We will dive into several aspects of the job search experience through building a stellar resume, ways of marketing your skills and talents, job search boards, and the formidable recruiting environment. It is our hope and desire that you will receive valuable information through this series that will land you the ideal job that meets your personal goals.
Overview of the Job Search Experience
I was inspired to write this series because, over the last few years, I have been asked to help several family members and friends in their quest to find a job. Some were starting out in the job market, others wanted a change of employer, and some wanted to explore a whole new career. In all cases, no matter the person’s level of employment, it always involves the need to go back to the basics.
Let’s face it unless you have a habit of changing jobs every six months, seeking new employment is a skill that does not get much practice. And note, if you change jobs every six months and are not a contractor, you’re working yourself into being unemployable, so be careful!
With that said, let’s discuss expectations. Remember that we will discuss the topics below in depth throughout this series. So be sure to check out each article over the next few weeks.
Setting Your Job Search Expectations
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you start out looking for a job:
1. Time, Patience, and Planning – First, your job search is going to take time and some planning. Unless you have a friend with a “sure thing,” which does not always play out as advertised and still needs some degree of preparation, your search will take a reasonable degree of planning and diligence. You will need time to plan and prepare your resume(s) and interviews, follow up on leads, and market your skills and talents to potential employers.
Also, you must prepare for some long waits for employers to get back to you. There are a number of reasons for this, but, as you can imagine, employers have hundreds of resumes and various positions to review. Therefore, you will want to plan out multiple avenues to a new career, not just a one-application and wait-for approach. Having a plan and executing it consistently and vigorously is crucial for putting you ahead of the competition.
2. Have A Strategy – You have to remember you are competing with hundreds of people in your job search. But don’t let that be a discouragement. Many of those hundreds of fellow searchers throw their resumes out like they are trying to fish, hoping some employer will take their bait. That is a highly ineffective way to execute your job search. Having a strategy and learning essential techniques to ensure your resume hits the target will help reduce depending on chance
3. Employers are Lazy – In comes the hate comments… LOL. But the reality is that employers do not have time to sift through hundreds of resumes. Many have a specific process they use to whittle down their list. Some may use job boards or online career sites that use keywords to reduce the number. These automated systems have a number of advantages and disadvantages for employers. While these systems may reduce their resume review load, more often than not, excludes ideal candidates if their system’s search algorithm is too narrow, which is often the case.
In addition, depending on the industry, size of the business, and market, the skill of the manager, owner, or talent acquisition team can vary. This adds to a whole other set of complications. However, there are specific techniques you can use in your plan to mitigate these obstacles and help put you in their line of sight.
4. Get Comfortable With Self-Promotion – Most people find this a bit intimidating, depending on your personality type. However, if you want to land a job, mastering this skill is necessary. You need to learn to market your skills and talents. You cannot just depend on a job board or fill out a job application for an employer to get to know you. Having things like a set of business cards, a bio website, an elevator pitch, thank you responses, and a few mock interview rehearsals under your belt are just a few things you can do to help in presenting your image. Sometimes, you need to “take it to the street” and learn to network and socialize about what value you can bring to a business.
The Steps Of The Recruiting Process
Now that we have reviewed what to expect while hunting for a job, let’s look at the recruiting process itself. These are the primary areas you will need to go through in the job search experience:
Get a FREE Coaching Session Towards Your Career Goals
- Preparation – Develop your resume and cover letter, and identify your career goals, preferred industries, and job positions.
- Job Search – This is the action part of the process. Look for job openings using online job boards, company websites, networking, and professional organizations. You can also attend job fairs or, if you are in college, contact your careers department for a list of internships or available job openings in your area.
- Application – Once you have found a few jobs that meet your criteria and are qualified to apply, you will submit your resume, cover letter, and any additional required materials, such as reference letters or portfolio samples. NOTE: We’ll talk more about references, but it’s common practice to wait until after an interview to provide references.
- Screening – This is part of the process of waiting for the employer to review your application and potentially schedule a phone, virtual, video, or in-person interview. Again, there are strategies you can use to help put you at the front of the line in this part process.
- Interview – You will want to prepare for and plan to attend the interview in person to showcase your skills and experiences. An interview can be in multiple forms, and you may have more than one if an employer is interested in you. In all cases, however, treat the interview as if you are in-person and presenting your best self.
- Follow up – Job seekers often need to take advantage of this step. You need to send a thank-you note to the interviewer and follow up on your application status. A quick thank-you note via email or a snail mail “Thank You” card keeps your name in front of the interviewer. Also, following up on status shows to the employer you are eager for the job, which, if they want to fill the position quickly, can put you in a positive light.
- Offer – Once an employer believes you are the ideal candidate, they will make you an offer. At this stage, even though you get an offer, you may still be able to negotiate salary and benefits, including things like vacation time, sign-on bonus, and even your start date. Again, this depends on the type of job and level, but in most cases, there are things you can and should negotiate for before just accepting an offer.
- Acceptance – At this stage, the employer and you, the candidate, have accepted the terms and any negotiated items to the offer. You will have an agreed hire date (also a negotiation point) and expectations for your first day of hire.
In the next part of the series, we will go into the details of creating and developing a stellar resume and cover letter and discuss strategies for effectively using them. We will also provide some resources to help you in the development process to help eliminate errors, organize your resumes, and use your resumes in an effective self-marketing campaign.
