Health & Fitness
Beginning a Job Search Campaign
- Prepare a Resume ( Use resources from NhN or hire a professional if you can afford to )
- Use the assessment form to determine your career direction
(A clear understanding of your skills and those companies)
Find out what's happening in Arlingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
- Order personal business cards
(Suggested resources: Vistaprint.com - office supply stores or local printers)
Find out what's happening in Arlingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
- Prepare a Marketing Plan. This can be used when you are speaking with colleagues and contacts, who can help you make connections in your industry and/or in companies you want to target. Plan should include:
- Professional Objective
- Preferred Functions
- Positioning Statement
- Areas of Expertise
- Representative Accomplishments
- Target Characteristics (to include Geographic Locations; Industry or Type of
Organization; Organizational Culture)
-Candidate Networking Profile
- Prepare a Target List of companies – establish distances from home, industries, company names, do research on them, bring list to weekly meetings so you can talk from it.
- Prepare both a 30 second and a 2-minute written "Elevator Pitch" to share and practice with your friends/family/colleagues/and NhN weekly meeting members. (Use NhN template to create yours )
- Prepare a written list of 6-10 "SOAR" Stories (Accomplishments you can talk about during an interview - Situation/Obstacle/Action/Results) and memorize them for use during interviews
- Create a LinkedIn profile and connect with your professional colleagues and other NhN members to build your network. Note: your local library should have written or electronic tutorials on how to set up and use LinkedIn. ( Once you do, join the Neighbors-helping-Neighbors USA LinkedIn Group )
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/NeighborshelpingNeighbors-USA-3892534
- Create a profile on LinkedIn.com, Monster.com, Careerbuilders.com etc...
- Consider setting up a Job Alert with Indeed.com, , which culls jobs you specify from all sorts of job boards, including Monster and Careerbuilder set up on your specific industry boards.
- Create list of companies and save their web address so you can check their career/job listings daily.
- Attend other networking events and learning events and industry specific job fairs.
(Search Google to find them where you live for this type of listing on internet. )
- Join Industry specific groups/associations to continue to build your network and to stay abreast with what is going on in your industry. Join all trade magazine sites for your field.
- Go to your local DOL and Unemployment/One Stop office and speak to a counselor about what they can offer you to assist with job search (ex: resume writing session, technology classes, etc...) and sign up for all available offerings
- Go to your local library and speak to the Library Director about available hard copy and electronic tools available for your job search
- Create a professional email address for yourself and use it exclusively for your job search (ex: JaneDoe@gmail.com or JohnDoe@yahoo.com )
- Make your resume file title your name as it is easier for people to find you in their computer files (Jane_Doe Resume.doc or just Jane Doe.doc)
- Consider changing your home and cell phone voicemail messages to be more professional (like it was as if someone was calling your office)
- Consider working with a Career Coach (fee based) if you can afford it. Make sure that coach has proper credentials, and seek out references from people who have used them.
This is not a complete list, but certainly a start that can be built upon.
There are many tools and resources listed on the site on the NhN site : www.nhnusa.org
Many under Library of Documents
http://www.neighbors-helping-neighbors.com/library-of-documents.html
Use the job search tab on site:
http://www.neighbors-helping-neighbors.com/jobsearch.html
Book project is underway Smart Job Hunting www.smartjobhunting.net