tips to stay motivate in your job search

© 2012, 2015 Donna Shannon 1

Tips to Stay Motivated in Your Job Search

byDonna Shannon720-341-8229

donna@personaltouchcareerservices.com

© 2012, Donna Shannon 2

The Personal Touch Career Services

• Our Mission: To help job seekers of all levels achieve their employment goals through solid, practical advice and services

Resumes Interview coaching Job search strategy development Group classes My book: How to Get a Job Without Going Crazy (2nd Ed.)

© 2012, Donna Shannon 3

“Treat your job search like a job…”

What the heck does that mean?

© 2012, Donna Shannon 4

“Treat your job search like a job…”

You now have to manage an employee with..• A poor work environment• No set schedule• Unknown standards of performance

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Your Management Essentials

• Structure• Understand your work style

• Organization• Implement a proven tactic to organize your search

• Motivation• Know the key metrics to gauge your effectiveness

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KEY WORK STYLESWhat structure works best for you?

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Four Key Work Styles

Knowing what moves you will get you moving!

– Goals

– Schedules

– Deadlines

– Lists

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Goals:

Do you work best when striving to meet a specific goal?

Samples:• I will research 10 companies this week.• I will apply to 3 jobs today• I will finish my LinkedIn profile

TRAP: – Unrealistic goals are detrimental

TIP: – Break down the job search process into smaller, attainable rewards

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Schedules:Does doing same thing everyday or every day of the week

give you focus?

Sample:7:00 am - feed pets on Facebook7:15 am – read Google alerts8:00 am – review employment websites10:00 am – work on LinkedIn network11:30 am – lunch

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Schedules: Trap and Tip

• TRAP: – Getting thrown off balance by the unexpected

OR– Not enough structure

• TIP: – Create a set schedule for specific tasks

(especially ones that suck time, like email)

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Deadlines:

Do you work best when there is a tight deadline to keep?

Samples:• Unemployment requires 5 calls by Friday• Cutoff for submitting your resume is June 30th.

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Deadlines: Trap and Tip• TRAP:– Procrastinating to create the pressure they need

• TIP:– Get a hard-and-fast tool for accountability:– Outside forces such as agencies (government or

private)– Job search buddy or group

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Lists:

Do you organize your work into a to-do list?

Sample:1. Work on LinkedIn profile2. Check out networking groups3. Look up three target companies

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Lists: Trap and Tip

• TRAP: – Becoming too dependent on the process OR– Unable to break it down

• TIP: – Consider all the steps needed for your job search

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Lists are not Goals…

• Lists break down the process into steps • Crossing them off is the reward

• “Get a job” becomes:1. Complete LinkedIn profile2. Finish resume3. Find a good networking group

© 2012, Donna Shannon 16

THE SALES PROCESSA proven business strategy

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The job hunt is a Sales process..

• Prospecting

• Qualifying lead

• Discovery

• Proposal

• Interviews

• Job offers

Prospecting

Qualifying

Discovery

Proposal (Resume, Cover

Letter)

Interview

Job Offer

© 2012, Donna Shannon 18

Prospecting:

• Takes the most time• Feels like smallest reward• GOAL: find as many as possible leads without

judgment

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Prospecting

• Samples:– Scanning the job boards– Pulling research on target companies– Reading the news

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Qualifying

• Determine if this is a viable prospect• GOAL: eliminate the undesirable and find

direct contacts

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Important note:You will spend the majority of your time Prospecting and

Qualifying –

To most people, this feels like a waste of time.It is NOT.

Realize this fact, and you see the real value of what you’re doing.

– Clarity = Sanity!

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Discovery

• Find out about your target BEFORE submitting anything

• GOAL: Break free from the pack– Hit every possible target– Make cover letter / resume relevant– Determine if you want to work here

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Proposal

• Submitting your resume to the company

• GOAL: create a targeted and relevant proposal– Your resume– Custom cover letter– Reach hiring managers

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Interview

• Review all your research to create intelligent, insightful questions

• GOAL: Get the offer while qualifying the company

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Job Offer

• No matter what the offer is, you can negotiate

• GOAL: Get a job that is a good fit at the right terms

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EVALUATION PROCESSSo how are you doing?

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Cold, hard facts of the job search:

1. How long does it take to get a response from HR?– 3- 4 weeks for most jobs– 45 – 60 days for highly technical or executive level positions– Up to 3 months for government jobs

2. How many jobs should you apply to every week?– 10 if you research every job– 10 – 30 if sending out stock cover letters / resumes– 50 – 100 if applying blindly to anything and everything (but don’t

expect much of a response if you do)

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More facts…

3. How many hours a week should I spend on job searching?– 40 hours – this is your job!– Remember time for networking, research and social media

4. How many resumes do I have to send before I get an interview?– 10 – 20 if you carefully research every job, send targeted cover letters

and reach out to hiring managers– 20 – 50 in a cool market– 100+ if not doing any research

NOTE: if you have submitted to over 30 - 50 jobs without any response, you need to re-evaluate your tactics, your resume, or the market

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Sound like a lot of resumes?• Remember this is a sales

cycle…

Successful salesmen can boast a closing rate of 1 in 10 for each submitted proposal –

But they may have prospected anywhere for 100 to 1,000 to get to the qualified lead!

Prospecting

Qualifying

Discovery

Proposal (Resume,

Cover Letter)

Interview

Job Offer

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No Response?

Possible culprits:• Resume

– Get a professional opinion, and get more than one

• Online Profile– Are you conveying the right message?

• Employment Websites – when was the last time it was updated?

• Groups– Are you getting involved?

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Personal Evaluation

Activity Point of process

What is working: What is NOT working:

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Personal Evaluation- Sample

Activity Point of process

What is working: What is NOT working:

Searching for jobs on craigslist

Prospecting Found some jobs not advertised on Monster; Got 2 interviews in 3 weeks

Not enough high level jobs listed;Cautious of scams

Brown Bag Job Search Group

Prospecting, Qualifying

Learning a lot;Made new contacts;Got a job search buddy;Info on PBS recruiting practices;Good support

No job leads yet

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Moving forward?

• If there are NO activities further down in the sales process

…you have a real problem

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Moving forward

• What are some activities you can add to kick-start your sales cycle?

• What work style would you use?

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WRAP UPQuestions & Answers

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Keys to remember:

• Use your work style• Remember the Sales process• Evaluate efforts on regular basis

© 2012, Donna Shannon 37

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