Gary O'Neal is Director of Recruiting for Austin HR. Gary is a recruiting and hiring consultant. His mission is to help business leaders hire more than their fair share of top talent and beat the competition by building superior teams. Gary has seen the inside story of how recruiting and hiring happened inside of well over 200 companies. He’s led high-performance recruiting teams in both agency and corporate environments and has over 20 years of experience in recruitment. He’s been close to near 20,000 hires. Gary’s industry background is vast and includes software, IT, banking, public, semiconductor, engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing, and environmental companies. His experience spans all levels, including C-level executives, senior management, technical leadership, high-performance professionals, as well as support staff.
Listen in for actionable advice on re-entering the job market as it is today.
[:57] Marc announces his first audience survey on what demographic listens to the podcast, what you like, and what you would like to hear about in the future. Please take the survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey. This will redirect you to a SurveyMonkey page. Marc will keep the survey going through 2017 to hear from you.
[1:30] Marc has released the audio files to the publisher for his audiobook Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, and believes it may be ready for purchase. Marc will send an email blast to CareerPivots Insights email subscribers once he knows more. Or check its availability at CareerPivot.com/Repurpose-Your-Career/
[2:07] Marc explains the schedule. Last episode was an interview with Mac Prichard of Mac’s List. This episode is an interview with Gary O'Neal with Austin HR, on how he would search for a job. There will be no episode on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, but Marc’s favorite episode of 2017 will be re-released on Tuesday, January 2nd.
[4:47] Marc welcomes Gary to Repurpose Your Career.
[5:00] Gary has made big career pivots, himself. He started as a NASA software engineer, then joined a startup as director of professional services for IT, working with large companies. Gary helped grow the startup to almost 2,000 employees in seven years using a hiring architecture that he helped create. Sprint bought them in 1997.
[5:58] Gary saw that more than anything else he had done, helping a startup hire more than their fair share of top talent made a material difference. He started his own company, Cool Hires, outsourcing recruiting departments for companies. The market turned ugly in 2009 and Gary went back into IT for a while, and now is at Austin HR.
[6:44] Gary spoke at Launch Club recently about how he would conduct a job search, which inspired Marc to invite him to Repurpose Your Career.
[7:00] Gary starts with why he would follow a specific path to finding a job. He has recruiting experience as a consultant in at least 200 companies. Rarely does a company hire very well. So the traditional approach many people use to find a job and companies use to hire is really broken. Most people look for openings online and apply.
[8:07] In most of the companies Gary has helped, most of the resumes never get seen. No one has the time to devote to them. So junior people without experience around the job or the background experience to fill it filter the resumes. No one gets hired without talking to the hiring manager. Everything and everybody else gets in the way of that.
[10:19] People are afraid to break the rules for hiring. The rules are not there to serve you. People hire people. Connect with the hiring manager. Forget the rules. Step 1. Get really crystal clear on the job you want to have. What problems do you solve and what role will you fill? Don’t go to market being open to ‘lots of possibilities.’
[13:00] Align your background with where you are most likely to be accepted, with what the opportunities are, with what you are likely to get paid for, and with what motivates and excites you. Eliminate from your vocabulary anything not pertaining to that position. Become that role. Wear the jacket. Rehearse over and over your story of that role.
[15:01] When you’re not clear about what you are, you become less interesting, for whatever reason. Gary tells a story of a sales leader who talked himself out of a job by mentioning an area of expertise that didn’t relate to his prospective employer.
[17:25] Research the best opportunities. Compare job boards with the workforce, as shown on LinkedIn. Go after a job that is in high demand, not a job in decline.
[18:43] Step 2. Get there ahead of the opening. By the time an opening appears on job boards, it’s too competitive. Most resumes won’t be seen. Instead of looking for jobs, target companies that have the kind of problems you solve. Search LinkedIn for companies hiring people who look, feel, and talk like you. Lower any barriers you can.
[22:18] If you’re changing careers, you already have obstacles ahead of you. You need to build trust that you are a great fit for the job. Don’t target companies that have no employees your age. That’s a barrier that doesn’t need to be there. Step 3. Target companies hiring from your generation. Make a list of 200 companies to target.
[22:53] With your 200 target companies, identify at least three people at each company: one or more likely hiring managers, a recruiter in HR, and a peer in the company. That’s 600 people to reach out to.
