Employers Want Holes, Not Employees

No business person I know wakes up one morning and says, "We need more employees." Yet, even in this bad economy, businesses are hiring people. Why? A common question we ask in the job search is, "What is this company looking for?"

Many years ago I was at a sales conference where I was asked a simple question. "Why does a person buy a drill?" In discussing the answer, we came to the conclusion that people don't buy drills because they want a drill. They buy drills because they want holes. The drill they choose represents the solution to two needs - the size of the hole and the material through which the aforementioned hole must be drilled.

Employers are the same. A business discovers a need. It needs to accomplish some task to be more profitable. That's why it decides to hire a new employee. Businesses never want to just add people. They want to add solutions to needs they have in the marketplace.

All through your interview, and even in your cover letters, keep in mind the question, "What is the need this company is trying to fill and how do I offer them the opportunity to best fill it? What are the obstacles they're trying to bore through?" Your experience highlights and emphasized qualifications should be tailored to what the business needs. Show them you can help them with that need and you'll stand out from people who are just looking for jobs.

Explain how you are the drill that has the features to get them the holes they need, through whatever is in their way, and you'll quickly find yourself in the company tool box.

“The Valleys of Unemployment”

An internet poem, author unknown, rewritten by Len M. Allen, 

I do not always understand,

why things happen as they do,
But one thing I am sure of,

My Lord will see me through.

Sometimes my life is hard to take
full of sorrows, trials, and woe.
It’s then that I remember.

It’s in the valleys that I grow!

My valleys seem so very small
when I see Christ upon the cross.
He endured that cost of pain for me,

His victory, Satan’s loss.

His grace and mercy are all I need

to handle every blow,
I thank Him for my need to pray,
“Lord! It’s in the valleys that I grow!”

"If I always stayed on mountain tops

and never had the pain,
I’d never learn to trust in You

and never peace attain.

Forgive me Lord, for doubting

when I’m feeling very low.
Just give me a reminder

it’s in the valleys that I grow!”

“So please, provide me with your strength,
and use my life each day,
To share your love with others,

and help them find their way.

You know I have so much to learn
and my growth is very slow.
I always pray for mountain tops,
but it’s in the valleys that I grow!”

“You’ve given me the comfort

that has helped me really live
Now I pass it on to others

so they too can freely give.

Thank you for the valleys Lord,

for this one thing I know.
The mountain tops are glorious
but it’s in the valleys that I grow!”

Unemployed? Did you get the Memo?

We all have experiences in our lives that seem extreme or difficult. God allows us to wander in wildernesses - sometimes of our own making, sometimes not. Whether we have lost our jobs because of the bad economy, company restructuring, or some fault of our own, we can find ourselves out in the circumstance of unemployment, a place of loneliness, confusion, doubt, and fear - a wilderness of emotion and dryness of spirit.

I've been a follower of Jesus Christ for over forty years. Like the people of Israel I've wandered in a wilderness of testing and trials, often as a result of my own actions. I've been unemployed for three significant periods in my career. The longest of these was twenty-five months in duration. During those many months of calling out to God and trying to walk through the experience in dependent fellowship with Him, I learned a lot about myself and my own faith. And I learned a lot about the Lord and what He expected from me on the long and lonely road through unemployment.

I knew God was totally able to find me a new job and connect me with the perfect person to move me into that opportunity. If He could speak the cosmos into existence He could blink a new job into existence without breaking a sweat. But He didn't. Why? I spent many, many hours in prayer and searching the scriptures for answers.

I wanted God to speak to me and explain what He was doing and what He wanted from me. Then one day I was speaking with a Christian friend and discussing my situation. I said, "I wish God would just send me a memo explaining what's going on." And I realized He had done just that. His word, the Bible, is a memo of the most complete kind.

They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region; 

They did not find a way to an inhabited city. 

They were hungry and thirsty; Their soul fainted within them. 

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; 

He delivered them out of their distresses. 

He led them also by a straight way, To go to an inhabited city. 

Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness, 

And for His wonders to the sons of men! 

For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, 

And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good. 

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;

He saved them out of their distresses. 

He sent His word and healed them, 

And delivered them from their destructions. 

Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, 

And for His wonders to the sons of men! 

Psalm 107:4-9,19-21 (New American Standard Bible Updated)

Verse twenty, above, says God sent His word and I had it open in front of me all during my own wilderness wandering through unemployment. I just needed to read it with hungry eyes and an open heart and God would speak to me through its pages. God has "an inhabited city" for each of us in the form of a job. All we must do is follow where His word leads to discover all that God, in His lovingkindness towards us, has for us.

I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. 

I have put my hope in his word. 

Psalm 130:5 (New Living Translation)

“I’m Unemployed And I Don’t Know What To Do”

It’s so easy to be overwhelmed. When we’re out of work, we’re like an egg in a vise. The pressure builds and builds until it feels like the egg will crack. It’s hard to think straight... hard to concentrate on writing a resume… even hard to get up every morning.

What’s wonderful is that God understands pressure. He knows all the things you need and all the things you think you need.

As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.

Psalm 119:143 (New Living Translation)

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!"

Matthew 6:7-8 (NLT)

He also knows exactly how to provide peace in tough situations.

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.

So don’t be troubled or afraid."

John 14:27 (NLT)

But, He never forces you to be at peace. He waits. He works the circumstances. He may even allow things to get tougher so that we realize we can’t do it on our own and that we need Him to intercede.

This is the situation in which the Bible’s King Jehoshaphat found himself. He was surrounded by a vast enemy force. That sounds just like my daily situation during unemployment. Then, he prays to God and his prayer is very simple. It is specifically the prayer we should each be praying every day.

…, “Whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, plague,

or famine, we can come to stand in your presence before this Temple where your name is honored.  We can cry out to you to save us, and you will hear us and rescue us.”

2 Chronicles 20:9 (NLT)

“O our God, won’t you stop them?

We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us.

We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.”

2 Chronicles 20:12 (NLT)

If I turn my eyes away from all my troubles and focus on God as my holy confidence, He knows what to do. Go see your pastor and ask him to pray with you. You’ll be amazed at God’s answer.

…“This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid!

Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army,

for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

2 Chronicles 20:15 (NLT)

God fights for you. Wow! That’s what we all need in our job search. Now, I’m not talking about treating God like an ATM – put your prayer in and out pops just what you ask for. But look to God. Ask Him to help you draw closer to Him, depend on Him, and trust in Him. He’ll come through for you. That’s what He does.