Looking out on the morning rain,
I used to feel so uninspired.
And when I knew I had to face another day,
Lord, it made me feel so tired.
Before the day I met you, life was so unkind,
                               But your love was the key to my peace of mind.
                                Aretha Franklin – “A Natural Woman”

Although the Queen of Soul first belted this hit over the airwaves more than three decades ago, its sentiments are as relevant now as they were then.  Today, every media vehicle teems with negatives.  Browser pages on our computers greet us each morning with news of natural disasters, violent crime, and the ever-sinking economy.  In such times, we grasp for and cling to encouragement wherever we may find it.  When truly fortunate, we are directed to something whose intrinsic worth is more far-reaching than immediate forms of respite and motivation.  Often, that “something” is a “someone:”  a role model.  Neophytes in business have dedicated mentors; sports figures have team captains and coaches.  While these are avenues and examples of traditional role models, we sometimes find our guiding lights through routes perhaps not as obvious as these.

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What separates job finders from job hunters often comes down to the techniques that they employ in their searches.  While most people are relatively passive about their job search – posting resumes on major job boards and responding to advertised and posted opportunities, some people go the extra mile.  They seek not merely to respond to published opportunities in the job market, but also to uncover opportunities that may or may not be advertised.

For those candidates who desire to be more proactive in their job searches but do not know where to begin, consider utilizing the following approach:

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Job seekers today can find themselves in the same predicament as the seven blind men asked to describe the elephant.  Touching the beast’s trunk, the first man exclaimed, “The elephant is shaped like a snake!”  Exploring the elephant’s leg, the second man argued, “No, the animal is like a tree.”  As the lack of consensus continued with the remaining men, not one of them was able to form an accurate picture of the elephant, because each had perceived the animal from his own limited perspective. 
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Consider this true story as told to us by one of our clients who, for the purposes of this article, we will refer to as Karl.  After two years of gainful employment with a major retail organization, highlighted by several sales achievement and customer service awards, Karl felt well prepared for career advancement.  When he broached this topic to upper management, he was told that he would be considered for a promotion when a suitable position opened.  A month later, the floor manager in Karl’s department tendered his resignation.  But when Karl once again approached the division manager, he learned that another employee was chosen to fill the position. Understandably perplexed, Karl asked to know the rationale behind this decision.  “If a customer has a problem and wants to speak with someone in charge,” the manager explained, “what am I supposed to do? Point to you and tell the customer to talk to that short man on the selling floor?”
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“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.  If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were.  Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee…” 
(John Donne, Meditation 17, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions)

The English poet John Donne expressed this sentiment almost four hundred years ago.  Yet, it seems particularly appropriate today.  Bad economic news abounds across the globe.  And, since domestic business in every nation is dependent upon global markets for significant portions of their revenues, the American sub-prime mortgage crisis has spawned a worldwide economic meltdown of epic proportions.

Recently, in the U.S., CitiBank announced plans to lay off more than 50,000 employees nationwide while senior executives of the three major domestic automobile manufacturers pleaded their cases before Federal legislators, desperate to obtain funding that would enable their corporations to stay afloat.  Added to the unprecedented federal bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, and AIG, these more recent developments indicate that as the “bell tolls” signaling layoffs and unemployment for millions of Americans, it also “tolls” an alarm for the rest of us who are still employed.
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“The Invisible Man” was a novella penned by H.G. Wells in 1897 and popularized to succeeding generations by the classic 1933 motion picture starring Claude Rains as Griffin, a scientist who develops an invisibility theory.  Griffin postulates that by changing a person’s refractive index to that of air, the subject’s body would neither absorb nor reflect light and, thereby, achieve a state of invisibility.  He ultimately uses this process on himself, attains invisibility, cannot return to a visible state, and, as a result, is driven to insanity.

You may be asking yourself, “what does this have to do with my job search?”  At first blush, one might discern no connection between the respective subject matter of the story and that of your job search.  The surprising answer, however, is “more than you can possibly imagine.”
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