This is Career5’s Step-Step Guide to get you going quickly on your job search. Your job search has to do with the supply and demand of your job and you have to think of it as comparable to a marketing and sales effort for something like consultative sales where you are conveying what value you can bring to a job and justify the salary you think you are worth. This means understanding the results, value, and proven track record you have. This is usually worked out when you have marketed with us. If not, dedicate an extra session to do this. It is well worth the time and effort.

Apply for the jobs that really excite you. These are the jobs you will put in the most energy into instinctively and that always gives good results. Remember- you are competing against many people so you have to make sure your value (what you can do for the company) stands out clearly and is focused. Don’t make them figure out where to put you. Your resume, cover letter, etc. should be clear on what you are targeting and how you can help them.

The expected time frame has to do with the "supply and demand" of your job. Expect the higher up in level you are, the older you are (55+), the more attractive the job you are seeking is- you will have to apply for FAR more jobs than the average person. So just get into that headspace of applying and reaching out (you should always reach for every job in which you apply) to a plethora of people. Job searching takes a lot of effort and if you don’t have time to do this, then utilized our marketing team to help you.

->Start here:

1. Make sure your recruiter settings and turn on job alerts in LinkedIn. Only let recruiters know you are open to work. Don't put the "Open to Work" for everyone to see. Just recruiters (see below).
2. Set up alerts on Google Jobs and LinkedIn and any other industry-specific applicable sites.
3. Post your resume on job board sites BUT use a separate job opportunity email address.  You could be spammed, but many recruitment software allows recruiters to scour for talent using your submitted resumes.
4. Post resume/search on professional association job boards if possible and set up job feeds to your email.
5. Go directly to the job postings on the targeted company websites.
6. Research companies to work to target here (Crunchbase, Buzzfile, SD&B Hoovers, Owler etc).
7. Only apply for jobs that on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), you rate as a 7-10.
8. Apply to your job alerts that are a 7-10 as soon as they come in. They are usually the freshest.  
9. If you find a posted position on a job board that was not sent to you in an alert, call the company’s HR department and ask them if the position is still available or confirm that it is at least still on their job postings page before you spend all the time to prep everything to apply.
10. Before you apply, look at the company rating on Glassdoor. Read the reviews. Avoid low-rated companies.
11. On your resume, align your Top 5 Strengths area to the job description for every job in which you apply.
12. Keyword-optimize your resume for EVERY job that goes through an online application process (use our software access as our client). The only time you don’t need to do this is with small companies less than 10, recruiters, and if you personally pass your resume to someone for networking or directly getting a job that is not posted. We currently recommend Skillsyncer. We used to use Jobscan but are now appreciating the ease of use of this software.  You simply install the Chrome extension for free, upload your resume and look up jobs, then click on the plugin to install. Due to ease of use, we highly recommend this one. See instructions here.
13. Craft a cover letter and address the top 3-5 skills/abilities of the job description to connect the dots for the hiring manager.
14. Align your top 5 strengths area on your resume to speak to their top 3-5 strengths/abilities so they, again, can easily connect the dots.
15. If you have any unique ways/frameworks for solving their intended needs for the role, speak to it.
16. Organize your job search with a spreadsheet. Track all your efforts (leads) by making a copy of our Job Search Tracker spreadsheet. Color code rows accordingly- green for promising, yellow for maybe, and red for dead (lead).
17. Reach out to introduce yourself to as many people as you can for each job since 85% of jobs come through some form of networking. Reach out to key influencers for that specific job on LinkedIn (hiring managers, in-house and 3^rd party recruiters, etc.) and introduce yourself for the job- OR- directly email them (Skrapp.io is an email scraper and works on LinkedIn. Try their free account). Find them on their company’s LinkedIn business page.
18. Ask to jump on a quick informational call about the role.  Once you get on a call, ask them, “What is the biggest challenge your team is facing right now?”  Dig in to get the specifics so that you can create a solution for them after the call.
19. ***Target influencers around your role to ask for a referral for a posted job. Ask people if they can jump on a quick call about the role and if they would refer you to the person hiring. Ask them to pass on your name or allow you to contact the person hiring and let them know that you had both [you and the influencer] spoken already.
20. Network out for an unposted job. Target influencers and hiring managers at companies where you want to work to see if they have any upcoming roles. Again, ask people if they can jump on a quick call about the role and ask if they would refer you to anyone they know who is hiring. Ask them to pass on your name or allow you to contact the person hiring and let them know that you had both [you and the influencer] spoken already. Spend most of your time here. Try to jump on an informational call to ask what the biggest challenge their team is facing. Try our Reverse Recruiting Service to expedite this.
21. Build a solution with your knowledge from a call. In the next few days, research the company thoroughly, and build a possible solution a summary of their pain point/problem, a step-by-step framework of how to solve it, and a brief outline of how your skillset positions you as an asset to implement the solution of how you can help fix their problem.
22. Come up with an example of a solution for your type of work and send it to companies that you are networking with or to people that are currently hiring for a role.  Those examples above could be used for multiple companies.
23. Try again in a week with all that you have reached out to but have not heard back to show your continued interest for this position.

 If you get stuck, know you can always come to us for job search strategy, organization, and a value pitch session at a discounted rate as our client. 

For an accelerated networking option that reaches out to 100s of hiring authorities, take a look at our Reverse Recruiting Service. It’s been a game-changer for our clients).