5 Fool-Proof Tips to Focus Your Job Search

by Lea McLeod


I’m often surprised when I speak with recent grads in the job search…

Though anxious to become employed, they often do not have clearly set goals established around that search. As well, they often don’t have good structure and processes to support their effort.
Without a clear goal, and a good job search strategy, you’ll end up wandering in the proverbial desert and get discouraged pretty quickly. My suggestion is that a good job search starts with a clearly defined goal, and goes from there.

Here are 5 ideas on how to get your job search engine running…

1. Set a Goal!

As they say…if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.
Even if you don’t know exactly “what you want to do” you can still identify other qualities you desire in a job or an employer, and construct a job search around that. You probably have an idea about things that are interesting to you. What kind of employers interest you? What type of work you would like to pursue, in what industry, in what location, by when? Pick your starting place, and go after it.

Write your goal down and look at it every day. When you ask people to help in your job search, the more specific you are, the better able they are able to help. Get a clear goal and let it saturate every part of your job search.

2. Create a Structured Workspace

You need a good workspace that’s devoted to your job search. Create one that gives you easy access to all of your necessary information. Your job is now to find a job. So create a workspace to accomplish that mission, just as you would if you were working from home.

Keep all of your materials at hand, like extra copies of your resume, business cards, or work product. Then you aren’t running around looking for them if you get an interview in short order.

3. Create Your Personal Profiles

This is all the self assessment you need to do before you ever write a resume, or go on an interview. Look at all the attributes you offer an employer, and clearly develop your marketing messages. How do you want to present yourself? What is your key value proposition?

These are the messages that go into your resume, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles and social media persona.

Tips 4,5, and Complete YouTern Article