Job Search and Ponytails

So I am going to stop apologizing for going so long between blog posts. The economy's in the crapper, we all have to work harder and longer and I wish I had more time to write blog posts but I don't, so for now I'm gonna be cool with my once a week schedule.

Today, I was thumbing through some magazine and I saw a title that has been used in June issues in the fashion industry for time immemorial "5 easy summer hairdos". Oooh lala. Now you have to understand that my hair defies all natural rules and laws of gravity. Easy? Hair? Never in the same sentence. But like a noob, I read the stupid article anyway (or at the least the 5 pictures of gorgeous women and the 10 words on each page). Of course, the ponytail was listed as a "foolproof" way to look "sleek and sophisticated" in the the "summer heat". Blech. Right, if you're Jennifer Aniston, Kate Moss or pretty much anyone except me. You don't see Macy Gray sporting a pony tail now do you?

It got me to thinking (yes I HAVE a point, go to other blogs if you want to read about the LONG tail, we're dissecting the ponytail up in here) that a lot of job search advice is exactly like that. The same 5-10 tired tips, repackaged, repurposed, recycled and dish... via webinar, powerpoint, blog posts and boot camps. The problem is NOT that those 5-10 tips aren't very good ones, the problem is that they don't work for everyone, especially the freaks. And since Chris Brogan (who is very smart and probably never has to worry about a ponytail because he is also, according to his Twitter avatar, very bald) brought up the book "The Outliers" today, I am thinking freaks are starting to become a more sought after commodity.

I love dishing out job advice and helping folks with their resumes, hooking them up with people that are hiring, and so on. And I think I could certainly do those things for my own livelihood if I had to (much like I could tame this ridiculous mane God gave me if given enough AquaNet and an iron) but are they really the right job search strategies for everyone? I don't think so.

That's why I get irritated with the constant "cover letter" debates and "job boards vs social media" hullabaloos. When it comes down to it, career search is a very personal thing. Yes, for some careers you need a cover letter, a resume, an employee referral and a three piece suit. For others, you need a great vlog post and pink striped hair (YES YOU DO). Not only are humans the ultimate variable, but jobs are being created that never existed before. What's the process for that? The answer is there is none. If there is a variable, you can apply a formula but the result will not be the same every time.

Things a job/career search is dependant on:

-Whether or not you want a job, a career or to hang out in your attic and write code.

-Your personality. Are you really cut out for a 23 step interview process? Can you deal with a loosey-goosey infrastructure?

-Season of life. If you're 23 with two kids and a brand spanking new degree, I'll just say now's not the time to get picky. However, with 20 years of progressive experience and some portfolio projects and metrics to point to, you can maybe choose to work from a yacht, maybe. Of course, that same 23 year old could travel the world liveblogging, while the 43 year old is stuck with the offspring's college obligations.

-Your hair. No seriously, when I was a "journalist" I wore my hair super curly, had an eyebrow and nose ring and wore men's button down shirts every day of my life. Now that I am a super dooper professional genius (it says that on my business card) my hair needs to be tamer and less likely to elicit SideShow Bob references.

-The industry. If you are headed for a marketing job in an investment firm, you need to look, act, be very different from the marketing person at a small graphic design firm right? Obviously, it stands to reason that your APPROACH needs to be different too.

-Bunches of other stuff.

But, and here comes my famous contradicting myself in the last paragraph of the post, as my mother always said, "Maren, you have to know the rules before you break them." I am pretty sure she was referring to learning to read music, which remains one of the most traumatic experiences of my life, but it applies to career mapping, job search and learning how to help those folks too.

Not sure it applies to ponytails though.