Four Steps to Jumpstart Your Job Search - Quick Start Guide
Before proceeding with the four steps, take time to consider and define your own unique strengths and your most marketable and transferable skills. Once you have done this, you can create a focused resume which highlights your most marketable skills and career achievements. Remember, your resume is not intended to get you a job or address your career in detail. Rather, your resume is a tool that will prompt the hiring manager to contact you for a phone or face-to-face interview. Once you have written a well-structured resume, you are ready to proceed in your job search.
The following proactive steps are designed to open doors at a specific list of targeted companies that interest you. They will help you to land job interviews, which will lead to multiple job offers.
Four Steps to Jump-Start Your Job Search…
…and secure interviews with your targeted companies.
Step 1: Identify a list of at least 40 target companies. | Top
Take some time to brainstorm ideas and possibilities; then, create a list of at least 40 companies you would most like to work for. As you make this list, note what attracts you to these organizations. List the pros and cons of each company. Below are some factors you should consider in selecting your target companies.
- Ownership: Is this organization publicly held or privately owned?
- Product-based or service-based business: Which do you prefer?
- Base location: Do you want to work in a home office or base of a business or would you prefer to work in a smaller, satellite office, or even on your own?
- Size: How many people are employed within the organization or office?
- Orientation: Is this organization for profit or not-for-profit?
- Stage of the Business/Organization: Is this organization an established, start-up venture that is growing and expanding or a well-established, stable company that is neither growing, nor shrinking at present?
- Culture: What cultural attributes are of the highest importance to you? Will you fit in well and thrive in the culture or will your spirit be quashed by a culture that is out of alignment with your approach to work or your spiritual beliefs?
In this exercise, you will create two tiers: Tier 1 (The Top 20) and Tier 2 (Targets 21-40). We have created an excel template designed to provide an organized framework for this process. (You can obtain this template by clicking here.) Completing this exercise will give you clarity and confidence in your path and will allow you to proactively engage these companies.
Step 2: Send a well-written letter of introduction to each company. | Top
You will use your company research to identify, as best you can, the person who is involved in hiring for the functional area you are interested in. Send your letter of introduction to this person, rather than a generically titled letter (e.g. “To Who It May Concern”, etc). LinkedIn is a tremendously effective tool for identifying the names and titles of specific people at your target companies. Google searches and accessing your local Chamber of Commerce directory information are two more helpful methods of research. Don’t forget the most obvious form of identifying the person you should be speaking to: call the company and ask for the contact in charge of the functional area of your focus.
Your letter should be one page and written in a professional business format. It should state specific aspects of the company that interest you and your desire to work for such an outstanding company. Be sure to include your unique selling proposition (USP), which is what makes you unique and valuable as a potential employee for this organization. Remember, the purpose of your letter is to introduce yourself and build initial name recognition, not to ask for a specific action, such as an interview.
Make sure you send no more than 20 letters at a time in order to maintain a manageable number of targets “in play” at a given time. Depending on your situation and current employment status, you may choose to only focus on five or ten at a time, moving through your targeted company list in phases. To assist you in your follow up, make note of the date your letters go out for each company.
Step 3: Send a cover letter and resume one week after sending your letter of introduction. | Top
Tailor your cover letter and resume to each company by integrating language utilized in a job description relevant to your area of interest or in the company’s mission statement and values. The purpose of this step is to build awareness of who you are and to create interest for an interview. Make sure you proofread your resume and cover letter carefully to ensure you have the correct person and company referenced in your correspondence.
In your cover letter, request an informational interview and propose a specific time and date. Follow up as you have specified with a phone call in the next step. Be sure to mark your calendar and adhere to your follow up activities in a well-planned and scheduled manner.
Step 4: Follow up with a phone call four-five business days after sending your resume and
cover letter. | Top
Less than 5% of job hunters will actually ever do this step. By taking this action, you are already differentiating yourself and increasing your chances exponentially. This follow-up phone call should be to the specific individual you sent your letters to at each company. Refer to your recent correspondence and state something like, “Mr. Jones, this is Jason Smith. I’m following up on the tentatively scheduled informational discussion at this time mentioned in the letter and resume package you received last week. Is this still a good time for you or is there a different time that we can schedule now that works better?”
Be persistent, yet polite. If the individual states their schedule is too busy, then respond with something solution-oriented that brings value to this person such as, “I can understand how busy your schedule must be. How about I take you to lunch or buy you breakfast one day this week to accommodate your schedule and avoid any disruption? I can even bring your favorite Starbucks if you want to meet at your office one morning before your scheduled meetings begin.” Being polite and persistent will pay big dividends and make you stand out to even the busiest hiring executive.
When this process is followed diligently, it will yield results, land you the opportunity to showcase yourself in an interview, and land the job you desire. Be diligent, trust the process, and execute this strategic and tactical job search plan. Please let me know how your job search progresses and what results you obtain from the process outlined above by emailing joel@bestlifeandcareer.com.
