Why are you ‘searching’ for a job? To me, searching implies you have lost something? Or you’re trying discover something? And whilst, you may in fact have lost your job and attempting to get back into the workforce; you want to ensure you undertake effective job targeting activities; not ad-hoc, spur of the moment job searching! Your ideal job should not be ‘lost’ to you!
So how do you go about ‘job targeting’?
How do you hit your job target if you can’t see it? If you have no idea where your target is and your searching for it…no wonder your job efforts are failing you? My clients say to me, “I’ve been searching for a job for months and nothing?” And I say to them, “maybe that’s the problem…you’ve been searching not targeting.”
Call it what you want but the main point to take away is, 40% of your job efforts should be planning and preparing to hit your job (the other 40% networking and the remaining 20% on actually applying for jobs). Prior to even considering applying for a job, you should have a comprehensive plan identifying all the key activities, goals and suitability match.
How does a professional archer, boxer, any professional for that matter hit their target? They plan and prepare for that goal and then execute. If you aimlessly search or apply for all and any job…your results WILL be the same.
Here at Winning Edge Resumes, we follow a simple model called the GROW model to define your job target plan.
Goal
Determine your goal! Where do you want to be? Research which employer is likely to have the role you are seeking, and then research the role at that employer.
Ensure you have a clear idea of what you want, where you want to be, what you want to do. Applying to ‘every’ job out there will hardly get you the result you want. It will either lead to poor ‘quality’, job target activities (you know the saying quality over quantity) and also if you do get a job from this strategy, chances are, you’ll be back in the job market looking for the ‘right’ role not long after. Ad-hoc job search does not lead to long term job satisfaction.
Reach Out
Now that you have a target of where you want to be, start preparing your career branding tools.
- Tailor your resume and cover letter (value proposition) to suit the employer/job
- Update you LinkedIn profile and start making connections, getting ready to reach out to them
- Update your electronic resumes on Seek, CareerOne, LiveHire etc
- Attend/Schedule some networking events
- Tidy up any social media loose ends (bad facebook profile picture anyone?)
Prior to even considering putting out your feelers or applying for a role, ensure you have all your marketing tools prepped and ready to go.
Outline your job target activities
So you know what you want, you’ve got your tools to help you, now you need to outline the specific activities to get you there.
- Make contact with the employer regarding their available role. Speak to a company representative and find out even more about the role, company, culture etc.
- Apply for the relevant positions, in the appropriate manner (as mentioned, doing a free for all application strategy won’t get you the best results). If they are asking for a Selection Criteria, address the selection criteria. Don’t cut corners.
- Follow up appropriately. Nobody likes to be hounded and remember, if you’ve taken the time to plan and prepare your target goal…your employer should be contacting you to discuss ‘your’ experiences and offer.
- Prep for the interview. I’ve seen job consultants assist a client up until they get an interview? The work doesn’t stop there. If you’ve done your homework, interview prepping should be a mere formality however, like any other skill, interviews can be a mastered art and you need to ensure you are well prepared for those tricky questions.
- Network and reach out to your networks and connections. It doesn’t need to be a daunting task. When attending any networking event, don’t have in your mind that you have to openly say, “I am out of work and looking for anything available!”. Prepare your pitch and what you can offer. “I am currently on the lookout for a new opportunity. I’ve been working with clients in the e-commerce sector and am keen to reach out and expose myself to the challenges within this industry further.” This sounds a lot better than the former.
Work it!
The final step. Ensure you are constantly reviewing and revising your activities.
- If you get feedback from an interview, use it to your advantage.
- Revise your strategy and activities and make amendments
- Keep active on your social sites, such as LinkedIn to show you have momentum and stay at the forefronts of peoples ‘news feed’.
- Follow up appropriately
Keep an eye out for our upcoming e-book that focuses on the GROW model in more detail.
The team at Winning Edge Resume are always eager to support our clients and can be contacted via our ‘contact us’ page.