You don’t get a reminder call or post card reminding you that you should evaluate the health of your job search, but you probably should! And wouldn’t it be great if your doctor posed questions to help guide you through the check-up? That’s what this post is going to do.
This post is my contribution to a monthly effort of career coaches and resume writers called Career Collective. What better way to get the job search advice at the same time. Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter of Career Trend and Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers started this project over a year ago! If you would want to follow us on Twitter use #careercollective.
You will find the the other experts responses and thoughts on “A Mid-Year Job Search Check-Up” after I’ve voiced my thoughts!
Whether you’ve been involved in a job search for 1, 3, 6, 9 or more months, now is a great time to evaluate/diagnose what’s working and what isn’t working for you. My all time favorite saying is…“If your phone isn’t ringing, what you are doing isn’t working.” With this in mind, let’s try and figure out why your phone isn’t ringing and what you can do about it. Let’s use the Stephen Covey method of starting with the end in mind for this, shall we?
- How many job offers have you had?
- How many “second interviews” have you had?
- How many interviews have you had since you started your job search?
- How many times have you been called on the phone (screened) as a result of submitting for a job?
- How many jobs did you apply for since you started your search?
- How many of those jobs did you think you would be a great fit for?
- How many companies did you have an inside connections for?
- Did you use LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs or Facebook to try and find a contact to reach out to?
- When you made follow up calls, did you make contact with a live person?
- Besides the job boards, where are you finding job leads?
- How many recruiters (those not employed within a hiring company) have contacted you?
- How many recruiters have you submitted your resume to?
- How many have you followed up with and made contact with? Are you connected with them no LinkedIn?
- How many companies are on your list of potential employers (target companies) you would want to work for?
- Are you following these companies on LinkedIn and Twitter? Do you subscribe to their company blog?
- Within these companies, how many do you have an inside connection for?
- How many new people did you meet last week?
- How many of those new people have you followed up with (sent a thank you note or connected with on LinkedIn)?
- How many people did you re-connect with last week (past colleagues, previously met contacts, people within your network)?
- How many professional association meetings or group events (with employed people) have you attended in the last month?
- How many new people did you meet and connect with on LinkedIn from these events?
Just some other questions to ask to test how socially savvy you are:
- Do you have an email signature (with phone number, job title, tag line, links to social profiles?)
- Do you have a LinkedIn profile that is 100%?
- Are you talking to people within LinkedIn (via status update comments, sharing links with your connections or groups, adding to discussions, submitting or answering Q&A’s)
- Do you have more than 100 connections on LinkedIn?
- Are you using LinkedIn’s apps (Slideshare, Tweets, Box.net?)
- Are you using Google+, Twitter, social bookmarks?
- Do you have a personal website or blog?
Are you able to answer these questions? Consider this a baseline if you are not already tracking these things. People ask me all the time if there are numbers to strive for in these areas. The answer is yes and no. More is generally better, however, as with anything, quality is better than quantity. What works for one person, in one industry or occupation, may not necessarily work for another. The key here is to do more of what is working for you and incorporate new ways of generating leads.
PS: These are questions you SHOULD be asking and answering yourself. You can’t adjust your search until you know these numbers and the “why’s” behind them.
Career Collective Posts
4 Summer Strategies to Step Up Your Job Search, @DebraWheatman, #careercollective
Putting Your Job Search Up On The Rack For Inspection, @dawnrasmussen, #careercollective
Mid-Year Job Search Checkup: Are you wasting your time? @GayleHoward, #careercollective
What is your unique value proposition? @keppie_careers, #careercollective
Mid-Year Career Checkup: Are You “On Your Game?” @KatCareerGal, #careercollective
How to Perform a Mid-Year Job Search Checkup, @heatherhuhman, #careercollective
Reposition your job search for success, @LaurieBerenson, #careercollective
Mid-Year Job Search Checkup: What’s working and What’s not? @erinkennedycprw, #careercollective
Mid-Year Job Search Check-Up: Getting Un-Stuck, @JobHuntOrg, #careercollective
Mid-Year Check Up: The Full 360, @WalterAkana, #careercollective
5 Tips for Fighting Summer Job Search Blues, @KCCareerCoach, #CareerCollective
Are you positive about your job search? @DawnBugni, #CareerCollective
Where Are The Jobs? @MartinBuckland, @EliteResumes, #CareerCollective
Mid-Year Job-Search Checkup: Get Your Juices Flowing, @ValueIntoWords, #CareerCollective
When Was Your Last Career & Job Search Check Up? @expatcoachmegan, #CareerCollective
Hannah Morgan speaks and writes about job search and career strategies. She founded CareerSherpa.net to educate professionals on how to maneuver through today’s job search process. Hannah was nominated as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Job Search and Careers and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report. She has been quoted by media outlets, including Forbes, USA Today, Money Magazine, Huffington Post, as well as many other publications. She is also author of The Infographic Resume and co-author of Social Networking for Business Success.
