Hey, there! Glad to meet you! Welcome to the wonderful and wacky world of job hunting. I suppose, since you’re reading this, that you’ve decided you didn’t want to stay put in your current situation. Congratulations. Sometimes that can be the hardest part. Whether it was your own control or someone else’s, it’s where you are today and where you are supposed to be. So breathe, relax, and let’s partner up to get you where you need to be or want to go. The job hunting process does not need to be complicated. It’s not like you’re building rockets, but you definitely need to know how to navigate this tricky scenario. This book was made to help in that navigation. A way to declutter, reverse engineer and simplify the process of finding a job. And maybe keep the stress levels a little lower.So the idea behind this program was to make this a two-way street. There will be assignments, and a calendar is mandatory. If you already track your daily tasks and time, this will not be a hard transition. If you’re the type who can wing your day together, that won’t work in this case. You will be calendaring. I do not want to just regurgitate a bunch of information, spewing words at you in hopes that you take a piece or two and try to alter your approach to the job hunting process. I want to alter your entire mentality. It needs to be adjusted to take into account the ever-evolving trends behind the hiring process. Hiring managers, recruiters, and decision-makers everywhere are constantly trying to outsmart the recruiting process. They are trying to reduce lead times for filling open positions while filling those seats with actual real talent, which equates to a return on investment (ROI). If they spent $2,000 to identify candidates for that open position, you must be able to at least get them that money back in terms of productivity once you’re in that role, and sooner than later.The quicker they can get butts into seats, the more efficient their workforce, thus the more profits they make. We need to be thinking about these people’s motivations when we approach them and ask that they talk to you for an hour. Why should they spend their time on you unless you offer them some sort of value? What can you offer them? Can you save them money? Make them more productive? Build revenue? That’s what they want. That’s what they need. That’s what they’re looking for in a candidate. Remember, no one owes you a job. No one says, “Here’s some free money. Don’t worry about doing anything for it.” It’s like the NFL. It’s a “What can you do for me” league. That’s how corporations are running these days. Retirement parties are not even in the mentality of this new generation of workers. In most cases, they just need to make it to next Friday. Well, that’s inexcusable, because some people actually can save money AND go on a vacation or two every year. Why can’t that somebody be you?What do you know about resumes these days? Have you made yours logical? No one wants to be crinkling their forehead at 4:30 on a Friday when they finally get around to looking at resumes. Not even if you were a fit for the opening. Remember, hiring managers have to stop what they’re doing to put on their “hiring manager” hat. I’ve seen this first hand, and trust me, it’s a burden for them. They don’t know you, nor do they know if you are a fit, when they come into the office that. On this important document, you need to show them why you are a fit. If you don’t, they will move onto the next candidate who’s submitted a more refined, pragmatic resume. Also, for more impact, use metrics. But more on that later.Remember again: let’s simplify this stuff. Let’s learn how to adapt the right habits to accomplish two important goals. First, to lay the foundation of a solid, daily work ethic. And second, to formulate a plan for success that identifies not just a job, but rather the right career.