Step One – Planning and Preparation
- Do you want to live and work in another city?
- Determine your career path – you want to get into consulting, management, etc?
- Identify potential yellow flags (regarding yourself, the company, AND making a professional move) and determine how to approach them
- Determine unique selling points about yourself
- Determine industry/ companies that interest you
- Determine who your references are going to be and alert them that you’re looking
- Is it important to be able to telecommute? Work in an office?
- Think about issues such as your preferred company size, corporate culture, management style, employee empowerment, and other issues of importance to you
- No personal pronouns – I, me, we
- It’s best to personalize your cover letter to each position you’re pursuing; it’s helpful to display knowledge of the company
- Same with the resume – for different jobs, make sure to refresh your resume to ensure required qualifications are highlighted
- Never say anything negative in your cover letter, and figure out a way to spin your challenges or complaints with prior jobs
- Cover letter should only be one page and not rehash resume, but add valuable and critical points
- Make sure resume includes a section of ‘key accomplishments’ or ‘summary of qualifications’
- Show resume drafts to as many people as possible -- family, professors, career experts, former employers, etc. -- and ask for their feedback.
- In the cover letter, don’t forget to request an interview!
Online:
- The most effective way to find job postings is to visit the websites of the companies you’re targeting – check there first!
- Make sure to search job boards as well as post your resume there (take your address off, but keep email address, city/ zip, and phone number)
- Use search agents on job boards – they email you openings daily that match your qualifications
- *Indeed.com is the BEST for this purpose – it collects postings from many different sites and emails them to you daily
- Good job boards to post your resume:
- Monster
- Career Builder
- Executive sites, like theladders.com
- Craigslist.org in the city you want to target
- Yahoo Hot Jobs
- Jobing.com
- FlipDog.com
- CareerShop.com
- Don’t forget to look for industry or skill-specific job sites, as well
- Look at user groups on Google, MSN, and Yahoo to see if there are any e-groups that might help you in your search
- Gather key list of contacts within industry to touch base
- Look at organizations that might facilitate your job search
- Networking events – industry specific events, young professionals groups, alumni association meetings, etc.
- Get in touch with your career services group from schools and let them know you’re looking for leads
- Research company you’re visiting thoroughly
- Prepare questions that arose during step one regarding culture, benefits, etc.
- Prepare answers to the questions you think you might be asked
- Obviously, wear a suit every single interview, no matter their dress code
- Be aware that you might be subjected to a behavioral interview, not just a conversation about your technical skills
- Prepare a closing that expresses your desire to pursue the opportunity further, and that inquires about the next steps of the process
- Of course, send thank you notes after every interview, even if you don’t plan to pursue the opportunity
- Develop system for keeping track of my contacts, interviews, and other job-search activities (spreadsheet, notebook, folder in Explorer, etc.)
- Make sure to keep your networking contact informed regarding the status of your search, if anything changes
- If you don’t hear back from a recruiter or hiring manager, call them to follow up – be proactive!
