What a Job Search Strategy Looks Like

What a Job Search Strategy Looks Like This is a seven post series describing what a job search strategy looks like. What a Job Search Strategy Looks Like Job Search Strategy: Assessment (1) Job Search Strategy: Research (2) Job Search Strategy: Presenting Yourself (3) Job Search Strategy: Project Management (4) Job Search Strategy: Interview Strategies (5) Job Search Strategy: Project Update (6) When Im on the road (and in my JibberJobber Video Library) I talk about lot about purposeful and strategic.  For example, make sure your personal branding is purposeful, and to have a strategic job search Recently Hannah Morgan, aka the Career Sherpa, included me in her how to use the best job sites post (again).  Thank you, Hannah, for including JibberJobber!  When I heard about this, I went to the page listing the best job sites and checked to see where JibberJobber was, and what the other websites were (I like to see what kind of company I keep in these lists :p).  I made a big mistake by skimming through the page and looking for JibberJobber. I totally missed a terrific, important part of her post, right at the top. Below is the image I glanced over.  I saw it as just one more infographic that had too much information but I was mistaken. Yesterday I spent time going through it and realized THIS IS A STRATEGIC JOB SEARCH! Now, when people ask what does a job search strategy look like? I can point them to this image.  It is brilliant. You might think its simple, or common sense / obvious, but I think its brilliant. The reason its in her post is because it should frame, or put into context, all of the tools.  Instead of just another list of a whole bunch of job sites, that seem to be duplicates of one another, Hannah put sites in here that fill a purpose each site should address at least one box or section in this strategy: I want to break down each of these, but for now lets talk about her six steps. Assessment: who are you? What do you have to offer? What should your brand messaging be? Preliminary thinking on companies and industries this stage is fundamental (I skipped over it in my job search, which might be a big reason why I failed to find a job). Research: The last stage was an exercise in introspection and honesty, this stage is will take you through Google, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and more. Here we are looking for evidence, reported facts, etc. Presenting Yourself: By this stage, you have thought about you, and what good matches would be now its time to figure out how to position yourself.  Up to this point, we have done things that most job seekers do mentally (and erroneously) in about three minutes. Project Management: Its go-time. This is what most people think a job search looks like. Interview Strategies: This whole step will help you own the interview. That doesnt mean you take it over. Youll win some and lose some, and youll figure out that you dont want to work at some companies, or for some people (because of the work you did in the first two steps). Project Update: I dont know what Hannah has in mind here, but this could apply to an active job search as well after you land a weekly check-up to proactively manage your career (which will help you be prepared for your next job search). I love these six steps. You might have some tweaking to do for yourself, but at least you have a great template to work from. Like I said, I skipped most of the foundational steps and went straight to job search action.  Dont make that same mistake. I have seen many people land their jobs and ignore the check-ins after dont make that mistake! What a Job Search Strategy Looks Like This is a seven post series describing what a job search strategy looks like. What a Job Search Strategy Looks Like Job Search Strategy: Assessment (1) Job Search Strategy: Research (2) Job Search Strategy: Presenting Yourself (3) Job Search Strategy: Project Management (4) Job Search Strategy: Interview Strategies (5) Job Search Strategy: Project Update (6) When Im on the road (and in my JibberJobber Video Library) I talk about lot about purposeful and strategic.  For example, make sure your personal branding is purposeful, and to have a strategic job search Recently Hannah Morgan, aka the Career Sherpa, included me in her how to use the best job sites post (again).  Thank you, Hannah, for including JibberJobber!  When I heard about this, I went to the page listing the best job sites and checked to see where JibberJobber was, and what the other websites were (I like to see what kind of company I keep in these lists :p).  I made a big mistake by skimming through the page and looking for JibberJobber. I totally missed a terrific, important part of her post, right at the top. Below is the image I glanced over.  I saw it as just one more infographic that had too much information but I was mistaken. Yesterday I spent time going through it and realized THIS IS A STRATEGIC JOB SEARCH! Now, when people ask what does a job search strategy look like? I can point them to this image.  It is brilliant. You might think its simple, or common sense / obvious, but I think its brilliant. The reason its in her post is because it should frame, or put into context, all of the tools.  Instead of just another list of a whole bunch of job sites, that seem to be duplicates of one another, Hannah put sites in here that fill a purpose each site should address at least one box or section in this strategy: I want to break down each of these, but for now lets talk about her six steps. Assessment: who are you? What do you have to offer? What should your brand messaging be? Preliminary thinking on companies and industries this stage is fundamental (I skipped over it in my job search, which might be a big reason why I failed to find a job). Research: The last stage was an exercise in introspection and honesty, this stage is will take you through Google, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and more. Here we are looking for evidence, reported facts, etc. Presenting Yourself: By this stage, you have thought about you, and what good matches would be now its time to figure out how to position yourself.  Up to this point, we have done things that most job seekers do mentally (and erroneously) in about three minutes. Project Management: Its go-time. This is what most people think a job search looks like. Interview Strategies: This whole step will help you own the interview. That doesnt mean you take it over. Youll win some and lose some, and youll figure out that you dont want to work at some companies, or for some people (because of the work you did in the first two steps). Project Update: I dont know what Hannah has in mind here, but this could apply to an active job search as well after you land a weekly check-up to proactively manage your career (which will help you be prepared for your next job search). I love these six steps. You might have some tweaking to do for yourself, but at least you have a great template to work from. Like I said, I skipped most of the foundational steps and went straight to job search action.  Dont make that same mistake. I have seen many people land their jobs and ignore the check-ins after dont make that mistake!