Take a slice of time, for example, the last three months,
and compare the ways you spent your time.
Fill in the #Hrs and # columns for each item below and
total each section up.

A Hours you spend:	#Hrs
Reading want ads
Talking on the phone to personnel jockeys
Meeting with personnel jockeys
Preparing your resume
Studying job hunting books & memorizing answers to typical interview questions
Waiting to hear back from a company about a job

A Total:

B Vs. hours you spend:	#Hrs
Researching target companies
Talking on the phone to managers who can hire you
Meeting with hiring managers
Researching the next job you will interview for
Studying your job & deciding how best to demonstrate how you do your work
Answering the Four Vital Questions about that job

B Total:

C Number of:	#
Personnel jockeys you have talked with on the phone
Personnel jockeys with whom you have met
Resumes you have sent out
Meaningless questions you've answered in interviews
Personnel jockeys who asked you how many years' experience you have
Times you were rejected after submitting your resume or being interviewed
Interviews you have gone on

C Total

D Vs. number of:	#
Hiring managers you have talked with on the phone
Hiring managers with whom you have met
Responses you have received
Times you've demonstrated your skills in interviews
Personnel jockeys who really understood the work you do or how you could add to the profit line
Times you were told, clearly and explicitly, why you were being rejected
Offers you have received

D Total:

Scoring:

Add A + C

Add B + D

If B + D is greater than A + C, you have cleared the moat and you're moving in the right direction. If A + C is the larger score, you're stuck in the moat mud; the per­sonnel jockeys are pulling you under. Grab for a rope!

The employment industry has instilled negative attitudes and a form of helplessness in job hunters. In order to change these attitudes, and to change the way you act in regard to job hunting, you must be able to change the component actions that make up the big one. By changing each of these behavior components successively, or one at a time, you will build up the confidence and skill you need to approximate the new behavior you want to achieve. With practice, you will achieve better performance.

Let's look at an example. If you're skeptical about the idea that doing a lot of in-depth research is going to help you to find the right job, we don't really expect you to change your attitude (which would in turn lead you to change your entire job hunting strategy). We could argue with you, but that would be fruitless. In a sense, you believe what you've been taught by the employment system. Your attitude is probably based on a whole collection of experiences you've had, and there's no way to reject them with any confidence.

However, we can suggest that instead of adopting this way of thinking, you read just one issue of “Forbes” magazine and identify one company that seems like it would be a great place to work. That's a start. It's not complicated, and it's a behavior that you can easily perform. If you then follow up and make one phone call - to a person mentioned in the article - to gather some specific information about that company, we believe you'll like the outcome, and you'll be motivated to do it again. The success of those two simple behaviors - reading a magazine and calling one person on the phone - are likely to make you believe that gathering specific information can lead to more fruitful discussions with employers.

By changing a couple of your behaviors, we've begun to change your attitude about job search. Why? Because we've helped you put a couple of successes under your belt. Small ones, but successes nonetheless. Now you're more likely to take courage and have confidence that you can perform those behaviors again with another company. You will also comfortably graduate to other new behaviors and attitudes as a result of these first few changes. More important, your positive new attitude will motivate you to continue.