Ten Things You Need to Do In Your Job Search
Do you find yourself looking for a new career opportunity? Has it been a while? Here are ten things you should do in your job search.
1. Set aside time every day to perform your job searching activities.
An active job search requires dedication. How much time will it take? That depends on your situation and your motivation. If you are working, it may be only 30-60 minutes per day; if you are out of work and are motivated to find a job soon, then you should consider your job search a full-time activity.
2. Do Some Self-Assessment.
Take a good hard look at yourself. What are your best attributes? What are your least developed ones? Where do you excel? What do you bring to the table? What are you accomplishments? Quantify these. This exercise is imperative for re-vamping your resume and preparing for interviews, but more importantly this type of self-assessment should allow you to take a fresh look at the kind of work and industries that you want to pursue.
3. Determine your goals.
Now that you’ve taken a hard look at yourself, what priorities and goals have surfaced? Articulate what you want and where you want to end up into goals. Include short, mid, and long-term goals. Spell it out for yourself. Write them down. Hold yourself accountable.
“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” ― Yogi Berra
4. Make a plan of attack.
Create a job search strategy that is right for you. For example, a software developer will likely have a different strategy than an account executive; someone working in the Enterprise Software sector may have a different approach than someone in the Digital Game industry. Either way, construct a strategy that will set you on a path to accomplish your goals.
5. Personal Branding & Your Elevator Speech
An effective job search requires you to market yourself. You need to be able to say who you are, what you do, what you are interested in doing and how you can be a resource. This messaging develops your personal brand, informs your elevator speech, and serves as a hook on your resume and your professional online presence.
6. Re-Write Your Resume
If you haven’t re-written your resume in a while, a fresh start might be in order. Sit down with a blank canvas. Refer to your self-assessment. Be guided by your established goals. Incorporate your elevator speech. Create a document that conveys these. Be sure to quantify your achievements. For more on resumes, see the Redfish blog/resume.
7. Your Social/Professional Media
Social and professional media are powerful marketing tools and people will do an internet search on you, so be prepared. Some people use different social networks for different purposes, it is critical that you segment your audience, i.e. if you use Facebook for non-professional content, check your security settings and don’t set up cross links between this account and professional and work-related media. Across those media that you are using for professional purposes, be consistent in your branding. LinkedIn is a must for anyone in technology, and increasingly GitHub is the place to be for development talent.
8. Job Boards
Depending on your sector, you may choose from a variety of niche boards. Include as part of your strategy some of the bigger boards (Dice, Monster, LinkedIn, etc.) to maximum your chances of being found. As with professional media, you want to make your presence on job boards to be consistent. Make it a practice to check new job postings every day, and apply to positions that are a true fit.
9. Personal Blog/Website
A personal blog or website doesn’t replace job boards/professional media but it allows an added dimension to differentiate yourself and show what you are about. An industry analyst can leverage sector knowledge through a blog; a marketer can demonstrate marketing creativity in a web presentation; a developer can share coding savvy via posted apps or projects. This is a great way to compliment the rest of your online presence.
10. Networking
Now you are ready to go out and tell your colleagues, associates, friends, recruiters, and hiring managers what you are looking for. Tap into your network of college alumni, industry colleagues, previous co-workers, association co-members, LinkedIn contacts, etc., etc. Use your elevator speech and clearly articulate your employment goal. Refer people to your relevant online presence/presentation. Ask for referrals to interesting companies and people in the industries where you want to be.
About the Author:
Anna Mathieu, Marketing Communications Manager, brings together in-the-trenches recruiting experience as well as years of marketing and sales success in a variety of industries from software to real estate development. She thrives on evangelizing the Redfish brand and communicating Redfish’s expert recruiting services, to drive bottom line results.
Redfish Technology – www.redfishtech.com
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Founded in Silicon Valley in 1996, Redfish Technology is a leading provider of high tech professional and executive talent. Partnering with growth mode companies, small and large, Redfish staffs executive functions and builds out the teams below. Redfish experts provide advice and perspective on hiring, career building, and job search – check us out on the web.