The Most Important Skill in finding a job or more work

Good morning, everybody. How you guys doing? I am waiting for David to put the slide up. There you go. This slide says, "What is the truth?" And this is the only slide that I've used more than once in all my 50 talks, and I think this is the third time. And the truth is, it's not supposed to be in this slide deck. I forgot to change my beginning slide when I sent it to Dave, and I noticed it last night. I said, well, that's going to be a good opening topic to tell the truth that I didn't mean to have that there. I like to start out with a Bible verse to kind of guide my thoughts when I'm creating my talk. And so what I do is I go through and I search one, and when it kind of strikes me, I say, okay, that's what I'll build around. And I saw this one, Philippians 2:14, "Do everything without grumbling or arguing." Would you join me in a quick prayer? Father God, thank you for today and for these leaders that are in the room. We are all leaders and we need to remember that as we go through our day. And Lord, we hope that you will give us the tools to recognize our leadership and our responsibility in such. Lord, as we go through the day and in my talk today, I hope that I would speak to the the things that you would want spoken to these people, that the message that I would share would be your message. It would land just at the right time on willing ears and open hearts. In your name we pray. Amen. So I, I have read the whole Bible. I don't know that I understand the whole Bible. I think that's why you got to keep reading it, right? But, um, I don't remember this particular verse, and there are a lot of them that you do remember, right? I mean, and I think it's because they're kind of ground into us. But this particular verse kind of struck me because I've been kind of going through a period where I've been doing a lot of grumbling. And if you're looking for a job and things are not going your way, you're probably doing a lot of grumbling. And grumbling leads to arguing. Now, the context for this particular verse is in, in the church itself. It's, it's about doing the Lord's work within the church and to do so without arguing or grumbling amongst the family of faith. But just like every other great Bible verse, and they're all great, it's really easy to take that and apply it to something else in life. And so that's what I'm going to do today, and hopefully it'll be powerful for you. Most of you, if I were to ask you the question right now, you would say, do you have any idea how hard it is to It's hard to find a job. Really, right? I mean, it's hard. Sure, it's hard. You know, it's interesting because I've spoken here over the past 9— I guess 9 years now, and every kind of economy has happened during that. Do you know that everybody sitting in this room has always told me it's hard to find a job? It doesn't matter if the economy is good, bad, indifferent, it's just hard to find a job. And what's really interesting is, is that for those past 9 years, every single time I've been here, I have said, I'm a business owner, I'm hiring all the time, and I've never once had anybody ask me for a job. Even though it's hard to find a job. They don't even know what I'm offering, and nobody's ever asked me until last time. Last time I spoke here was a couple months ago. I got a phone call right afterwards from David Brackman. And David said, "I heard what you said. I want to come talk to you about a job." And this morning David's working over in my plant. He is working for me. He's great. Woo-hoo! Yep. Been working 25, 30 hours a week. Wanted to only work 20, but we like him and he likes us. And so you got to be open to what's possible. Really, it is very difficult to find a job. And really the reason it's so hard to find a job is because there's lots of jobs. And you don't want a job. You want your job. And that's one change in the look that I think you might wanna take is don't be looking for a job, be looking for your job. Because when it's right, you'll know it, they'll know it, and it'll be very, very easy. This is an important slide that I want you to take a look at because this right here is the August unemployment rate in the United States of America? 3.7%. That should not be encouraging to you because you're part of the 3.7%. Mm-hmm. Right? Right? Yeah. Okay. But if that is the case, does that not mean that if you look everywhere, employers are hiring? It should be very encouraging to you because the opportunities are there if you'll just look for them in the right place. And the jobless rate being low means that there are fewer people looking for jobs. Now, I will tell you this, the other side of that is, is that people are also very quick to change. So, you know, that job that you're looking for and you're saying, well, everybody else is employed in this field, no, they're employed, but they're They're also looking. And that's the bad news for you guys because they're looking too. The people that are employed are already looking too. The good news is, is that you have an advantage they don't have. You're doing it full-time. They're not. And let me tell you, a full-timer with a little bit of skill and a little bit of technique and a little bit of tips from Dave and the others here will beat a part-timer every single time. So the fact that there is a low jobless rate is good news for you because that means that there are needs out there right now. And if you will merely find them and focus your search, I think you'll find it'll be pretty easy. Most people say that, you know, there aren't any jobs to be had also, but there's 7.1 million jobs open in America. That's Washington Post, October 16th. So that's not old data. That's, you know, like in the past 2 weeks. 