If you have never planned your job search efforts then either you have never searched for a job for real or just never planned success when doing so. It is important that you don't just send out your applications to every job decent opening in order to succeed and get employed. This way most job seekers hope they will be lucky and will receive an invitation to an interview. However, we believe that there is way more effective means of getting a job than just hoping in luck. At Prime-resume we don't hope to be successful, we plan it. That is one of our internal mottos. So next time you sit down to surf available job ads online and send your applications you might want to make a pause to think everything through and plan your job search campaign.
Planning A Job Search Success
But how do you do it? Where do you start when planning a job search campaign that is meant to be? Well, it certainly doesn't start with searching through the job advertisements online. It doesn't start with choosing a company where you want to work. You may be surprised but it starts with you. By failing to recognize who you really are and what you want you are putting at risk your career development or even your future in general. Just imagine that Bill Gates would have chosen to be a doctor or a mechanic. He might have become a good mechanic or doctor but we all would have lost in the area of computers (which has become a huge part of our life today). We bet he thought what he really wanted before he becomes co-founded the largest software company. So step 1 on your plan should be to reflect on who you are and what you really want. You will see that it will be much easier after you understand your strengths and interests to look for jobs. It is only after this first step you can move up to researching potentials careers or employers.
There are plenty of tools online that could help you match your skills, qualifications, and interests to the right kind of job. But it doesn't mean that after you've found what seems right you have to apply. Most likely you won't have what it takes to get a job so we advise developing an action plan that will help you gain lacking skills and necessary experience to get a job. Training, internships, part-time jobs, informal classes - you are more than welcome to use any of these to make sure you have what it takes. After you worked on what you can show to a potential employer you can start developing your marketing tools. What are they? Resume, cover letter, portfolio samples, etc. Take time to tailor your resume and cover letter when you apply to different companies.
Employers love candidates who are keeping their applications precise and relevant. Make sure you research a particular company before submitting your application. The information about the company should have an impact on your interview preparations as well as the development of all application documents.
