It’s important to understand the process of job search in detail because you’ll need to go through it multiple times in a lifetime. Whether you’re looking for a new job or want to shift to a new career, you should develop stronger job skills to achieve success with your job search while also avoiding job scams.
Here’s a road map that you should follow to make sure your job search bears fruit and you get a new job of your choice.
Take a Career Aptitude Test
Before you get started with your job search, you should become fully aware of your key strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, you should know about those occupations where your chances of success are higher.
Taking a career test or a career aptitude test is an excellent way of becoming fully aware of your skills, aptitude and interests and the occupations or job positions that are a best match for your talent.
There are both online and offline career tests that you can opt for. On the web, you’ll also find several career tests that you can take for free. Opt for one or more of these career tests so that you don’t have to struggle with making the right career choices and you remain focused on your career goals.
Create Your Job Search Documents
Whatever industry you belong to, you are most likely to compete with tons of other job applicants with similar work experience, skills and backgrounds. Therefore, it’s crucial that you create effective job search documents.
These job search documents include –
- Cover Letters
- Resumes
- Thank You Letters
- Acceptance Letters
Never underestimate the potential of a cover letter because it’s your first point of contact with employers or hiring managers. Ensure you write an effective cover letter to nail a specific job offer. Likewise, create a powerful resume which highlights your core strengths, skills and working experience. Thank You letters and Acceptance letters will also be required in the job hunting process.
Each one of these documents is critical to your job search success and landing a new job which suits you best. If you lack the skills to create these documents on your own, you should seek the help of an expert. You can also turn to online resume and cover letter writing service providers for the task.
Define Your Goals
The job search process is both long and difficult. So, it’s important that you are quite clear about the goals you want to achieve. This helps you keeping your focus while continuing with your job search.
Though your ultimate goal is to land your dream job, you should have multiple smaller goals that take you closer to your bigger goal, one step after another. However, what’s of utmost importance is that you set realistic goals for yourself. Expecting something that’s unrealistic will only lead to failure and frustration. Your goals should align with the experiences and skills you carry.
Also, don’t forget to reward yourself for every milestone or smaller goal that you achieve during your job search process.
Decide Upon the Time You’ll Spend on Job Search
The results of your job search depends on how much time and effort you put in. You can’t expect great results overnight. You have to work hard, and you have to be consistent with your job hunting efforts for success.
According to most career experts, you should plan to spend at least 3-6 months on your job search before saying YES to a job offer. You should decide how many hours of effort you’ll be investing into your job search every week.
Whether you plan to spend 15 hours a week or 20 hours a week, the key to success is to be consistent with your job search efforts.
Research the Industries (or Employers) of Interest
Which industry do you belong to? Make a list of those relevant industries or occupations which you think match your education, experience and skills. Try to find out as much about the industries of your interest as possible.
Most importantly, you should try to find out who the key employers are in the industries you have chosen for yourself. Know about their hiring process and the key skills they are looking for in job applicants so that you can steer your job search in the right direction. Use multiple resources in the process. You may also need to conduct informational interviews as part of your research.
Evaluate Job Offers
Don’t jump at any new job offer that comes your way. Keep calm once you start getting job offers from different employers. And start evaluating objectively every job offer that you get. You should only accept those job offers that you think will move your career in the right direction. Unless you fully understand the terms of a job offer, you might end up making the wrong career decisions.
You should evaluate a job offer on the basis of –
- Salary
- Employee Benefits
- Commuting Expenses
- Day-to-Day Job Responsibilities
- Career Growth
- Work Environment
- Employer’s Prospects
If you spend multiple years in a job, it’s certainly going to have a huge impact on your career and future prospects. Therefore, it’s crucial that you understand the pros and cons of a job offer completely so that you can make a well-informed decision. Have all those questions that you may have in mind answered.
Don’t Let Rejections Frustrate You
Your success rate with employers after every interview will not be 100%. You have to keep this fact in mind always. It’s likely that you’ll get rejected multiple times during your interviews.
Don’t lose heart. Just carry on with your job search.
Rejections are natural and you should never let them ruin your confidence. Having a positive mental attitude is of utmost importance. Every time you get rejected, you should think that you were not a good fit for the employer. However, you should definitely try to learn from your rejections and improve yourself so that you can do better and get job offers that are a good match for your aptitude and skills. It’s also a good idea to take some time out to indulge in recreational activities. This will help you have more focus and keep frustrations away.
Use Multiple Job Search Resources
There are several good places or resources that you can use to search for jobs. Don’t confine yourself to just one or two job search resources. Instead, use as many as possible including both online and offline.
Key job search resources include –
- Major Job Boards
- Regional Job Search Websites
- Company Websites
- Employment Agencies (Public and Private)
- Classified Ads
- Volunteering
- Professional Network
Thanks to the internet, there are tons of job search websites where you can look and apply for new jobs of your choice. Many of them cater to specific categories like fresh college graduates, entry level jobs, senior workers etc. Use several job search resources at your disposal to land a suitable job in time.
