Play to Win

We had two 63-year old O’Farrell clients accept job offers this week. Both offers were in their area of expertise. And both were near their fair market value. One is a six-figure job; it took almost seven months to land that position. The other was less than four months, and that included taking February off to visit her daughter in Africa.

Both clients had something in common: they job-searched despite the dire headlines. Here is a report from yesterday, 23 April 2020: “The number of Americans filling for unemployment benefits was 4.427 million last week, bringing the total reported over the past five weeks to over 26 million, equivalent to 16% of the labor force.”

Remember: All you need is ONE job. You don’t need 26 million jobs. The unemployment rate in your home might be as high as 100% right now. It’s your job to solve that problem. You’ve got to play to win.

Many of you are hyper-focused on cutting expenses. Good idea; nothing wrong with that. In addition to reducing expenses, get focused on increasing income. When you solve your income problem, your expense problem improves dramatically. If you are really looking for work, contact me. I can help.

Do yourself and your family a favor: don’t sit around waiting for the economy to bounce back. Fast forward to several months from now when you are asked why you have been looking so long. How does this sound? “I was sitting back collecting those awesome unemployment benefits.”

This week I’ve been thinking about a slogan we use on the O’Farrell Career Management website and in other media. It’s what the two clients above did. It is my message to all of you today:

Get off the sidelines. Get back in the game. Play to win.

Impressive PowerPoints 😎

John Zhu

Dave’s service is marvelous! While I worked for my previous employer for about 13 years, I learned much more in just two months from O’Farrell’s outplacement service including a professional résumé revision and interview training. His PowerPoint presentations are the most impressive I have ever seen.

He opened the door of hope when I fell to despair from my previous employer’s workforce reduction. Thank you very much! I sincerely recommend him to anyone who needs help.

New position. Higher salary.

Chris Martin

Dave helped me tremendously when I was laid off from work unexpectedly in late 2017. He worked with me to update my résumé (remotely and in office) and his weekly interview training sessions helped me to secure interviews with multiple companies.

He was very encouraging and helpful during a time where I was completely lost! Thanks to his assistance I was able to secure a new position with a higher salary! Dave really cares about his clients, and I would recommend his career services to everyone!

Top 25 Employers According to LinkedIn Survey

What are the most sought-after jobs in America, and what makes them so desirable? Today, LinkedIn released its list of the 2017 Top Companies in the country. “This is a list of companies where we know people want to work,” said Dan Roth, LinkedIn Editor in Chief, during an interview on CNBC.

The 50 organizations were selected based on analysis of data from LinkedIn’s 500M+ members. “Many of the companies on the list…are brands we know, like, and often even love,” says Business Journalist, Suzy Welch. “This is not where people like to work, it’s where they yearn to work.”

So what are the qualities of these most desirable companies? Some are predictable – flexible work hours, a diverse workforce, innovative office environments, generous family leave and vacation time (many even have dog-friendly offices).

But Roth says there’s something more in the data. “What we see constantly is that people want to work at places where they can take on hard problems.”

Jobseekers are looking for opportunities to learn new ways of thinking and address important issues and causes. Today’s workers want to be part of something significant and challenging. And the companies they yearn to work for are those where they can collect experiences to push them to the next level in their career.

To learn more:
The 25 hottest companies in America, according to LinkedIn
LinkedIn’s top companies of 2017 reveal what employees really want
LinkedIn Top Companies 2017: Where the world wants to work now

The top 25 companies on the LinkedIn list:

25 – Capital One
Diversified banking company
24 – Adobe
Global leader in digital media/marketing solutions
23 – Stryker
Global medical technology company
22 – BlackRock
Investment firm and the world’s largest asset manager
21 – JLL
Professional services and investment management firm with a focus on real estate
20 – JPMorgan Chase & Co.
A leading global financial services firm
19 – Visa
Global payments technology company
18 – CBRE
The world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm
17 – Twitter
Social media platform available in over 35 languages with 316 million monthly active users
16 – Under Armour
Producer of specialized performance athletic apparel
15 – Workday
A leading provider of financial management, human capital management, and analytics applications
14 – Dell Technologies
An end-to-end computing solutions company
13 – McKinsey & Company
Global management consulting firm
12 – Netflix
The world’s leading Internet television network
11 – Airbnb
A community marketplace for individuals to list and book unique accommodations around the world
10 – Comcast
A global media and technology company
9 – The Walt Disney Company
Entertainment company producing films, television, sports coverage and theme park attractions
8 – Time Warner
Global leader in media and entertainment including television networks, film, and TV
7 – Apple
Pioneer in personal technology including computers, phones, software applications and platforms
6 – Tesla
Producer of electric vehicles and renewable energy generation and storage
5 – Uber
A transportation network company that operates car and food delivery mobile apps
4 – Salesforce
Producer of social and mobile cloud technologies
3 – Facebook
Social media and social networking service with 1.9 billion users each month
2 – Amazon
An electronic commerce and cloud computing company offering merchandise and entertainment to clients around the world
1 – Alphabet
Parent company of Google, a multinational technology company specializing in internet services and products

Proven Process

Sadik Habach

Super proud of Sadik. He came through his transition process with flying colors. This is a note he wrote to his HR director to say “thanks.”

– – – – –

I would like to take a moment to share with you my experience with O’Farrell Career Management for the last few months and how much they have helped me as outplacement consultants during my separation process.

They are professionals with many years of experience. The have a proven process to prepare professionals in identifying strengths and opportunities about their careers when phasing out of the difficult situation of being unintentionally separated from an employer. Dave and Stephannie cover with their process all the necessary areas including résumé preparation, market exploration, networking and behavioral interviewing, among others. All these areas really work, based on my own recent experience!

On the personal side, Dave is always there to talk to you about the program and any difficult situations you may be facing. He is a well-prepared career coach and a really nice guy. I’d encourage you to continue relying on his services when you need an outplacement consultant again.

Thanks for your time. Have a great day!

– Sadik Habach