How have others found their jobs?
Ask your friends how they all found their jobs. I bet you’ll get a wide variety of answers. I’ve heard every story. One person posted a question on Facebook asking for ideas and their friend responded with a job opening. Several people have reported that a friend or former co-worker recruited them. Others joined the family business. Some actually had to go apply for dozens of jobs and do the job search thing.
No matter what you’re looking for, it’s out there! When it comes to finding a new job, these 3 characteristics will become your best friends: specificity, ingenuity and determination. A little intuition doesn’t hurt either.
Specificity
Ever heard of the Law of Specificity? Me neither! Okay, all humor aside the basics of this law are that the more specific you are, the more easily you will identify relevant opportunities and attract the resources you need to make it your reality. So what does that mean? It means if you don’t know what you’re looking for, how are you going to know when you’ve found it?
Take some time to make a list of all the qualities of a job that are important to you. Would you like…
- More time off
- Schedule flexibility
- Easy commute
- Better hours
- More pay
- Employee focused
- Ability to affect change
- Strong vision for the future
Ingenuity
Now that you have your criteria of what’s important to you, create a list of all the people you can talk to. At first, you may only think of a handful. Stick with it for a few minutes. Try to come up with no less than 50 names. Look at the contacts in your phone and email. Write them all down. Any one of these people may know of a job opening or a place you can work that is similar to your criteria.
Get creative here as well. Perhaps there are clubs that you belong to or the church you go to. Maybe you have friends that are recruiters, owners of a companies, HR managers or operations managers. Think about people who have wide networks. Owners usually know many other owners and can put the word out for you. HR managers and operations managers usually are aware or have access to all the jobs within their own organization. Recruiters, well they not only know about job openings in their own company but chances are they know several other recruiters.
Determination
This is no time to be timid! Start emailing, texting, calling, and messaging all of the people on your list. Invite them to chat for a couple minutes by phone so you can be specific about what kind of job you’re looking for. People are much more willing to stop their busy lives to help you when they talk to you in person.
People are busy and usually trying to keep up with their own lives so don’t get discouraged when you don’t hear back from them. This is where determination really comes into play. Keep at it. Ask them more than once. You’re not being a pest. They probably were busy when they got your first message and forgot to respond. No big deal! Don’t make a story of it and write them off as horrible people who don’t care about you. I say that in jest but I also know some peoples’ minds go there.
If you’re REALLY interested in getting a new job and stay true to these steps you can’t help but someone who can help. Sometimes it will happen quickly and easily. Sometimes it will take determination and patience. Regardless, it’s only a matter of time before you find the job you’re looking for.
Keep in mind, if you’re really miserable in your job, consider a temporary job in the meantime that is a little less stressful for you. While you’re out there looking for “the best job” you’ll surely learn about other opportunities that you can take advantage of and, who knows, perhaps the temporary job will open doors that were not there before.
For more helpful career change strategies, visit me at www.DanielleIsaac.com.