Job Search Idea: Hit the Lecture Circuit

A friend of mine had mentioned today that he had heard a sad story on NPR radio. Some city municipality had advertised a job for cleaning up animal doo-doo at some shelter facility. Amazingly, they had received mountains of resumes from people of all walks of life. Some of these folks had high credentials: there was even mention of applicants with Ph.D.'s, and a few lawyers to boot.

Gone are the days when one can pick up a newspaper, circle a few job advertisements, and begin making telephone calls with reasonable confidence that in short time you could secure some work. With a recession in full swing, it looks like folks will have to resort to any means possible to find a way to bring the bacon in. This calls for being utterly unconventional.

Here is one idea.

(Please use the comment box at the bottom to suggest your other ideas.)

TRY SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

It seems the conventional method is to go and look for work. Why not turn the tables around? Rather than count on other folks to send out advertisements for job openings, how about advertising yourself?

Assuming you can speak with some knowledge about a particular topic or range of topics, you can shamelessly promote yourself by going on a lecture circuit.

For example, if you ran an automotive oil-changing service for 20 years, you could say with some confidence that you knew how to change the oil and how to run such a business. You would know what kind of oils to recommend, how to smooth talk your customer into not just buying a typical oil but perhaps a higher end oil, how to upsell to changing wiper blades, how to run a tight shop, how to reduce costs, how to advertise - you get the idea.

You are the expert.

Given this assumption, then you can do something about this: shameless self promotion. Literally, promoting yourself without feeling ashamed.

ARE YOU QUALIFIED?

Provided you do not live in a closet at home, and are not afraid to stand up in front of a few people, you are qualified to go on the lecture circuit.

Feel shy in front of folks? Then try talking in front of some trusted friends. Put together something to talk about, and then go ahead and talk to them about it.

Granted, this talking and speaking in public places idea is not for everyone, but if you have the gift of gab and can gab in a way that sounds convincing, maybe you can make some money selling something - whether that thing is selling some products associated with your profession, or selling yourself.

Assuming you have a reasonably large audience (i.e. you live in a decently sized city), you could set up a series of lectures all over town - in lecture halls, Rotary club meetings, pep talks, special interest group meetings. You name it, just look in a local newspaper or e-zine for a listing of local activities were you would be able to speak as a guest.

HOW TO PROMOTE YOURSELF?

You can try promoting yourself in one or several different scenarios. Which scenarios you choose to be in would be entirely up to you. If you wish to promote yourself merely as a way to get another job as a grease monkey, that's okay. But on the other hand, if you can promote yourself as an expert grease monkey, then maybe you could go one notch further and do better.

For example:

Business Tune-up - You could promote yourself as an oil change shop consultant. For a fee, you could go into a shop, see how it's run for several days, and then after a few days begin providing some solid advice on how to run the shop better. You could go from top to bottom. You can provide advice on how the boss runs the shop, how the books are kept, how the advertisement is done, how waste oil disposal is handled, who you vend off your waste oil to, among other things.

Business Start Up - Say you ran across some guy who had some money to start his own business. You would be the kind of guy she would need to speak with. You would know already what all the pitfalls are in starting up a new oil change business. For a fee, you could tell him or her all the steps he or she would need to take to get things going. Business licenses, waste permits, zoning, etc.

After having done several gigs in this capacity, you would be able to convince others that you truly are an expert. Who knows? Maybe you would be able to start up your own consultancy.

SOME POSSIBLE ADVANTAGES

Looking for a job, applying for it, and then waiting in line among many other contenders for job sucks. This situation puts too much of the process entirely out of your control.

Speaking in front of a bunch of folks turns the tables a bit. Rather than you going to other folks to look for a job, you are having them come to you instead. By speaking in front of large groups, they are able in turn to come up to you with possible job offers or ideas.

Remember: to have things come to you, instead of you going to them.

TRY IT, AND THEN LET ME KNOW

I don't speak with idle words. My advice above worked for me. Not long ago, I did go out and promote myself. Granted, I did not need to speak in front of really big crowds of people, nor for very long. But after speaking with enough people, and in speaking in a confident manner, I was able to secure a reasonably decent gig as a consultant.

This company was an industrial centrifuge manufacturer that was trying to break into the biodiesel fuels markets, and also needed to start jobbing out parts manufacturing to foreign countries.

Given the fact that I had some experience working on aircraft in a past life, experience in manufacturing my own biodiesel, had incorporated a small centrifuge into my own biodiesel manufacturing process, and knew how to fluently speak Chinese (and had also lived in China for a few years), I had an ideal mix of skills that turned out to be perfect for my client.

Sure, you could say there was some luck involved. But if I had not gone out to promote myself, I would've never landed that gig.

Whaddya know: after that gig ended, it led me onto another.

IT WORKS FOR ALL MANNER OF TRADES

Okay, so you don't know how to change oil.

But you know something, right? Try promoting yourself. Arrange some speaking gigs, speak with confidence and authority, and then let folks come up to you and ask more questions. Exchange some business cards. Next thing you know, you are in earnest conversation that will end in some cash changing hands.

Expose yourself. Get talking. Get working. Get paid.

TRY IT AND LET ME KNOW

If you are considering doing this, or have already done something similar to this, then please use the comment box below to share some of your experience. I am sure you have something of value to lend.

Give it a try and let me know...

- John

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