[23:55] Austin HR is a company of headhunters. They recruit for other firms. For any role they are filling, they reach out to 175 people for a career conversation to get one hired. As a job hunter, reaching out to 600 people might get you three offers.
[25:36] Don’t be fearful of the number. Each of the 600 doesn’t know you’re reaching out to 599 other people. Their only experience is they got a message from you. It’s very individual on the receiving end.
[26:19] Step 4. Craft an outreach campaign with at least three steps in it. You’re sending a message to someone who really needs your help. They need your help because they’re busy. Since they’re busy, they’ll forget about your message. You send a follow-up message in a couple of days. They’ll want to get back, but they’re still busy.
[27:02] That person really needs your help. Reach out to them a third time. Use the takeaway close, “I know that your busy. I continue to be open. I would welcome a conversation with you, however, I don’t want to be a bother. This is the last message I’m going to send to you.” The recipient, if they need you, will immediately get back to you.
[27:36] The same three-step email campaign goes out to every hiring manager. You may craft it differently to send to every recruiter. The one to a peer would be different yet. At least mildly personalize every single one of the messages. It will take a while.
[28:11] You will cycle through 600 people by sending out 200 messages a week. Four days a week you message 50 people. It may take two or three hours a day, over a three week period. The next three weeks you will send the second email, and so forth. Something is happening at one or more of those companies.
[28:58] The reason you need a campaign is to avoid getting stuck. Be machine-like in your persistence to make all the contacts. Don’t be distracted. Use simple messages. Gary gives a message example.
[29:52] Even from companies that are not hiring, you’ll get quite a little bit of encouragement and very little rejection. You may get silence from many but some will respond. Be politely persistent until you get a no or a yes. Don’t ask them for anything. Ask them how you can help them with their problems that you solve. It’s not a bother.
[32:00] You’ll get various responses. One is, “Thanks, we’re not hiring, goodbye.” Follow up with a genuine thank you and courteously ask for advice, insights, or referrals.
[36:37] The response you really want is an invitation to call or visit. Some organization will need your help. If not, go back to Step 1. and target a job that’s more available.
[37:33] Once you get a conversation, the whole conversation needs to be about the company’s needs, what keeps them up at night, and the path forward for that company. Investigate if they have the kinds of problems you can solve for them. Try to get the conversation about how you might address that problem and what you might do.
[38:55] Needy isn’t pretty. Going to market looking for something for yourself doesn’t serve you as well as going to market looking for people to help. Marc suggests probing for pain points. This all takes finesse. The truth is, people are nicer than you think. They do want to help. When you take an interest in them, you are more likeable.
[41:58] Gary heard on NPR that in speed dating, people preferred people who asked more questions. Use that principle in interviews. Tell me a little bit about your career. What do you love? This is like dating. Not every date turns into marriage. Thom Singer suggests introverts ask the best questions and are the best networkers and listeners.
[44:14] Gary’s closing comments: None of the rules are real. Set them aside. Be a human being. Reach out to other people. Genuinely be interested in them. Genuinely be interested in helping them solve problems. Things will go much better for you.
[45:57] Marc comments that applying for a job in the old way is fruitless. Marc invites you to take the Repurpose Your Career audience survey and to pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life. The audio version should be available now or soon.
[48:10] The next episode, on January 2, 2018 will be Marc’s favorite episode of 2017.
CareerPivot.com/Episode-57 Show Notes for last week’s episode with Mac Prichard.
“Probing for Pain Points When You’re on a Job Interview,” by Marc Miller
“People Like People Who Ask Questions,” NPR, Morning Edition
Gary O'Neal on LinkedIn
Please take Marc’s survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey. This will redirect you to a SurveyMonkey page. Marc will keep the survey going through 2017 to hear from you. Taking the survey will help Marc to select Repurpose Your Career topics for 2018.
Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. The paperback and ebook formats are available now. When you have completed reading the book, Marc would very much appreciate your leaving an honest review on Amazon.com. Marc expects to have the audiobook available in December 2017. Subscribe, and get a notification when it is available.
Marc has a prototype running of the paid membership community of the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of 10 members helping him. Marc has opened a waitlist. Sign up at CareerPivot.com/Community.
Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast an honest review and subscribe! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, please go to
CareerPivot.com/review, and read the detailed instructions there.
Contact Marc, and ask questions at Careerpivot.com/contact-me
CareerPivot.com/Episode-58 Show Notes for this episode.
