Career Development is all about thinking Strategically: The Transition to Employment

The reality for some job seekers today can be quite depressing. Irrelevant or a lack of education and training, no relevant work experience or being presently unemployed are all factors diminishing a job seekers chance of job search success.

Why would an employer hire someone who is unemployed? The supply of workers today is plentiful so why should they risk hiring someone who’s been out of the game? A depressing thought for the unemployed, but unfortunately the reality. The main goal of an employer is to minimize the risk of hiring someone. For the individual, it’s all about implementing the right job search skills.

The common approach to dealing with this issue is to volunteer or to network for a referral. After all, a referral to a job opening lowers the risk of the employer hiring you. Of course the referral has to be someone who is trusted and has a work ethic the employer believes to coincide with their expectations of an employee. So for you job seekers out there, are you associating with conscientious workers? If you’re not, those referrals may be accepted in vein.

Ultimately, there are many factors at play when it comes to looking for a job. Location, industry, the economy to name just a few. Being strategic about your job search is the key to success. Having a job search focus with multiple possibilities should be an essential part of that plan. Although this sounds like a contradiction of terms, the key here is to focus on what you really want to do and accept that it won’t happen right away. If it does, you’re lucky. However, the reality is that you’re going to have to do some time in other positions before you get there.

How you get there is by doing all the things you’ve been told to do; network, maintain a high level of activity and cast a large net over opportunities out there. Most importantly is to start thinking about how you’re going to minimize the risk of an employer hiring you. The best way to do this is to gain some experience in similar jobs to develop your competencies for the job you really want.

For example, you may want to be a high school teacher. If you live in North America, the market is very closed right now and the chances of getting in is minimal.

Job search strategies should include: 1) identify what skills and abilities are required to become a competent teacher (the easiest way to do that is to go and speak with a few school principals), and 2) conduct a job search that focuses on the jobs that will allow you to practice and improve on the skills and abilities required for a teacher. So if a skill is teaching, a job as a camp counselor is a possible opportunity for you to develop and build on that skill. If curriculum development is an important ability, taking a job as a youth program coordinator may allow you to improve in that area as well.

SnagPad, an online tool that helps job seekers manager and track their job search focuses on the Job A/B concept. Every time a job seeker applies for a job, SnagPad reminds the user if they are selecting a job that is inline with what they actually want (Job A) or if they are applying for a job that can make them more competitive for that job (Job B). By reinforcing this behavior, the user is automatically aligned with a strategic job search that helps with their career development.

After you have practiced these ‘competencies’ in real-world situations that can easily be related to your targeted job, the better you’re in a position to reduce the risk of an employer hiring you. Of course this takes time and varies by industry, position and career stage, but the reality is the same across all types of jobs; if you can’t reduce the employers risk, you won’t get hired.

The key to a successful job search and career development is to wake up and face the fact that the job market is more challenging then it has been for some time. Be realistic and more importantly be cautious on what you feel your chances are for the job you want. Think strategically and be open to job opportunities that will help you to become more competitive so that when you sit down for an interview for your ideal job you can tell the employer a story as to why you’re the candidate. Try it, you’ll be surprised what can happen and how it can lead you to finding the right job.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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