In this video you're going to learn the seven best job search strategies
that my clients use to land their dream jobs.
And yes, it is that simple.
Now stick around until the very end because I'm going to share with you our Black Career
Success bonus tip and you don't want to miss that.
Now if you're looking for career advice to help you land your dream job then go ahead
and subscribe to this channel.
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You ready to get started?
Let's go.
Hey guys, it's Jennifer Tardy here, your career success coach.
Now if you are struggling or even confused about where to start with your own job search
then you found the right place.
My coaching clients use these tools every time for their job search strategy and it
has been a success.
Let's jump right in.
Step one, polish your LinkedIn profile.
Now I don't know if you're aware of this but employers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars
getting an account with LinkedIn so that their recruiters can find you there.
Which means that those employers are going to make sure they get a return.
Which means that they're looking at your profile.
And if they're looking at your profile you want to make sure that your profile truly,
truly stands out.
And it can stand out by having a great photo, meaning a solid background, a smiling face,
a head shot and you are in professional dress.
The second thing that makes a good profile is a strong headline.
Don't just reiterate your job title.
Use something that really describes who you are.
Add in a competency.
Add it something related to leadership about you.
And sometimes people even go in and add in something personal about their selves as long
as it's quasi personal professional.
Just make sure that your headline just like a newspaper headline, really stands out.
Also, make sure that you have your updated education in there and any honorable mentions
you got while you were getting your education.
Make sure also that you have updated your experience section especially your current
experience.
That's really important.
So don't just add in your previous job titles.
Also add in what you did but if you want to take it even further add in what you accomplished
while you were working on those jobs.
Got it?
Hey guys, a quick aside while we're talking about step number one, in your LinkedIn profile
there is a career preferences page.
So when you go in to update your profile or to edit your profile, there is a whole page
that's asking you about how you want to let recruiters know your availability.
So if you want recruiters to be able to contact you, make sure that you update that.
Let recruiters know what type of job you're looking for.
Let them know what area or what geographic preference you may have.
Let them even know how soon you're available to start.
All of those things that you can use to update your career preferences page is truly going
to help to maximize your chances of somebody reaching out to you for a job opportunity.
So do not take that lightly.
Go do it now.
Step number two, go and apply for jobs.
So I know that that may sound a little elementary to even have to say but you need to apply
to jobs.
It's not enough to just update your LinkedIn profile to make it beautiful and snazzy but
you also need to put yourself out there.
Now when you're thinking about what types of jobs to apply to one of the strategies
that I give to my clients is a three, three, four approach.
Go and find three jobs that you're probably just a little bit overqualified for.
Then find three jobs that would be a lateral move for you.
So it's three jobs that you know it's ideal to what you're doing today.
You could go in with a little bit of help you could probably easily do that job.
It's a lateral move.
And then find four, four, knock your socks off jobs.
It's four jobs that you couldn't even believe that you could get and if you got those jobs
it would truly knock your socks off.
It's an approach where we do a round up 10 jobs that we apply to and we use the three,
three, four approach and it's especially helpful for people who may not think that they could
get to the next level.
And so with this we do a smorgasbord of jobs that you apply to and we'll see where the
chips may fall.
Maybe you'll get the knock your socks off job in the process.
You never know until you try.
But the key for step number two is to at least apply for jobs.
Got it?
Good.
Let's move on.
But wait.
Before we move on I do want to share that my two favorite places that I always recommend
that my clients and anyone that I talk to go to apply for jobs is LinkedIn and Indeed.
What I like most about both LinkedIn and Indeed is that sometimes depending on the way that
the employer sets up that job opening you can actually either apply through their site,
through their own applicant tracking system or sometimes they'll allow positions or resumes
to go directly to the recruiter or to the hiring manager.
I always love those jobs because I know that it's more likely that it's going to get in
front of a recruiter.
So LinkedIn and Indeed both offer that 'cause they'll say something like, "Apply directly
on the company site."
Or, "Apply using your LinkedIn profile."
Or, "Apply directly to the recruiter."
So, either way, that's just my little tip for you.
LinkedIn and Indeed are great.
Step number three, be certain to set up a job alert.
There's no way that you can know about every job that comes through every minute of every
day.
So why not let job alerts do the job for you?
And it's as simple as on LinkedIn it allows you to set up a job alert and I'll do a quick
tutorial within the comments section so just click on the link below and you'll get it
there.
And I'll also throw in what we call a Boolean string type of job alert.
And it gets more specific looking for different combinations of what your job title could
be so that you don't miss anything.
So this way when you set up a job alert you are able to let jobs or job notifications
or alerts come directly into your inbox.
And then each day when you wake up that morning or maybe each week if that's how often you
want to look at these jobs, then you're able to say, "Oh, let's see what's out there for
me."
And so it's based on all of your own preferences.
Set up a job alert.
That is a good strategy for you.
Step four, step four is all about networking, networking, networking.
There are two ways that I really encourage my clients to do their networking.
And both take place through LinkedIn.
The first is reaching out to a recruiter at those companies that you've applied to.
So sometimes on LinkedIn the recruiter will actually specify which jobs he or she is trying
to fill because they want people to come to them.
But sometimes they don't.
Now if they specify that they are the recruiter attached to a certain job then that's the
recruiter that you need to connect to.
And if there's no specification on who the recruiter is, then reach out to a recruiting
manager at that company because odds are the recruiting manager if they feel that you are
qualified or competitive enough then they'll send your information over to the recruiter.
But the first thing is, connect to them first because sometimes on LinkedIn you can only
send an email if you're connected to a person.
The second type of networking which is also on LinkedIn is to network with an executive
in the department to which you want to work.
Oh no.
