What is job hunting? It can be frustrating, confusing, depressing, challenging and all that and more. But above all its only one thing and that's work. Yes, its work.
Too often, the job hunter gets down on the process. They hate networking, they posted their resume on over 200 job sites and no calls, they applied for dozens of jobs and no response, LinkedIn is just too complicated and the excuses and justifications just pile up and get more creative.
Jobs do not go out and find people who are unemployed. That's why it's called a "hunt" or "search." To conduct a successful job search you have to be creative, do some research, and above all be an explorer. And you have to recognize that job hunting is work.
You are in charge of a big project, and that's to find you a job; the right job. In effectively managing any project you have to make use of a variety of tools. Job search tools include: A job hunting plan with actions you'll do every day and every week; the creating of the best possible marketing materials, resume, cover letter, prospecting letters and others; interviewing preparation; a daily effort to add to your networking group; and the research required to keep the project moving forward.
A job hunting plan does not materialize out of thin air, nor can it be cobbled together in one afternoon. For example, as you learn more about writing a powerful resume, your resume may go through dozens of drafts. Even then you're not finished as a good tactic is to write your resume to match as closely as possible the needs of the prospective employer.
In the course of building your job hunting plan you'll have to make decisions on where you want to work, how long a commute is acceptable, do you need to add to your skills and how is this going to happen, if you are starting over do you also need to find a part-time job, and is self-employment an option.
The rewards of a successful job search can set you up for the rest of your life. So the results of an effective job hunt are difficult to deny. Yet for a variety of reasons many job hunts drag on for far too long. And when a job is found it is barely acceptable.
Here's the standard you should aim for. You're in a job interview and are asked the question, "Please describe what you do in normal day and week in your job hunt?"
Do you think you'd be hired if you said, "I posted my resume on 85 job hunting sites on Monday and the rest of the week I stayed close to the phone."
How about this truthful answer, "I have a job hunting plan where I outline my activity every day. I apply for applicable jobs, I make follow-up phone calls, I do some networking every day, I attend job fairs and belong to a job hunting support group, I research possible employers and I do some work on interview preparation. At the end of the week I compare my efforts with my plan-which I usually exceed every week- and adjust my plan for the following week. There are other things I do, like helping others find jobs and fine tune their job hunting plans, and additional research, I'm learning something new every day." And they added,"Keeping in shape is important so I make time to go to the gym three or more times a week."
If you were the hiring manager who would you hire?
Working hard every day on your job search should mirror what you would do for the employer. And isn't this what you are trying to get across in the job interview?
Article Source: EzineArticles.com/6314948