Years ago, I began a new job search after 10 years in positions that required many different skills. I scoured numerous job postings, applied for many positions, and received countless rejection notifications.
Related:3 Very Real Reasons You Should Make A Career Shift
In an exploratory interview with a colleague, I expressed my frustration about not being able to find a job. He asked me what else I’d done in my work and academic careers, as well as my volunteer activities. I casually mentioned a project that I had worked on years ago, and – voila! My job search took another direction. I began looking for jobs in different career areas, and the doors began to open.
Soon, I was working in a different field – one for which I had relevant skills but that I had not imagined would be viable for me. That job led to a successful 10-year career in a new field!
My Biggest Lesson Learned
Looking back, I now know what I was doing wrong in the beginning – I could not see I needed a career shift and didn’t believe it was possible. I kept looking for the same types of jobs in the same career field. The key lesson for me is that no experience, no matter how small, should be ignored.
Cite all jobs, skills, or volunteer activities in your resume and online profiles, such as LinkedIn. Include your 3-month stint editing a blog, your 7-month leadership role organizing a trip, the meetings you led for your community organization, the online fundraising campaign you organized on Facebook, your volunteer work for a non-profit helping them market their services, and so on.
Be open to all options because there may be amazing and different opportunities out there that you never thought of pursuing!
Many of today’s job seekers need additional support to transition to new jobs or new careers. Many are long-term unemployed or working in a field they’ve outgrown. Most are like I was—unaware of their transferable skills. If you are in a job or career transition, there are many resources available, including tools to help you explore new occupations. For example:
1. mySkillsmyFuture
This free skill transferability tool is great for you if you’re a career changer or job seeker who likes searching online. If you enter your current job or a previous job, you’ll get a list of “Best Matches” — careers that have similar skills to the job you entered. You can compare these occupations with your current or past job, view the skills and salaries of both jobs, find training, see job listings, find businesses that may have these jobs, review typical job duties, see common tools and technology used, and find any relevant certifications or licenses. You can personalize your results by entering your city, state, or zip code.
Plus, you can filter your results further by excluding work activities or characteristics, such as public speaking, outdoor work, physical strength, and so on.
2. Toll Free Helpline
If you’re more comfortable speaking to a live human being, there’s the toll-free help line, which provides a full range of basic information about workforce program services. The hot line numbers are 1-877-US2-JOBS and TTY: 1-877-889-5627.
3. Certification Finder
Getting certified is a great way to break into a new field or show employers that you have the knowledge and skills to succeed at a job. This free finder helps you find national certifications for hundreds of careers. It includes details on more than 5,000 certifications that have been vetted to make sure they are up to national certification standards. Take a look and see what certifications may help you enter or advance in a career.
Years ago, when I was going through a life transition, I got lucky by stumbling into an understanding of how my skills might translate into another career. Today, you don’t have to rely on luck—you have access to so many great tools and resources for exploring career, training, and job opportunities.
Get started with a few of the resources mentioned above—and see how quickly you can get a jump on a new career.
This post was originally published at an earlier date.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
Bigstock
Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
Bigstock
Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
Bigstock
Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
Need more help with your job search?
Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!
This article was originally published at an earlier date.
Bigstock
Bigstock
Bigstock
