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First Steps in your Job Search
Before you can effectively find your next job, you must determine how you will market yourself. Remember that you are trying to “sell” yourself to a company. In order for a company to hire you they must believe that you will be a valuable asset to their company. How you market yourself will determine how quickly you get hired and how much you will earn in compensation.
Things to do before you start your job search:
- Determine exactly what it is you want to do. If you don’t know what you are looking for, employers will identify that and you won’t find a job.
- Identify your strengths. What do you do well? What are your core competencies.
- Craft your strengths, skills & core competencies into a 30 second “Elevator Speech”. Something you can communicate quickly, easily & clearly to explain to others who you are and what you are looking for.
- Craft some story examples (Achievement Statements) from your life experiences that illustrate how you used your strengths & core competencies to improve something. These will become extremely valuable to you in an interview. Put them in a format that answers the following 3 questions:
- What was the situation/problem that you encountered?
- What action(s) did you take to address or fix the situation?
- What were the results of your actions (make them quantifiable if possible)
- Prepare 10 – 12 examples from across your various positions and experiences.
Focus on Key Competencies necessary to succeed in the job for which you’re interviewing, such as:
- Core Competencies – Inherent in most positions:
- Client Focus
- Process and Planning
- Communication Skills
- Teamwork, Innovation
- Functional/Technical Breadth
- Initiative, Self-Starter
- Problem solving/Decision Making
- Management Competencies
- Team Building
- Management/Leadership Skills
- Vision/Perspective
- Conflict Resolution
See example Achievement Statements
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Tools you use in marketing yourself:
- Resume which is used to:
- Send directly to a company’s HR director or Hiring manager.
- Post on websites such as Monster.com
- Interviews (both phone & interpersonal)
- Networking – talking to people to find job leads (classical & targeted networking)
- Your appearance & behavior
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Image and the Job Search
You need to accept the fact that:
You will be hired because the interviewer personally likes you best, NOT because you are the most qualified candidate.
The job search is all about image. Your goal is to market and sell yourself. Basically, YOU are the product. You must package yourself so that you put your skills, strengths, abilities and personality in a positive perspective. Companies weed out the candidates that are least qualified through the resumes. In an interview the primary purpose for the Human Resources Dept. is to weed out those that are least qualified for a position so that they can present to the hiring manager those individuals with the greatest chance of succeeding within the company. Hiring managers look for those candidates that are most qualified, but then rely upon the intangibles (personality, fit within the culture, relational skills, likeability etc.) in helping them decide who to hire. Employers are LOOKING for a reason not to hire you. Therefore, you must present to everyone you encounter during the job search process the image that:
- You are a professional
- You have no problems
- You will create no problems
- You will solve all of their problems
Though honestly it is impossible to live up to these standards, don’t give them a reason to discount you. Show them the positive sides of who you are and keep your “weaknesses” low key and to a minimum.
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Elements Of A Positive And Memorable
First Impression
- Polished Appearance
- Friendly
- Confident Stance
- Eye Contact
- Firm Handshake
- Self-confidence
- Positive Attitude
- Sincere
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- Good Interpersonal Skills
- Ability To Connect With Others
- Make Small Talk
- Ask Questions
- Share Information
- Include Others
- Close The Conversation
- Follow Up
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Achievement Statements
Achievement Statements are a significant way that you market and “sell” yourself. Remember that Interviewers and those you are networking with to obtain a job don’t know you. One of the best ways for them to see who you are and what you have to offer a company is through Achievement Statements.
Achievement Statements are simply stories from your life that help you to illustrate for the listener your skills and strengths. All of us have core com potencies that companies need. Your job is to identify what they are and come up with examples that illustrate these competencies. These are best told in a short and simple way by describing a situation you encountered, the action you took to resolve the situation and what the results were.
EXAMPLE showing innovation
Situation/Task
Each of our four divisions conducted their own recruitment for customer service reps. Often, we were competing for the same people at the same time. In addition, we were each paying our advertising agency to conduct separate campaigns.
Action
I contacted each of the recruitment heads and suggested that we develop a consolidated advertising campaign and hold weekly resume review meetings to ensure that our needs were being met separately and collectively.
Results
During the first six months we realized a $210,000 savings in recruitment advertising, a decrease of cycle time to fill of 12%, and have now begun an effort to centralize this segment of recruiting
EXAMPLE showing initiative:
Situation
Our company was constantly running out of office supplies and had to order them on a weekly basis.
Action
I put a lock on the supply cabinet and required our employees to come to me to request supplies that they needed.
Result
We only had to order supplies once a month and we saved $300 a month in supply orders, saving the company $3600 a year.
EXAMPLE showing problem solving:
Situation
As a stay at home mom with 3 children, I noticed that I never had time to shop. It always took too long when taking the children with me.
Action
I contacted 3 other mothers in the neighborhood and coordinated our schedules so that each week we would share in watching each other’s children for 2 hours.
Result
Each week all the mothers could go out alone to the store to buy groceries. I saved an hour each week in my schedule, which allowed me to run additional errands during that time causing me to be more effective with my time. It also gave me a little time to myself so I could be more attentive to my children later. But best of all I noticed that by not having the children with me, I reduced our “impulse buying” and it saved our family $25 a week. So we had an extra $100 a month in our budget. The other moms enjoyed their time alone too.
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