You can find Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast.
To subscribe from an iPhone: CareerPivot.com/iTunes
To subscribe from an Android: CareerPivot.com/Android
Twitter: @CareerPivot
LinkedIn: Marc Miller
Facebook: Career Pivot
Mac Prichard is the founder and publisher of Mac’s List, an online community for people looking for rewarding, creative, and meaningful work. More than 80,000 people a month visit the site, which includes a job board, a blog, and courses about the nuts and bolts of job hunting and career management. A leading career expert, Mac helps people who are looking for a job during all of life’s transitions — Millennials getting a first job, midlife professionals switching sectors, parents getting back to work after raising a family, or baby-boomers who want to change careers. Mac is proud to own two registered B-Corp companies, which use the power of the market to solve social and environmental problems. He is the author of Land Your Dream Job Anywhere and hosts the weekly podcast Find Your Dream Job, which I was on earlier this year.
Listen in for actionable advice staying relevant to the job market you want to explore.
[:57] Marc announces his first audience survey on what demographic listens to the podcast, what you like, and what you would like to hear about in the future. Please take the survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey. This will redirect you to a SurveyMonkey page. Marc will keep the survey going through 2017 to hear from you.
[1:34] Marc has released all the audio files to publisher ACX.com for his audiobook Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, and believes they will be ready for purchase online before the end of the year. Marc will send an email blast to CareerPivots Insights email subscribers once he knows more.
[1:57] Marc explains the schedule. This episode is an interview with Mac Prichard of Mac’s List. The next will be an interview with Gary O'Neal with Austin HR, on how he would search for a job. There will be no episode on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, but Marc’s favorite episode of 2017 will be re-released on Tuesday, January 2nd.
[4:47] Marc welcomes Mac to Repurpose Your Career.
[4:59] Mac runs Prichard Communications (a social change communications company doing PR for foundations, nonprofits, and purpose-driven brands) and Mac’s List (an online community including a job board and resources about job hunting and career management for people looking for work with purpose and meaning).
[5:32] Prichard Communications and Mac’s List each employs about five people. They have one value in common: service. This core value — learned from his parents and his upbringing — has been central to the success of Mac’s companies and his career.
[6:08] When you give without any expectation of return, you get so much back and along the way, you can make a difference in the community where you live and work and on issues you care about.
[6:25] Marc and Mac discuss Adam Grant’s book, Give and Take. Mac follows many of Adam’s principles in his own career. Adam writes about givers, takers, and matchers. Givers are the ones that win.
[7:01] Marc talks about why he invited Mac on the show. Mac encourages listeners over 50 to reflect back on their own careers. You’ve already done some very different things. You had to figure out how to make switches in the past. Next, know what you want to do. Take an assessment.
[9:44] Once you know where you want to go, make the case for what you offer to that sector or employer. Spend time understanding what their needs are. Go on some informational interviews. Employers hire people to solve problems. Show employers what you offer to them.
[10:45] You won’t make a change on your own. Most of us are going to work into our 70s. You need to start planning that in your 50s. Find the balance between what you want to do and what an employer will pay for you to do. If you want to have a successful career you have to make investments in education or professional development.
[15:00] Marc asks about ageism. What can people do to combat it? It affects Boomers significantly. Millennials also worry about the stereotypes people have against them. There are laws against age discrimination, but it happens. Do you want to work for an employer who discriminates against older people? Intentionally overcome stereotypes.
[17:06] Marc recalls Episode 53, the interview with Thea Kelly. Thea gave steps people can take to overcome stereotypes of Boomers. One of Marc’s clients lost an opportunity because it looked to the younger interviewers that he couldn’t keep up. Marc tells an example of an older applicant overdressing for the interview. Learn the culture.
[18:58] Start with your online presence. Hiring managers will Google your name. Put a current photo and updated skills and professional accomplishments in your LinkedIn profile. Show that you embrace new developments in your field and new technologies.
[20:56] Google yourself. If there’s nothing, or something bad, that’s not good. Set up a Google alert on your name. Claim your own name as a domain name. Put a lot of content on the web to feed Google. If you don’t have a good Google presence, including a professional LinkedIn profile, you will not get an interview.
[24:32] Before the recession, more people planned on retiring on-time or early. Now people will need to work into their 70s to gather resources. Mac notes that many people have planned for retirement to some degree. Once you know what salary you need, get clear about what you want to do and what opportunities are out there to pursue.
