Are you looking for job search strategies that will accelerate your job search?
Have you submitted your resume and cover letter countless times only to hear nothing back?
If this sound like you, stay tuned, because in this video, you’ll learn 5 job search
strategies that will help you tap into your professional network so that you can accelerate
your job search.
And stay until the end, because I have something special just for you.
If we’ve never met before, I’m Heather Austin from ProfessorAustin.com and The Career
Club on Facebook and on this channel I teach simple solutions to help you build a business
or launch a career you love.
So if you’re new here, consider subscribing.
Also, hit that bell notification down below so you don’t miss a thing.
And real quick, comment down below with what your biggest challenge is when it comes to
your job search.
Before we jump into my top 5 job search strategies, remember that the key to a successful job
search is in your professional network.
If you want to improve the quality of opportunities available to you in your job search, it’s
all about who you know.
In fact, research tell us that 80% of open positions are filled by referrals.
So let’s jump into my top 5 job search strategies.
Tip number 1: Use LinkedIn to network with others in your industry.
Now I have two simple strategies to use LinkedIn to expedite your job search.
First, pinpoint positions you would like to for apply or companies you’d like to work
with.
Then, do some research to find out if you know someone that works for the company or
if you know someone that knows someone that works for the company.
Reach out to your connections letting them know of your interest in the position or the
company that you want to work for, and ask them if they would be okay putting you in
touch with the hiring manager or human resource personnel.
If you’re unsure about how to do a job search using LinkedIn, I created a step-by-step tutorial
just for you.
I go ahead and link that up below.
Now, if you’re initiating a connection request with someone you don’t know and have never
met before, you want to do a customized note when you ask to connect with that person.
Your note could say something like this:
Hi Sally, I recently discovered you are a Senior Account Representative for Corporation
XYZ.
I admire your company’s vision and mission.
I’m currently building my network and would love the opportunity for us to connect here
on LinkedIn.
And then sign with your name.
This is the first step to building a new relationship.
Now, the second part to using LinkedIn to connect with others in your industry and expedite
your job search is to find groups and join those groups and interact with people in the
groups in high-quality conversations.
Sharing your thoughts, your ideas, and your opinions with others inside of private groups
are a great to get to know others.
This is also a really great way to connect with other people naturally.
And to get super involved, make sure you follow the company page on LinkedIn that you would
like to work for.
This only reiterates your interest in the position and is great way to stay informed
when the company makes a new post in their feed.
Tip number 2: Get your career documents ready.
Make sure your resume, your cover letter, and your LinkedIn profile are all ready to
go.
You want to be able to quickly customize each item if needed and send it quickly through
the person when a position comes up.
The last thing you want to be doing is updating your resume and LinkedIn profile at the eleventh
hour.
This leaves room for mistakes such as spelling errors or grammatical errors.
You want to leave yourself enough time to update your career documents and not rush
the process.
Tip number 3: Develop your 30-second elevator pitch.
Your elevator pitch is an essential resource in your job search.
This is the quickest way to let others know of your accomplishments and your qualifications.
This is also a great way to let others know what kind of problems you can solve.
Having a 30-second elevator pitch ready will give you more confidence when networking with
others about job opportunities.
The key to a great elevator pitch is to make sure it aligns perfectly with your resume,
your LinkedIn profile, and your cover letter.
Think of it as your career story.
Now here’s the cool thing: If you don’t have 30-second pitch, I created a video all
about how to create the perfect pitch.
Tip number 4 - Conduct Informational interviews
This is by far my most favorite tips of all the tips I’ve shared with you today because
it’s the one that has worked the best for me.
Informational interviews are one of the fastest ways to develop new relationships and find
meaningful work.
An informational interview is an interview you initiate based on a position you’d like
to have in the future or an industry you’d like to work in.
Target 2 to 3 people that are doing what you want to do.
Reach out to those people using LinkedIn and ask them if they’d be interested in an informational
interview.
Now, believe it or not, most people really enjoy talking about themselves, so don’t
let this step intimidate you.
You can ask them questions like, what do you like most about your position?
How did you get to where you are now?
And what advice do you give me or someone just starting out that wants to move into
that position in the future?
Tip number 5 - Follow up.
You want to keep track of all the connections you’ve made and the positions you’ve applied
for and follow up.
This is one of best ways to fast-track your job search.
We are all inundated with emails, connection requests, and text messages, so it’s really
easy to forget about a conversation we had last week.
To keep yourself at the forefront of someone's mind, follow up within a week or even two
weeks.
And then don’t let that be your last form of contact.
You want to keep following up after that.
And don’t just follow-up to find out how that person can help you; make your follow-up
a meaningful conversation.
Maybe the person mentioned a birthday they had or something they were doing with a family
member.
You can bring those types of things back into the conversation.
Think of this as establishing your network and building those relationships.
Now this does take a little bit of time, so you need to be patient and let it follow a
natural flow.
To really speed up your job search process and to get it right when it comes to your
resume, remember to take a look at the 6-Second Resume.
It’s an easy-to-use, downloadable resume that you can grab today and customize to apply
for your next job.
I’ll go ahead and link it up below.
Now, if you found this video useful, please feel free to share it with someone that it
might help.
Don’t forget to hit the like button below and consider subscribing for more videos just
like this.
And I will see you in the next video.