Finding a job that provides growth and satisfaction requires the right strategy. It takes considerable thought, time, and energy, but the payoff is tremendous.
In order to find such a job, you're going to tap into the hidden job market with the Systematic Job Search strategy. These are the requirements:
Focus - Know exactly what type of work you want and the type of organization you want to work for. Identify your strengths so you'll know you can do an outstanding job.
Resume - Develop a resume that really sells you, one that accurately describes your accomplishments and potential.
Employer Research - Develop a list of 50-200 prime organizations that match your requirements for industry, location, size, growth, and any other factors. When an interview is arranged, learn more about the organization and go prepared.
Contacts - Send your resume to friends, relatives, and business contacts. Then talk to them about the type of position you're seeking. Your network of contacts will keep their eyes and ears open for you; when positions open up in their organizations (or in their friends' organizations), they can supply you with the names of people to con tact.
Calls - In the first week, call each of your top 20 organizations and ask for the name of the person with the power to hire you. He or she will usually have a position one or two levels above the position you would fill. Send a marketing letter to that person. A marketing letter is a letter that outlines your background and acts as a substitute for your resume. State in your marketing letter that you will call them to set up a brief meeting. Call those you've sent letters to and ask for a brief appointment, even if there are no openings.
Appointments - Your calls should result in appointments 40-80% of the time. Before each appointment, research the organization. During the 15-minute appointment you will learn more about the organization and what they look for in their employees. Ask intelligent questions and explain how your background could be helpful to them. Create a favorable impression of yourself so if an opening occurs, you will be given top priority.
Follow-Up - After each appointment send a thank-you note and express your interest in the organization. This causes the person to think favorably of you once again. Three weeks later, call to see if any openings have developed. If not, make a brief call every five weeks. This type of contact has at least 40 times the impact of sending a resume alone.
Interviews - All of your hard work, whether responding to want ads or getting appointments with the people with power to hire you - will result in formal interviews. Because you are ready for virtually any question, you'll shine in the interviews and get more than your share of job offers.
Finding jobs in the hidden job market will require hard work and endurance, but it can be enjoyable and rewarding. There may be frustrations and down times. But remember: your efforts will pay off. Those efforts will directly determine the success of your job search.
You need two types of focus to conduct an effective job search. First, you need a definite career direction. You need to identify a career field which will utilize your strengths, skills, and temperament, and will match your values. It should be a field that you can envision yourself enjoying and growing in for 15 years or more. Once you achieve clarity on your career direction, you need a second type of focus. This focus centers on knowing specifically what you need in a job and organization to keep you satisfied and motivated to do your best.
Some people go through life having a series of unrelated jobs and thus never establish a career. To select a field to pursue you must know yourself well. Without adequate self-knowledge you will likely fall into your next job. If you're lucky, you'll like it and remain in it for many years. If you're like most people, however, you'll fall into a job which is not well-suited to you. If you're typical, you'll stay in the job until you get your first raise, then until you get your first vacation, and before you know it, ten years will have passed. You'll still be complaining about your job, but not doing anything about it.
Others respond differently to a dissatisfying job. As soon as they realize the job is not right for them, they quit and move on to something else. Ten years later, they've had five to ten jobs, but with virtually no promotions or career growth.
Self-knowledge is the key to long-term career success. The type of self-knowledge required to gain career focus is exactly the same type of self-knowledge required for job focus. Thus, by being knowledge able about yourself you can achieve both career focus and job focus.
Some people have career focus, but lack job focus. They also experience frustration. They may have chosen the right career field, and have the talent and personality to pursue it, but they keep ending up in the wrong jobs. Although they may gain promotions, they are always frustrated.
Choosing the right career field requires a great deal of personal insight. As helpful as career and personality inventories are, it is the degree of self-knowledge which you possess which will enable you to select the right career field. This article will help you attain the personal insight necessary to choose the right career field and to become totally clear on what you need in your next job.
As you increase your self-knowledge, begin reading about occupations which interest you. As you narrow your choices down, begin talking to people who are already in occupations that interest you. As you do your reading and talking, a light will flash on. You'll get excited about a particular field. It may be difficult to explain why you're ex cited, but you'll find yourself becoming more enthusiastic as you gather more information. You will have an internal confirmation that this is the right field for you. You'll sense that you will not get tired of doing this type of work and will continually want to learn more about it.
It's important to find the right career and the right job. Most people recognize that their health and energy level are directly related to their satisfaction with work. If you enjoy what you do and are good at it, you are likely to work harder and smarter. This will result in promotions and greater responsibility and challenges in your work. Your income will rise accordingly.
Since no one cares as much about your career as you do, you must take responsibility for achieving the things you want to achieve. To achieve those goals, you must be clear what those goals are.
Have an absolute belief that everyone can be great at something. Not everyone can be a great artist, composer, or architect, but everyone can be great at something. Your task is to find out what that thing is and become it. When you're great at something and you love doing it, you will gain the financial and psychic rewards you need.
