Top Ten Actions Necessary for a Successful Job Search
By Alvah Parker
There are many parts to a successful job search and the job
seeker has to orchestrate them in a way that gets them to all come
together so that he/she receives in multiple offers simultaneously.
Here are some tips for those of you in the midst of a Job
Search.
- Assess your feelings. If you are unhappy about a lay off, you will need to grieve the loss. It may be important to get into action quickly but first you must find some ways to adjust and accept what has happened. A friend or a coach can help. If the anger persists, a therapist may be helpful.
- Stay positive - Sometimes it takes time to find just the right job. Attitude is key. If a hiring manager senses anger, frustration, or lack of confidence he/she will move on to another candidate.
- Know your strengths - Now is not the time to hide your talents, skills, values and strengths. They will be an important part of your job search. Identify the ones that have been important to your success in the past and will be valuable to a new employer. Emphasize these in your career commercial and resume.
- Write your accomplishments - A good accomplishment statement identifies the problem you solved, the solution you came up with or the actions you took, and the results. These will become an important part of your resume.
- Update your resume - Use the strengths you have identified in #3 and the accomplishments you wrote in #4 to write a coherent focused resume.
- Practice your career commercial - When you call someone in your network that doesn't know about your job search you will want to tell them briefly about your career, write out and practice a 30 second explanation highlighting your strengths and past experiences. This 30 second career commercial can be used and expanded to answer the interviewer's question: Tell me about yourself.
- Organize your Network - Begin by organizing and collecting your network contacts. Consider friends, family, work colleagues, past managers, classmates, college alumni associates, and anyone else that might know of people in companies with job opportunities. Collect names, addresses, telephone numbers, and any additional identifying information that will help you reconnect with them. Use a contact management system or Excel to keep track of your contacts.
- Call the people in your network - Begin to call the people in your network. Use your career commercial with those who haven't heard from you in a long time and don't know about your job loss. Ask this person for names and numbers of people he/she thinks might be helpful. Have a list of companies you are interested in and see if the called party knows anyone in those companies.
- Check job boards and social networking sites for possible jobs and/or ideas of jobs - Applying for jobs online can be discouraging since companies often do not acknowledge that they received your application and following up by telephone is not always possible. Use your network to find an employee inside the company to help you follow up on your application. Your online social network can also be helpful here. Online job boards are also helpful to learn who is hiring so you can add new companies to your potential employer list.
- Get support - Take some kind of job search training program, hire a coach, and/or go to a support group for job seekers. It is important to stay positive and connected during your search.
