Can we survive this doom and gloom?

Q: I'm sick and tired of the gloom and doom we have been hearing from the media in recent weeks: layoffs, red ink in corporate America, lower consumer confidence, and so on. In spite of all this, life goes on.

We know which companies are laying off. The question is: Who is hiring? I know better than to blanket corporate America with resumes. I'm just fed up with the gloomy headlines. I don't really have a job search question, but I sure could use some perspective. How do we get through these tough times?

NICK'S REPLY: I know that these are tough times, and I don't pretend otherwise. But I still have to earn a living -- just like you. My rule is to ignore the economic news and focus on my ability to produce revenue. Even in the worst of times, good companies (even those that are downsizing) hire good people.

I came to my office one day many years ago and read the news: My best client was laying off 2,000 workers! I called a manager for whom I recruited regularly. Before I could express my worries, he gave me yet another assignment -- a position to fill. I was stunned. My partner explained that just because companies downsize doesn't mean they're going out of business. Good companies continue to fill select positions because they're planning for the upturn. They also hire because they have to keep delivering products to their customers.

Many companies are busy reorganizing so they can stay in business. I think the key is to pick companies with healthy prospects that are shifting their attention to areas of work that will enable them to survive. Such companies are often found in business news reports about corporate renewal. That's where the jobs are. Pursue the most likely targets, not just the ones that advertise openings.

When you find them, don't ask for a job. Call the person you read about and ask for insights about his industry. Then ask how someone with your background can help his company. That's where a job interview starts.

THE HEADHUNTER TIP:

If you need skills, hire talent.

As a manager, are you managing talent or skills? Understanding the distinction could mean the difference between your success and failure. A person can be skilled at a specific task without having the talent necessary to learn new skills to do new tasks. The talented worker, however, can acquire new skills to tackle new projects.

In many cases it's cheaper and less time-consuming to let a talented employee learn to do a new task than to find, interview and hire someone who already has the necessary skill. It can also be more cost-effective to hire someone who lacks specific skills but is talented enough to ride a fast learning curve. You could hire people with specific skills and deploy them to get a job done. The best managers hire talent rather than skills, because when you have talent on your team, you can develop all the skills you need.

Copyright 2008. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate

Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job" and the host of www.asktheheadhunter.com. He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.