The New Year is always a good time to reflect on your job search strategies over the past year. What’s working and what isn’t? What have you learned about the jobs market and about yourself over the past year? Are your career goals still realistic and desirable to you?
Before you forge ahead, take a moment to regroup and decide where you need to make adjustments or change course in your career. Here are some steps to get you motivated and help you land a job in the New Year that’s right for you.
Set Specific Career Goals
It’s not enough to say you want a job in “marketing and communications.” You’ll be more effective in your job search if you can specifically identify what you want, both in the long run and in the short term. For instance, if you know you eventually want to work as a director of brand management for a global company like Nike, this will help you define your plan of action and any intermediate steps needed to achieve your ultimate goal.
Review Your Resume
When was the last time you really looked at your resume? Is it up-to-date? Does it showcase your personality and best assets? Is it too long or wordy? Does it effectively communicate to employers why they need to hire you, right now, over anybody else? Since your resume can play such a large role in an employer’s decision to interview you, making adjustments to it can sometimes make an enormous difference.
Review Your Job Search Strategies
Most people know where to find job listings, but they might not know how to find jobs. Checking job boards is only a small part in finding a job. After all, more than half are never even advertised. These days, the best jobs are found through personal connections. So any strategy that doesn’t include some serious networking needs to be changed.
In addition to scouring job boards, scouting out companies and cultivating online relationships, your job search should also include in-person, industry-related networking. Seminars, workshops, networking events, industry-related organizations, informational interviews, job fairs and other social events are all great places to start.
Review Your Brand
Whether you know it or not, you have a personal brand and your digital footprint is a big part of it. With so many people living their lives online these days, employers have access to a tremendous amount of information about you. And they use this information to determine if you’re the type of person they want to hire.
Even if you’re not very active on social media and don’t have a Facebook or LinkedIn account, that can say as much about you as if you did. So it really comes down to whether you’re taking a passive or proactive approach to honing your personal brand and making sure it effectively conveys your strengths and objectives.
Review your social media profiles, personal web sites and blogs to make sure the images and messages they’re conveying are consistent across all platforms. Just remember that the more you put yourself out there, the more work it’s going to take to maintain and monitor your profiles. And be vigilant about what you or others post about you online.
Identify Gaps in Experience
If you’re repeatedly getting rejected for the same position, it’s time to carefully evaluate why. Are you competing against candidates with more skills and experience? And if so, what steps can you take—either through an intermediate position or through additional classes or training—to augment your skills and make yourself more competitive?
There are numerous professional development courses and certificate programs offered through community colleges, university extension courses or professional trade organizations. You could also look into internships and volunteering opportunities as a means of gaining valuable experience.
Recognize What You Can and Cannot Control
Sometimes, even with our very best efforts, things don’t always go in our favor. There are so many factors that are out of our control: the economy, an employer’s personality, timing, etc. Agonizing over the things that you can’t change takes precious time and energy away from the things that you can control. Focus on those things for the New Year and know that the only inevitability in life is change, for better or worse. Actively look forward to better times.