7.1 million jobs open and you don't have one of them. Why? I mean, it's a serious question. Why don't you have one of them? We weren't the right fit. You weren't the right fit. Okay. I mean, that's, you know, it limits Apple. Okay, so now there's only 3.6 million that you're the right fit for, right? I mean, I, I— why don't you have one of those jobs? Venezuela. Don't want to— it's in the— it's in America. Well, I guess, I guess technically Venezuela isn't in the Americas, right? I think they were talking about the United— and we could argue whether California is actually in America or not. We won't do that today, okay? We don't want to offend any of our friends from California. Don't want to relocate. Yeah, I got a message the other day from somebody that said that they have an outstanding candidate for me who lives in Greenville, South Carolina. Okay, so maybe we don't want to relocate. See, the one thing you have to remember is when you're looking for a job and things aren't going your way, don't forget that you've chosen some of the reasons why they're not going your way. I do not— I choose not to move. Perfect, that's fine. Some of us don't want to change our lifestyle. I choose not to take a job that's not exactly in my field. Fine, perfect. But don't think there are no jobs. Don't think there is no opportunity. And I know what most people say is, yeah, but all they're hiring are low-paying people, low-paying wages. I can tell you this about what people are paying. People are paying more than they ever have because they can't fill the jobs they've got. And you can look at— I mean, for example, here's a terrible example because he just got cut, but Matt Bryant, the kicker of the Falcons, Right? They cut him because they were trying to save a little bit of money and figured he's at the end of his career. They hired Giorgio Tavecchio or whatever his name was. He couldn't hit the broadside of a barn in preseason. So they have to pay Matt Bryant more money to come back, and then they cut him again and still pay him. Okay? Employers are desperate. I'm paying $4 an hour more than I was paying 7 months ago. Because you just can't find people to take work for the same employer, right? For the exact— oh, actually, no, for a lesser employee. Minimum wage in this town is $11 an hour. That's what minimum wage is. Now you— and what you're unfortunately doing is you're hiring people at $11 an hour who are minimum wage workers in mentality. They have, they have no skills. They haven't, they haven't learned how to work in the workforce. All of those things. You have a tremendous opportunity and a tremendous advantage. Don't squander it. You've got great experience. You have skills that you can offer, and people need you to fill those jobs. Don't miss out on this. So here's one question that I ran across when I was looking at it. I forgot I put this slide in there. Is it a sin to grumble? Is it? Because from what I read, it was— I read all the, all the, you know, pastors that, you know, have commentaries on all these. Every Bible verse, you can find 100 pastors that have commentaries. Every one of them say it's a sin to grumble and complain. I didn't grow up in the church. My grandfather was a pastor, but I didn't really grow up in the church. But my knowledge of the church is, hey, if you're breathing, you're probably sinning. You're probably sinning. It's likely. Yeah. And, and if you, if you, if you didn't think you were, that's a sin too. So yeah, I mean, don't get down on yourself because you're a little discouraged. Okay, don't get down on yourself because you're discouraged. Discouragement happens in life. Okay. I don't know if it's a sin or not. That's between you and your God. But I just think that if you start thinking that you're defective because you're down or discouraged, that's just going to make it harder. So what happens to you when you grumble and complain? You're out trying to find a job. Things aren't going your way. What happens to you? You get depressed. You get down on yourself. You get down on yourself, get depressed, start kicking yourself. And not only that. A lot of people go, well, this isn't worth it. I'm just going to stop. You know what? Maybe, maybe what I need to do— I'm really in a bad place today, you know, mentally. I'm just not there. I probably need to take today off. Dude, you already got the day off. You're fired, right? Or you quit or whatever. You're already off. You can't take the day off from being off. Okay, there is no taking the day off when you're when you're looking for work? Okay, you