Friday, December 2, 2011

5 Ways to Track, Measure and Optimize Your Job Search

by Rich DeMatteo


During the Social Media Plus summit here in Philadelphia, I had time to chat with Michelle Bizon, a local pal that I’ve known through the interwebs for a while, but had never met IRL. Naturally, Michelle and I talked at length about her job search, and I immediately noticed that she needed more focus.

I won’t go into details, but when I began giving her tips on how to organize, track, and measure her job search, she agreed that I should turn this advice into a blog post. Well, here it is…

…and damn, I’m extremely proud of this step by step guide I’ve created. Honestly, it may be the most useful blog post I’ve ever wrote for job seekers. Let’s get to it…

1. Write Out EVERYTHING You Want and Need from a Job
When you aren’t clear about the exact jobs you want to apply for, then you end up sending your resume to everything on the damn internet. It’s a terrible strategy. In the end, you forget which jobs you even looked at, and it comes across as desperate to employers.

Write out a list of 15-50 things that you WANT and NEED from your next job. Write down everything from the location, to hours, to type of company, to industry, to type of manager, to the skill sets the job description requires, to… you get the point.

Have this master sheet available at all times and only apply to jobs that match. When you do this correctly, you’re able to ensure you’re applying to jobs that you WILL love and be much more focused when actually looking for jobs.

2. Use The List You Create in Step 1 to Build Your Resume and Cover Letter
If you’re REALLY successful at building your jobs wish list, you’ll find that the positions you want to apply for online will have the same words in both your wish list and job description. Since most employers use ATS Systems that track key words found in the resume and job description, you’ll want to boost the words from your wish list into your resume and cover letter.

Make sense?  I’m going to assume it does, but if not, just shout out and let me know in the comments.

3.  Set Weekly Application Submission Goals
Great, you’ve figured out what your must haves are for your next job and you’ve built a focused resume and cover letter that matches job descriptions that you’re interested in. Now it’s time to set your weekly submission goals!
It’s important to set a weekly submission goal for a few reasons.
  • If you don’t set submission goals, you’ll either spend far too little time on your job search or far too much time. Both are really bad for you physically and mentally.
  • Establishing a routine is important in a job search.
  • If you’re not successful, you know that you need to increase your submission goal.
Start out low (5-10) and then increase after a couple weeks if you aren’t successful at first.

Tips 4 - 5 And Complete Article

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