Job Search Planning

Developing a plan for your job search is crucial.  Remember, this plan will be altered as you move through your goals and meet them.   In order to develop a strong plan for success, follow these steps.

Determine your career goal.  It can’t just be to get a job.  Seriously think about your skills, experience, career desires and financial needs.  Just because you have been in one occupation for a while doesn’t mean that you don’t have the transferrable skills to do a different occupation.  Investigate some career options and determine a suitable path for yourself.

Investigate Companies.  Browsing job ads online and in the newspaper is fine; however, you will also want to include researching companies that you would like to work for.  Have a look at their values, products, visions and career section of their websites.  Try and schedule an informational interview with the Human Resources department (or another person in the company) who can tell you a bit more about the position you would like to get into.

Set a schedule.  Develop a daily schedule of job search tasks.  Arrange time to do online job search, research companies, social networking and in-person networking and tailoring resumes and cover letters.  Keeping to a schedule will make your job search far more productive, increase motivation and is good practice for when you are back at work! Try and do something everyday that is relevant to your job search and that will move you forward.

- Sunny & Sassy