked beyond his work and saw exemplary character. He stood out not just as a builder, but also the next generation of his offspring would be closer to himself, righteous, spiritual, and accountable.

Skill.

Skill finishes projects, but what does it take to fulfill the vision. Self-control and listening must accompany any set of core competencies. In Noah’s case, God had a specific plan and vision. We don’t know if Noah understood God’s vision completely, but we do know that Noah perfectly followed through with God’s detailed and laborious instruction.

As mentioned, many Job seekers claim loudly about his or her skill, but fail to demonstrate how it fits the company’s plan and vision. There are not enough words to persuade others you are the best. Perfection is not expected, but offering ideas and worth produced by skill makes a convincing hiring proposition.

Job Search Hints—MLK’s Letter From A Birmingham Jail

Liked.

We can assume that God liked Noah because of his attention to detail, his family, and ability to match animals two by two; however, the bible never indicated any complaining. Then again, did Noah understand the bottom line about not having to tread water (shout out to Bill Cosby who suggested that Noah didn’t know).

God liked Noah because he could accomplish the tasks at hand without complaining. Complainers and whiners take the fun that is left in a meeting or working relationship. We know that being liked is good, but rarely understand how to likeable upon contact. Noah was industrious, although it was unknown if he had a sense of humor that God liked, but God liked him.

It takes a little imagination, but there are lessons to glean from Noah’s example. Each job seeker must find ways to translate his or her skills for an employer’s use.

How can you communicate better to show competency to employers? Let me know in the comments below.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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Filed Under: Career, Jobseekers Tagged With: Hiring, Jobseeker, Noah

by Mark Anthony Dyson

7 Monster Ways to Assemble Career Value

Successful job seekers create and communicate reasons to hire them.  Do you know what value you bring to the table?

Value cannot be monetized, but is compromised if you misunderstand your worth. It is not only what you say in an interview or a networking event, but also what you can show and what you do.

If you don’t, these suggestions can get you started.

1. Assess and Test Your Weaknesses an Strengths

When a tested and tried job seeker abilities exploit character and strengths. Invite tests of what you know, and don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Assess measurable and seeable results and keep them in front of you so you can demonstrate competency.

2.Create and Formulate Your Voice

Show that you possess creativity and originality that addresses your target employer. If your message is irrelevant, no one will care how about the uniqueness of your ideas.  You have stories to tell that displays your abilities, good! Practice them in front of people who can help you share them from your heart.

Read: Want A Real Career Lesson? Learn From Don Cornelius

 

3. Embrace the Face to Face

The more time job seekers spend initiating live conversations, the more opportunities created. Face time is always a productive way to build useful networks.

4. Imitate and Operate the Good

Whatever you see that successful job seekers are doing, DO IT!. No one corners the market on any strategy or method. Don’t plagiarize! But do add your personal touch to anything you see that works! Embody new techniques, lessons, experiences, and make them your own.

5. Institute and Contribute Often

Sharing and giving brings good things to the contributor. Offering other beginning job seekers help brings appreciation and more possibilities. Who doesn’t need help in starting a job  hunt these days.

Read: Your Job? Learn to Use The Left Hand

 

6. Be Aware and Prepare for the Conversation Behind Your Back

No matter what your goals and objectives are, what you do right links to your personal brand. Every job search related meeting, phone call, and interview leaves an imprint. How positive and impressive it remains is up to you.

7. THINK BIG!

Don’t be afraid of graphs, charts, blogs, and video to display your talents, and showcase your abilities. Although these strategies are not for everyone, it is an option if you own these skills. If you achieved big results, be creative in displaying them.

Do any of these resonate with you?  How will you apply these ideas? Did I forget something? Let know in the comment section.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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Filed Under: Career, Jobseekers Tagged With: Career, Job seekers, Value

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I moderated a panel on Wealth Management for executives by Black Enterprise Magazine in October 2023 in Miami.

I was interviewed on Scripps News show, “The Why!” 4/13/2023

I talked with John Tarnoff and Kerry Hannon of “The Second Act” podcast about job searching after 50 in October 2022.

I was on “The Career Confidante” podcast to talk about “boomerang employees” and “job fishing” in June 2022.

Making Job Search a Lifestyle With “Dr. Dawn Graham on Careers,” SiriusXM Ch. 132, Wharton School of Business May 2021

In October 2025, I was interviewed by Nafo Savo, of Marketplace Tech, National Public Radio show

Beverly Jones, host of the NPR podcast “Jazzed About Work,” invited me back to talk job scams, job search trends, and AI tools in April 2024

WOUB Digital · Episode 183 : Job search expert Mark Dyson says beware of scams, know AI & keep learning

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