A Three-Step Formula to speed up the process of getting hired.
Janglo is proud to present the Guide to Finding Your Next Job. In this guide you will gain expert advice on:
The first step in the job search is having clarity on what your ideal job looks like. While you may be willing to take anything you can get, knowing what job you want will focus your job search. In fact, this is a required first step for writing a compelling resume, developing an engaging networking pitch and creating a strategic interview plan.
So, how is it done?
If you are mid-career, looking for a job similar to the one your current or recent job allows you to build on your previous experience. At the same time, don’t pigeonhole yourself into a specific job title or position. There are many jobs that you can do and even love doing if you keep your mind open.
Worries about starting over?
Don’t. Learning the art of transferable experience will enable you to present yourself as an experienced professional even in a new field.
To dig deeper and discover the jobs that you should be applying for, ask yourself the following questions:
Jot this information down on a paper and have it ready when you scroll through job postings on Janglo. Don’t be surprised if you find something that’s not exactly your previous job title (or even industry) but is something you are excited about.
If you are a career starter, knowing what you want to be doing is the number 1 driver for building a career path that you will find satisfying and be most successful in.
To discover this ask yourself the following questions:
Jot this information down on a paper and have it ready when you scroll through the Janglo job listings. Look for jobs descriptions that describe the types of activities that overlap with what you’ve written down.
The awareness gained through these exercises is a valuable roadmap to an otherwise confusing job search process. In the next step, we take a look at how to apply this to your resume.
You’ve selected the jobs that you want to apply for. Now you have the task of grabbing HR’s attention and convince them to give you a face to face meeting.
With research showing that the average resume is glanced at for 6 seconds, your resume must be optimally designed to avoid your hard work ending up in the trash.
Here are the secrets that serious job seekers use while writing their resume:
Resumes today are best described as tailored advertisements. Use your ‘big print’ wisely by treating every line on your resume as prime real estate reserved for the most relevant information for the job you are applying for.
Practically, you want to toss out resume headlines like this
Objective: To find a job in …. That gives me …
And replace with a powerful summary that gives a caption of why you are perfect for this job.
Passionate, driven project manager with expertise in ….. Specializing in…. With xyz results.
Remember that employers want to know what value you are going to bring to them and not the other way around. Get them interested in reading the rest of your resume by creating a summary that shows how your successful experience makes you a natural candidate for this position.
After a powerful summary, use the work experience section of the resume to tell the narrative of your how you became who you are, (of course, an expert in your field!) through your accomplishments.
Make each statement engaging, concise and clear to what results you achieved.
Here is the formula you want to use whenever possible.
Remember: the goal of your resume is not to get the job, it is to make your potential employer want to meet you. It’s a lot easier to explain any holes in your work history or put any ‘monsters in the closet’ into perspective when you are able to meet face to face. Design your resume in a way that raises the least eyebrows by leaving less relevant information to the bottom of the resume or even not listing it at all. Leaving unnecessary or potentially information off your resume will help you keep your resume to the accepted standard of 1 page only.
If you’ve followed the first 2 steps of this guide you should be ready for the third - Telling your story.
Having a concise storyline of how you became the current version of your successful self (If you don’t see yourself this way, don’t expect anyone else to) is the key to becoming a person people want to partner with.
Have you ever participated in a networking event where you weren’t really interested in what the other person was talking about?
Perhaps you also felt that the other person really wasn’t interested much in the fact that you were looking for a job?
The key to effective networking is driving your conversation about who you are. People are intrigued by those who are passionate about what they do. Your networking message should be that you’re looking to connect with others who are passionate about the same thing. This type of interaction will leave the other brainstorming on how they can connect you with others who share a similar vision. These are the contacts that will help you most to find the type of job opportunities that you are looking for.
The interview is the climax of sharing your story of how your previous experiences have set you up for this next opportunity. With over 70% of employees not engaged in their work, you can be sure that HR is looking for people who see the proposed job aligned with their own professional identity and mission.
Use these questions to design your story in preparation for the interview:
Successful job hunting happens when we create the shift from being a job seeker to an opportunity seeker.
When you believe in yourself and convey it powerfully, the type of boss that you want will recognize that you are an asset that he/she can’t afford to turn down. The type of boss that may be turned off from your display of confidence is likely the type of boss you don’t want to work for anyways :)
The Guide to Finding Your Next Job was contributed by Tzvi Broker.
