First Milestone: Create Your resume
Because there's so much you could do to find your next job, it's all the more important to decide what you should do, where you would like to apply and how to sell your image. Today I've created a handy plan-of-action you can use to document your notes and needs so they're all organized and in one place. This is a document I recommend that you fill out and keep with you in case you are looking to improve your job's profile and get calls about a job you would like to apply for. Let's walk through this document and I would assure you it will work for finding the job you would like to nab!
My one-sentence objective for this job search is, "My context before content then my content to get calls from recruiters. Remember, this is the vision statement that you want to refer to as you continue through your job search. The next thing I want you to consider is taking a survey of your current job-hunting materials.
So go ahead and find your resume, find your cover letter templates, locate those letters of recommendation you may have from a few jobs ago, and then in each of these boxes I want you to check, is this something I have, is it something that needs to be redone completely, maybe it's okay but it needs a few updates, maybe just a few minor tweaks. Maybe you have documents that are pretty much ready to send out. So note the state each of these materials are in in these columns.
So let's say that you know that you don't have any letters of recommendation, therefore I want you to put that as a priority to gather those materials and give yourself a due date so that you have that goal to work toward. Also, jot down the time you want to spend per week on this, just to give yourself a rough framework of how much effort you are willing to expend in this area. This is something that's really up to you, you might choose to spend an hour to two per week if it's a case where you need to create your resume, your cover letter, you need to get those letters of recommendation, or if you're in pretty good shape here, you may not need to spend much time at all.
Second Milestone: Prepare Your Fishing Hock
Looking for a job from my perspective is a two-way street, it's about growing your network and it's about giving in both directions. Ideally, you're getting a job out of the equation, but you're also giving to your growing network as you do so, so that you're creating value for everyone as you go through your job search.
So ask yourself some hard questions about your current network, how many people are in it? Do you have strategic connections across industries? Do you know people who are at different stages in their careers? For example, if you're just starting out as a student, let's say, it would be great if you had a variety of folks you could turn to in your network who are at different stages in their careers. They might be in a position to give you much different advice, based on their unique experiences. Have you helped refer at least two people in your network to jobs in the past year? This is a really important one to me because I believe that in order to get a job, you also want to be that person who's opening up connections for other people.
For Instance, LinkedIn is the most popular social network for professionals and one of the top social networks overall, building connections starts with people seeing all you have to offer. Members with complete profiles are 40x more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn.
Now you have the pool and you have bait, so it is time to start hunting! Pool is your LinkedIn; bait is your resume, recommendations and networks.
Third Milestone: Educate Content
You’ll likely hear a lot of people talking about how content can organically acquire links or build awareness for your profile. If you set out with the primary goal of creating content that educates your prospects or audiences about your services and experience then the links and awareness will naturally follow suit.
When creating content with the specific aim of educating people, you need to remember a couple of really important points.
When creating content with the specific aim of educating people, you need to remember a couple of really important points.
1.Try to write the one article in a month in LinkedIn or Blog, when the reader from your industry or similar to your field feels like they’re the only one reading the content, you begin to create a strong relationship with that person, group and that will increase the likelihood they’ll become followers of your content and would like to hear more.
2.Never forget that your objective for creating this type of content is to give your audience the answers to THEIR problems. Example: How You Know it’s Time To Think Different! It was one of my articles in LinkedIn and on my Blog. I was trying to tell my followers “how to improve your business in Canada” by creating a website for your business and start knowing your personas in a form which can impact your business positively.
3.Give some thought to LinkedIn groups and companies pages. Make it a goal to participate in LinkedIn Groups you joined and check back regularly on companies' pages in LinkedIn as well, just seeing what jobs are available, noting what direction the company seems to be moving in and making a note of what is newsworthy, what is this company up to and why?
Final Milestone: Knock the Door
Now that you've generated that awesome new resume, educate content on LinkedIn's Platform, So you can knock other door by using LinkedIn Jobs -- to help you land an awesome new position.
LinkedIn allows you to search for jobs by keyword, title, industry, location, company, function, experience level, and more. It even suggests jobs you might be interested in based on a brief survey that gauges your job preferences relating to location, company size, and industry.
I would say, your profile and educate content are the key elements for getting job and build relationships with recruiters agents, and make the employers chose your profile among tons. I want you to stop and reflect on whether you're seeing effort from each step and whether they're significant enough or maybe it's time to do a little bit of re-balancing.
Cheers!
