Surveyed HR and Training Executives Unsure How to Apply Diversity

Surveyed HR and Training Executives Unsure How to Apply Diversity, reported by Kim R Wells, on his blog, Professional Edge:

According to a recent article by Kathy Gurchiek in Society of Human Resource Management's HR News, putting diversity into practice has been a challenge for many firms. For many of you young professionals looking to access and advance in today's top corporations this may be of interest to you.

According to the article, organizations are increasingly committed to diversity in their workforce, but one-fourth of more than 2,000 senior HR and training executives polled are unsure how to apply it and leverage its benefits; a conclusion based on findings by the Boston-based Novations Group, a global consulting organization that commissioned the Internet survey of 2,046 workers conducted in February 2007.

Kim Wells is a regular columnist and blogger for IMDiversity and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN, as well as a business consultant and Career Services Director at Howard University.

Book: Secrets of the Hidden Job Market

Getting That Dream Job Is Almost As Easy As Changing Your Mind, New Book Says

This forwarded by the Author:

"If you’re job hunting and tired of not getting hired, chances are it’s your
thinking that’s the problem, according to Janet White, author of Secrets of the
Hidden Job Market: Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dreams. "A primer on using the Law of Attraction, Secrets explains how job seekers’ negative thoughts unintentionally attract the things they don’t want – like a difficult, frustrating job search and its related problems – and how they can intentionally use positive thoughts to attract what they really want – like the job of their dreams."

The book's main argument is that the “Traditional System” of job hunting -- help wanted ads, job fairs, etc. -- can in some cases actually work against jobseekers, making their job searches unnecessarily difficult, complicated and frustrating. White argues instead for following a “Contrarian System,” combining "common sense, sound business judgment and an understanding of basic human psychology".

We're still reviewing the book, and would like to ask the author for more input about her approach. We'll post any follow up here and on the Career Center.

Obviously, we're a little biased: In our company's 35-plus years of publishing and recruitment experience, we have observed that technology or communications systems by themseleves are neither going to win nor lose a job for a jobseeker. These are vehicles for learning about opportunities, and connecting jobseekers to employers who may have a need to hire them and be enticed (or "attracted" in White's view) to contact them. Only the jobseeker can win or lose the battle to convert those opportunities into fulfilling employment.

At the same time, we see first-hand every day illustrations of Secrets' premise that "a job seeker’s feelings, beliefs and assumptions determine how easy or difficult it will be for them to land their dream job, even before they take the first step."

What jobs people look for, what methods they use to look for them, how they prepare to apply for them and then follow up on opportunities to zero in, and how they otherwise approach the whole elaborate dance of the application process likely has a great deal to with their psychological state, determination, clarity of purpose, confidence, diligence and creativity. For those who have been beaten down by a long string of unsatisfactory job searches and application dead-ends, Secrets of the Hidden Job Market may offer some tips to help clarify your goals, and the inspiration to re-start and turbo charge your pursuit of not just a job, but your "Dream Job".

As always, we welcome those who've read and used the book's techniques to let us know what you think.