How To Get The Job You Really Want By Liz Ryan.

A sobering but true fact we don't talk about enough is the fact that most people don't like their jobs. Various surveys put the percentage of unhappy working people somewhere between seventy and eighty percent.
Those are high numbers! That means that when you're driving in traffic, seventy to eighty percent of the people driving around you are people who don't like their work. No wonder road rage is such a problem!
It means that seventy to eighty percent of the people you encounter at the grocery store, your kid's school and the gym are unhappy at work.
How can that rampant discontent be good for individual working people, their families or their communities? How can it be good for employers, or their customers and shareholders?
The widespread dissatisfaction of working people isn't good for anybody. It's a public health issue and a national shame. It isn't difficult to build a great culture. It isn't hard to make a workplace interesting and fun and human.
The silver lining is that more and more employers are realizing that their culture is the most significant factor in their business success. They are dropping pointless ancient practices like annual performance reviews and stack-ranking abominations.
They are loosening their traditional rules and policies in recognition of the fact that everyone they employ is human and has human needs, as well as entanglements and obligations outside of work.
There are more and more Human Workplaces every day. If you are one of those seventy to eighty percent of people who are not happy at work right now, why not use this summer to get a job you love, rather than one you merely tolerate?
Anyone could understand why you might hesitate to launch a job search if you thought that you had to get your next job by filling out tedious and insulting online job applications.
Anybody would stay in a "meh" job rather than go through that hassle! The good news is that you don't have to choose between a job you don't like and the dreadful Black Hole automated recruiting process.
There is a better way to get a job now!
You can reach your hiring manager at any target firm directly. Here's how to find your hiring manager's name using LinkedIn.
Before you can reach out to your hiring manager with a Pain Letter and your Human-Voiced Resume (which you'll print out on paper, staple together and slide into an envelope for mailing straight to your hiring manager's desk) you'll need to do one important thing:
You'll need to brand yourself for the jobs you want!
Your resume is a branding document. It doesn't have to sound robotic and boring. It can sound like a human being wrote it and lived it. It can sound like you! In your Human-Voiced Resume, you'll write about yourself and your career goals.
You get to choose which jobs to pursue next. You don't have to restrict yourself to applying for jobs just like your current or most recent job.
You can branch out. As soon as you see the common themes between the jobs you've already done and any job you are interested in doing next (even if it's in a different industry or function) you'll be able to write about those common elements.
You'll be able to brand yourself for the jobs you want most -- not just any jobs, or jobs identical to the one you already have, and hate!
It's a new day in the talent marketplace. People are zipping around and changing career paths, industries and functions everywhere you look. You are not limited to a small set of possible next jobs.
You can spread a much wider net than that -- but not until you decide what you want to do next, and give yourself permission to step out of your traditional career box. That's the first and most important step in your job search.
The minute you decide in your heart and mind that you are qualified for a job you've never done before (and I can assure you that you are!) your mojo will grow.
Hiring managers will see your qualifications the instant you see them yourself. You are mightier than you know, but you have to get that message before anyone else will!
KINGSMITH.