There is a lot that goes into conducting an effective job search, including networking, writing your resume, and preparing for interviews.
There's a lot more to it, including these three vital keys to success in landing your next job: knowing what you want; finding jobs; and staying positive.
1-Knowing What You Want
One of the most basic, and most critical, elements in a successful job search is having a clear idea of what you want, a goal or an objective. Yet so many job seekers struggle with this very step in the process.
Why is having an objective so important? Your job search objective is your target. It's what you are after. Without an objective, you are likely to flounder and end up searching much longer than you need to.
Baseball legend Lawrence “Yogi” Berra once said: “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” Yogi knew that without goals and objectives, we are without direction. With them, we are able to chart a course toward our desires.
If you are struggling to get clear on what you want, here are some questions to stimulate your thinking.
What are you best at? - Every person is capable of doing many things, but each of us feels that there are a few things that we are best at. What is that for you? Is it writing? Organizing and arranging events? Solving a technical problem?
What do you love doing? - Sometimes we find ourselves so immersed in a task that time flows by and we don't even notice its passage. Ask yourself: Was I doing a task that I love? What was it? Was it working with your hands, making something? Gardening? Doing research? Leading a team?
What have others praised in you? - Sometimes others know us better than we do ourselves. Think about the patterns of praise you have heard from teachers or coaches or even your parents. What did they say? That you are good with children? That you are creative? That you have a "good head for business?"
Where do you see yourself working? - There are many working environments, e.g. an office, a truck, a farm, a stage, at home. Where do you think you would be happiest?
Who do you see yourself working with? - Imagine yourself at work. Who are you working with? Patients in a clinic? Children in a school? Retail customers in a store? The poor in another country?
Getting clear on what you want, and turning that into an objective for your search, is a must for an effective job search. Your objective should be as specific as you can make it. As long as it is directionally true to what is in your heart, it will guide you well.
2-Looking for & Finding Jobs
There are jobs, even in a recession (or post-recession, or whatever this economy is at the moment). They can be found in one of two ways: advertized and un-advertized.
First, Advertized jobs. These are ones that the employer has published. These jobs may be on a jobs website (like Monster, career Builder, LinkedIn etc), a company website (search by company name), or on lists provided to search firms/recruiters/headhunters.
Your Actions:
1. Create alerts, using keywords, on jobs websites so that jobs are fed to your inbox.
2. Routinely research companies you have an interest in. Apply at their websites.
3. Identify and connect with recruiters who specialize in your field of interest.
Second, Un-Advertized jobs. There are two types. First, there are ones that have been published "internally-only" as the employer opens the jobs to its own employees first, before going to the outside job market. Second, there are "jobs" that the company needs to have done but have not yet become approved (and budgeted) requisitions.
Your Actions:
4. Join networking groups, both in person and online.
5. Connect with people who have interests similar to yours via LinkedIn Groups.
6. Attend job fairs and other similar events to meet company representatives.
7. Prepare a direct marketing campaign for selected companies of interest to you.
3-Staying Positive
These days, a job search can take a lot longer than you would like, with many quiet days and weeks, with little response from employers. The result is that, if you are not careful, you could sink into depression.
To avoid that, you need ways to stay positive. What perks you up and gets your optimism flowing?
There are many strategies for staying positive including:
Doing a project - Look around your house and identify some work that needs to be done. Paint the porch. Clean out the garage. Plant a garden. You'll feel better about yourself.
Going for a walk - Don't fall into the trap of sitting at your computer all day. Get up and move. Walking is good exercise. By staying in good physical shape, you will be ready for opportunity when it calls.
Helping others - There are many others in the same boat as you. Ask yourself if you can help them in some way. Maybe you are good at finding job leads or writing resumes or networking. Go to your local PSG and pitch in. Volunteer an hour or two each week. Call a friend you haven't spoken with in a while. You could be the answer to someone's prayers.
Reading something inspirational - There are so many uplifting books, articles and websites out there that it's hard to know where to begin. One way to dive in via the internet is to type #quotes into twitter's search box. Then follow any feed that looks good to you.
Doing something new - The late great management expert Peter Drucker recommended that you push yourself out of your rut on a regular basis by exploring a new field. Read a book outside your area of expertise. Go to a free lecture on a topic you know little about. Broaden yourself.
The more positive you can be during a job search, the more active, productive, and creative you will be. All of which will support you in your quest for a meaningful job.
Posted by Terrence Seamon on Tuesday June 26, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
The 4 Essentials of Networking
You know that networking is essential to an effective job search. You've heard that most people find their next job that way. So all the articles and speakers have told you, Network, network, network. "Always be connecting," as job search coach and career expert Michael Goldberg puts it so well.
But networking doesn’t come naturally for many people. Many job seekers wonder if they are networking properly. What is the essence of networking anyway?
Let me take a stab at it, since I have been networking for many years, going all the way back to the first time I read Richard Nelson Bolles' classic book What Color Is Your Parachute.
