I’m a college senior and soon will be getting a degree in business, with a minor in history. Could you refer me to some good companies that are hiring college grads? – Chris

J.T.: A lot of college students go around asking that question and, unfortunately, many of them end up back at Mom and Dad’s place, without a job. The problem lies in the generality of your approach. For example, what if I came up to you and said, “Hi, could you recommend a good store?” I doubt you would answer me without first asking questions like “What do you want to buy?” and “How much do you want to pay?” or even “Why do you want to buy it?” Only then could you begin to give me some recommendations.

Dale: It’s a cliche that there are no dumb questions, and it’s a cliche because it’s true: If someone tells you why your question was dumb, you’ve learned a lot, so it wasn’t a dumb question after all. But job seekers often ask useless ones, and waste contacts doing so. They ask, “Do you know anyone who’s hiring?” When confronted with that question, most brains come up blank, or they do the equivalent of a Google search in the brain files on “hiring” and come up with “There’s a ‘Now Hiring’ banner out at Red Lobster.” What’s needed are questions that guide the ask-ees to better brain searches.

J.T.: I recently was hired by a fraternity to coach its brothers on how to understand the realities of the professional world, and that included how to tailor their approaches so that they could find the best job opportunities. One of my students, Nick, said he wanted to “get into finance” upon graduation. But Nick, having never worked in anything but the restaurant industry, had no idea how to go about it. I helped him create a resume that reflected his compatibility with the financial world. Then I had him do his research and find a paid internship in financial planning and analysis that enabled him to start to understand the field and the vast array of careers within it. Nick will be graduating soon and has fine-tuned his search so well that he now knows exactly what he wants to do: mutual fund wholesaling. To hear Nick talk about mutual fund wholesaling is to think he’s been working in the field already. Now all he needs is the right employer.

Dale: And he’ll find one, because now he’s able to ask better questions. He can develop lists of the best companies who hire such specialists, then ask everyone he knows or meets, “Do you know anyone at X or Y or Z?” If no, he can follow with, “Do you anyone who might?” Now that’s a brain-Google that eventually will yield a valuable network in the field he wants to enter. When you aren’t getting the answers you want, don’t blame the people you ask; change the questions.