Job search strategy
Your chances of achieving your ideal job will be significantly increased if you have a plan of action, a strategy, to direct your search for employment.
Another critical success factor in finding employment is to be clear about your employment options and the type of employment you are seeking so that you can adopt a targeted approach to job search.
Until you actually find meaningful employment, treat the process of finding a job like a job. This means dedicating certain days and times to be actively involved in various types of job seeking activity according to your job search plan.
- How to organise yourself when looking for a job
- Writing targeted applications
- Advertised positions
- Unadvertised positions
- Keep good records
How to organise yourself when looking for a job
There are several compelling reasons:
- You can better balance your job search activities and effort so that you are accessing as many job opportunities as possible both advertised and unadvertised.
- Helps you to remain proactive and in control of your level of job search activity, rather than having to wait and react to circumstances.
- Enables you to focus your energy, attention and momentum so that you are likely to find work more quickly.
A common pitfall for job seekers is failure to maintain momentum and keep job search activity levels high. If your job search strategy is based on the process of seeing an advertised position, applying, waiting for response etc at least a month could easily slip by with nothing to show for your efforts. It is important that you reman searching during periods of waiting for a response from employers regarding positions for which you have applied.
To illustrate how much time can be wasted in waiting for things to happen, consider this scenario:
You have applied for a position which you saw advertised in the weekend’s newspaper. Applications for the position close in about 2 weeks' time. It is quite possible that it will be a further 2 weeks beyond the application close date before you get any response regarding your application, if you get a response at all. If you are successful in gaining an interview, potentially another 2 or 3 weeks could pass before the employer makes a decision about this position. Keep your job search activity going until you actually secure a position.
Writing targeted applications
A targeted approach means that you have identified one or more options that are of interest to you including possible job role/s. Ideally you will also have identified the types of organisations that you would like to investigate regarding availability of these types of jobs.
Why is a targeted approach so important? Finding employment means is all about marketing yourself, your capabilities and the contribution you can potentially make to an organisation. This means that your marketing material – especially your resume, must contain information about you that is relevant (or targeted) to the job role you are seeking.
An alternative, and usually unsuccessful, approach, taken by many graduates is to make their marketing material "generic" in nature, that is, regardless of the job role they are applying for, they send to employers the same "one size fits all" resume. The self-marketing messages in this type of resume are usually so broad and bland that they have little impact on the employer, and as such the graduate's application is unsuccessful.
Tip: One indicator about your effectiveness in targeting your resume to the role you are applying for is your strike rate in gaining interviews. If you are not getting an interview for 50% of your job applications, chances are either your resume is not sufficiently targeted, or you are applying for the wrong type of job.
It makes sense doesn't it, that if you are unclear about the type of work you want to do or are capable of doing, and this is evident in your self-marketing, it is hardly surprising that prospective employers will be any the wiser!
If you are unsure about the type of employment you want, try some of the self assessment activities involved in career planning.
Advertised positions
Some employment opportunities will be advertised in the print or electronic media, and/or are otherwise in the public domain of awareness. This includes:
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Positions advertised in print media, or on-line on the internet either through dedicated recruitment organisations such as www.seek.com and www.careerone.com.au, or on individual company web sites.
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Advertisements placed in print or electronic media by recruitment or personnel agencies.
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Dedicated Graduate Recruitment activity is conducted annually by employers. Larger employers, in particular, and many government departments seek to employ university graduates/final years for recruitment programs. These programs tend to be approximately 2 years of training – usually including rotations around the different departments in the organisation. They are paid positions.
Graduate recruitment is advertised on UniSA Career Hub and in the print media, on the internet, or on the organisation's website. Main recruitment activity occurs from March to June, and again from August to December. Employer requirements vary; mostly people are recruited in their final year, or year after graduation. However graduates can be recruited as early as the second year of your program.
Note: Professional recruiting organisations have anecdotal evidence that approximately 20% - 40% of all the available work available at any given time is advertised. This means that somewhere between 60% - 80% of all available positions are never advertised.
Most people concentrate virtually all their job searching activity on advertised vacancies. If you do this the disadvantages are:
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You are in competition with everyone else who has responded to the same job advertisement as you.
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Missing out on the potentially huge number of employment opportunities that haven't been advertised, that might be suitable for you.
Unadvertised positions
A significant amount of work available at any given time is not formally advertised. Professional recruiters estimate that approximately 60-80% of employment vacancies fall into this category. This hidden market exists in both the private and public sectors of employment.
You can only gain access to the unadvertised positions through personal contacts, or referral by others - in other words through networking and word of mouth.
Many people tend to overlook these opportunities because they are either too shy, or feel uncomfortable networking. Some people simply do not know how to network with other people when it comes to finding work.
Networking is a skill - this means anyone can learn how to do it. Go to the networking pages on our website if you want to develop this skill.
We highly recommend that you include networking in your job search activity. This will enable you to maintain very high levels of activity in finding work while you are waiting for responses to your applications for advertised positions.
It will also help you to learn about employment opportunities that you will not find out about any other way.
Tip: Networking means less competition from others who are seeking similar work to you. In some cases it might also mean that you will not have to endure a formal interview in order to get the position.
Dealing with recruitment Agencies
Recruitment Agencies are organisations which match job candidates to vacant jobs. They often have a shop front. There are agencies for specific professions, such as computing, engineering, and nursing.
You do not have to pay to use their services as the Agencies receive money from the employers.
You will need to register your details with the agency. It is advisable to register with 3 or 4 agencies. Registration can take up to an hour. The agency will ask you questions about your previous employment. They will also ask for a copy of your CV. You will be contacted when suitable positions arise. It is beneficial to phone the agency every fortnight to remind them that you are looking for work.
Keep good records
When you begin to seriously look for employment it is possible that you will prepare numerous, and different versions of cover letters, your resume and other documentation associated with your application.
Should you be invited to attend an interview, or an employer contacts you by telephone (with or without notice) to conduct a screening interview, it will be imperative that you are able to quickly locate and refer to the information you have given that employer.
A good filing system will assist you to do this. Keep a separate file for each job application. Include in this file:
- The job advertisement.
- Job or person specifications.
- Any notes or worksheets associated with the position
- A copy of the cover letter, resume and any other documentation you send to the employer.