Job Seeker Persona - An Example

Persona

A quick check on synonyms for persona, returns ...

• character
• guise
• role
• personality
• qualities
• part
• façade
• front

Taking each in the context of searching for a job and the job seeker herself, I could say - 

Character - the character you become

Guise - the guise you take on

Role - the role you play

Personality - the personality you project

Qualities - the qualities you demonstate

Part - the part you memorize

Facade - the facade you create

Front - the front you present

Actual client example

Twenty year old female college student in need of summer employment (and hopefully part time during the upcoming school year) with two areas of interest. First, working in retail customer service or sales where she has experience. Second, working in a general business front office environment (clerical, reception, admin assistance) where she also has experience. Location is important because she uses public transportation (bus) to and from school and work. She has decided to concentrate first on a large upscale retail area located near her home. She has a resume for each category.

Persona

When it comes to searching for front-of-the-store retail positions walking in and introducing herself is critical. If it's a big name outfit, she may have already completed their application online. If not, she's prepared to do it on the spot or later at home. Either way, she carries her resume, ready to hand to the manager. All well and good. But want about persona?

I think the most important part of a walk-in is determining if she "fits" - which means, if she were to ask a perfect stranger if, on balance, her age, gender, and general "look" seemed to fit the store and the other employees, what would be the answer? 

If no, then she may have zero chance of working there. If yes, she proceeds boldly ahead. If the response is maybe, well this required more info to determine if there's a fit. To do this she enters the store as if a customer. She looks around, she gets a feel. The whole purpose is to determine what it is she needs to do to tweak her persona to fit in. Or not. She may decide right then and there it's not the place for her. No tweaking required. She moves on.

If fitting in is most important (* see below) then determining what drives success in the position is next most important. Again, we are dealing with front-of-the-store retail positions. The client has experience in retail customer service-centric and sales-centric work. Her persona (character, guise, role, personality, qualities, part, facade, front) needs to align with either a customer experience focus or a sales focus. She has been taught to determine this by how she is greeted and what the manager initially says. She gets it. She sees her persona, just like her general approach, as something she is able to modify in order to achieve her Job Search Objective.

All this happens fast. The "doing" of this approach starts with preparation of her (flexible) persona. Once done, it's all about showing up and executing. Quick, fast, to the point. It won't take her long.

Perhaps best of all for someone with a long career ahead, she's the one setting things in motion, taking the initiative to adjust her persona to fit the environment and situation. This is a valuable tool in her tool bag and one she can expect to use many times in the years ahead.

* fitting in - She needs to be seen as someone that fits in. Of course she will actually have to fit in (at least to a degree) once hired, however her first concern is getting her toe in the door. If she's viewed as not right or not a fit, no need to worry about anything beyond that.

Travel well.

John Jeffrey Lundell

Free Agent Watch - Coal

Beginning with this blog entry I am introducing a new posting category, Free Agent Watch. These postings will highlight news stories and events that provide real examples of how the work environment in the US continues to Free Agent-ize, which is to say, become less collective and more individualistic with reference to workers. The result is a new and evolving job search environment, one that many job seekers are finding difficult to navigate.

Social commentary is not my intent, nor is it to champion the cause of any particular interest group. Doing so would be counterproductive to my goal, which is to assist job seekers in awaking to the fact that they are independent Free Agents competing in the Marketplace. I take my lead on this from the Marketplace which has no stake in any particular issue or participant. In effect, it has no skin in the game because it is the playing field and the game rolled into one.

Actually this is't entirely true for me as I do have vicarious client-skin in the game. My role is to operate from the sidelines as coach and strategist. I try, before the game begins, to prepare individuals for what lies ahead. This starts with an objective view of the field of play ... the unfeeling, uncaring, Marketplace. Participating groups and individuals are best served by seeing it this way. Owners and real decision makers understand this as do some workers. However for many workers, concepts such as fairness and entitlement have a way of showing up, clouding objectivity and compromising strategy.

A word about my use of the word, worker. By worker I mean everyone that is paid for the service they provide. In most cases this means employees who provide service (regardless of their job descriptions) to their employers in exchange for a paycheck. It also refers to actual independent contractor-type providers of service. In short, nearly all those working in the US.

Okay so you get it. A job seeker has to gear up for the game and this involves coming to grips with the where-and-how of the game. But here's the rub. The overall landscape is changing rapidly - for all participants. What seemed solid not that long ago has been plowed under regardless of which end zone you're cheering for.


With all that, here's the first installment of Free Agent Watch. It's a story from coal country. The players, Peabody Energy Corp., Patriot Coal Corp., the UMWA, and the courts. Click on each and read the linked articles.

Surely those represented by the UMWA are feeling a bit more free agent-like than they may have a few years back. The whole story is yet to play out as another marketplace of sorts is present, the courts. Nonetheless this story is another example of the changing economic landscape, not only for the workers but the companies involved too.

Stay tuned for more Free Agent Watch entries. Until then ..

Travel well.
John Jeffrey Lundell

Displaced Workers

A few weeks back an NPR report on labor displacement in the homebuilding industry caught my attention. The report provides a clear and easy to understand example how the process works.

Professional CAD system

Labor displacement is an economic term defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as: workers 20 years of age and older who lost or left their jobs because their plant or company closed down or moved, or there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished.

I know, economics - god love you if you are still interested and continue to read. Nonetheless for an overview of how the BLS reports on this material, read Marut Tasci's (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland research economist) article, Displaced Workers and the Great Recession. Mr. Tasci does a nice job of making the statistical part of this subject digestible.

Both reports touch on an extremely important subject. Change in the labor market. Of course there is always change and when we forget this there are problems. Just ask some of the transition UAW workers, individuals still working in the auto manufacturing industry that were there back in the day. They, and others like them are retiring out or moving on, but not without having to deal with profound change.

But don't get me wrong, I am not taking sides at least not at ground level. I do believe the digital revolution has and is causing a paradigm shift, but this is hardly new news. Still personal stories coming out of all of this can be overwhelming. They are clearly under-appreciated by policy makers where pressing economic/budgetary realities make consensus on social safety nets and mental health support systems,  practically nonexistent. Something akin to micro economic depression is upon us (well the majority of us anyway). Workers of all types know there's a lot "off" with the way things are, yet don't have the time or resources to stop the merry-go-round long enough to deal with what ails them.

A Rust Belt reminder 

Where we go next as a nation concerns me greatly. At the moment we are struggling with profound workforce issues. Education (access, cost, type) and the role of government in (workforce) education is a major part of my concern.

The company presented in the NPR report has become far more efficient (not by hiring a slew of highly educated workers, rather by employing the products of such) enabling them to do more with less. Data from Mr. Tasci's article shows that a hefty percentage of displaced workers returning to work are doing so with earnings discounted 20 percent. We can infer they didn't have the right skill-set or education, that they had to settle. The economy won't see any of the missing 20 percent any time soon. In fact, there's a downward multiplier effect as family budgets get tighter and less of what remains is spent on things other than necessities.  

It's a leaner and meaner Marketplace and I expect lots of Great Recession analysis will be forthcoming. In the meantime, business has long since moved on.

What about you?

Is it apparent to you that you are a Free Agent worker, completely responsible for your own career path, re-training and education?

Travel well.
John Jeffrey Lundell