just can't. Okay, what happens to the people around you? Pardon? They're still going. They're still going, but what happens to them when you're grumbling and complaining? You're down. You don't want to be around them. They don't want to be around you, do they? And what do you need most right now? Positive. You need support. You need people around you who are on your team And let me tell you, it's sad, but I know what it's like because I've been there. When you're not working and somebody else is, and, you know, that's close to you, I mean, it's almost like, hey, you know, keep your distance. It's like you got a cold. I don't want to touch anything you've touched because, man, I might get what you've got, you know, unemployment. And it's hard. It's very, very hard. And you're responsible for the reflection you're getting from the other people. You are. Because if you're not getting the total support of the people who love you most, if they're not backing you 100% and positively reinforcing you every single minute of every single day, that's your fault. You've taught them not to do that because you aren't being positive. Because you're not enthusiastic about the search. And let me tell you, I know it's hard. I know it's hard. But you've got to be the mirror that you want to see. So I did pull this because I thought it was interesting. You can't read any of it, but in 2020 and 2015, the skills that were needed are very, very similar. They may be reassigned to different categories, But most of them are all people skills, and the ones that aren't are skills that you can learn. But I don't know that I'd spend a whole lot of time right now learning a new skill for 2020, because what you really need is a new skill, if there is going to be one, for 2030. But if you look, you've got complex problem solving as the number one thing. I have great news for you. Finding a job is one of the most complex problems you'll ever have to solve. So if somebody says, "How are you at problem solving?" Great, I'll prove it when you hire me. Because I'm here right now. I've solved the problem of getting in front of you. So all of these skills are important, but I want to know to you, I'm going to ask everyone here, what's the number one skill you need to get a job? Anybody? Networking. Persistence. Persistence. Faith. Faith. All excellent. Desire. Desire. Attitude. Attitude. Attitude. In my opinion, the number one skill you must have is attitude. This is a quote from Earl Nightingale: "A great attitude is not the result of success. Success is the result of a great attitude." If you don't have a good attitude, I have news for you. Everyone feels it. Not just you. Everyone feels your lousy attitude. Yeah. And nothing you can do can hide it. But I have great news for you. This same man right here, Earl Nightingale, who that quote is from, also introduced me to another quote from James Allen. And I don't— I'm going to paraphrase because I know it won't be perfect, but James Allen was the father of American psychology, and he said that the greatest discovery of the human endeavor has been that we can change our situation by changing our attitudes of mind. I saw this sign 30 years ago. I wish I could remember where it was from because I never knew that I would adopt it. But we are always hiring positive, happy people. I remember I used to have a saying, and it was, "If the number one salesman for IBM comes into my company and wants a job selling, I don't know how I'll hire him, but he's got a job." Because I do know this: you don't become the number one salesperson at IBM without having a great attitude, without having the ability to encounter people where they are and to uplift them and make them feel better about themselves, because that is what selling is. Selling is nothing more and nothing less than a transfer of enthusiasm. So here's my challenge for you today. You are all in sales. You're out selling you, and if you're going to sell you, then you need to transfer the enthusiasm you have for you to the hiring agent that you're in front of. No. Now that shouldn't be hard. It really shouldn't be, as long as you forget one thing: you're not unemployed. You're really not. Every day you're still who you were when you had a job. So you are exactly still the same person. You have not been— you're not damaged goods. You're not somebody that's not getting through and not being able to connect. You're exactly who you were before you weren't being paid. As a matter of fact, you're even better because now you have a new complex problem-solving skill that you're going to apply in your next endeavor. So go out there with a great attitude today. It's Friday. It's cold. You wanna know what the great news is? Everybody else is cold. They're not gonna be out there fighting for a job like you will. There you go. Right? It's Friday. Well, you know, it's the cocktail party this weekend, right? The Florida-Georgia game. Yeah, I gotta get ready for that, even though I'm not going. Right? I mean, come on, right? I mean, get out there. It's your shot today. Take a great attitude with you, and I promise you, your search will be much shorter. And thanks for listening.