The challenge of finding the best job search strategy

Whatever a challenge is for you, big or small, it takes strategies to win. In my world of resume writing and career marketing, the misconception is that there are fixed rules of the way it must be to get the employers attention.

What is the Best Job Search Strategy for you?

You need to use strategy to figure out what will work for your market. Many times, job seekers follow rules they learned somewhere without giving strategy a single thought. When people who hire me send me their old resumes to review, they may not match the strategy I would have used but there may be great content within the resume.

I start by listening to the goal of the client and make sure they do have a goal beyond “getting a job.”

• Where do they feel their skills can best benefit the employer?
• What is their geographic preference? Do they prefer or need to stay wherever they currently live? Do they have a preferred new area they really want to explore living in and starting over?
• Are they planning to transition into a new career? What skill sets fit and what new ones do they need for the target position?
• What is the market like in their target areas?
• Have they evaluated the economic conditions in the area they want to move? Are they using Salary.com, Payscale.com, or Glassdoor.com to assess the potential earning and make sure the company is a good fit?
• What specific skills do they want to highlight?
• What are the accomplishments that set them apart from everyone else?

Design your resume to reach your job search strategy and career marketing goals?

Next, we develop and design a resume to reach those goals. Following a cookie-cutter approach doesn’t work for everyone in the job market. You need to differentiate yourself from the mob of job seekers.

A young client recently was interviewed for an extremely specific set of skills. There were 60 applicants for the job. Her resume was picked because it stood out but then she also had prepared for the interview and successfully conveyed her value. They told her they interviewed six candidates and would get back to her for the next round of interviews.

Remember your job search strategy must fit you and your job targets! If you are only following the advice of a book without fine-tuning it to meet your own specific needs, you will not succeed.

However, a tightly designed career marketing and job search strategy will channel your goals and turn your search into a new position in a role you will enjoy.

Stuck in your job search or existing position? Don’t know how to get unstuck? Hire Julie (me) to do it for you. You will hit your target much more quickly and be doing what you do best instead of trying to figure your way through the job search maze. To find out how, Click here!

Photo Credit