Employmentology: A Practical Systematic Methodology of Having an Extraordinary, Remarkable, Amazing Career

By Darnell Clarke

In this game-changing book by Darnell Clarke, industry expert in career development, youll discover the following things:

The four job-hunt life skills, so you will never have to worry about getting laid off or fired ever again.
You are here to make a difference in this world. The best way to do this is to find work that you love and do it so well that they will never fire you.
You will be provided the keys youve been missing in your job search. Youll be given modern-day tips, techniques, and systematic methodologies for securing gainful employment.

The book offers insights and debunks myths about what it really takes to get hired in todays fiercely competitive job market.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Nov 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504388887

Darnell Clarke

Veteran hiring and employment authority Darnell Clarke is the author of “Employmentology: A Practical Systematic Methodology of Finding Employment by a Hiring Manger.” As a hiring practitioner; and NOT a recruiter, a headhunter or Human Resource (HR) professional, Clarke has collectively taken and given more than 500 interviews throughout his diverse and highly successful corporate career that has included serving as a key hiring manager for the global Fortune 100. With an extraordinary amount of front-line, in-depth experience, Clarke knows precisely what today’s hiring professionals are looking for and what they are not. This is knowledge he now imparts to the candidate marketplace at all levels—from collegiate to executive suites—through media, speaking and event-driven engagements. Learn more online at www.darnellc.com.

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Copyright © 2017 Darnell Clarke.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8886-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8887-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8888-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017915480

Balboa Press rev. date: 11/15/2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 How to Be a Winner in the New World of Work

Chapter 2 Finding What You Love to Do

Chapter 3 Your Résumé Is the Entry Point into the Game—That’s All

Chapter 4 The Job Search—The Missing Link

Chapter 5 Interviewing That Will Get You Employed

Chapter 6 Transitioning from Military to the Civilian Workforce

Chapter 7 Developing Your Competitive Advantage

Chapter 8 Generational Differences in Employment

Chapter 9 Let’s Talk about Money

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

About the Author

PREFACE

Do you feel it?

Uh-oh, something is wrong! What used to work doesn’t work anymore. What used to be easy and simple is now more difficult than ever, almost impossible.

During my last job hunt, I went to all the internet job boards and company career websites and looked for open job positions that I qualified for in my field. I sent out résumés and filled out online applications, day after day, week after week, month after month. All of this worked the last time I was job hunting. But now, strikeout after strikeout…nothing! It took me a year to receive an offer. I was supposed to be an expert at finding and obtaining employment, and it took me a year. Something was definitely wrong.

Year in and year out, when we are job hunting, we tend to hunt in the same way as we always have, regardless of whether the times are good or bad. But employers don’t stay the same. In good times, they hunt one way, and in bad times, they hunt another way. They adapt. What this means is that when times are good, employers often have difficulty filling positions, so they will typically cater to the job-hunter preferences. Since we like résumés, they will take the trouble to solicit and read our résumés. We like job postings, so they will post their open positions where we can find them on their career sites or job boards.

What we are not prepared for is when employers can easily fill open positions because of an abundance of people looking for work, whether they are unemployed, underemployed, or just looking for a change. When this happens, employers stop reading our résumés and stop posting their open positions. We can search the old way, but nothing will happen. Everything that used to work doesn’t anymore.

Now we are baffled.

We assume the reason why nothing is working is because there are no jobs. It never occurred to us that there are indeed jobs—in fact, millions. But employers have changed their ways of hunting for employees, and we have not caught up with them, nor have we adapted to this new way of finding and obtaining employment.

Growing up, I heard, Go to school, get good grades (which I didn’t—I was just average), find a job, and work there until retirement. That’s what I did eventually. I got a college degree in computer science, I got an MBA after years in the workforce, and I found my way to General Electric (GE) as a hiring manager. I had a team of 15 high-level system electrical engineers and program managers. We were doing some really cool and futuristic stuff.

I directed the day-to-day management/operations of the electric power generation business, where we worked on distribution automation (DA). Whenever anything happened on the electric power lines (like a tree falling on the line), this would cause a disruption in service. Electricity only runs one way and in one direction; therefore, when the power is out, anything downstream is affected on that grid until the utility company dispatches a team to remove the tree off the power line and restore the electricity. DA rerouted the electricity around the problem area and restored all power before anyone ever felt the effects from that tree. DA made sure the utility power customers never suffered from electric power shortages or outages ever again.

I was tasked with building my team from 15 to 30. The process of hiring 15 more people became extremely difficult because I couldn’t find applicants who knew how to interview. For example, GE had a long and arduous hiring process, taking on average 60 to 90 days for all the interviews. After interviewing many applicants, I finally found the perfect candidate. She had all the necessary education, experience, and credentials. She passed the multiple phone interviews with flying colors, and I scheduled her for an in-person interview.

She arrived on time and was escorted to my office. She walked in wearing an off-white linen pant suit with sandals, large wooden bracelets on both arms, and big gaudy earrings with a matching necklace. Do you remember the Tide detergent commercial where a man was in an interview and had a stain on his shirt and the interviewer couldn’t hear a word he was saying because all he could focus on was the stain? That’s exactly what happened in this interview. She spoke with her hands, and every time she moved her hands, all I heard was gling-gling…ching-ching. The noise from her bracelets was so loud and disturbing I couldn’t hear a word she was saying.

After 20 minutes of this, I stopped the interview and walked around my desk. I shook her hand as I guided her from her chair, and I said, This interview is over. As tears filled her eyes, she asked, Why?

