#AskJUGS: How to Land a New Job
It was so much fun to chat with all of you who attended last week’s Ladies Lounge. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your questions. In this month’s, #AskJUGS post, I want to address the question I received most frequently, “How do you help people land a new job?”
This question is always asked with some skepticism - which I totally understand. After all, I’m not a job search fairy. There are always many factors (and obstacles) at play. But what I can do is provide some structure and sanity to an otherwise overwhelming and nerve-wracking process?
I’m sharing the steps that I use with my clients to help them land job interviews and job offers. You can use these steps as a starting point for your own job search!
1. Reflect
This is the single, most important step. Taking the time to know your strengths and values and to practice communicating them confidently will help set you apart from other candidates. (If you need help with this, check out this post, 5 Questions to Ask Before You Start a Job Search).
2. Revise
Once you’ve done some serious reflection work, it’s time to revise those resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profiles to reflect what you want and what you have to offer. Do yourself a favor and set up a couple of go-to templates for specific kinds of jobs and consider keeping a “bank” of content (i.e. examples of your work, specific examples of what it’s like to work with you, etc) that you can add in based on the qualifications of the job.
3. Review + Submit
There’s a lot of reasons people don’t submit (or even start!) job applications (i.e. lack of confidence in your abilities, fear of rejection) but this step is important because it tells you if your resume and cover letter are compelling to hiring managers. If you’re submitting tons of applications and you’re getting nowhere, it’s time to revisit these parts of your application. (For resume and cover letter tips, check out this post, The Definitive Guide to Having Your Resume Taken Seriously).
4. Reach Out
Get into the habit of keeping in touch with former colleagues and consider pushing yourself out of your comfort zone once a quarter. It could be a cold email to a person a few years your senior with a great job or networking night. Make a commitment to being interested in new people and as supportive as possible.
5. Renew
Make sure that you’re setting reasonable goals and making time to engage in activities that restore your energy.
6. Repeat
This is your honorary step! It’s unlikely that going through this process just once will yield a job offer so be prepared to approach your job search as an iterative process. For many of my clients, the process can last about 6-9 months.
If you’re looking for more structure and sanity for your job search, check out Job Search Like a Boss, a free workshop where I’ll walk you through each of these steps in more detail so you can create a custom job search plan. And, of course, if you have more questions, be sure to ask them here!
Jenn Walker Wall writes a monthly career advice column called #AskJUGs for JustUsGalsBos.com and is the founder of Work Wonders Coaching + Consulting. You can follow her on Twitter: @JennWalkerWall