[26:51] Having a timeline, 10 or 15 years into the future as a long-term view, is very helpful as you’re having this conversation. Chances are opportunities will change in that time.
[27:33] Marc says that the first 10 people in his online community are asking how to broaden their horizons. Career opportunities are endless. People just need to know about them. Educate yourself about them, just as you did coming out of school.
[30:39] As a Boomer, Marc was raised to be a career-long employee for one company. Later in his career, they changed the rules. He left IBM and looked for other opportunities. It’s like starting fresh just out of college.
[32:15] Don’t make stuff up. Learn the situation about each opportunity. Go talk to people who work in the organization you are targeting, before you make the decision to work there. Someone in your network may know someone there. Or you can find them on LinkedIn. You may discover it’s not what you want to do. Save yourself grief.
[34:49] Marc tells people to talk to someone doing what you want to do at a company and get the inside scoop. Your next job will come from a current relationship, an old relationship, or a new relationship. Someone will refer you. Marc was referred to his teaching job by his chiropractor. Whom do you know who might know someone?
[37:33] Most jobs get filled by word of mouth. 80% of jobs never get posted on a job board. Employers manage risk by turning to people they know for referrals. Employers also give back to their networks.
[38:59] After you serve someone, when you least expect it, you often get something back. Mac’s List was simply a list of job postings that came to his desk that he shared with his network. It grew over the years. After 16 years there are 25,000 names on it. The list carries about 600 job listings a month. Now it is a business with five employees.
[40:28] Mac’s List attracts more than 80K people a month. Mac started Mac’s List with no expectation of getting anything in return. The value that drove it is a big part of Mac’s success. Mac talks about how to get his new book.
[41:49] Marc invites you to take the Repurpose Your Career audience survey and to pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life. The next episode will be an interview with Gary O’Neal.
Mac Prichard on LinkedIn
Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success, by Adam Grant
“When You’re Working in a Career Disaster Area,” by Marc Miller on Next Avenue
Mark Anthony Dyson’s Voice of Jobseekers podcast
Ryan Rhoten’s The Brand New You Show podcast
Please take Marc’s survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey. This will redirect you to a SurveyMonkey page. Marc will keep the survey going through 2017 to hear from you. Taking the survey will help Marc to select Repurpose Your Career topics for 2018.
Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. The paperback and ebook formats are available now. When you have completed reading the book, Marc would very much appreciate your leaving an honest review on Amazon.com. Marc expects to have the audiobook available in December 2017. Subscribe, and get a notification when it is available.
Marc has a prototype running of the paid membership community of the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of 10 members helping him. Marc has opened a waitlist. Sign up at CareerPivot.com/Community.
Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast an honest review and subscribe! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, please go to
CareerPivot.com/review, and read the detailed instructions there.
Contact Marc, and ask questions at Careerpivot.com/contact-me
CareerPivot.com/Episode-57 Show Notes for this episode.
You can find Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast.
To subscribe from an iPhone: CareerPivot.com/iTunes
To subscribe from an Android: CareerPivot.com/Android
Twitter: @CareerPivot
LinkedIn: Marc Miller
Facebook: Career Pivot
In this episode, Marc answers questions with his trusty sidekick, Elizabeth Rabaey. You can learn about her career pivots in Episode 020. Listen in to this episode for insights into preparing yourself to work in a changing market, or in a new role.
[:56] Marc explains why he did not release an episode Thanksgiving week. He gave himself a mini-vacation in Galveston.
[1:25] Marc announces his first podcast audience survey on what demographic listens to the podcast, what you like, and what you would like to hear about in the future. Please take the survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey. This will redirect you to a Survey Monkey page. Marc will keep the survey going through 2017 to hear from you.
[2:03] Marc reviews the series format of this podcast for new listeners. Each month, the first episode is an expert interview. December’s expert will be Mac Prichard of Mac’s List. The second episode is a career pivot interview. The third episode is of Marc’s choosing. The fourth episode of the month is a Q&A episode with Elizabeth Rabaey.
[3:18] Elizabeth introduces herself.
[3:43] Q1: I am closer to 70 than 60. I have been unemployed a year. I had a grueling all-day interview, and I was not selected. The recruiter told me the younger team members vetoed my selection because they did not think I could keep up. I also had a call about another position there but was not called in. What should I do?
