Best Practice: Clarify Your Target
Job search begins by deciding what type of position you will pursue. You must decide on a functional area of expertise and design a job search campaign focused on that function. Conduct an inventory of your strengths, skills, talents, passions, and interests and determine which ones you want to pursue in your next position. Also, define your requirements and expectations such as work/life balance, corporate culture, geographical preferences, and compensation range.

Selecting an industry to target is also important. Consider what types of companies have the functional role that you will be pursuing in their organizational structure and develop a list of target companies. While this may require some research, it is well worth the effort as your research will help you determine other factors that may be important to you such as industry growth rate, trends, and innovativeness.

Given that recruiters source candidates who are a “perfect fit,” it is critical to identify your target function and industry so that you can position yourself as the “perfect candidate” and demonstrate value.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Profile and Target the Ideal Company
Develop and prioritize a list of potential target companies including their revenues, number of employees, products and/or services, industry ranking, geographic locations, company culture, reputation, and other factors important to your function. Then conduct in-depth research of each company in your target industry using resources such as the company website, online databases, research firms, library resources, as well as investigative calls into various departments in the company, and of course, requesting the help of your network. Consider contacting the decision maker either by calling him/her directly or mailing an introductory letter and following up with a call.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Understand and Articulate Your Value and Your Brand
Before you approach a company you must know what value you bring to the company. Employers want to understand their return on investment. They want to know how you will contribute to their top line, bottom line, market position, or shareholder value. You must be able to demonstrate that you bring significantly more value than the expense you will incur (your entire compensation package plus recruiting expenses, training expenses, and new hire ramp-up expenses).

(See Best Practices in Personal & Professional Branding for more detailed information on articulating your value and your brand.)

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Treat Job Search Like a Marketing Campaign
Job search is marketing. You are the product and you need to execute a marketing campaign to sell yourself and win a job offer. Much like a company executes a marketing campaign integrating direct mail, print, radio, television, public relations announcements, sponsorships, community involvement, and online venues such as websites, blogs, forums, and social networking groups, so must you execute an integrated multi-channel, multi-media marketing program.

In addition to your targeted search (see Best Practice #2), your marketing campaign should include a blend of the traditional job search activities such as networking, direct mail campaigns, and resume submissions for advertised positions with the contemporary activities such as blogging, online social networking, database profiling, and resume posting on niched and specialty websites.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Create Targeted Marketing Collateral
Assemble a portfolio of impressive, well-written marketing materials such as your resume, biography, accomplishment stories, leadership summary, and letters that focus on your benefits, value proposition, and accomplishments/achievements as well as your credentials and qualifications.

(See Best Practices in Resumes & Career Marketing Communications for more ideas on creating your marketing materials.)

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Organize and Manage Your Job Search with Precision
Job search is probably one of the most important projects you’ll ever manage. A multi-channel, multi-media job search campaign requires organization, tracking, and a project management system. You’ll need to assemble your resources and create a timeline for prioritizing and executing the various phases of your campaign. You’ll also need to coordinate several marketing activities, track opportunities and job leads, manage an expanding network, aggregate and organize your research information, coordinate a calendar of meetings, and manage follow-up activities. Consider setting up a spreadsheet or project management chart that will allow you to schedule and track all the activities associated with your job search or use one of the online career management sites such as CareerShift, CareerBeam, or JibberJobber.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Network Effectively and Build Relationships
For years, networking has been validated as the most effective method for landing a new position. Study after study by various firms who assist job seekers at every level of the careers continuum have produced statistics ranking networking as the number-one method for getting a new job.

Effective networking requires a mindset of give to get. Before approaching your network consider what you may be able to offer or do for your contact. If you are not certain, be sure to ask your contact, “So, what can I do for you?” and make sure you follow through with some sort of giving action. This approach will eradicate the abusive approach unintentionally employed by many job seekers.

With the proliferation of online networking sites, membership organizations, and people databases, it is easier than ever to gain access to people who can help you with your job search. While it may be slightly more difficult to build a strong relationship with someone you meet online, there still remains considerable value in initiating and nurturing these types of relationships.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Build An Online Presence and Get Found
Numerous studies conducted by many of the leading career-focused organizations, human resource researchers, and consultants show an increasing rise in the number of recruiters and interviewers who search for candidates online.

Online recruiter forums and journals trade information about researching candidates using many of the online venues such as the social networking sites, social media sites, blogs, company sites, association and membership sites, general directories and public listings, press releases, resume databases, public speaking agendas, conference attendee lists, and other online venues.

