You Need a Job Search Plan

Why have a Job Search Plan?

A good job search plan works for you much like a map works for travelers trying to navigate in a new city. It enables you to see your goal and move in the right direction to reach it—whether that involves just a job change or a transition to a new career.

You can choose different routes (steps) to reach your career goal, adjusting your plan as you go along to fit changing circumstances. Without a plan, however, you are basically trusting in blind luck to get you where you want to go. A successful job search rarely results from relying on luck.

A Successful Job Search

Your job search can be successful or unsuccessful. It's largely up to you. However, it's tough to conduct a successful job search if you don't:

• Know the direction you want to go—industry, profession, company.
• Research the companies or organizations you'll be submitting to.
• Pay careful attention to information about the job you choose to pursue.
• Identify your potential value with regard to selected employers.
• Develop a resume and other job search materials that highlight your value compellingly.

Experts maintain that a job search involves as many as 40 steps! How many of them do you know?

Local Job Search or Long Distance?

Conducting a local job search means you are confining your search to a defined local area. A long-distance job search indicates that you are interested in—or willing to consider—relocation to a new area. Both types share some common elements, but they also differ in certain respects. I can help you plan and manage either or both types of job search.

Reduce Income Loss

One important point to consider in regard to job searching is the potential for lost income. For every week you are unemployed, you lose the income you could have earned during that period. If you're working but under-employed, you still come up short on income. Developing and executing a focused job search plan can speed up the process of finding your next job.

Management Job Searches

If you're in senior management, particularly the executive ranks, your job search exhibits characteristics that tend to distinguish it from lower-level searches. You're less likely to throw your resume onto a job board and wait for the calls to roll in, for example. You might have an extensive network of contacts you can tap into to spread the word about your new goal. At the same time, you know that fewer opportunities exist and vacancies open up less often, the higher up the ladder you go.

I've worked with senior managers and executives who want to move up in their current company, as well as those who plan to relocate to another geographical area and those who want to make a career transition to an entirely different industry. I can partner with you to scope out the steps and plan the search for your particular job search or career objective.