Posts Tagged ‘Job Search Success’

Welcome to the First Careerfolk blog! This is a big step for me because I am more of a speaker than a writer, but I realize the need to push myself and expand my skill sets, just like I encourage my clients to. Since we are in the midst of the worst economy of our time and a job market that has changed dramatically, as a career coach, there is a lot to talk about, dissect and analyze, of what we know as the New Job Search. I’ll call it the ANATOMY OF A JOB SEARCH.

We are experiencing the ‘perfect’ storm in this economy: a fundamental change in employment trends, a stock market collapse, ongoing layoffs and industries shrinking or even disappearing.  I don’t need to remind you what its like, you are living it. What I want to focus on is the Why and the How to embrace the new economy. Despite the current market conditions, there is a way out of your job search malaise. I want to focus on WHY you might be struggling in your search, and HOW you can succeed in moving ahead.  From my experience the one thing I notice about job seekers is that, they tend to jump right onto the “job search treadmill” (my new term for the job search loop), with out taking a moment to assess where they are, what they can do now, and what they are looking for. Assessing who you are and what you stand for has never been more important: How can you stand out, if you don’t know what you stand for?

After an exciting  job search strategy group session, where one of our members came to report back on how he landed his new position, my thoughts about success in the job search were confirmed so, as part of my first blog I want to highlight, from my hands-on perspective, 10 Points that Make Job Seekers Successful  and why others are getting stuck right now. People are finding work, and this what I have noticed about those that are finding it.

10 Essentials for Job Search Success:

1.     Fire in your belly. An insatiable motivation to succeed and do whatever it takes.
2.     A sound understanding and coherent and articulate message conveying who you are and what you can do that is different from others, is critical in todays job search.
3.     An inherent confidence in yourself.
4.     Staying focused on your goal, and not letting the negative distractions, and past rejections keep you back from getting up and moving forward.
5.     Establishing a daily & weekly routine that incorporates online research and  networking, as well as “in-person” networking, volunteering, learning a new skill, or maintaining or expanding an old one.
6.     Maintaining a positive attitude: Allow yourself time out to do things that make you happy or keep you inspired and motivated and give you other things to think about and an opportunity to relax.  (More to come on this)
7.     Acknowledging that you might be in the search for a while, and making the most of your time while you are at it. (More to come on this too!)
8.     Joining a job search strategy group that you can network with, generate ideas with, be accountable to, and help you keep focused.
9.     Searching for companies, not for jobs:  Having a plan that will help you reach your goal is essential, and this involves identifying where you want to work, and establishing a plan to get to know those companies.
10.     Learning how to use one or  more forms of social media to get your message out and market yourself and your brand: Definitely linkedin, but also Twitter, Facebook and blogs have all become  integral to a successful job search strategy.

Are you managing to accomplish all of these? Do you have a clear and precise understanding of who you are and what you have to offer?

Our next post will look at the top 10 mistakes job seekers make! Look out for post #2.