How to Conduct a Job Search
Let’s face it, trying to find a new job can like having another full-time job in itself. Experts have estimated it takes roughly one month to find a job for every $10,000 of the paycheck you would like to earn. In other words, if you were looking to earn $60,000 a year, your job search would take six months. You have to dedicate time, energy, and patience to effectively find roles that are suitable for you. Below are some steps that you can take to streamline the process.
IDENTIFY PROBLEM
Why are you looking for a new role? It is critical that you start a new job search by understanding and writing down the list of your motivations for considering new opportunities. Ask yourself what is causing your unhappiness with your current position and what’s really important to you in your new position. What does your ideal role and its responsibilities entail? What does the career growth of that role look like? Do you want to work for a large or small company? What should the corporate culture be like? Do you want to save time on your commute? Besides higher compensation, common motivations include better career growth opportunities, shorter commute, better management, different corporate culture, more comprehensive benefits…the list goes on and on. Once you have identified the problem that you are trying to solve, it’s time to get the wheels rolling.
UPDATE YOURSELF
Resume: Before you begin your job search the first thing you should do is make sure your resume is up to date and relevant. Update the skills you performed at your current role, and how you have developed and grown within the organization. Include any tangible benefits that you have delivered to your company as part of your work. Most importantly, your resume should be easy to navigate and easy to read. Hiring Managers typically spend between 5-20 seconds reading a resume, so it’s important that your resume quickly allows the reader to identify your skills and work history and not have to read a book.
Social Media: Social Recruiting is everywhere these days. Employers and Recruiters are very active on social media platforms and many use these avenues to identify as well as vet potential candidates. Starting with LinkedIn, make sure that you have a professional picture of yourself and you have aligned your profile with your newly updated resume. If you feel comfortable, ask your colleagues and clients that you’ve worked with to write a quick testimonial about working with you. Lastly, make sure that all of your other social media accounts do not show something that you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see.
TARGET COMPANIES
Once you have your list together of what you’re looking for, it’s time to build a target company list. Start by including companies in your geographical area that you feel like you can contribute to. There are a variety of resources that you can assist you, but two we really like are LinkedIn and Glassdoor. Both are major resources to help limit your search on finding your next company. LinkedIn will allow you to filter specific information to hone in your search such as location, company, job function, industry, experience level. Once a preliminary list is generated you can use Glassdoor to get more insight on reviews and feedback from internal employees and clients.
NETWORK
Get yourself out there. Reach out to people that you have worked with in the past to see if they know of companies hiring where you would be a good fit (reminder that many companies have lucrative employee referrals programs to help the cause). This is another instance where LinkedIn can be an invaluable resource.
Other solid networking approaches include attending local professional meetups, joining groups on LinkedIn that relate to your industry, getting involved on social media platforms and contacting thought leaders in your target companies or industries.
Last, but certainly not least, enlist a Recruiting Agency or two to help you (you didn’t think we’d forget about that one, did you?) Recruiters, especially those that specialize in an industries or functional area, can be very knowledgeable about the job market and have close relationships with companies that are hiring. Not only that, they are skilled negotiators and can help you maximize your value and get the very best offer from employers. Further, using a Recruiting Agency, in contrast to posting your resume on job boards for others to see, allows you to keep your intentions confidential.
Best of luck to you in your job search and if you would like further information or any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact RightClick.