alexander

Leadership Process Four: Directing Symbols 133
famed IBM ‘‘uniform’’ (blue suit and white shirt) for extremely
casual wear.
In entering a job market when the economy is down,
most aspiring applicants panic, worry, and passively wait. A
thoughtful applicant accepts the situation and creates such
powerful symbols that an employment offer is inevitable.
For example, do your research; find a sponsor in the organization;
know the employees of the target company; know
the target company’s business better than any applicant; call
unknown people by name; propose bottom-line solutions
unconsidered by employees; etc. Knowing more about the
company is a symbolic and extremely compelling action.
When you impress line leaders enough, they will hire you.