I was recently congratulating one of our clients on getting her new job – after a relatively short two-month search – and asked her opinion on what made her job search so successful.
Background
This client had unexpectedly been laid off and quickly resolved to find her next job as soon as possible. She took a couple of days off to unwind and shift her focus (the layoff left a lot of bad feelings for everyone affected). She knew that the quicker she got going on her job search after being laid off, the sooner she would be employed again and back on track. We worked together to review her strengths, skills, and experience to determine how she could best sell herself, and established her defined marketing approach in a very well-done resume.
She felt that following a defined process was very helpful for her, and allowed her to stay focused. While it doesn’t always follow this pattern, it is a good template to use. Steps two to six usually took up most of her time. Ask yourself: would I use all these steps in my job search?
Job board search process
1. Saw the posting on the CharityVillage.com job board.
2. Did Internet research on the organization (not always possible).
3. Reread the posting and highlighted the keywords and reviewed the employer’s requirements.
4. Determined how to best fulfill their requirements (spent a lot of time on this earlier in the job search process as well).
5. Used the keywords on the job posting to customize the resume.
6. Drew the reader’s attention to resume highlights that would be applicable to the job by writing a customized cover letter.
7. Got a call from the organization for an interview. Asked for the following information:
- Interviewer’s name (including correct spelling and pronunciation) and their job title
- The date and time of the interview (and repeated it back to the caller)
- The name and contact information of the person speaking
- Directions to their offices
8. Made a visit to their office the night before to know where to go the next day, and made allowance for traffic on the day of the interview.
9. Reviewed the Interview Day Checklist:
- Three copies of resume with notepad and nice pen
- Directions to meeting and contact telephone numbers
- Copy of the job posting
- Show up five minutes before scheduled time
10. Emailed a thank-you note to interviewer(s), outlining skills and experience and overall suitability for the position.
11. Called three to five business days later to follow up.
The rest, of course, is history. Even though she had a good feeling about this one position in particular, she never stopped her prospecting for other job possibilities, and always kept herself focused on the task at hand. This allowed her to be more relaxed about this one position, so she wasn’t tempted to call them every two hours to check on how things were going. Her process for recruiters and networking interviews was very similar.
Good luck!
Mitchell Stephenson M.A., CPCC, is a senior partner and a certified professional career counsellor at Catalyst Careers, a career transition, counselling, and outplacement firm. Mitch has been involved in human resources, career counselling and coaching in the health and legal sectors for many years. To contact him, visit: www.catalystcareers.com.
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