by Terrie Osborn, CPRW
People often spend more time planning for a vacation than in preparing to land a satisfying job! Put some thoughtful preparation into finding a job and you can be happy in it day after day, 40 hours a week, year after year. The secret to finding a job you love is in preparation.
Four-Step Process For Preparing for Job Finding: Make a plan, Invest in a professionally prepared resume, Prepare for interviews, Follow-up after interviews.
Step 1: MAKE a plan.
♦ So you want to be an accountant - but what kind of accountant, and in what kind of industry? And where in the world would you like to live? Is it important to stay close to home, or do you want to live in a different climate, maybe in the mountains or near the ocean? Do you want to work for a small, local, mom and pop widget manufacturer? in health care? aerospace? for a large well-known, global accounting firm? in a federal position? Would you like to eventually be a manager?
♦ Work out a preliminary five to ten year plan for your career. Write it down. You can always change it as you go along, and maybe the best thing is to just take a job, any job, at this point - which is fine - and then change your plan as you go along and discover other career interests. But get relatively clear about what you'd like to do.
♦ The "What Color Is Your Parachute? Workbook" can help you zero in on what's important to you in a career.
Step 2: INVEST in a professionally prepared, powerful, confidence-building resume.
♦ Most 'did it myself' resumes are substandard documents that poorly represent the candidate. You need a good resume to get noticed. It's probably a waste of your time and energy to try to create your own resume.
♦ Employers often look at resumes for ten seconds or less before delegating the resume to the 'call' or 'do not call' pile.
♦ Professional resumes stand heads above all homemade resumes. They get attention because they make a great first impression. They get interviews faster, which speeds up the job finding process. And they inform the entire interviewing process, and can secure the candidate more money.
Step 3: PREPARE for interviews.
♦ A good resume will get you interviews, then, interviewing well will get you job offers.
♦ It's not the person who's best qualified that gets the job - it's the person who interviews best!
♦ You CAN learn how to interview well - it just takes practice, and doggedly overcoming your own personal interviewing fear hurdles.
♦ A great way to prepare is to read two of Carole Martin's books: "Interview Fitness Training" and "Boost Your Interview IQ". Read "Fitness" through two or three times (you can read it through in an hour or so). Read at least the first 20 (or so) pages of "Interview IQ" to get the general idea of how to actually respond to interviewer questions. These books cover it all, from how to dress to salary negotiations and everything in between.
♦ Prepare extensively for the interview. Research the company through Google. Hunt down their annual reports. Make up a list of questions (in your mind) to ask at the interview.
♦ Realize that the company needs you at least as much as you need a job, and that all employees are hired to solve problems for employers. A good interview question is always "What do you feel is the biggest challenge your company is currently facing?"
Step 4: FOLLOWUP after an interview, immediately sending a Thank you Letter.
♦ Statistically, three out of five employers say they are influenced positively by thank you letters sent by candidates after interviews, and only one out of ten candidates sends a thank you letter.
The key that opens doors to interviews is a great resume. Is yours getting you interviews? If not, I can help. I've been writing powerful, interview-getting resumes for more than 20 years. Email your current resume to me for a free consultation to help you get back on track -- it's easier than you may think! cnyresumes.com • terrieosborn@gmail.com
