By Scott Chase, CIO of Burke and Chase
Platinum Member of Empowering Today's Professionals (ETP) Network
Project Manager for ETP Network Lamplighter Newsletter
When I first was introduced to the new ETP Network "7 Step Job Search"© system in December I was amazed at its simplicity. My first thought was “will these steps actually work”? Well, you will be amazed at the results that I have witnessed first hand.
Let’s take a look at what each step of the system entails:
- IDENTIFY YOUR CORE SKILLS: Seems easy enough to identify what your core skills are. Want to use about 3-5 skills. Mine are Project Management, Business Analyst, and Technical Analyst. What are yours?
- FIND WHAT THE MARKET DEMAND IS FOR YOUR CORE SKILLS: The best way to gauge whether your core skills are in demand is to use the job site INDEED. In the search criteria enter one of your core skills, say, within a 25 mile radius of your home zip code. If your search returned 50 or more jobs, then you are golden. If not, try widening your search to 50, 75, 100 miles and see what the results are, of course, only enter the larger radius if you are willing to travel for your position. If you still don’t get enough returning on your core skills search, then maybe we need to look at a different skill set or possibly different titles for your core skills.
- USING ONLINE AND NETWORKING RESOURCES, REVIEW JOB DESCRIPTIONS WITH THE EMPHASIS ON CORE REQUIREMENTS: Plain and simple, use INDEED or other job search resources to find positions that match your core skills. You can also use your network to find any possible openings they might know about.
- FIND AND CALL ADVOCATES TO CLARIFY THE POSITION AND SELL IF APPROPRIATE: Here comes the clear difference in what ETP is doing as compared to other job search approaches. Find someone you know (or in some cases you don’t know) that can be an advocate for you within the company. This could be the HR recruiter for the position, someone in your network you know that works at the company, or, in my case, someone that you have something in common with. (For example: Linkedin group went to school together (alumni), etc...) Your goal is to talk to someone to clarify the position.
- SUBMIT VALUE PROPOSITION (COVER LETTER, RESUME AND JOB DESCRIPTION) TO ADVOCATE: Once you find an advocate, now it is really time to sell yourself. Submit your cover letter a (targeted!) resume and the job description to the advocate. Make sure to mention a good time to follow-up with the advocate.
- FOLLOW-UP WITH ADVOCATE: Follow-up at the agreed upon time.
- Repeat. Repeat this process until you have landed! So there it is, in 7 steps; now let’s take a look at my own personal example of how the system worked for me.
I found a position on INDEED I thought was a 95% fit for my experience and core skills in the HRIS analyst arena. (Step 1, 2 and 3) I then proceeded to step 4, to find an advocate to clarify the position. I looked for a recruiter at the company that might be in my network. I could not find one, so then I opened up my search on Linkedin to include everyone in HR that worked at the company.
I found a couple of matches, one, in particular, looked like he might be in the department in HR where the position might have resided. I clicked on the link in Linkedin and found he was a level 3 connection, but, he was also part of the same project management group that I also belong to and he was accepting messages from the group. I then sent him a note via Linkedin introducing myself and if he would be willing, based on my value proposition, to help me clarify the open HRIS Analyst position. After I sent the note via Linkedin I continued to search for information about the company, including phone numbers for there main HQ office and looked in Linkedin for more advocates.
Before I could continue my search for advocates an e-mail appears in my inbox. It is from the gentleman, whom I have not met before, about my Linkedin request to clarify the position. He stated that if I sent him my value proposition, (Step 5) and, if it is as good as a match as I said it would be, he would be happy to personally walk my resume over to the recruiter for the position. I submitted my cover letter, targeted resume and job description to my new advocate, with the stipulation that if he thought I was not a good candidate for the position, I would not want him to
submit my information to the recruiter. He reviewed the information and said I was a really good match and handed it to the recruiter.
I received a call for the recruiter to do a phone interview with him and then we set up a formal interview for the following week. I then followed-up with my advocate to thank him and to keep him informed of my progress with the position. (Step 6) The most amazing thing about my person example was the speed in which things took place. I saw the position at 8:00 AM, found and got response from advocate at 9:30 AM, got called and had phone interview with the recruiter by 10:30 AM!
Granted, the speed in which this took place was not typical. But, believe me when I say it, THE
ETP Network "7 STEP JOB SEARCH"
© WORKS!
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job listing,
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