The next time you get an opportunity to interview with a company like GE, a 100-year-old firm, you better understand the culture and come dressed more appropriately. Companies like GE, IBM, and large blue-chip companies expect you to dress in a professional manner—not as if you are going out on a date.

Devastated she said, I can go home and change. Just give me a chance.

It’s too late. The first impression is the only thing that counts. I thought, If she doesn’t know how to dress professionally for an interview, what else doesn’t she know? She was in tears as I walked her out of the building.

I began asking people of all ages if they knew the process of interviewing as well as knowing how to do an actual job search the new way. To my surprise, they didn’t even know what the new way was. This was the reason I set out on a journey to explore and discuss the ideas in this book.

I realized that the person who gets the job is not always the most qualified for the job but the one most qualified at getting a job. I wrote this book because there is a gap in understanding what it takes to get and stay employed while using the new way of finding employment, especially for the younger generation.

I believe passionately in the ideas and practical action steps in this book. These ideas are not for those whose ambition in life is to get by or merely to survive. That has never been an interest of mine. If you can be satisfied with that, do not read on. But if you want to make a difference, then continue reading. I am not saying it is easy, because it’s not, but it is worthwhile. I want to show everyone how to play this game called getting employed.

What to Expect

When the previous version of Employmentology was published, it sold impressive numbers. I knew this book had its place in the marketplace dialogue. To my past readers and supporters, I can’t thank you enough.

Why the update? I continue to see a rapid maturation in the job-search development areas that should be part of any level of career strategy. Some of these elements weren’t included in the previous edition. As your job hunt continues to mature, so should your strategies for it.

In my history of producing career development training, I’ve taken pride in creating content that lasts. The workforce marketplace has also changed so quickly that I needed to update with new content. This book is meant to be a reference guide to have by your side as you figure out what to do with all the options and all the changes as you plan your own personal job-hunt strategies.

Although every chapter has been updated in one way or another, there are several brand-new chapters that deal with the new changes in the marketplace. I also reordered the chapters in this book to better reflect a strategic approach to your job hunt.

In the Introduction, I explain the discipline of the Employmentology Framework, why it is so important today, and how it can differentiate you from your competitors. Chapter 1 shows you how to be a winner in this new world of work. It explains the state of the new American workforce and how finding employment really works in today’s marketplace. Chapter 2 covers finding the work you love to do. It provides the fundamental building blocks to engage in work that you love.

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are the how-to sections of the book. These chapters discuss the three core processes, which are résumé creation, the job search, and the interview. I show what makes them effective, and how the practice of each process is linked to and integrated with each other. No framework or strategy delivers results unless it’s converted into specific actions. This section will show you how to build a plan block by block that will deliver results of getting employed.

Chapter 6 speaks to military veterans transitioning to the civilian workforce, explaining the issues that most veterans have in the transition process. It describes in detail the job-search tips for a smooth military transition by showing what resources and tools are available for veterans.

Chapter 7 covers how to develop a competitive advantage for job seekers by providing an edge over rivals and generating greater value to an organization. The more sustainable the competitive advantage, the more difficult it is for people going after the same job positions to neutralize your advantage. It enables you to define your differentiator—why you should be hired over someone else.

Chapter 8 describes each generation’s (baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials) number-one pain points with regards to job hunting. It covers strategies for the different generations in finding employment.

Chapter 9 explains the discipline of how to handle money, the secret of making it in the workforce, and why it’s so important to know what you are worth in the job marketplace. It also shows how money will never sustain your happiness, and it discusses the pursuit of happiness.

The Conclusion addresses the fact that whatever you want in life, you will have to go get it; there is no other way. It challenges you to become the person you were born to be—to make the difference only you can make. The future of work can’t be predicted, and trying to do so is a fool’s game. So, stop trying (and start imagining).

Among the many things, I have learned in my career is how time-starved most people in the workforce feel. And one thing I’ve learned from reading a ton of nonfiction books (over 900) is how seldom most authors accommodate this reality of their readers’ lives. That’s why at the end of every chapter of this book, I’ve included a Call to Action. It consists of a summary of the chapter and several revealing action steps to take. Read only the Call to Action and you’ll miss the chapter’s narrative and nuance, what you actually need to start or stop doing as a job hunter.

I don’t know anyone who has had a career like mine. Over the past 25 years, I have worked for 25 companies. The reason why I have had so many jobs in my career is because I didn’t know my calling, my purpose, my chief aim in life. I went from job to job, chasing the almighty dollar. In my last 10 positions, my salary was over $200,000 each. I became an expert at finding and obtaining employment, but it took me almost 20 years to find my true fulfillment, because I wasn’t even looking for it. I didn’t even know I was supposed to be. I want to help you know that you are supposed to be looking for it…now, and not 20 years down the road.

This book summarizes everything I have learned and mastered about finding and obtaining employment through a hiring manager’s point of view, addressing all aspects of the job search and career transition process, using a systematic framework called Employmentology.

Now let me explain how you can become an expert too. Let’s get started!

INTRODUCTION

The person who gets the job is not always the most qualified for the job but the one most qualified at getting the job.

My first job after I graduated from college with a computer science degree was with Kmart World Headquarters in Troy, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. My position was a computer programmer, and it took me six weeks to land that job. I knew from the very first second of my new position I was in trouble. I should have realized something was wrong when I despised every class I took to obtain that degree. I thought it would get better once I graduated and entered the workforce. Boy, was I wrong. I hated that job so much, but what I truly hated most of all was Detroit’s weather.

I began working for Kmart