Whether you are looking for a new career direction or you are just starting your career path you need a solid step by step job search plan which will guide to your dream job position. There is no point to apply for every job position which seems interesting to you. A clear strategy and action plan will help you to successfully reach your professional goals. This is valid for both national and international career aspirations. What is your plan? Today we are going to explore the 7 steps of your job search plan.
- Get clear on your career goals. Do you know what is your ideal job position? For what kind of organisation would you like to work for? Or maybe you want to work for yourself? A good start is to describe your dream job position. You can write a job advert for yourself. Think about the skills and responsibilities required for that kind of job. How your ideal working day will look like? What about your team? Or maybe you want to work alone? What time would you like to wake up? Be your own recruiter and get clear on your career goals first. Having clarity will allow you to take specific actions to get the job you want. Think about where would you like to be in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or 5 years. What are your short, medium and long-term goals? This is the most important step in your job search plan.
- Start to explore your job opportunities. Create your opportunity file or folder with jobs ads and notes, ideas from books and articles you have read, which are close to your ideal job description. Explore ads online or in the local newspapers. Put everything in your opportunity file or folder. This will help you to be crystal clear about your career path, your professional goals and have good knowledge about the job market and the industry you are interested to work in.
3. Prepare a powerful resume. A well-written and carefully prepared CV will land you the interview, not the job. Before sending it to a potential interviewer or a recruitment consultant, go through your CV and make it irresistible. Your resume is a marketing tool, not a chronology of your life. You should be very selective when choosing the content for your CV and use a personal branding mindset. If you are in doubt about your skills, experience, hobbies ask “Will this make me more marketable for this position if I include it?
- Choose your job search channels. You can apply for jobs online, read local newspapers, network within your industry groups or register with 3 or 4 job search agencies. What are the most successful job search channels? It is a mix of all of them. As you are aware you will not find a dream job applying online on job search websites. One of my clients found a job by attending a career fair and making connections with companies who were there to recruit.
- Create your profile on LinkedIn. What to put on your LinkedIn profile? Write a powerful summary statement, never leave it blank. Let potential employers, clients, business partners see what are you looking for, what is your expertise, skills, offer. You don’t have to put all your professional experience on your profile. Put experience which is relevant to the job position you are looking for or show your expertise to your future clients. Add a professional photo to your profile. LinkedIn is for professional networking. Remember people want to see you.
- Decide how much time do you want to spend on your job search activities. Looking for a new job usually takes from 3 to 6 months. How many hours per day do you want to focus on your job search activities? You will need a different number of hours if you are currently in employment or as Valerie Young says you are “unscheduled”.
- Start to market yourself through job search channels you chose before. How can you promote yourself? What assets do you have? How can you differentiate yourself from other candidates? In today’s job market it is not enough hoping to be employed by some company. This is an approach of the unsuccessful job seeker. Successful job seekers think of themselves as a brand, a product.
Remember to keep your motivation up and celebrate even small successes like an invitation for the interview. Please feel free to download a template of your successful job search plan and start to take your actions (no email needed). Click here: my-job-search-plan.
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Currently, she is enjoying a laptop lifestyle while travelling across Europe.
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