Congratulations on your decision to kick off your job search, we know it can be a difficult task! But the decision to get moving means you’ve gotten over your fear of the unknown, fear of rejection and are ready for bigger and better things. And, if you start off with these four things, we know you’ll be setting yourself up for success.
When was the last time you overhauled your resume?
No, we aren’t asking about the last time you added a job to it. We mean, actually looked at every line on your resume to determine if that experience is still worth listing, still relevant, and will help you get your next job. If you want to start from scratch, you can find some fantastic templates here, no matter what stage of your career you’re in. Once you have it the way you want it, make sure you’re sending your resume to a trusted person in your life to review. They will find the typos and flowery language that your resume doesn’t need, and give valuable feedback. Do not skip the step of sending it to someone you trust!
Make sure your LinkedIn profile matches your resume
After spending all that time on your resume, make sure your “online resume,” LinkedIn, matches the experience you’re formally sending out on your resume. Are you worried your boss will find out that you updated your LinkedIn profile and now you’re searching for a new job? You can update your profile without your boss ever knowing. Go over to your “Me” bubble at the top of your page, scroll down to account, click Settings and Privacy, click the Privacy tab, scroll down to Sharing Profile Edits and make sure that it is set to No. While you’re in this section, make sure all your other settings are set to how you want them. If you want to go one step further, you can read how to get more views of your LinkedIn profile here. After you’ve spent all that time updating it, don’t you want people to actually click on it and view?
Call your references
Don’t you want to know what your references will say about you? Telling them that you’re kicking off your job search not only gives you a way to stay in touch with them, but they might be a source for determining your next career move. They might mention how much they love their current company and offer to make an introduction for you, or tell you how they just heard about an open position from a former co-worker, or just be willing to talk about where you’re at in your career and coach you on some options. No matter what the outcome of the conversation, letting your references know that they should expect a call because you’re on the job hunt will insure they’re not caught off guard when someone calls to talk about you.
Call your recruiter
If you don’t work with a recruiter you trust right now, find one. Get a referral from a friend, perhaps from one of your references, and make the connection. Don’t underestimate the power of a recruiter to help you connect your work experience to open positions and get you access to positions before they make it to the company web site. A great recruiter will also make sure that you’re prepped for the interview when you get to that stage so you know who will be in the room, standard questions they like to ask and information about the company that is not on the company web site.
While we know that starting off your job search can feel like a lot of work, it’s work that will pay off. Make sure that these are the first four things you do when you kick off your job search and you’ll arrive to your first interview prepared and ready to talk about why they should hire you.