What’s YOUR Weakest Link? Building a Strong Job-Search Chain
A
chain is only as effective as its weakest link—and you don’t know which
link is weak until the chain is tested.
If your job search is falling short, one of your job-search skills may
be the weak link. By analyzing your
chain of job search skills, you can build a stronger chain, one that can stand
up to any test.
There
are three critical links in your job search chain. Consider each of them carefully to determine your weakest link,
then work to strengthen that link.
·
·
Sell
your best transferable skills
·
·
Support
those skills with bottom-line impacts and achievements
·
·
Be
easy to understand at a glance, without dense reading
·
·
Have
an easy-to-read format with a clear outline
·
·
Not
typecast you into an industry or job you are trying to leave
·
·
Focus
on only one career objective
An effective cover letter should:
·
·
Support—but
not repeat—the resume
·
·
Not
sound like a form letter
·
·
Not
start every sentence with “I,” “Me,” or “My”
·
·
Focus
on the hiring motives of the reader
If your weakest link is your resume and
cover letter, you may want to consider investing in a professional resume
writer. Many of them have experience in
Human Resources and recruiting, so they know what hiring managers are looking
for and the best way to present that information.
Link #2: Resume Exposure
Even the best resume
will fail to generate interviews if it doesn’t reach a wide enough target
audience. To a certain degree,
generating interviews is a numbers game.
If the resume is effective to begin with, then the more resumes you send
out, the more interviews you will win.
How much exposure is
enough for your resume? The answer is
subjective, but you’ll definitely increase your exposure by using the following
methods and online tools:
·
·
Post your resume on numerous job
boards (i.e., more than two or three)
·
·
Distribute your resumes using a
reputable online resume distribution service
·
·
Proactively mass-target your
resume to prospective employers
·
·
Proactively send your resume to a
wide audience of recruiters
·
·
Identify numerous job boards that
target your specific industry or occupation (again, more than two or three)
·
·
Use job board profile options to
have job postings emailed to you on a regular basis
·
·
Utilize your existing network or
build a stronger network of industry and occupational contacts to uncover job
leads
If resume exposure is
your weakest link, then you might benefit from the expertise of a career coach
to help guide you in better job search strategies. A career coach can assist you in building a campaign to gain
maximum exposure for your resume.
Link #3: Interview Skills
If your resume is
fine and you are getting plenty of first interviews—but no second ones—then
your interview skills may be your weakest link.
To analyze the
strength of your interview skills, ask yourself the following:
· ·
Have I adequately researched this
company prior to the interview?
· ·
Am I prepared to answer tough
questions?
· ·
Do I know what questions they
might ask, or do I find myself stumped by questions I didn’t expect?
· ·
Do I know what kinds of questions
to ask in order to gain insight into important hiring motives?
· ·
Do I know how to uncover any
concerns that might prevent a job offer?
· ·
Am I a good interview “closer”?
If interview skills
are your weakest link, you’ll receive more job offers by investing in interview
coaching with a career expert.
By strengthening each
link of your job-search chain, you’ll avoid months of frustrating, ineffective
effort. With each link strong enough to
support your career objective you’ll win your dream job with confidence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deborah
Walker, CCMC
Resume
Writer ~ Career Coach
To
see resume samples and read more job-search tips visit www.AlphaAdvantage.com
Email:
Deb@AlphaAdvantage.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~