Archive for the ‘Job Search’ Category

With many employers reluctant to pay relocation expenses and strategic networking  increasingly becoming the most effective job search strategy, landing a job out of state can be a challenge.

However, if you follow these specific steps, you’re likely to improve your chances of being hired.

• Determine where you want to move and research the market relevant to your skills.
• Establish your job targets and be able to communicate how your skills and experiences make you a strong candidate.
• Identify your contacts in the new location. Consider not only friends and family, but also college alums and former colleagues. (Contact the career services office at your undergraduate and graduate schools. Request a list of alums working in your field in or near your target location.)
• Utilize Linkedin to research prospective employers and, in particular, people with whom you have something in common who work for those employers. These contacts can be key to getting your foot in the door. Another excellent way to use Linkedin is to see who in your network knows someone in the new community.  By doing an advanced search of people, and putting in a zip code, you can see who in your network lives in that community, but also see who in your network knows people in that community, and then can reach out to your contact for an introduction.
• Become familiar with your target location: subscribe online to the local newspaper, pay attention to articles on new businesses, expansions, and notices of promotions and new hires.
• Plan an exploratory trip to conduct informational interviews and network with other professionals.
• Contact the Chamber of Commerce, Office of Tourism, and State Department of Labor and request a relocation packet. Access the Chamber’s on-line directory of members.

(For specific information about relocating to Maine, go to the Maine State Government’s special page dedicated to this topic.)

• Identify organizations and companies that employ people in your targeted positions. Visit their websites for job postings and information on new developments.
• Explore key resources in your industry or career field such as professional associations affiliated with your target job.
• Tell everyone you know of your plans to relocate. Ask if they know anyone who lives and works in your target location and if they would be willing to send an e-mail asking if you might contact them for networking purposes.
• Check out Craig’s List for job postings in your desired location. In many major cities, Craig’s List is more than a resource for used items and serves as a key site for new jobs.
• Know the salary ranges in the new locale for the position/s you are targeting. My two favorite sites for this information are salary.com and indeed.com. It’s important to be prepared to state your salary requirements that reflect your knowledge of the market and the value of your skills.

Stay focused on your goal and take specific steps each week toward it. Before you know it, you’ll be living and working where you want to be!

Are you wondering if you should put your job search on hold until after the New Year, since the hiring process tends to slow down from now until mid-January?

My advice is to keep some momentum going throughout the Holiday season. In fact, the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years can be a particularly effective time to make strategic and useful connections.

With many executives curtailing work travel schedules to make themselves available for end-of-the-year planning and office events, you may have easier access to decision makers at this time.

You might also have a competitive edge in the job market, as many applicants assume not much is happening and opt to wrap presents and sip eggnog instead of pursue job leads.

Take advantage of holiday gatherings to connect with people you don’t see very much during the year – former colleagues, neighbors, distant relatives, old friends. They can all be helpful in your job search, providing you are forthcoming with information about what you need.

When the time is right, tell them what type or position you are looking for or ask to be introduced to someone who may be a great networking contact.  If they seem interested in helping you out, let them know you’ll follow up with them in a few days—and do!

With an attitude of “anything is possible”, and a challenge to your assumptions about this time of year, you may find yourself in a prime position of opportunity to celebrate the season and enter the New Year with sense of promise and good connections too.

I was listening to “http://www.npr.org/” National Public Radio tonight and heard a reporter talking about the Sundance Film Festival. She said that some filmmakers had done well this year because they “booted up” their approach to making films in order to stay current with trends and popular interests.

I immediately made the connection between the concept of “booting up” and a person’s approach to his or her job search. I began to think about the various ways a person might “power up” or “load” their job search process to improve the chances of achieving their goal of landing a job.

Finding a job is taking longer today, and job seekers need ways to sustain their enthusiasm and efforts. New approaches and strategies that energize and add interest can revitalize a discouraged and weary job seeker.

The following is a list of ideas that might power up your search:

Add a new credential to your portfolio. Education and training can boost your confidence as well as your candidacy. Be sure that the program or course you are considering is valued and legitimate.

Make sure that your approach is effective and reflects current job search best practices. Many people work hard at finding a job, but they are using outdated and ineffective strategies. A website that provides hundreds of current topics of interest to the job seeker is “http://www.quintcareers.com/” Quintessential Careers.

Pamper yourself as a reward for your efforts. I’m not one of those people who believes that everyone should make a full time job out of finding a job. Breaks are good. Whether it’s a massage, taking a class that’s only for fun, or settling in for an afternoon with a good book, diversions help restore and replenish the spirit.

Seek out help when you need it. You don’t have to go this alone. In fact, it’s not strategic to do so. Talk to friends, family, colleagues and even a professional who might help guide you when you think you’ve exhausted all possibilities.

Keep looking for the angle you’ve yet to discover, and it might give you just the boost you need to recommit to your search.

Even in this still-sluggish job market, there seems to be a buzz around how to keep employees–particularly those of the elusive post-boomer generation.

Employee engagement and worker retention tips top the lists of workshops and management journal articles.

They speak to the imminent talent drain and worker shortage as a perfect storm of economic disaster gathers.

Each day, 10,000 baby boomers turn 60. Although they’re not all dreaming of packing up for Sun City, once seen as the epitome of retirement, most want to work less and attend to priorities more.

Marc Freedman, author of Encore: Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, believes that boomers’ can turn the tide of the diminishing talent pool.

By engaging with their community, whether globally or locally, a win/win occurs. The marketplace benefits from retaining employees from a generation with experience the likes of which our country has never seen.

Boomers at the same time, reap the satisfaction that comes with making money, meaning and a social impact.

Boomers need to consider how they can reinvent themselves to reflect what they need and want from the 10+ years they are projected to remain in the marketplace.

Employers in the non-profit, public service and for profit sectors would be wise to consider what they might offer older employees that aligns with their increasing desire for meaning and emphasis on life priorities.

Stemming a crisis calls for creative thinking and new perspectives—both of which can generate unexpected and effective solutions.

The key is being willing to see your situation from varying perspectives and determining how everyone’s needs might be addressed in the outcome.