Steps for the Optimal Job Search Plan
Here are the key steps for the optimal job search plan excerpted from my book The Interview Mindset.
- Create your personal branding—This will position your goals, past accomplishments, and skills to give you career expertise.
- Build your professional network—Keeping in touch with people in your ideal field can help you obtain meaningful leads and referrals!
- Target your ideal employers—Target employers instead of job titles. Don’t start out by limiting yourself to roles. Think about the trajectory of your career path.
- Focus on your highest and best use for an organization.
- Recruiter outreach—Most recruiters will be able to find you on LinkedIn by searching for you but take the lead and introduce yourself first!
- Follow Up—Use LinkedIn to your advantage. Reach out to your contacts for internal referrals and introductions to the employees in the department you are targeting.
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5 Questions to Help You Brand Yourself
Answer the following questions to help you discover who you are and incorporate the answers into your job search strategy:
- What makes you tick? (Think: Why have you been successful in your career?)
- What can I deliver? (Think: What are your specific and relatable examples of how you made contributions?)
- How do I improve my work environment? (Think: What are your greatest & relatable strengths?)
- Why am I in demand? (Think: What’s in it for the employer?)
- Why should you hire me? (Think: What will I contribute? Hint: See your answer for Question 2)
The Interview Mindset is now a best-seller on Amazon! If you’re going through a job search, it is a must read to help you create the optimal job search plan.
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Mark James, CPC is the founder and CEO of Hire Consulting Services (HCS). Established in 1999, HCS is a highly customized executive outplacement and career coaching firm for executive-level professionals.
Mark is equipped with over 25 years of experience in Executive Career Management Coaching, as well as Outplacement and Executive Search Consulting. He is the author of the three best-selling books—Keys to the C Suite: Unlock the Doors to Executive Career Path Success, The Interview Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Your Career, and The Recruiter Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Working with Executive Search Recruiters.
Mark uses a proven and successful strategy and structured process to fully enable his clients to conduct a professional job search campaign and with the singular goal of securing their next career opportunity in significantly less time it would take without a career coach. Clients gain a new perspective of their marketing value coupled with executing a strategic plan and closing the deal on their new role in their next job.