In interviews, Bolles has said, "The preferred way to get your name into a company that interests you is through your contacts" by finding "someone you know that knows someone there. If you don't have a contact there it won't work."
That's it, essentially. Everything you need to know is packed into that statement. So let's unpack it. There are three essential elements:
1. Companies – Bolles recommends starting with “…a company that interests you.” Bolles and many other career transition experts all agree: an effective job search is a purposeful one. What is your purpose? In other words, what do you want to do and where do you want to do it? What companies interest you? Make a list. And pursue them.
2. Contacts - Bolles says, "Contacts, contacts, contacts. They can be social networks, friends, and family.” Make another list, Bolles says, this time of everyone you know. These are your first degree contacts. Each one of them knows a bunch of people. Those people are your second degree contacts. Each of those people knows a bunch of other people. Those are your third degree contacts. And so on. In a nutshell, your contacts are the currency of an effective job hunt. You want to invest in them continuously and grow that investment.
3. Connecting - Bolles has often said that resumes are poison because employers assume you are lying. So what is the answer? Bolles says you have to get your name known to them first! Then they will want to see the resume you slaved over. How do you do this? By using your network of contacts. It’s the recommended way to get your name known. When you are referred in by an insider, they will want to see you. Finding someone who works there is the key! How do you find people that work at a company you are interested in? Before the advent of LinkedIn, it was tougher. But now, with LinkedIn, you have a great research tool that will not only identify names (and faces) but a pathway from You to Them.
In addition to utilizing the modern social media tools like LinkedIn (as well as blogging, facebook, and twitter), don't neglect the good old fashioned avenues for face-to-face networking such as affinity groups (e.g. FENG, MENG etc), faith-based groups (e.g. the St. Matthias Employment Ministry in Somerset, NJ), library groups (e.g. Neighbors helping Neighbors), job search support groups (e.g. Breakfast Club, Careers in Transition, etc), as well as the excellent Professional Service Groups that are still functioning across New Jersey.
Go to these groups on a regular basis. Become known. Pitch in and help others. If there is a fourth C in the networking process, it is Caring. If you care about others and try to help them, even if only by listening and showing that you can relate to what they are feeling, they will care about you.
So now you have the 3 (+1) C’s of essential networking. When you put them together and work them every day, you will shift the job search odds in your favor in no time.
Posted by Terrence H. Seamon on Father's Day Sunday June 17, 2012
But networking doesn’t come naturally for many people. Many job seekers wonder if they are networking properly. What is the essence of networking anyway?
Let me take a stab at it, since I have been networking for many years, going all the way back to the first time I read Richard Nelson Bolles' classic book What Color Is Your Parachute.
In interviews, Bolles has said, "The preferred way to get your name into a company that interests you is through your contacts" by finding "someone you know that knows someone there. If you don't have a contact there it won't work."
That's it, essentially. Everything you need to know is packed into that statement. So let's unpack it. There are three essential elements:
1. Companies – Bolles recommends starting with “…a company that interests you.” Bolles and many other career transition experts all agree: an effective job search is a purposeful one. What is your purpose? In other words, what do you want to do and where do you want to do it? What companies interest you? Make a list. And pursue them.
2. Contacts - Bolles says, "Contacts, contacts, contacts. They can be social networks, friends, and family.” Make another list, Bolles says, this time of everyone you know. These are your first degree contacts. Each one of them knows a bunch of people. Those people are your second degree contacts. Each of those people knows a bunch of other people. Those are your third degree contacts. And so on. In a nutshell, your contacts are the currency of an effective job hunt. You want to invest in them continuously and grow that investment.
3. Connecting - Bolles has often said that resumes are poison because employers assume you are lying. So what is the answer? Bolles says you have to get your name known to them first! Then they will want to see the resume you slaved over. How do you do this? By using your network of contacts. It’s the recommended way to get your name known. When you are referred in by an insider, they will want to see you. Finding someone who works there is the key! How do you find people that work at a company you are interested in? Before the advent of LinkedIn, it was tougher. But now, with LinkedIn, you have a great research tool that will not only identify names (and faces) but a pathway from You to Them.
In addition to utilizing the modern social media tools like LinkedIn (as well as blogging, facebook, and twitter), don't neglect the good old fashioned avenues for face-to-face networking such as affinity groups (e.g. FENG, MENG etc), faith-based groups (e.g. the St. Matthias Employment Ministry in Somerset, NJ), library groups (e.g. Neighbors helping Neighbors), job search support groups (e.g. Breakfast Club, Careers in Transition, etc), as well as the excellent Professional Service Groups that are still functioning across New Jersey.
Go to these groups on a regular basis. Become known. Pitch in and help others. If there is a fourth C in the networking process, it is Caring. If you care about others and try to help them, even if only by listening and showing that you can relate to what they are feeling, they will care about you.
So now you have the 3 (+1) C’s of essential networking. When you put them together and work them every day, you will shift the job search odds in your favor in no time.
Posted by Terrence H. Seamon on Father's Day Sunday June 17, 2012
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