HAPPY FALL 2024! Wow, back to school…a new exciting football season…and we’re still running our air conditioner 24/7. I can’t wait for October, a great month in Arkansas.

Reviewing the content of some of this issue’s articles, I thought I would give you some personal experience, and perhaps there’s a hint of wisdom in what I want to share. Lesson 1: It’s definitely easier to find a job when you already have one. It’s less stressful, and you’re negotiating from a much stronger situation.

Lesson 2: Network, network, network. I’ve been on the outside looking in four times over the past 52 years, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: Relationships are everything. The first three times resulted in a new position with a new employer, and it happened relatively quickly. Why? Because of who I knew and who knew me.

That leads to Lesson 3: You can spend a few hours a day online submitting your resume with a job application for 50+ jobs if it makes you feel like you’re at least doing something. I’ve done that, and it’s a bit like the old response rate for direct mail—you might hear from only 1 percent, and 75 percent of those are “no.” So while you’re doing that, I also suggest making a list. Write down the names of everyone who knows you—everyone. Prioritize them, and then start going to see them, or at least schedule a phone call. Make that your job. Rehearse your humble admission that you need a job, and ask them to introduce you to two or three people who don’t know you.

This human algorithm works—the more people who know you, and know you’re available, the closer you’ll be to getting a job offer. I know that from my own experience. That was the fourth time I was outside looking in, and that’s how it worked out, so to speak.

Don’t forget, too—for yourself, or for a friend—that Apprenticely is here to help.

Bill Yoder,
Executive Director