Five Shiny Nuggets of Careers Gold

My So-Called Career Job Hunt Special - PART TWO!

Welcome to part two of the My So-Called Career guide to making job hunting a bit less shit! (catchy title I know 😝)

There is a lot here, so maybe bookmark it and come back to it when you need…. Or simply STRAP IN!

Part One of this newsletter special edition was focused on mindset and setting yourself up for success.

We covered:

• Getting clear on your commitment and what it means to you

• Building your scaffolding

• Getting clear on your criteria

• Make your plan based on consistency not motivation

• Create your confidence conditions

This month, in a slight change to the plan, we are going to go big on strategy, and then there will be a !BONUS PART THREE! coming up before Christmas with all things CV, cover letters, interview prep and resilience.

So, get ready to scale up your scaffolding, nurture your networks, connect with your community and make sure your materials are working hard for you.

If you want to be ready to hit the January job spike with your ducks so in a row they are practically line dancing, this is for you.

5 top tips to make your job hunt less shit

The best job hunts have more arms than your average octopus. OK, not quite, but you get the idea!

How you split your resources across the different arms will vary based on who you are and the type of jobs you are looking for, but by ignoring any of them completely you are leaving possibilities on the table.

Arm 1 - Advertised Jobs

Yes, some ads you see may have already been filled by an internal candidate, or in some cases not even exist!  But if we work on the basis that the vast majority of postings are a) open and b) legit then this is a natural starting point for most of us.

Advertised jobs are also a great source of insight and inspiration and can give a huge amount of helpful info as to what people are looking for, and the vocabulary they use which you can use to inform your prep and materials.

Don’t fall prey to spray and pray

🐙 Seek out jobs which meet your criteria, and which you can make a strong case for both being able to do, and wanting to do.  Quality over quantity every time.

🐙 Think about ways you can make your application stand out, as competition will be fierce. 

🐙 Always hone your application, tailor your CV, show that you have done your research and if you can follow up with a personal connection or referral as well, all the better. 

Arm 2 - Recruiters

Specialist recruiters will have access to roles that will never hit the open market, and they also have a lot of really valuable market insight. 

💪 Focus on building relationships with one or two who you feel will represent you effectively, and make it easy for them to help and advocate for you.  Be clear about your criteria, show that you are doing your homework and that you are a credible candidate.

💪 If you aren’t sure where to look, try googling job titles you would like and make a note of the companies who are handling the roles for them (and conveniently obscuring all the relevant information to stop you going direct to source).  Those are the folks you want to connect with.

💪 If you know anyone who works in recruitment, you can ask them for recommendations, and it’s also a great question to ask of your network - ‘do you know anyone who….?’

Arm 3 - Your network, and your networks networks

Ignore all the spurious statistics about 85% of jobs coming from your network, but stats or no stats, other people play a hugely valuable role in a job hunt.

Strategically activating your network could look like:

🤙🏽 Sharing your commitment (see pt 1) with people who can advocate for you, spot possibilities for you, put you forward for roles (there might even be a referral scheme that might benefit them for doing so), and can champion you - no one can help you if they don’t know what you are looking for.

🤙🏽 Ask for connections to companies, sectors or individuals of interest.  Be clear, concise and specific in your request.  Make it easy for people to help you in the way you want to be helped.

🤙🏽 Ask for testimonials, linkedin referrals, feedback on your strengths, eyes on a CV or suggestions as to what else you might be suited for, or where they think your work could have impact that you might not be aware of.

🤙🏽 Work your weak ties.  Don’t restrict yourself to people you know well - more casual contacts, friends of friends or colleagues, social media connections or members of clubs and communities are fabulous sources of possibility and support. 

🤙🏽 Look for ways to strengthen these relationships, for eg.

• coffees

• informational interviews

• ‘do you know anyone who…’ questions

• interactions on social media

• being intentional about connecting at relevant events not just consuming

🤙🏽 Look around also for other people going through the same process as you.  Knowing you are not alone goes a long way.

Arm 4 - LinkedIn

Ah lovely lovely linkedin. 

Yes it’s full of egotistical dross, idiots with Hollywood teeth and all the filters trying to sell you stuff, and SO MUCH MADE UP RUBBISH!

But… It can also be a genuinely helpful platform to search for jobs, explore different sectors, showcase you at your best, to show your interests and knowledge and to develop relevant relationships.

It is also where recruiters spend great swathes of their time looking for people who seem to fit the criteria they are trying to fill.

Linkedin rewards consistency and activity so think about the rule of 3, and commit to 3 of these actions at very least every week. 

It is not a place to be passive. 

Linkedin exists to make professional connections and to make your work visible (and to make it’s shareholders eye watering amounts of cash along the way).

You do not need to become a thought leader or a content creator to make connections.

🦑 Connecting/curating - Reaching out to new people with shared interests or connections.  Curating your feed with relevant people and interacting with what they share - like, share, comment.  Not just for the sake of the algorithm, but because it creates connection and makes you more visible to the people who matter to you.

🦑 Nurturing/reconnecting - ‘Connecting on Linkedin’ is not enough.  Create interactions which activate the connection; tag people in posts you think they would be interested in, invite their thoughts, interact with their posts, celebrate their achievements; take the online offline and invite someone for coffee, or to meet in person at an event you think you will both be attending.

🦑 Sharing/posting - This gives a lot of you the screaming heebie jeebies, but creating posts or sharing articles etc that showcase your industry knowledge, opinions, profile etc gives potential employers and colleagues a sense of how you work, what you value, what you think.

Arm 5 - on spec approaches

Don’t count this one out, but it can have a great ripple effect.

If there are companies you’d love to work for, teams you’d like to be a part of or people you’d love to work with or for; a well crafted and thoughtful approach can work well. 

If nothing is available right now, you have planted a seed for a possible future.

This is also true if you don’t get a particular job but really enjoyed the process, place and people. 

Tell them afterwards that you would love to stay connected, and be considered for other roles, and then follow up. 

Find ways to stay on their radar, and let them know when you see other roles that sound interesting.

I hope you all found something in this to take away and try so you will be ready to roll come the new year.

Part 3 will be winging its way to you in a week or two, and we will be uploading all 3 parts to the website so they will be there for you whenever you need them.

If you could benefit from someone kind in your careers corner in the new year, please drop me a line, or share within your network for a bit of careers karma. I will have space for a limited number of new clients in January.

Take care, and happy hunting!

PJ

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