George Murray is a veteran and has a wide array of job experience. He has worked in five industries. At age 46, he went through his first job transition. “I’d never gone through a job transition before,” Mr. Murray explained, “so I had to learn a lot.” It took him thirteen months to find another job. “I looked back on the process and thought ‘if I had known the process in my first month, I would have been hired in half the time.’ And it was not until a short year later that he had the opportunity to prove his earlier thought. Lo and behold, he got another job within five months as opposed to a thirteen.
And thus, the concept for Hired: Cut Your Career Search Time in Half was born.
Mr. Murray drew on his experiences with all his job transitions to compile this how-to guide to cutting down the time it takes to search for a new job. As he went through the writing process, Kathleen Crandall helped him come up with the title of the book and Anne Pryor helped him structure the book. Mark Le Blanc helped him through the publication process. His favorite moment in the writing process was when he got the draft in the mail. “I remember thinking that ‘yeah, I’m an author’ because now it’s physically in my hand,” Mr. Murray said.
Mr. Murray does not have a favorite line from his book, but he does have some favorite concepts. He talked about the importance of managing one’s energy and positive attitude. “Because no one wants to talk to an Eeyore, right?” he explained. “Job transition is a roller coaster time and a lot of the time you are more down than up. It is important to find whatever you need to get some positivity.” Another important concept in his book is having your day scheduled after leaving a scheduled position. “Even though every day may feel like a month,” said Mr. Murray, “pretty soon, three months go by and think ‘wow, I have not really done much.’” The final most important concept, according to Mr. Murray, is having a personal board of advisors, or friends that you can reach out to for support and have to hold you accountable. All these important concepts are what Mr. Murray hopes his readers take away from the book.
As a child, Mr. Murray was a very picky reader, but as an adult, he finds himself reading much more than he did as a child. “I’ve already read sixteen books this year,” he said. “I do a lot of traveling, so I listen to audiobooks.” As a child, his favorite book was Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. “It’s almost a rite of passage,” he explained. “You’ve got to read that book at least once in your life.” Now, as an adult, his favorite book is Patrick Sweeney’s Fear is Fuel. “I was fortunate enough to meet him,” Mr. Murray said. “His book is more data-driven rather than emotional. He tells you ‘You should scare yourself every day.’”
Now, I get to ask my favorite question about what advice Mr. Murray would give to a young writer. “Don't be afraid to ask for help and reach out,” Mr. Murray answered. “I find that the author community, while it’s large, everyone I’ve reached out to has been very gracious with their time, support, and help.” As someone who is reluctant to ask for help sometimes, I needed to hear that, and I hope this advice helps everyone reading this.
George Murray inspires me to get back up on my feet after a career setback. Job transitions can be a difficult thing, as Mr. Murray says, and his book can help anyone in the process of a job transition. And it can cut the time spent on finding a new job in half.
Happy reading!