“It’s not about where you started, it’s about the journey” – Joey Trebif
I remember getting my first (very used) car not long after passing my driver’s test. The first thing I did was, of course, to plan a trip. When you are 19 years old and ready to take on the world, a 1,200+ mile trip (each way) from NY to Miami with some of my friends seemed like a reasonable first trip. So we set out, thinking that when we are tired of driving (maybe halfway through), we can find a hotel and stop for the night. Full of energy (and lots of coffee), it is not until 1am that we decide we should find the next hotel. There were only small motels that we found and none of them would open the office for us to register, so we continued to drive through the night and next day. Needless to say, it was a long and tiring journey. When we were ready to go home, we planned out our trip and made reservations for our overnight in advance. The trip back seemed to fly by and we felt like we were home in no time (even though we drove just as many miles).
So what does this have to do with job search? You will reach your destination (a new job) more quickly with a well planned job search journey. You will be better prepared in your approach to potential opportunities as well as interview and “closing the deal” (the journey home). So what do you need to create a great job search plan?
- Job Search Checklist: Start your planning with a job search checklist. It will include:
- Everything you need in terms of “materials” (resume, references, cover letters, skills, target companies, etc.)
- A Plan of Attack – who to contact first in your network, how you will spend your time (spread across recruiters, company career sites, job search sites and research)
- Interview Preparation – questions to ask, answers to questions you will be asked, how you will research companies and interviewers where you get asked to interview
- Job Search Checklist - Focuses on planning and preparation with 10 or so points (understand the process, understand the jobs that interest you, creating your list and more).
- Checklists for Job Seekers – A bunch of checklists for each part of your search.
- Overall Job Search Plan- Your overall goals and approach to your search
- 6 Steps in Creating a Job Search Plan – Careerrocketeer.com provides 6 steps to your job search plan in this article.
- Create a Job Search Plan – A short article by Careeronestop.org provides 2 job hunting truths, namely that 1) job search takes time and 2) you need goals and a schedule. The blog provides some useful links (like a job hunting schedule, job web sites, finding potential employers and a few more (including resumes and networking).
- Search for Success- Ensure you know the key factors that will drive a successful search and have incorporated them into your overall plan. What has worked for others?, how can you apply others’ success to your search?, what are the pitfalls you should avoid?
Good luck in your search.
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