The Hired Guns Blog

Dearest Guns,

Here at The Hired Guns, I love ending the year with an offer letter going out to a deserving Gun — that just happened about five minutes ago.

This candidate did what seemed impossible: against all odds, she got hired in December. She did it by being extremely patient and a smart negotiator. She’s getting to go on her holiday break with a deal in hand and a great new job for January. And as her agents, we had her back.

I don’t know about you, but I find it deeply distressing that these days hardly anyone seems to have the back of the American worker. Congress was supposed to extend the payroll tax cut that would put a few extra greenbacks in our wallets and extend the number of weeks of benefits to our unemployed brethren. That didn’t happen.

Six months ago, Congress basically killed job creation with its brinksmanship during the days leading up to the debt downgrade. This basically brought hiring to its knees. See a pattern developing?

At times like these, it’s easy to feel helpless, to throw up your hands, and say, “There’s nothing I can do.” But there’s where you’re wrong. You can do something.

The Hired Guns community is filled with folks who refuse to sit around waiting for other people to fix our pain. We fix it ourselves by innovating. By looking for the white space that others ignore.  We solve problems.

Working on “job creation” may sound daunting, but as someone who helps people get jobs every day, I can say that it is a game of inches that improves with great focus. And so as I close this year, I’d like to invite you to participate in a project.

Here’s what I’m proposing: whether you yourself have a job or not, I want you to turn to help a friend or colleague in need and help him or her get their career on track and land a new job. Don’t over-commit: just pick one person whom you can stick with.  Just one. It could be an unemployed uncle, a friend at a career crossroads, a recent grad from your alma mater. It really doesn’t matter. But I want you to choose … someone.

It’s about giving of your time, not your money. You can coach, you can hook them up with networking contacts, you can rewrite their LinkedIn Profile. Just start. And then I want you to stick with them during the job search straight on through to the moment they get hired.  Trust me, this will start out about being all about the person you chose to help, but you’ll grow in ways you can’t imagine in the process.

OK, the sticklers out there will say this isn’t technically “job creation”, that somebody would have gotten those jobs with or without your help or ours.  But by getting people we’re connected to into the mix, we’re helping them, and we’re increasing the chances that the best person will land the job.  Best of all, instead of feeling helpless, you’ll feel like you’re doing something. You’ll make an impact.

If you’re up for this challenge, simply go to our Facebook page and write a post saying that you’re in.

When you find someone to sponsor, let us know. And when you help that person land a new job, share your experience.  And we’ll write about it too.

If you need a sponsor or would like to sponsor someone, email us at jobjam2012@thehiredguns.com (we’ve been known to be pretty good at the matchmaking thing).

When I started The Hired Guns nearly twelve years ago, I wanted to shape a community that would look out for each other.

I can’t think of a better way to end the year — and start a new one off right.

Have a great holiday!

Ally