Finding a Job in Tough Times . . . First Step: Get Prepared
Way back when in the First Quarter of the year, you made a New Year’s Resolution: This would be the year you land that new position! And then, life happened! The events of this year may have changed those plans. It's happened to a lot of folks and it may have happened to you! However, as you look at the remaining months of the year, know that it is not too late. You can still achieve your goal . . . your New Year's Resolution. So, if a new position or new career direction is your objective, NOW is the time to prepare for a successful job search.
What's Your Strategy?
You may have spent some time during the last few months crafting a resume that tells your career story pretty well. So then, with your resume in hand, you're ready to go! Right? . . . . Wrong.
If your entire plan, or strategy, is to take your painstakingly written resume and just start sending it out in response to any and every openings you see . . . . think again. You will join the ranks of the many job seekers who can count 100's, if not 1000's, of submissions with no results . . . especially true in difficult times.
Hiring in Tough Times
In fact, many job seekers' strategies, during adverse times, are just to "wait it out" and then begin their job search down the road when things get better. However, I can tell you that . . .
- Jobs can be found in good times and bad.
- Employers hire in good times and bad.
- And job seekers find new positions and change entire career directions in good times and bad.
BUT . . .and it's a big BUT, they just don't send out resumes willy-nilly and hope for the best. They have a strategy beginning with a goal and a good set of marketing tools to achieve that goal.
Job Seeking is a Sales Process
What tools will you need to begin to market yourself for a new job? Remember, finding a job boils down to sales. You are selling yourself. You will need to identify opportunities (industries, and then companies in those industries, and then jobs within those companies) that could use and value your skills and experience. Putting this information together is really creating your Marketing Plan - another of your marketing tools. That done, you will then need to develop the rest of your marketing tools. Here they are:
Job Search Marketing tools you will need to sell employers on hiring you:
(1) Resume
(2) Marketing Plan
(3) Elevator speech
(4) Networking Plan
(5) Personal-Professional Business Card
(6) Linked-In Profile
(7) Cover Letter Template
(8) Thank You Letter Template
(9) Portfolio
(10) Follow-up strategy
Without a full set of marketing tools, simply applying for positions online and sending out some resumes is not enough! But with a well thought out set of marketing tools in hand, you now have the tools you will need to:
- Identify real, potential job opportunities, and
- A way to communicate to those potential employers in an impactful, attention-getting way of the value you could bring and the benefit you could offer to their companies.
In other words, you have the tools to show them that hiring you would be a "Smart Strategy."
Author's note: Next time . . . Get Organized www.ajcglobal.com for your career path