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Contents
Step 1 Plan your hunt and keep it moving
Step 2 Understand what you want
Step 3 Know your skills and strengths
Step 6 Perform well in assessments
Step 7 Survive and thrive in your new job
About the Publisher
PLAN YOUR HUNT AND KEEP IT MOVING
‘Knowing that we are responsible – “responseable” – is fundamental to our effectiveness and to every other habit of effectiveness. — Stephen R. Covey: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Five ways to succeed
Recognise that you are responsible for your own career.
Make a ‘Get that job’ plan and regularly review it.
Create an ‘elevator pitch’ and practise it.
Create a network and keep in touch with your contacts.
Know what helps you stay motivated when things get tough.
Five ways to fail
Assume that a dream job is going to fall into your lap.
Fire off a stream of random applications and hope for the best.
Make the assumption that people will know what you want.
Try to do it all yourself without support.
Give up after a couple of attempts.
The changing job market
How it used to be …
Let me start with a personal example. I left school in 1980 and got a job in a bank. I didn’t mean to really; it just happened. I remember having a chat with the school careers officer who suggested banking was a good idea, but to be honest I don’t think I gave it any more thought than that. What seemed to be important is that I got a job – any job – and that was that. I also seem to remember (it has got lost in the mists of time, rather) the job interview going something like this:
Them: Why do you want this job?
Me: Well, it sounded interesting and I’m good with numbers, I think.
Them: Congratulations! You’re in. You’ll retire when you’re 65.
I’m sure it wasn’t really like that, but it wasn’t far off. I got an interview at the first time of trying, too, and without really trying at all. It doesn’t work like that now, and it could be argued that it shouldn’t: I got a job that I wasn’t really interested in, wasn’t very good at and it was a rather unfulfilling period of my life – and they got someone who was average at best.
How it is now
Wind forward 30 years and things couldn’t be more different. There is no such thing as failsafe job security, it’s rare to get a job at the first time of trying and even rarer to be offered a job if you haven’t done your homework. Perhaps the major change though is in who is responsible for our career path. In my case, I was made to feel like I was a passive recipient of my future, with no control or accountability; as long as I went through the motions, I would fulfil the destiny presented to me.
Nowadays, it’s us, the jobseekers, more than ever, who are responsible. We’ve had to replace security in our employers with security in our employability; in other words, it’s up to us to build the transferable knowledge, skills and abilities to take from one employer to another, in a kind of ‘portfolio’. We are now in charge of our careers, which is both empowering and a little scary.
What does this mean for getting that job?
By now it will be clear that, today, merely sending off a few CVs to a few organisations you like the sound of and hoping for the best just doesn’t cut the mustard. You need to be proactive, to have a plan or a strategy for job hunting because job hunting is best thought of as a process; a sequence of steps that should be followed to maximise your chances of success. The simple truth is that employers expect prospective employees to show initiative and take charge of their own destinies. Taking the initiative is not about being aggressive, arrogant or overbearing. It’s about deciding to make things happen and then creating a plan to make them more likely to.
While it’s not always easy, and at times may be frustrating and disheartening, many people find it rather satisfying to make a plan and monitor its progress, analysing the results and learning from what worked and what didn’t. If you can share your plans, ideas, successes and failures with others who are in the same position as you, then that extra support and mutual encouragement can be invaluable. You also need to periodically review your plans and give them occasional reality checks. There is a saying: ‘The first sign of madness is to keep on doing the same things and expecting different results.’ If something seems not to be working, change it!
Your ‘Getting that job’ plan
So, what might your ‘Getting that job’ plan look like? The precise nature and components of your plan depend on the type of job you’re looking for. Graduate and managerial job selection processes often include assessments such as a presentation, role-play exercises or exercises that assess planning and organisational abilities. Other jobs may have manual dexterity tests