Phil Stella, President of Effective Training & Communication, Inc., was our most recent presenter.
He said the exercise below should take two weeks to complete.
On the positive side, it will shorten your job search and give you good interview answers.
On the negative side, it is a pain in the butt to complete and takes time.
It’s time-consuming and challenging but well worth your effort.
12 Steps
- Define what you do the best – list your top 10 specific skills, talents, and traits you bring to your next employer. How do you know you’re good at them (i.e., consistent, positive feedback from others)?
What do you do the best at work? How do you know?
- Now, Force Rank your list – #1 to #10
- Define what you like to do the most at work – list the top 10 specific work-related tasks or processes you enjoy the most. Why do you like them?
What do you enjoy doing most at work? Why?
- Now, Force Rank that list, too.
- Look at the top four items from each list above – they describe your ideal blend of talents and passions. Then, build your next job around them.
What do you do best? What do you enjoy most?
- Write down specific job titles and see if your talents and passions line up with them.
Specific Job Titles – Talents & Passions involved
- Identify ten Objective Criteria describing your ideal next employer that are important to you – details about location, size, industry, growth, salary guidelines, health care, and other benefits. Why are they important to you?
Objective Criteria – Why are they important to you?
- Force Rank this list from 1-10.
- Define ten Subjective Criteria describing your ideal next employer that are important to you – details about culture, values, work-life balance, integrity, remote work, pet friendly, LBGTQ. Why are these important to you?
Subjective Criteria – Why are they important to you?
Force Rank this list from 1-10.
- Look at the top four items on your objective and subjective list. They describe your ideal next employer.
- Now, identify organizations that meet these essential criteria. Find those organizations via data axle (used to be Reference USA – free with a library card), Weatherhead 100, Northcoast 99, Glassdoor, or a Google search.
Networking via Email
Send out a dozen people in your network per day that says the following:
“In case you haven’t heard, I’m in an active job search. I’m looking for (put down 5-6 bullets describing the job) at (3-4 companies). Can you think of anyone I might network with that works at those organizations?”
60 second Tell Me About Yourself
Phil says your commercial should unfold like this:
30 seconds summarizing your career
10 seconds why you aren’t there any longer
20 seconds what you are looking for
Use action verbs when describing yourself
Conclusion
This whole complicated and time-consuming process can now drive your pro-active and focused job search networking and information-gathering. You can network with people you know or meet to find employers that match your profile—network to find people inside those organizations to connect with and discuss future job opportunities.
Your odds of successfully landing something closer to your Ideal Job at your Ideal Employer should be much better than only using traditional reactive and passive job searching methods, like posting resumes, responding to LinkedIn or Indeed job postings, and generic networking.