The process of landing a great job begins long before you even apply for a position. In today's competitive market, you need the right skills during every step of the process - from creating a solid resume to appropriate interview follow-up. CareerSmith Owner, Brian Larson and former business associate Kim Klouth, developed the following career guide to provide you with the information and tools needed to succeed in your search. The Guide is divided into four short chapters:
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A sophisticated campaign -- self-assessment, goal setting, information gathering, networking, resume preparation, interviewing, and follow-up -- requires sustained time and effort. Anywhere from 100 to 500 hours may be needed before a career move is completed. Long-term multifaceted searches require strong support structures consisting of people, information, and organization.
Anyone who can offer anything -- from knowledge of a particular field to help with general planning -- is a potential resource. Don't limit yourself to those closest to you. Approach acquaintances, customers, business associates, friends of friends, and complete strangers. Profitable career development time will be spent with others. Personal goals are often strengthened by expressing them to someone else. Learning what others have done in similar situations can be encouraging and eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel. Many people have found that formal arrangements -- such as mutual support groups and use of the buddy system -- have served them well.
Good decisions require good information. As you have already discovered, the internet is very useful. However, don't forget that tried-and-true resources such as public, campus, and specialty libraries can offer clipping files, local and national corporate directories, annual reports, periodicals, trade publications, and professional journals. If you are still deciding what your next move should be, occupational guides as well as certain futurist and self-help literature may prove helpful. Don't be surprised to find your research leading back to people. Meeting with business leaders, professional association members, or academic personnel will provide you with personal perspectives that are not easily communicated electronically or on paper.
Different systems work for different individuals. Most involve reducing action plans to written or graphic form. One option emphasizes the logical order among activities by using a flow chart placed in a visible location. To emphasize plan- rather than performance-evaluation, use computerized contact managers or old-fashion pocket and desk calendars. Index cards or wall planning charts can be used to break large and daunting projects into small daily tasks while still giving feedback and tracking progress. If maintained on a regular basis, these systems help you focus attention on the here-and-now, avoid missing crucial details, meet deadlines, and measure progress. Using a record-keeping system forces you to consciously decide not to take certain actions. It also makes it easier to take credit for things done and allow for the time and energy needed for other aspects of your life.
There is no magic formula, no one-size-fits-all approach to career development. However, your sustained job search will be most effective if you take specific actions that have the following six characteristics. To be sure you are taking an action step, ask the following:
Most of the time you will be the only observer of your job search efforts. If someone was watching your activity, could that person tell what you had done? Sending a résumé and cover letter to the marketing director of Acme Corp., interviewing with the VP of R&D at Junk Foods, Inc., or contacting members of a referral network are examples of observable action.
Action steps must be concrete and specific. Analyzing three previously held jobs to prepare a résumé, conducting two in-person informational interviews with potential employers, and researching six Fortune 500 companies via the internet are all instances of acts you can count.
You must be able to definitively complete action steps. Reading the annual reports of four companies, conducting two informational interviews, and sending a follow-up letter are all activities that have a definite beginning and end. This approach gives focus to each day's search activities and provides the opportunity to take credit for work done.
Effective action steps tend to have a logical sequence. A moderate amount of analysis and planning can greatly increase efficiency and effectiveness. For example, thorough analysis of objectives and skills precedes writing a detailed and relevant résumé. Information must be gathered and evaluated before a list of well targeted employers can be drawn up. Friends, acquaintances, relatives, and even total strangers have to be approached to get a functioning referral network started.
Any true action will be completed at some time which you can determine to a great extent. By interviewing three people knowledgeable in the field of mechanical design within two weeks or completing a résumé no later than next Monday, clear evaluation points are set-up.
We cannot overemphasize the importance of developing action steps around events that you can control. Action steps are defined as things that can be done by you alone. Send out résumés to companies that interest you without waiting for job ads to appear or follow up an interview with a phone call rather than waiting indefinitely for a response.
By becoming a career search initiator and director, you can transform doubts about obtaining a good position into mere concerns about the time it will take. By using these criteria, you will be able you to sustain effort and increase efficiency with minimum stress and investment of time.
Your career search will be most effective if you have a clear understanding of the market you wish to target. The following topic areas and questions may be helpful in recognizing and prioritizing your requirements. Review the areas below to develop a list of factors describing your ideal employer. The precision with which you define your market may prove useful in brain-storming and identifying leads.
- Do you want your ideal job in the city, a town, or the countryside? In the rust belt or sun belt? Near a major university? Near a cultural center?
- Do you like mountains, plains, or seashore? How about the political atmosphere? How about other quality-of-life concerns such as good schools, clean air, health care, or recreational possibilities?
- Are you ready to move away from family, friends, and familiar surroundings?
- What are your current skills and abilities?
- What skills do you want to develop and use on your next job?
- Who can give you good feedback on your strengths? What do they see as your greatest strengths as well as your areas for continued growth?
- Is your ideal organization large or small?
- Do you want to grow with a new company or fit in with a relatively stable business?
- Would you like the challenge of taking on a troubled enterprise or one that is in flux?
- Do you prefer authoritarian or participatory management? Are you most comfortable with a management approach that is based on tasks, tradition, or people?
- What priority do you give reputation, public or peer image, mission, and products? Are the organization's goals compatible with your values?
- What about organizational style, including things such as physical plants, dress codes, and intra-organizational etiquette?
- How does your anticipated next job fit your vision of your future lifestyle?
- What training, job functions, contacts, and general experiences can best further your long-term development?
- How will your next position enable you to test, evaluate, and clarify your goals?