Career Advice - The Voice of Job Seekers

Four Ways a Mature Career Voice Competes in the Job Marketplace

Mature job seekers possess a unique perspective and career voice when it comes to appealing to employers. All experience is valid and valued. It’s not just the callouses that are worthy of respect. At times its eyes and ears that recognize what not to do, and not just what to do.

The voice of experience can say things in a way that resonates, especially if it’s calmer, temperate, and seasoned. Although the media deems mature people “irrelevant,” in my classroom experience as a trainer, instructor, and teacher, younger adults are more than willing to listen to a mature voice of reason.

Maturity
Experience naturally brings along temperance, good judgment, and reliability in most cases. While younger counterparts are technically savvier, the mature voice is more trusted.

Confidence
Once you’ve “been down that road,” there is familiarity in behavior that the mature worker understands and recognizes. He or she knows not only what to say, but also how to say it.

Communication
The mature voice notices many of the verbal cues that younger counterparts ignore. The “mmm’s” and “uhhhs” say something or they mean nothing.

Leadership skills

Becoming bigger, faster, and stronger is for weightlifting and wrestling, but not essential for most workplaces. The mature worker is efficient, especially if he or she knows the appropriate technology for the job, or if technology is actually needed for the job.

The unemployment rate continues to increase for job seekers 50 and older. Some have been unemployed for some years now and lost the pulse on their talents and strengths. This short list should get you started, but if you need help with your career voice, feel free to contact me and we’ll figure it out together.

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.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

LinkedIn Won’t Run Your Career For You

Recently, someone in my network of friends posted the following message:

“Many of you congratulated me on my “new” job. Thanks, but the company in which I‘ am presently employed, is neither new nor full time. I’am seeking full time employement. Please review my employement background. If you know of a company in my skills and knowledge may “fit” that company, please refer me. Much oblige!”

A cryptic message is misinterpreted as desperate. If public and desperate people will read into it something unintended. Therefore, the messages sent to further employment efforts need to be intentional and strategic, not accidental. If you are putting your best foot forward on LinkedIn, every message you leave for scrutiny counts, and everything is examined when it comes to employment opportunities.

Like many job seekers, this person arrived at the point in her job search she is expecting someone to go the extra yard to help her job search efforts. Yes, all of us need help in our job search, and there is nothing wrong with asking. The cry for help is essential, but there are other issues with the above statement that makes me want to tear up from laughter:

The person who authored this statement misspelled “I am” twice. A closer at the statement, several grammar errors stand out. If you are like me, you are distracted by the lack of perceived professionalism than the “please help me” request.
Most people will not see her message because it is unlikely people will go look at her profile and see where he or she “fits!” She has a current job that does not fit her current profile but even worse, the “unfitted” job is a part of her LinkedIn profile!
She did not invite a conversation, nor desired to screen the potential referral. She was going in for the score (the referral). No invitation to talk, or extended gratitude for taking the time for consideration
She wanted her network to scour her profile for her network to see if she was a fit! Yes, that’s the way to do it. Let someone else do all the hard work for you!
Her laziness that I read into her status update will scream, “RUN!” to everyone else. Any recruiter or God forbid potential employer, will bypass her profile like scruffy hitchhiker.

If you’re like me, you’re trying to avoid your name from appearing on the “Who’s looking at your profile” section, to avoid the desperate inbox message from the same individual.

The point that needs emphasis is in this story by Elie Wiesel in a speech given at the White House in 1999:

“The story is that once upon a time there was an emperor, and the emperor heard that in his empire there was a man, a wise man with occult powers. He had all the powers in the world. He knew when the wind was blowing what messages it would carry from one country to another. He read the clouds and he realized that the clouds had a design. He knew the meaning of that design.

He heard the birds. He understood the language of the birds, the chirping of the birds carried messages. And then he heard there was a man who also knew how to read another person’s mind. I want to see him, said the emperor. They found him. They brought him to the emperor. Is it true that you know how to read the clouds? Yes, Majesty. Is it true you know the language of the birds? Yes, Majesty. What about the wind? Yes, I know. Okay, says the emperor. I have in my hands behind my back a bird. Tell me, is it alive or not?

And the wise man was so afraid that whatever he would say would be a tragedy, that if he were to say that the bird is alive, the emperor, in spite, would kill it. So he looked at the emperor for a long time, smiled, and said, Majesty, the answer is in your hands. (Laughter.)”

Now for my response to this person’s outcry:

“Look through your network and engage people who are in industries and companies you’re interested in. Look at your 1st level and 2nd level contacts equally as either may know someone who knows someone. It takes time to do this but it is well worth the investment of time.”

I received a half-hearted and obligatory, “thanks!”

Although general in nature, my advice is the moral of Wiesel’s story. The answer is in your hands.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Is Your Career a Fad, Hit-Record, or Classic

What people like about music is personal. Many people love the familiarity of hit records because they could hear them over, and over without tiring. That doesn’t mean it’s a great record (whatever that means) but it will likely last through the test of time.

Your career goals must be that hit record. Terrible cliché, but true to the core.

I am not a fan of clichés, and never will be. I may use one scarcely, but don’t like them. Most people use them egregiously because they feel obligated to say something.

So, saying things like having “a proven-track record” without doing little to impress employers. It’s self-declarative filed under “who cares?” Perhaps a sub-folder of “I wasted my time!”

Your “hit-record” career goals must contain some passion for you to present an enthusiasm that interest employers to listen. But you should cry “Uncle!” if you no longer want that career path. That hit-record is your career as fad, not a classic that will be played for decades. I’m not saying your job must be the sole reason you’re passionate enough to pursue. Let’s save that discussion for another day.

It’s a sign. It’s a trigger. At least it should be. Did you give up and didn’t tell your career? Here are some signs that you don’t care anymore:

1) You are no longer emotionally attached to succeeding. You have lost that “Loving Feeling” that you used to entertain. The fire and desire, the passion, and the tireless planning has receded. It might be time for a new dream, especially if your career goals lack any visible or monetary changes.

2) You have discontinued personal development. You haven’t renewed your industry newsletters or read them in a while. Remember how inspired you were looking at the newsletters? This has subtly occurred over time and quite frankly, your collection has grown. You don’t want to read where you left off.

3) You have lost touch with the network and affiliation contacts. This has gone both ways as you no longer attend meetings, and with you being AWOL, well what else is supposed to happen.

4) You are no longer encouraging others in your industry to succeed. Your progress has stifled along with your interest manifest to not cheer for other people’s success. The focus in your life is just about you, and expectations have lowered everywhere else.

5) You no longer update your resume. The zeal of updating your training has waned, and you pass on company paid training when it’s deemed as “optional.”

Did you give up and not tell your soul? It is time for a soul talk. Look at the purpose of your career and reconcile yourself to a new goal or career.

Complacency is a career killer! No wonder that your goals don’t matter anymore. It was a fad, not a classic.