How to finally get the job you want

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Are you job hunting or searching for that next promotion and feel you’re struggling to cut through?

Maybe it’s time to rethink your approach.

Unfortunately redundancy is forcing many people to update their CV and sell their career story at interview for the first time in decades (in many cases).

And if it’s one thing that unites us all in this process, it’s that we all hate selling ourselves.

Navigating the ever evolving job market can be challenging, but having a strategy and a structure can really help you nail that job. Also, it’s important to be mindful that it’s not a quick process.

“Have a job search strategy and structure and think of it as a marathon, not a sprint.”

Here’s some ideas to help you.

1.    Start from the inside out

The first place to start is within yourself. Be clear on your story and how you want to come across.

Start by listing all the things you know – your skills. Pay particular attention to how those skills could transfer to a new industry or a different area in your company.

Do an honest appraisal of what you’re really good at and enjoy doing – your strengths. If you haven’t done any personality or psychometric tests before there are many free tools available online. Try this Free Starter Strengths Profile or this Free Values in Action survey.

Or ask friends and family to tell you 2/3 strengths they observe in you and 1 or 2 areas you need to work on.

Next identify your passions - those areas or interests that you’re really passionate about and where you lose all sense of time when you’re doing them.

Remind yourself of all you have achieved in your career so far – your achievements or proudest moments. Create a record of every significant piece of your career, from day-to-day accomplishments to major awards. Write your examples as an achievement statement. That way you will be better at giving evidence of your proficiency in a competency-based interview.

Finally, think about your non-negotiables. Write down what is important to you about where and how you work. For instance – do you want to work remotely or hybrid? Are you happy to have a commute? Are you looking for further growth or challenging opportunities?

What have you learned about yourself in this process? Do you feel you know yourself better? Is your story coming becoming clearer?

 Could you now write a 30 second radio commercial or an ‘elevator pitch’ that clearly states who you are, what you can offer, why someone should hire you?

2.     Showcase your story

Your CV and/or Executive Summary (sometimes called a Bio) and your LinkedIn Profile are opportunities to showcase your story and your brand to potential employers and network contacts. 

A CV is skimmed in less than 8 seconds, so you need to grab the attention of the recruiter/hiring manager and get yourself on the interview short list.

Tailor your CV for each job that you apply for. Review the job description, identify key words used by the company and use those key words in your CV.

If you haven’t updated your CV in a while start with a ‘back office’ version. Write down an unedited list of your complete work history. Then, reflect on your personal and professional strengths and talents. Use this back-office CV to decide what you want to share on your actual CV and what you are going to showcase to show the impact you’ve had in roles.

3. Reach out to your Community

Reach out to your community, share your story and seek their help.

Organise your network of contacts and start engaging with those you’re most familiar with. That gives you a nice start to practice your pitch and become more comfortable.

Organise your network into those who:

·       Have insight into the area you want to work in

·       Have influence in that area and

·       Can make introductions for you in that area

Give yourself a target to reach out to them and meet at least 1 person a week for coffee.

4.     Apply for Roles

Research the companies you want to work for and set alerts on their career pages.

Adapt your base CV and tailor it for every application. Make sure you use as much of the language from the job advert as possible and give examples that show you have evidence of competency in the areas they are looking for.

Try and either find the name of the hiring manager or a contact in the company you're applying to. Reach out to let them know you've submitted an application. The personal touch is so important in your job search.

5.     Prepare for Interview

The time to start preparing for interview is immediately after you apply for that job!

Most interviews are now competency based. That means the interviewer is looking for evidence of your proficiency in what it takes to do the job. So you need to have lots of examples ready of your achievements against each competency.

Create a competency database of all you have achieved against the competency called out in the job description. Then describe that achievement using a framework like STAR or CAR.

These frameworks help you have a start, middle and end to your story and also prevent you from giving long, rambling answers to the question ‘tell me about a time when…..’

Prepare an opening and closing statement that highlight the 3 reasons why you should get this job.

And finally, practice, practice, practice…..that’s the only way to come across clearly and passionately.

I hope you find these tips useful in your job search strategy and wish you every success for a positive result.

If you need support putting your strategy and structure together, please reach out, I’d love to help.