Job search best practices require discipline – Twin Cities

Today’s job market is deeply challenging for those seeking work, requiring job seekers to be more efficient and effective than ever before. Here are my top 10 best practices for job search, updated for a tight market.

• 1. Know your target. When you’re searching for something, it helps to know what it is. The most effective job search target includes a title or work area, an employer type (large, small, nonprofit, etc.) and an initial list of organizations known to employ people in roles like the one you want.

• 2. Know your audience. As a general rule, the person who would be your boss is your audience. What does this person need? You may not know the specifics, but you can make educated guesses and then highlight that information in your materials and interview answers. (Don’t forget about your relevant soft skills.)

• 3. Balance your approach. Or, more directly, limit your online applications. You already know why: Some postings aren’t real, some systems won’t recognize your materials, some jobs attract hordes of applicants … if you’ve already sent out dozens or hundreds of applications without effect, you’ve run the experiment. It’s time to mix in a higher percentage (at least 50-50) of person-to-person contact.

• 4. Keep good records. If you meet someone through networking, will you remember later who introduced you or what branch of their company the new contact works in? You probably won’t, particularly if you’re talking to multiple people a week. Best-practice recordkeeping retains those details, giving you the tools to follow up and build relationships.

• 5. Capture the posting. Keeping the posting itself is the gold standard for tracking online applications, whether that’s via hard copy, copy-and-paste, or a screen shot. If you rely on copying only the URL, the link could be broken by the time you’re invited for an interview — in which case, you’ll be interviewing “cold,” with no record of what the employer requested.

• 6. Track your numbers. Job search is best measured by output, not time. Job seekers often report searching for months or years, but without knowing how many applications or contacts they made, the metric is hollow.

• 7. Focus on employer conversations. With very few exceptions, no one gets hired without talking to their potential boss first. Thus, the goal of every outreach is to find and connect with the person who would be your boss in any particular organization. Misunderstanding this principle is why networking can sometimes feel fruitless. When it comes to direct outreach, you’re probably not expediting your search unless you’re focused on meeting the boss or someone who can lead you to the boss.

• 8. Analyze your numbers. Data only helps if you use it. In job search, that means a monthly review to see which methods are sparking meetings with potential employers. The lower the number, the more you need to improve either the quantity or the quality of your outreaches. In the latter case, the idea is to improve the process until you hit on something that results in those conversations.

• 9. Search every day. An hour each weekday is better than five hours once a week. Best yet is starting at the same time every day. Why? Because consistent, daily effort builds momentum, helps create a job search mindset, and improves your sense of control. As a bonus, limiting to only an hour or two each session will also make you more efficient.

• 10. Set an end date. Job search should be a project, not a life sentence. If you’re unemployed now, set a three-month deadline for your search. Then, increase your daily regimen to three hours while checking your numbers every two weeks instead of monthly.

If you’re not seeing an increase in the number of quality conversations by the third check-in (six weeks), you need outside assistance and a fresh perspective. You may end up changing your approach or shifting your job goal, rather than doing more of the same.

If this kind of focused, deadline-driven job search sounds intense, you’re right. But it’s still easier than an unfocused search lacking checkpoints or data. The former is a best practice because it allows (demands) action based on real-time results and keeps you moving forward on a daily basis. The latter process is soul-sapping because it consigns job seekers to endless rounds of online applications without control or measurable success.

Come back next week and we’ll take a deeper dive into finding contacts and potential employers offline, which is the key to a best-practices job search.