The 7 Best Job Hunting Strategies to Help You Take Control of Your Career
Master job hunting with 7 essential strategies. From networking to resume optimization, take charge of your career journey today.
Finding a job is hard.
Finding a job that you love is even harder.
In today’s job market, applying for a job on Indeed or Monster, getting an interview, and getting hired, has almost the same odds as winning the lottery.
Okay, that may be a little extreme, but it’s not far from the truth.
So how can you put yourself in the best position to find a job with the least amount of pain?
What you’ll learn from this article
· Actionable strategies for finding a job.
· How to find a job without using job boards.
· When you should start your job search.
When should you be hunting for a job?
Desperation is usually never a good thing.
If you’re desperate to find a boyfriend or girlfriend, you can easily wind up with someone who turns out to be a bad match.
If you’re desperately hunting for a job, you might take the first thing that comes along, which may be worse than the job that you previously had.
The takeaway: Try not to be desperate when hunting for a job.
The best time to be hunting for a job is when you are safe and secure at your current job. If you’re in a role that you don’t like but aren’t getting pushed out the door, it’s a great time to work through the seven strategies you’ll read below at the pace that’s right for you.
If you do have the time to pace out your job search, you should also check out the article How to Find A Job That Makes You Happy so you can make sue your next job is your best job.
Unfortunately, the stars don’t always align, and you may have to be job hunting after you’ve gotten laid off. If that’s the case, read the next part before you get into the seven strategies.
What you should do before job hunting
· Make sure your finances are in order: Make sure you have three to six months of emergency funds accessible.
· Have a support system: Job hunting can feel lonely and isolating at times so make sure you have someone to talk to along the way.
The 7 best job hunting strategies
#1 Become an expert at networking
This is the most important strategy by far.
If you are afraid to network, don’t like networking or think for some reason you don’t need to network, you might want to just pack your bags and move to a desert island.
Networking is the key to unlock your dream job.
I can easily go on and on about how important networking is, but since you already know that now, let’s give you three quick tips on how to network most effectively.
How to network effectively:
· Be authentic when making connections: Don’t be selfish. You should have the intent to help the other person you are connecting with before getting anything from the connection.
· Use online and offline tactics: Attend events both in-person and virtually. Use LinkedIn (not an ad) but also meet with friends, neighbors and others in your community face-to-face.
· Stay Proactive: Follow up if you don’t hear back from people. Comment on connection’s social media posts. Join groups.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the idea of networking, check out this article “7 Networking Tips for Introverts. It will give you the confidence you need to win at networking.
#2 Build an online presence
This is something you should have been doing throughout your career, so if you’ve been laid off or are quitting our job, you have something to fall back on.
If you haven’t created an online presence for some reason, pause reading this article and create a profile on LinkedIn right now.
In the stone ages of the 1930’s through 1990’s, if you wanted a job, you had to talk to people in person or on the phone. You had to have a printed out paper resume and portfolio of your work.
Now, your LinkedIn page can be a one-stop shop for recruiters and hiring managers to see all they need to make a decision about you.
How to build up an online presence:
· Be active: Take a certain amount of time each day to update your social media profiles, comment on other people’s posts, write your own posts, take pictures, etc.
· Show off your talents: If you’re trying to become a photographer, you better have a ton of pictures available in a portfolio. If you want to become a personal trainer, you should have videos of your workouts on social media.
· Attend virtual events: By attending virtual events, you’ll be able to meet new people ho can refer you to more people. Bonus points for hosting your own virtual events.
For even more strategies for how you can build up your online presence, you can read this article on 7 LinkedIn Strategies For Job Seekers.
#3 Enhance your relevant skills
A great way to make yourself more marketable is to improve the skills you need to succeed in the field you’re looking to get into.
It’s important to note that this does not mean that you need to go back to college and spend tens of thousands of dollars.
YouTube can be a magical place once you stop wasting hours watching cats play with balls of yarn or whatever else people are doing these days on YouTube. You can find tons of free information on how to do things.