[4:34] A1: Marc says, first, send the recruiter a $25 gift card for telling you why you were not selected and also gave you another opportunity. Reward the recruiter. Second, do not give the appearance of being old. Marc told the candidate to focus on his health, exercise, and eat right. He no longer has a young metabolism.
[7:23] A person who works into their 70s needs to have the energy to do it. Marc tells about a very high-stress job he took that burned him out emotionally and physically. You also need to dress as the culture of the company dictates. Research it. Don’t overdress.
[9:10] Q2: I am a 50-year-old IT professional, currently at a major company in a sales support role. I hate it. I have spent the last 10 years as a team lead, or manager. I want to go back to an earlier role I had, but I don’t see an opening for it. What should I do?
[9:42] A2: Marc has been an IT manager, and those days are largely gone. The cloud is wiping out entire IT organizations that used to manage servers and installations. Marc says to look at where you need to be in 10 years and position yourself. About the only traditional IT departments left are on the state and university levels. They don’t pay well.
[10:54] Marc interviewed Stan Siranovich in Episode 45. Stan used to be a Microsoft Certified Engineer. Those jobs are gone.
[11:20] Marc was in Mexico last month and was interviewed over Zoom, on his iPhone, by Jim Peacock of Peak Careers, in Maine, and Geoff Pearman of Partners in Change, in New Zealand. It worked really well. They discussed the planning needed in your 50s to continue working into your 70s. Q1 and Q2 deal with changing industries.
[14:03] Besides certifications, look at whether you will want to be working for yourself or for an employer. Within Marc’s Online Community, participants are in their 60s and they are looking for freedom, in various forms. They don’t want a 9-to-5 job.
[15:09] Q3: I would like to change industries. I have been managing software projects for 20 years. I would like to transition into working in construction. I am getting a few new certifications, but the jobs want specific industry experience. How do I apply managing software projects to managing construction projects?
[15:43] A3: Marc’s friend Gary O’Neal of Austin HR talks about how he would look for a job. Recruiters want to see a smoothly rising career trajectory. Many people don’t have that. The goal is to make your resume, and your LinkedIn profile look like a nice smooth upward rise. Start figuring out where do you want to go, and eliminate irrelevant items.
[17:46] In this case figure out how to make your software projects look like the construction industry. Part of that is weaving in construction industry lingo, and start talking about the commonalities between what you would be doing on a construction project, versus software development. Figure out the commonalities.
[18:20] Daniel, a client of Marc’s, wanted to transition into the smart-grid industry. What did he do? He wrote a blog, and every month he interviewed somebody in the smart grid industry. He learned a lot in 18 months, and more importantly, built up street credibility.
[18:58] Marc suggests doing a construction blog and figuring out how to make yourself look like a construction person. By the way, this is a very hard task. Your first job will be suboptimal and will serve to get your foot in the door. Focus on the construction industry on your resume and LinkedIn profile. Elizabeth also makes suggestions.
[21:39] Marc talks about following the money. Look for people who just got a loan. That will tell you who will be building. Construction is a very cyclical business.
[23:30] The next Q&A will be toward the end of December. There will be an encore episode for Christmas. Download figures put Repurpose Your Career in the top half of Libsyn podcasts. Considering that the 50+ demographic makes up 5% of podcast listeners, this is a remarkable statistic.
[24:28] Marc invites you to take the podcast audience survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey.
Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. The paperback and ebook formats are available now. When you have completed reading the book, Marc would very much appreciate your leaving an honest review on Amazon.com. Marc hopes to have the audiobook available in early December 2017. Subscribe, and get a notification when it is available.
Marc has a prototype running of the paid membership community of the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of 10 members helping him. Marc has opened a wait list. Sign up at CareerPivot.com/Community.
Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast an honest review and subscribe! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, please go to
CareerPivot.com/review, and read the detailed instructions there.
Podcast Movement
Contact Marc, and ask questions at Careerpivot.com/contact-me
CareerPivot.com/Episode-56 Show Notes for this episode.
CareerPivot.com/Episode-45 Stan Siranovich interview
You can find Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast.
To subscribe from an iPhone: CareerPivot.com/iTunes
To subscribe from an Android: CareerPivot.com/Android
Twitter: @CareerPivot
LinkedIn: Marc Miller
Facebook: Career Pivot