Here are 5 reasons to panic if your search strategy isn’t working. I’m sure you can think of more, but these issues are solvable:
1. Nobody is responding to your resume
2. You’re not invited back after a number of initial interviews
3. Your falling behind your career and compensation goals
4. Your company is being acquired or in consolidation
5. You don’t have a compelling search strategy
What are you going to do about it? The first question to answer is: Are you using yesterday’s solutions for tomorrow’s issues? The world has changed in the past 2 years and it takes a different kind of job search strategy to win the competitive game of moving up.
Here are the 7 “MUST have’s” to get that next higher-level job:
1. You must have a compelling resume. Not just a good one, or a terrific one, but compelling. You want the hiring manager to scan your resume and say, “This is definitely someone I want to interview”. Send me you resume and I’ll critique it.
2. You must develop a strong networking matrix of people who know your work, can vouch for you and “market” you to others. They are the ones who know where the key jobs are, can introduce you into the organization and be your internal champion.
3. You must have measureable results that you can validate and build into your “story”. Everyone has a “before” and “after” story to tell but don’t know how to put it into words or put it together in a meaningful way. All performance is convertible into results.
4. You must research your function, industry and level to gauge your demand, value and compensation levels in relation to competitors. Also, research the companies that ask for an interview: Their issues, history, products, needs and strategies. You need to know more about them than they know about you.
5. You must be able to differentiate yourself from all others. Your uniqueness should be matched with the requirements of the open position. If you don’t know how you’re better than other candidates, then no one else can either.
6. You must have the skills for an effective interview. Interviewing for a staff position is very different from that as a manager or at the executive level. You also need the knowledge and skills for a effective telephone, group, panel and serial interviews. All are different and all need special coaching.
7. You must understand how to negotiate when given a job offer: The policy parameters, what is on or off the table, past exceptions, the level of decision and most importantly your requirements and acceptance for results, both short and long term.
Don’t panic if your search strategies aren’t working. There’s help if you know where to look.
Ready to test the market? Email: wkaufmann1@cox.net
Want a free assessment of your resume? Mygreenerfuture1@cox.net