get a job……

About 1:00 a.m. the other night, Sam, a friend of my son Alex, showed up at my condo and sort of showed himself in.  He was looking for Alex.  Alex wasn’t in.  But, it seemed he wanted to talk.

Sam had heard of me.  He asked about my travel and was very curious.  He told me he was unemployed, and then he asked me a question about how to get a job, especially in this environment.  He said he was a father and divorced.  He really seemed mixed up.

I asked, “Do you really want a job?  Then, get a job.”  I paused for a minute and then asked, ” What have you done to get a job?”

He said he had applications out there.

That is when I told him the following.  “Don’t be a part of the stack.  Make it your job to get a job.  Get up in the morning, clean yourself up, put on your best clothes and show up.  Show up everyday.  Everyday, ask for the person who does the hiring.  Everyday, be the person they can’t live without.  Somebody will hire you out of self defense.  Showing up is the most important thing.”

“But, what if the only job I can get is McDonald’s?” I was asked.

“Be the best McDonald’s employee you can be.  Do more than the job requires.  Ask for more.  Show them you are more than the job they hired you for.  Be more than the job they hired you for.  Somebody will notice, if not at McDonald’s, a customer or client will notice.”

I’ve hired many people over my life.  I’ve hired them from all walks of life, a checker at a grocery store, a bartender, an unemployed meat cutter.  I hired them for jobs that needed skill sets they had, but didn’t know they had, skill sets that were obvious to me, but not to them. 

And, they all had one thing in common.  They wanted a chance and were willing.   And, they all overperformed the job they were in. 

Even though things are tough, 91 percent of the people out there do have jobs.  And, when you don’t have a job, you need to look inside yourself to find out what you need to do, why you are one of the nine percent, and how you can change that.

Blaming the economy isn’t the answer.  Blaming the factory that doesn’t exist anymore isn’t the answer.  Blaming your situation on somebody else isn’t the answer.  Don’t focus on what you don’t have.  Focus on what you do have.  The answer is inside you.

By the way, that unemployed meat cutter is now president of a multi-million company today.