5 Targeted Job Search Strategies

At this time of year, we all begin to think about fresh starts, new beginnings, and doing things a little differently.  Whether your goal is to shed a few pounds, be more frugal, or maybe to find a job or start a new career…having a clearly defined goal and a strategic approach are the best first steps. 

According to the latest Department of Labor statistics (Dec. 2010), over 25 million Americans are currently unemployed or are involuntarily working part-time hoping to find full-time employment. 

In the coming weeks, we will be reviewing 5 strategies for conducting a truly targeted job search. 

Strategy 1: Know Thyself

As the saying that is most often attributed to the Greek philosopher Socrates goes, “Know Thyself” is the first step to a successful job search.  Before you respond to a job ad or even write your resume, you must ask yourself…“Who Am I and What Should I Do with My Life”? 

We were all created with unique talents, abilities, and personality.  As we grow through life, we add-in a set of values, interests and experiences all our own.   None of these alone capture who we are, but viewed at all together…they provide us a very clear picture of ourselves and what vocations best fit our “design”.  

We’ll look at each of these aspects of you in-depth, including resources to assessments and additional information to help you better understand each. 

Strategy 2: Target Your “Best-Fit”

Once we’ve defined your design as it were, we will then explore ways you can take this information and identify those vocations that best-fit to your personality, your interests, your values, talents, and gifts, etc. 

We’ll discover how to use your understanding of who you to help you focus your career decisions to find more than a job, but to find a vocation that you were made for.  You’ve heard the saying, “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”.  I would add, do what you’re made to do, and life is good! 

Strategy 3: Prepare and Customize

Once you’ve discovered vocations that fit with your make-up…we’ll look at several resources to help you identify the skills, training, and experience necessary for your targeted vocation and learn how to research the organizations hiring these positions. 

Ever been asked a question in an interview and found yourself unable to quickly come up with that great example or great success story?  Well, I’ll share how to know what all employers want to hear no matter what the job and how to develop your personal success stories that make you shine in any interview.

Based on your targeted job and organization and clearer understanding of your accomplishments, now you’ll be ready to prepare a master resume.  We’ll discuss recruiters’ resume must-haves and deal-breakers and how important it is to customize your master resume and cover letters for every job application.

Strategy 4: Networking

Next, we’ll distinguish between the more passive traditional and active, effective job search strategies and when to use each. 

We’ll discuss how to identify your network and ways you can authentically help your network help you.  For those introverts out there like me, don’t worry, I’ll share some new thoughts that make networking work for introverts too!

The internet has touched just about everything in our lives and it has made a major impact on the way recruiters look for candidates and how job-seekers search for opportunities. 

We’ll look at the what every job seeker should know about how to use the top 3 social media sites (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) and how to use blogging to ensure a successful job search.

Strategy 5:  Interviewing

So, the day arrives and you get the call…a phone interview and then a face-to-face interview.  I’ll provide you a checklist for a successful interview. 

We’ll look at the different types of interviews and how to prepare for each, how to deal with tough questions and the all-important salary question. 

We’ll review what questions you should always ask and how to close the interview on a strong note and how to follow-up well. 

By the end, you will be better-prepared to continue your job search or to begin your search for a career that matches your passions and who your truly are.

Comments

[Dan @ Job Description Templates]

Thanks for sharing these tips. I'm sure I'll be more successful in my job search this year.