Top 5 Job Search Strategies – Optimizing the Power of Linkedin-Are you looking for job search strategies that will accelerate your job search? Have you submitted you resume and cover letter countless times only to hear nothing back? If that is reason you are viewing this page, relax because in this article you’ll learn five (5) job search strategies that will help you tap into your professional network so that you can accelerate your job search.
Before we jump into the top five job search strategies, remember that the key to a successful job search is in your professional network. If you want to improve the quality of opportunities available to you in your job search; it’s all about who you know. Infact research tells us that 80% of open positions are filled by referrals. So let’s get started.
TOP FIVE (5) JOB SEARCH STRATEGIES.
1. Use Linkedin to Network with others:
Here are two simple strategies to help you use linkedin search for your job positions.
i) Pinpoint positions you’d like to apply for or companies you’d like to work with: Do some research to find out if you know someone that works for the company or if you know someone that knows someone that works for the company, reach out to your connections letting them know if you are interested in the position or in the company you want to work for.
Ask them if it could be okay putting you in touch with the hiring manager or HR personnel. Now if you are initiating a connection request with someone you don’t know and have not met before, you want to do a customized note when you ask to connect with that person, your note can say something like this.
“Hi John Doe, I recently discovered you are a senior account representatives for a corporation xyz. I admire your companies’ mission and vision. I’m currently building my network and would love the opportunity for us to connect here on linkedin” – you name.
This is the first step to building a new relationship. Now the second part using linkedin to connect with others in your industry and make it easy for your job search is to;
ii) Find and Join Groups: Find groups and join the groups and interact with people in the group in high quality conversations. Sharing your thoughts, your ideas, and your opinion with others inside the private groups are great ways to get to know others.
This is also really a great way to connect with other people naturally. And to get super involve make sure that you follow the company page on linkedin that you would like to work for, this only reiterates your interest in the position and is a great way to stay informed when the company makes a new post in their feeds.
2. Get Your Career Documents Ready:
This is another Job Search Strategies. Make sure your resume, your cover letter and your linkedin profile are all ready to go. You want to be able to quickly customize each item if needed and send it quickly through to the person when a new position pops up.
The last thing you want to be doing is updating your resume, linkedin profile at the eleventh hour. This leaves room for mistakes such as; spelling errors or grammatical errors. You want to give yourself enough time to update your career document and not rush the process.
3. Develop Your 30-Seconnd Elevator Pitch:
Your elevator pitch is an essential resource in your job search strategies. This is the quickest way to let others know of your greatest accomplishment and your qualifications.
This is also the greatest way to let other know what kind of problems you can solve. Having a 30 second elevator pitch ready will give you more confidence when networking with others about job opportunities.
The key to a great elevator pitch is to make sure it aligns perfectly with your resume, your linkedin profile and your cover letter. Think of it as your career story, now here’s the cool thing, if you don’t have a 30seconds elevator pitch or do not know how to create a perfect elevator pitch, this article will help you.
4. Conduct Informational Interviews:
This is by far my most favorite tip of all the tips I’ve shared with you today, because it is the one that has worked the best for me. Informational interview is one of the fastest ways to develop new relationships and find meaning work. An informational interview is an interview you initiate based on a position you’d like to have in the future or an industry you’d like to work in.
Target 2-3 people that are doing what you want to do, reach out those people using linkedin and ask them if they would be interested in an informational interview. Now believe it or not most people really enjoy talking about themselves, so don’t let their step intimidate you. You could ask questions like;
- What do you like about your position?
- How did you get to where you are?
- What advice would you give me or someone just starting out or want to move in to that position in the future?
5. Follow-up:
You want to keep track of all the connections you’ve made in the positions you’ve applied for and follow-up.
This is one of the best ways to fast track your job search. We are all in dated with emails, connection request and text messages so it is really easy to forget about a conversation we had a week ago.
To keep yourself at the forefront of someone’s mind, follow-up within a week or even two weeks and then don’t let that be your last form of contact, you want to keep following up after that, and don’t just follow up to find out how that person can help you, make your follow-up a meaningful conversation.
Maybe the person mentioned a birthday they had or something they were doing with their family member, you can bring those kind of things back into the conversation.
Think of this as establishing your network and building those relationships.
Conclusion
Now this does take a little bit of time, so you need to be patient and let it follow a natural flow.
To really speed up your job search process and to get it right when it comes to your resume make sure you take a look at this article Developing a work resume and portfolio – A step by step guide. It is step to step guide to developing a resume whether you have a fresher profile or an experienced profile. Now if you find this article useful feel free to share with someone it might help. Also leave a comment and I’ll be glad to jump in and answer all of your Questions.
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