4 Essential Items for a Successful Job Hunt
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Ba dum bump (cue the laugh track). But, seriously folks, job hunting can seem as impossible as trying to consume the smallest elephant. Where does one begin? Here are a four essential starting points.
Become a member of LinkedIn. It is easy and such an effective tool for job hunting and being found. Be sure to upload a photo that includes your smiling face. Nature backgrounds are always effective. If you have any questions when filling out your profile, just do a little Google search and you’ll find scads of articles in answer.
Once you have a snazzy new profile, start connecting like crazy. The most important thing to do when connecting with anybody is to tell them why they should connect with you. Forget using the canned message provided by LinkedIn. Be personal and engaging. Why should I connect with you? Now, try it out. Let’s connect!
Your Resume. If you’ve been out of the job-hunting game for awhile, you’re going to need a resume that is reflective of current resume styles and formats. Your best bet is to find a cracker-jack resume writer to get you started.
Two of the best resume writers I have met in Tucson are Ellen Hall who specializes in writing professional and academic resumes, including CV’s and biographies, and Carolyn Monjoi who specializes in writing upper and lower-level resumes and professional consulting. Carolyn has helped several of my candidates target their professional directions. If you’re seeking assistance from a distance, check out Dana Leavy-Detrick at Brooklyn Resume Studio .
Hint: You can find all of these ladies on LinkedIn, and I encourage you to practice your new LinkedIn skills by connecting with them.
Always carry business cards. It is very important that you have personal business cards to hand out at networking events. You can find nice and inexpensive cards at Vistaprint.com, and they arrive quickly to your doorstep. Your card needs to include your name, email address, phone number, LinkedIn address (Google how to get one), and areas of expertise. A word of caution: Never put your physical location on your resume because you don’t want crazy people following you home.
Which brings us to networking. You know what I’m going to tell you to do, right? Yep. Do a Google and a LinkedIn search to find networking groups in your area. You can also find networking groups specific to your business, gender, interest, etc. Recently, I attended a wonderful networking group here in Tucson called, Tucson Independent Small Business Owners. They meet every Wednesday at a neat little café, and I encourage you to attend.
There are tons of articles and books published on what to do at networking events. My favorite article, 20 Conversation Starters to Help Break the Ice at Networking Events, gives a practical and funny list of things to say and shows you that everybody feels slightly awkward at first.
When you go to any networking event, you’re going to take stacks of business cards with you to hand out. Remember, give a card—get a card. The cards collected are your future LinkedIn connections and partners in finding your next happy job.
I dare you to try out these four essential items for your job hunt and let me know how your job safari progresses. What do you keep in your job hunting arsenal?