Now I know that that's a little scary and my clients tell me this all the time but when
you are courageous enough to connect and then to introduce yourself to an executive odds
are you are one of few people that have done that.
And so now this executive has seen your information and if they think that you are competitive
to work in their department then you know what they're going to do?
They're going to send your information over to recruiting.
Trust and believe.
I when I was leading recruiting departments I used to get emails of resumes from executives
all the time.
And so I know that that strategy can work.
So give it a shot.
So the first thing is to connect.
The second thing is to send an introductory email.
And if you look in the comment section I even have a template of what that introductory
email could look like for you.
So check it out.
Hey, let me ask you a question.
What is most fearful to you when you heard me say reach out to an executive?
Or even reach out to a recruiter.
I'm interested in knowing your thoughts.
So share with me in the comment section below if you heard me say reach out to a recruiter
or an executive, you felt a little bit of fear inside of you, what was it about that?
Let's chat about it.
Step number five, follow up, follow up, follow up.
So remember in step number four when I said to make sure that you reach out to a recruiter
and or an executive?
Let's say two weeks go by and you haven't heard back from either of them yet.
It is completely acceptable to send one quick check in to say, "Hey, I'm just following
up to my previous email.
Would you have a chance, did you have a chance to check it out?"
That's it and you leave it as simple as that.
Now if they don't reply after that then leave it alone.
But follow up is key because odds are as a recruiter you are extremely busy.
You can bet your life on it.
And when you may see an email and you may think, okay I need to get back to that person
but you may forget.
Your follow up may just be the prompt that is needed to get back to you.
So don't think that people are just ignoring you.
It's just that people have a lot going on and sometimes follow up is the best way to
get their attention after all.
So follow up, follow up, follow up.
And begin thinking about your networks as well.
Maybe you know people or maybe you know people who know people who work in these organizations
as well.
By this time you get to this step and if you haven't heard back from the recruiter or the
executive then network using six degrees of separation.
Start off with looking at your connections.
Maybe you have some second degree connections of people who work there.
Maybe there's someone you went to school with who works at this organization.
And you may want to reach out to them and just let them know that you're on the job
search and that anything that they can do to kind of help you in that search would be
extremely useful and valuable.
So follow up and continue networking.
Step number six, reach out to search agencies.
And so some people are able to get their foot in the door because they go through a search
agency that already has a great working relationship with that organization.
So if you know through your own research that there are search agencies that are out there
in your area that already have a great working relationship, reach out to that agency.
Talk to a recruiter at that agency.
Because maybe they could help you to get your foot in the door by way of an introduction.
They can help you to get your foot in the door by helping to get you placed into that
position full-time.
Or maybe there are even some contractors, some temporary positions within that organization
that they can help you to get a leg in the door or to get a foot in the door to go and
work there.
So reach out to a search agency.
That has worked a lot of times for people that I know.
Even myself included.
Step number seven, go to career fairs and conferences where you know these organizations
are going to be present.
Make sure that you're there when they're there.
Now I bet you're wondering, well how do I know where these organizations are going to
be?
Most organizations will have an events calendar and it's typically on their website under
the career page where they show where they're going to be from a recruiting perspective.
So check out their career page, look at their events calendar and if you see an event that
you know is local to your area or one that you can just go to in general, go to that
event.
And when you go to that event stop by their booth or stop by wherever the presentation
that they're doing and say hello.
Introduce yourself and let them know that you've already applied to a specific position.
So go to a career fair or a conference or some sort of community event where they're
going to be present.
Now you know I mentioned I was going to do a Black Career Success bonus tip.
I'm not going to let you down.
Of course I'm not going to let you down.
So in this Black Career Success bonus tip I want to think like a diversity recruiter
for a second.
If a diversity recruiter or a recruiter seeking to diversify their job pool or their candidate
pool, if they're looking to diversify it and they're going to go to places where they believe
that they can find you.
Now this will mean that they'll go to different groups on social media.
They'll go to different diversity focused organizations.
So if you know that you want to expand your job search strategy specifically as a person
of color, then you need to find an association that is focused on whatever diversity focus
you're thinking about.
So think about if you are black and have your MBA, the National Black MBA Association.
And so think about professional associations like that or groups on social media and you
make sure that you're there.
And when you are on those sites, make sure that you are, your profile is up to date on
those professional organizations.
If you are part of different groups that focus on diversity be sure to see what organizations
are connected to those groups as well too so that you can introduce yourself through
those different groups.
Meet ups are another great way as well that diversity recruiters are trying to find people
more often lately.
So just be where they are.
So now that you have all of these job seeker strategies and you know how to start your
own job search, your next step is to check out my free PDF and it's called, 21 Pieces
of Career Advice for Black Job Seekers.
What better way than to use that advice to now stand out and be way more competitive?
So be sure to look in the comment section.
You'll find a link there.
Click on it.
Get access to that guide, 21 Pieces of Career Advice for Black Job Seekers and good luck
to you along the way.
Now let me ask you, have you already started your job search?
If you have which one of these seven pieces of advice have you found most helpful?
Leave that in the comment section, I'm really, really, really curious to know.
And maybe you have a different job search strategy that you believe that people should
know about.
Leave that also in the comment section so that everyone else can know about it as well
too.
So now that you have your job search strategy down with those seven steps and even the Black
Career Success bonus tip, now this is a good time to check out another video that I've
done that is how to find a job while you currently have a job because that is going to be tricky
and complex.
But you know what?
I've got you covered.
Already did a video about it.
So make sure you check that one out.
So until the next time, I am Jennifer Tardy your career success coach and I look forward
to seeing you back through the Black Career Success YouTube channel.
I'll see you soon.
Take care.
Bye.