The perception is that if you do not have an online presence you are outdated and obviously are not a player or leader in your field. Additionally, the perception is that you most likely do not stay current on your discipline and are not delivering significant value to your employer. Conversely, if you have a strong, branded online presence, you are perceived as someone who is leading the field, shaping opinion, setting trends, and driving value to your employer and the entire industry. The latter is much more appealing to recruiters, interviewers, and anyone researching you.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Research Job Opportunities
Before interviewing for a position, thoroughly research the company’s history, products and services, customers, culture, and others who are employed by the company. If you’re not well versed on the industry, research the industry’s challenges, issues, and trends. In addition to reading the company’s website, read their press releases, marketing materials, and blogs and talk to the sales representatives, customers, and vendors. This well-rounded knowledge base will allow you to identify and formulate solutions you can articulate during the interview. In addition, showing this degree of interest in the company demonstrates to the interviewer your enthusiasm for the opportunity.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Prepare For the Interview
There’s a dictum that states “success is the intersection between preparation and opportunity.” Preparing thoroughly for an interview will cultivate a sense of confidence, reduce your anxiety level, and pave the road to opportunity.

When you’re fortunate enough to be invited to interview, be prepared to:

• Build rapport with the interviewer and express genuine appreciation for the opportunity
• Reply to questions concisely without rambling
• Articulate accomplishment stories using the CAR (challenge, action, result) format or SMART (situation and more, action, results, tie-in) format coined by Susan Whitcomb in her book Job Search Magic
• Respond to behavioral-style interview questions that require you to respond with an example of a past performance to determinate your future performance
• Respond to illegal or awkward questions
• Ask the interviewer questions about the company so that you can evaluate the position based on your values and criteria
• Demonstrate your expertise by giving a brief presentation on how you would solve a problem the company may be experiencing
• View the interview as a collaborative business meeting to determine if this is a fit for both you and the company
• Summarize the company’s expectations and your specific qualifications to gain agreement regarding your candidacy
• Express your interest in the position and ask for the job

To prepare fully, consider using a video camera to practice and asking a career coach to work with you to polish your interviewing skills.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Salary Negotiations
Research salary information for your target position so that you have a clear understanding of your market value. However, do not initiate the salary discussion. Wait for the interviewer to start the salary discussion and respond with your researched answer, being sure to focus on the value you bring to the table. Once you agree on the salary, ask for the offer in writing and let the interviewer know you will respond within 48–36 hours. Respond to the interviewer both verbally and with a letter of acceptance.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Build a Support Group
Establish a team including a career coach, mentor, and people committed to your success who can help you stay focused and on track. During an extended job search you may experience emotional swings, energy fluctuations, confusion regarding your search, and loss of confidence. Consider retaining a career coach to guide you through the process, recommend the tools and resources you need, hold you accountable, and support you in your search.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS

Best Practice: Utilize Mobile Communication Tools To Stay On Top of the Job Search
The hours of time people spend on their cell phones has exploded. Studies show that there were 1 trillion cell minutes used worldwide in 2008, up from 195 billion cell minutes used in 2000. As cell usage grows, so does the number of apps that people can download and use to manage their communications, contacts, calendar, news feeds, social media feeds, music selections, audio and video as well as thousands of tools including GPS, web access, numerous online mobile services and much more.

When conducting a job search, job seekers can leverage their web-enabled smartphones to help them manage their job search. This is particularly helpful if the job seeker is employed and doesn’t want to use the employer’s equipment for job search activities.

There are applications that enable job seekers to:

• Search online job boards as well as company job boards
• Create and email a PDF resume accompanied by a cover letter
• Submit their resume online to apply for job openings
• Set up smartphone email alerts notifying them of new matching jobs
• Conduct online research on companies, salary information and people so that the job seeker can be prepared for meetings and interviews
• Sync their contacts on their home and office PC with their smartphone so all their contacts are organized in one place and accessible no matter where they are
• Access and communicate with their LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook contacts

Additionally, the Windows Mobile Phone and apps enable users to open and edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents and view PowerPoint documents.

The smartphone is a fantastic tool for keeping on top of job-related communications and opportunities. As with home phone voice mail systems, job seekers will need to create a professional voice mail message, check their messages frequently and respond quickly.

For more information on specific smartphone apps, see the article “Job Search & Contact Management Apps for Smartphones” on the Articles/Job Search page.

For Gartner Report statistics on smartphone use, see Trends.

Contributed by Beverly Harvey, CPRW, JCTC, CCM, CCMC, MRW, CPBS, CLTMC, CJSS