A quick story, my toilet got clogged (don’t ask) and it was too late at night to call a plumber, so I went on YouTube to find a plumber to show me how to fix it. Not only did I surprise myself that I was able to fix I, but my wife was also impressed that I was able to actually do something handy in the house.
It’s one of the few things I can do, but the point of the story is that I was able to learn a skill for free online.
Anyway, if you’re looking to upgrade your skills to get that new job, check out these places to learn online:
1. Coursera
#4 Arrange informational interviews
Here’s a secret….
People love talking about themselves.
Why does this matter?
Informational interviews are a great way to subtly have an interview without feeling like the interviewee. It may sound like a waste of time at first, especially if you’re trying to find a job quickly. The good news is that an informational interview can very quickly lead to a job if you play your cards right.
The script you can use for an informational interview request:
Hi (Name of Person),
I was reaching out because I see you are the Director of Marketing (use the role of the person you’re writing to) at Company X (Use the company name). I am very interested in learning more about your background and how you got to where you are and would love to connect to speak with you. I look forward to talking soon.
Regards,
(Your Name)
This doesn’t have to be word for word, but if you use some form of the above message, you should eventually get some hits that get you the meetings you’re looking for.
#5 Volunteer with companies in your desired industry
Do you know the one word most people will never say “no” to?
Free.
Offering your time and talents to someone for free is a great way to get yourself face time with people in the industry you’re looking to work in.
Now obviously this isn’t something you should be doing for 40 hours a week, but dedicating some volunteer time to a company you’re looking to work for can get you noticed pretty quickly. Especially if you’re doing a good job.
This is also a great strategy to use if you’re feeling stuck at any point in the job hunt. Spend a few hours a week volunteering and you should see good things happen not long after. (No promises but you’ll put ourselves in a good position for success.)
#6 Organize your job search results
You’ve probably heard stories of people sending out hundreds of applications, reaching out to dozens of people and joining a bunch of groups in an effort to get a job.
The sad reality is that it is a numbers game, so you’ll need to do a lot.
It can be very easy to lose track of who you’ve reached out to, how many applications you’ve sent and the status of everything.
The solution?
Keep a detailed file of everything.
What you should keep track of:
· Who you’ve reached out to.
o The date you contacted the person.
o The date you followed up with the person.
o The person’s job title and anything relevant to your job search.
· What jobs you’ve applied for.
o The job title and company.
o The date you applied for the job.
o If you have any connections that work at the company.
o If you’ve made any connections.
o The date you contacted a connection or made a connection that works at the company.
#7 Create a keyword optimized and results driven resume
This strategy is last because even though it’s important, it might be the least important of all.
You need to have a well written, keyword optimized resume. That is a fact and without one you will struggle to land a job. That being said, it might not be necessary to have one in every single situation.
Why?
If you scroll all the way back up to the first strategy, you’ll understand that networking overpowers a well-written resume every day of the week.
Do you know why it’s so impossible to land a job from an online posting?
It’s not because there’s thousands of people applying for the same job (even though that doesn’t help). It’s because in a number of cases, the hiring manager has already spoken to someone about the job and is posting the job for formality sake. Yes, they’ve already networked with someone they like and are giving them the job over the thousands of people with optimized resumes.
That being said though, you’ll need to have an optimized resume when you’re networking and when you’re creating your online profile, so that’s why it’s on this list.
What to do after you’ve read this article
Now that you’ve read this article, you should have all the tools in your tool belt (or tool kit) to job hunt successfully.
If you have a job, start using these strategies.
If you lose your job, start using these strategies.
Hunting for a job isn’t something you only do when your desperate, it should be part of your career strategy no matter what point you’re at on the path.
If you ever need help with figuring it all out, an expert coach and career strategist at Your Career Strategy is just a click away. Set up a FREE consultation today.
It’s time to get there and take control of your career.