Baseball season is upon us. I, for one, am stoked! Baseball is America’s favorite – and oldest – pastime. We don’t readily call our work (or the pursuit of it) the same, as a job search is an activity we endure to make money. Emphasis on ENDURE. Some may play baseball for a living, but most of us are mere viewers and back-up managers [of course] from within our own homes yelling wisdom and sharp-tongued remarks at the tube (Now that is a pastime). Jobs are a pervasive truth: From Alaska and Hawaii – to Maine and Florida; What most of us do, because we have to pay bills and aren’t talented pitchers or sunflower seed spitters. Though, each job we get is like opening season… Will we get rich? Will we be happy? Will we WIN?
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Admittedly, a little late on this blog post. Stuck in the dugout. Opening day 2017 started the first week of April, but the dew on the grass is still wet. A NEW season of hopes, like a NEW job. For all the baseball fans and job seekers this is for you! How is your job search like baseball? “PLAY BALL”!… Or just read below.
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“When you come to a fork in the road take it” – Yogi Berra
Yogi didn’t always make the most sense, but if you give his anecdotes enough time they could be illuminating. I take this first heading to mean “Take chances”. Doing the same thing day in and day out won’t bring you closer to the dream job. You have to be willing to get up to the plate. Swing the bat!
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How is your job search like baseball?
Circa 1988 (All-stars STATE CHAMPIONSHIP) Front row, 2nd from the right. That’s me, ZacDangerous… Pitching was my world. NOW, I am the “back-up manager” yelling wisdom at the tube (see 1st paragraph)
Everyone NEEDS a resume, the baseball player and job seeker. Most of us might know this, but resumes aren’t only for corporate types. The important thing to acknowledge is that resumes are different, perhaps, for an athlete or musician… or jobs that aren’t so mainstream corporate. YES, being a musician and athlete is still a job. You are getting paid. You need to perform. You can be hired… or let go! Don’t think of this as all being on paper. There IS a contract, but the resume itself is more of a metaphor for what you have accomplished. For a ballplayer, it’s High School or summer league play. It’s stats in college. Is there a piece of paper that gets handed to a major league scout or pro team? Maybe, but not something the performer or talent hands in. They are evaluated by experts who are trying to promote them into leagues or teams. I won’t go too much more on this as the main take away is that a resume of some sort is ALWAYS in place. Something is DOCUMENTED that details your strengths and accomplishments.
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Do YOU need a resume? Yes. Bragging rights hold true in ANY industry. Why wouldn’t you want to document what you are all about? Construction worker. teacher, designer, banker, model, and any other role. Tip: It ALL starts with a resume. Without a resume, it’s like getting up to the plate with no bat.
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Perfect Games are like perfect jobs. The legendary perfect game. Have you heard of Don Larson and the 1956 World Series? This was the last time – and only time (to my knowledge) – a perfect game was thrown. Perfect games are ones that consist of a team getting no hits, walks, or reaching base in any way during a contest or 9 innings. 27 outs in a row. It takes some luck. It is not a common thing even for the best pitchers who have been in the league for years.
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Perfect jobs are what we all want… with that NEXT job. We dream that it will all be perfect. Tons of money, not a lot of hours, easy commute, great team and colleagues, bonuses at year-end, and a whole lot more. Oh, promotion after one year to VP? Yeah, that would be perfect. Sorry, not to be a downer but from someone in the corporate world for nearly 20 years perfect jobs are VERY rare. Not impossible, but VERY uncommon. Of course, all of us have a our own vision of what perfect is. Tip: Define your perfect. Make a list of pros and cons. It’s a pretty good batting average if you can satisfy 6 or 7 out of 10 “Wants” or pros.
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From the annals of my scrapbook, my favorite player George Brett. Real definition of “Error” – ball skips beneath his legs.
Errors are like taking a job you THOUGHT was a good fit… Errors are part of baseball. They don’t happen every game, but look at the box scores across the leagues for that day and you are bound to see some errors in the final line. It’s part of the game as it is part of the job search. You have to shake it off. It doesn’t mean you will lose or that you are not worthy. IMPORTANT to recognize this.
