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Job Quest: 5 steps to your next JOB
Originally by Amy Lindgren (c) 1999 Prototype Career Media
"If your job search is not producing results, you're probably missing one of the five essential steps."
Missing one or more of these steps means you have no direction, or no market research, or perhaps that you're under-qualified. Or maybe not enough people know about your job search, or you have no real strategy for your job search.
Whatever your weak spot is, this guide will help you to strengthen it. If you follow these steps, you will get offers. The quality of the offers will depend on how well you follow each step. Old-fashioned luck will also play a part, but remember: with few exceptions, you make your own luck. Keep reading to find out how. And - good luck!
STEP ONE: Setting Your Goals
What's so hard about that?
Sounds simple, doesn't it? So why do we have so much trouble
explaining what kind of job we want? Because goal setting, especially when it relates to jobs, is a very emotional process. Our jobs are not just a place to work. They determine our standard of living, our place in society, and out personal identity. In America, it seems, you are what you do.
Goal setting can be very complex, depending on the circumstances
of your life. This section will give you an outline on the process, as it
relates to job search.
Want a good job? Set a good goal.
Remember the old saying, "If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?" This is especially true of job search. If you don't decide the kind of job you want, you may not recognize it when it comes along. Even worse, other people won't recognize it. And since most job leads come from friends and family, it's very important that they can recognize a good fit when they see it. Getting leads from other people is part of the hidden job market, and that is where you will find the action.
Goal setting is also important from the employer's point of view. If you don't know what you want, how will they? An employer today will not take the time to "fit you in" to their company. You must decide what you can - and want to - do for them, then sell them on the data.
Last, a good goal is important for your own happiness. Remember
the saying, "Be careful what you ask for - you may get it"? Well, if you say you will take "anything," those are the kinds of offers you will get.
And very few of those jobs will fit your real goals for salary, location,
co-workers or promotion.
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