Believing the BS

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

In this video, Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter debunks one of the career myths we all act as though we believe.

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I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I’m referred to as the big game hunter. Because I’ve been hunting down leaders and staff for organizations for more than 40 years.

You know, I’ve made mistakes in my career. I suspect the same is true of you too. And just to talk about career mistakes, of my own, is, for quite a few years, I worked for agencies for long spans of time. And invariably, what happened was we got to a point where management started to blame staff pretty regularly, because they weren’t perfect.

Now, there were a variety of things that happened. Like in the last agency I was associated with, what would happen is that the owner would cut back on tools and resources, and we had less support to help us and we were doing more stuff. And we weren’t getting the results that we had . . . we were getting . . . used to getting when we had more of those assets. At a previous firm, we had an owner that I can just very simply say, in my opinion, was nuts at times. And he would be psychologically abusive to the staff and staff would get sufficiently frustrated. But kind of like the abused spouse, we hung in there, because we’re all making a living until we weren’t. You know, 9/11 happened. And no one can make a living in the aftermath of that.

When all is said and done, as you look at your own circumstances, many of us focus in on our immediate comfort and trying to make things work. Because we’ve grown up to believe that you go to work for a company, you work your way up the ranks, you achieve a modicum of success. And, you know, invariably things will all work out.

Well, I want to let you in on a secret. Even at the biggest firms, particularly at the biggest firms, the ones that we’ve all been propagandized to believe are the bastions of stability, there is no stability whatsoever. All the major banks laid off during the last recession, all the major manufacturing firms laid off substantial numbers of people. Every industry, every organization of any size or substance laid staff off. what’s stability was there? Zero.

But we all believe you go to work for a company, you work hard to get ahead, you work your way up the ranks. It isn’t true. When times get tough business now, unlike what they used to do in the 1950s, does what’s right for management and the shareholders and lets people go in order to survive or to last last through the storm.

That’s not being critical of them. I’m being critical of those of us who believe that working for a large firm means stability. The only stability that exists is the stability that exists with having skills and experiences that are desirable. And I have to add this in, learning the skills needed to find a job different than the skills needed to do a job.

Again, catch that one. Learning the skills needed to find a job apart from the skills needed to do the job, putting yourself in the position to be found having desirable expertise, marketing yourself, not just simply when you’re looking for work, but uniformly.

It’s not like suddenly, companies market their toilet paper, for example, on Tuesdays. You know, they are out there marketing all the time. You have to be marketing all your talk all the time. You need to be practicing and rehearsing how to respond if the phone rings and there’s a recruiter on the line.

But most importantly, you have to break this cycle of BS that you’ve been brought up to believe and have internalized to believe that you go to work for a company and work your way up the ranks. The fact is in this economy, in this new economy that has gone into place, since I’m not exactly sure whether it’s 2001 in the post 9/11 era or after the economic collapse in 2008. Doesn’t matter the way we are now, is business wants to hire disposable people who they can get rid of at times where it’s inconvenient.

And you have to think of it the same way. If they’re going to get rid of you, what will the next firm be looking for that you can sell to them that will make you attractive to the next firm. Apart from all your competition, what makes you unique? What makes you special? What makes you someone that they want to hire?

This is Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. Hope you found this video helpful. If you did, and you’re watching on YouTube, share it, leave a comment, click the like button, just do something that lets people know it was worthwhile.

Then, come over to my website, which is TheBigGameHunter.us and go exploring. There’s lots of great content to help you with job hunting. In addition, while you’re there, you can watch all my other videos, you can listen to podcasts onf my radio shows, you can search positions I’m recruiting for (discontinued), post your resume to a lot of sites from mine (discontinued),. You can sign up for a complimentary subscription to either or both of my e-zines which are called No BS Job Search Advice, and No BS Hiring Advice (discontinued),. A lot of stuff to help you find work ,a lot of tools to help you find work. So come over to TheBigGameHunter.us and go explore.

A few final things. First of all, if your firm’s trying to hire someone, send me an email at the address below. Let me know who to contact and whether mention your name. I want to help you firm staff positions (discontinued),. If we’re not already connected on LinkedIn, send me a connection requests. The address is linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. I accept connection requests from people worldwide. Except if you’re a third party recruiter, or if your profile looks like it might be a spammer’s.

Finally, finally, if you have a question about job hunting, you’re like most people, except most people make the mistake of asking the wrong people for advice. You know, friends, family, you know, former managers, people who probably know as little as you do. So it’s the blind leading the blind.

Instead, contact me through live person.com or (discontinued. Go to TheBigGameHunter.us/videoanswers ) where I’m a job search and career coaching expert. I want to help you. I want to help you get the right answers to your questions so that you can get to work more quickly.

This is Jeff Altman. Hope you have a great day. Take care!

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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER

People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS job search coaching and career advice globally because he makes job search and succeeding in your career easier. 

Career Coach Office Hours: May 7 2024

You will find great info and job search coaching to help with your job search at ⁠⁠JobSearch.Community⁠⁠ 

Connect on LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/T⁠⁠heBigGameHunter⁠ 

Schedule a discovery call to speak with me about one-on-one or group coaching during your job search at ⁠www.TheBigGameHunter.us. 

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He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2900 episodes over 13+ years.

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