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I have made plenty of errors in my career. I don’t say regrets. I learned something from each error or job I took that wasn’t the best ft for me. Some errors are more costly, right? You are “stuck” in a job for 9 months or up to a year; sometimes longer. But LEARN something from the experience. Shake it off, think positive. You will handle (experience) the next job better. You have to believe that. Tip: Don’t live in the past. So you took a bad job and fell off the beaten path, learn from it and be ready next time. Use what you have learned with THIS job search.
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Umpires uphold the rules, players are in charge of their performance. In the working world, employees and workers are akin to players. Every business has rules just like baseball. Don’t blame your performance on the men in black. Learn the rules of the game and outperform the competition. Umpires are corporate execs or managers cascading down requirements, goals, and other minutiae – but it’s up to you to learn and understand and then demonstrate excellence. What does this have to do with the JOB SEEKER? Ultimately, it’s important that you know what is required of you, when you read a job description.
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I see these jobs with 89 different bullet points. Do this, do that… will be responsible for solving global warming. Wait, I thought this was an Accounting position? I can help with debits and credits – Am I right?
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Be mindful of what a job entails. If you don’t know, how can you measure true performance? It equally scares me when I get into a new company and there is a lack of goal structure. Tell me, how can you get promoted? HOW will you know if you are doing what is asked of the company? Umpires never bothered me. They are just there for enforcement and to make sure the rules are being followed, but atleast there are rules. Are you with me? Tip: Stay away from unorganized companies (and jobs). A telling sign is in the endless bullet point job descriptions.
Want to consider yourself “the luckiest man [woman] on the face of the Earth”? Stay away from jobs with 89 bullet points.
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You have to hustle. Baseball gets a bad rap sometimes for being a boring sport. It can be. There are players (“some” players) that help perpetuate this notion. Lollygaggers. They lightly jog into the dugout between innings. They hit a high pop fly to second and shuffle their feet out of the batter box ever so slowly down the first baseline – just going through the motions. Their arms have a limited range of motion; like a boxer with his arm’s stuck in glue. Shadow boxing in quicksand.
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With job searching you cannot be lazy or slow-moving. That won’t get it done. It requires consistency (always running out fly balls and grounders – What if the ball is misplayed or dropped… ) Those engaged in a job search are looking almost each week and have an aggressive mentality. They hustle. Don’t assume that you aren’t going to find anything, because there isn’t a good chance. Be aggressive, show intensity. It matters in baseball. It matters in a job search. Tip: Set a goal for yourself each week.
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It’s not great to swing at every pitch. In this case let’s liken pitch to “job”. Simply put, don’t apply to every job you see. It’s desperation. Be patient, wait for YOUR pitch. You will apply to some jobs and will get strikes (won’t hear back or overlooked), but always remember that an opportunity could be the next pitch. HOME RUN.
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Do you truly know your strike zone? Your favorite pitches to hit? If not, get in touch with Bizzeebobber – we can help. [Had to add in a commercial, how do you think televised baseball games get paid for?]
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Play for a HIGH average. In as much as I state that it is important to be patient also understand that you cannot be too strict where you limit opportunities and only apply to PERFECT jobs. Jobs that have just the right criteria or experience or educational requirements. Different than the last bullet point in that sometimes job seekers can be foolish and will apply to jobs or positions that make no sense given their background.
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Playing for a high average means you are putting the time in to get good hits and jobs that make sense. Swinging at YOUR kind of pitches. Interestingly, similar to baseball, if you get a job interview 10 times and end up with 3 offers – 30% makes you an all-star and likely candidate for the Hall of Fame. Said differently, this a 70% failure rate. Isn’t it always about perspective? Time to step up to the plate… that makes your “chances” 100%. Or as the great Yogi Berra also said, “Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.”
One of my most prized baseball nostalgia. Lou Gehrig write-up in 1927, and the humble beginnings of “Murderers row” (New York Yankees)
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