How to Find a New Job
Losing your job can be devastating and at the very least stressful. While it is a painful experience, finding your next job (and career) provides an opportunity to recast your career and life! If you were miserable in your last job, use this as the moment to reboot your career and do work that aligns with your goals and who you are as a person.
Below are 9 steps to take to find your next job - straight from Group Sixty’s career transition coaches. The 9 steps are a redacted version of our Career Boost Online Course (Coming Soon). Following these steps will not only help you land your next role, but will help you find more meaning and fulfillment through your work.
9 Steps to Find Your Next Job -Tips from San Diego Career Coaches
Step #1: Identify Your Goals
Finding your next job starts with identifying a precise set of goals. Without goals, your effort will lack focus while wasting time and effort. Be sure to set job goals (e.g. get a job as a product manager), career goals (e.g. Work for a more stable company), and lifestyle goals (e.g. Shift to a remote job to achieve better work/life balance). Setting a broad set of goals will help you stay focused on the tactical part of finding a job while pushing you to think beyond “just get a dang job!” Don’t worry if your goals overlap – the point is to set goals and be sure to assign a timeline for each one. Take it one step further and share your goals with family members, friends, and colleagues to hold you accountable.
Step #2: Develop Your Purpose
One of the best ways to ensure long-term career success and happiness is to clarify your purpose and find work that aligns with it. Many people think that purpose will come to you in a flash resulting from a near death or other life altering experience that shifts your perspective and priorities. To me, purpose can be developed through introspection and hard, intentional work. In our Career Boost online course, we help people create a Personal Purpose Statement that is based on personal values and the stories that make up who we are. Get started in creating your own purpose by reflecting on the most impactful stories of your life. What values are highlighted as you think through each of those stories? Try to craft a Personal Purpose Statement by using the following template:
Personal Purpose Statement Template
My purpose is to [What you do or will do]. By fulfilling my purpose, [The outcome of taking that action on yourself, your team members, your company, your community, and the world.]
Sample Personal Purpose Statement (From Group Sixty Founder Darren Reinke)
My purpose is to unleash the inner lion within leaders. By fulfilling my purpose, leaders will lead more authentic and joyful lives while creating stronger and more resilient teams, organizations, and communities.
Step #3: Network for Career Success
Networking is critical for a successful career and life. Networking can provide access to new insights and information, investors, potential clients and customers, strategic partners, and more. Networking can even be helpful in your personal life and even in dating – my best friend introduced me to my wife! Networking is also critical to land your next job.
Hopefully, you have been networking for years and have used platforms like LinkedIn to connect with colleagues, partners, clients, and customers. If not, now is the time to turbo charge your efforts in support of finding a job.
Start by looking at your goals in step #1 and identify the companies you would like to work for in your next job. Then scan your network for people who work there or friendly contacts who know people who do. Be sure to think outside of your personal network and ask people like your fellow alums, neighbors, family friends, dentist or doctor, or even your daughter’s soccer coach and son’s guitar teacher. The point is to think broad (and creatively) and be bold and ask for introductions. Connecting with current employees can help gain introductions to hiring managers and avoid gatekeepers who lack vision beyond matching a square peg with a square hole. Networking is your secret weapon to land your next job, so be sure to put intentional effort to build and expand your network.
Be bold in your outreach and ask for the introductions that can make the difference between a mediocre and great job. As you do, find ways that you can be helpful to each person. Can you also offer a mutual introduction to someone of interest? Can you share an article or news story that might help support their career success? Look for win-wins where possible to turbocharge your networking efforts.
Step #4: Land Informational Interviews
As you build and expand your network, look for opportunities to conduct informational interviews. Informational interviews are a great way to learn more about the culture of your target companies, strategic growth areas, and other insights that will help once you get an interview with a hiring manager. If you impress the person, you might also be able to ask them to connect you with other people inside the company including HR personnel and hiring managers. Once you secure an informational interview, consider asking some of the following questions to build intel to land your next job.
Is there something you wish you’d known or a skill you wish you’d had when starting out in this job or industry?
What skills do you think are most important for someone interested in a job like yours?
What’s the best advice you would give to someone who wanted to do what you’re doing?
What are some of the biggest challenges you face day-to-day?
I read that your company’s values are [insert values]. How do these impact your day-to-day activities? (Hint: The answer will help determine if the company is a good cultural fit)
Step #5: Build a Learning Map
During the job search process, it’s important to assess your current skills, knowledge, and capabilities to identify any gaps that might prevent you from landing your next job. This is especially important if you are switching careers and/or industries as well as if you are applying for a higher-level position.
Start by identifying the skills and knowledge you will need in your desired role. Then compare what you need with your current skillset to identify gaps. Next, commit to close those gaps by taking action steps; tap your mentors for insight, enroll in an in-person or online course, read books, and tap into the trove of free digital content online. Hold yourself accountable by sharing your learning map with friends, family, and former colleagues.
Step #6: Tell Your Career Story
During the interview process, you will surely get some version of “Tell me about yourself.” The key to answering that question is to create a strong narrative that connects your goals and purpose with the key highlights from your career. As you draft it, be sure that you have a strong opening and close, ensure it captures the most important parts of your career, make it concise, and make sure it has a clear beginning, middle, and end. A strong career story will engage the interviewer and ensure that you stand out from the pack. It will also help you take control of the interview and ensure the interviewer focuses on the most important details in your career story.
Step #7: Polish Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile
Creating a polished resume and LinkedIn profile is one of the key steps in landing your next job. While many elements are subjective, there are several key tips that are not. As you update your resume and LinkedIn profile, be sure to use keywords relevant to your desired role, include your contact information, use active verbs that capture the reader’s attention, and highlight your accomplishments in reverse order (the newest ones first). Also, be sure to read it multiple times for typos as typos are the fastest way to torpedo a job offer.
Step #8: Boost Your Executive Presence
Executive Presence is a key focus area for the leaders that we coach at Group Sixty. Strong executive presence can also be a boon during the interview process. Demonstrating strong communication skills and gravitas signals to your future employer that you are the right person for the job and possess the potential to rise through the ranks of their organization.
Executive presence starts with strong communications skills; what you say and how you say it. It’s about the ability to use storytelling to convey key points while avoiding filler works like um, ah, so, and but. Executive presence is also about the ability to project vision and focus on the big picture in place of staying in the weeds. Commit to spending time to improve it and watch as your job prospects and career progress soars.
Step #9: Practice to Ace the Interview
Alas the payoff from all of the hard work to dig deep and set goals, develop purpose, expand your network, and articulate your career on paper and in words. Acing the interview requires the application of the steps above as well as practicing your responses to potential interview questions. To practice, fire up your mobile phone and record videos of your responses to a few of the questions below. Watch the videos and assess your ability to tell your career story as well as how you demonstrate executive presence.
Sample Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
What is your biggest accomplishment and why?
What is a challenge you have overcome and how did you overcome it?
What is your most important personal or professional value and why?
What is your biggest strength? What is an area of development?
Next Steps: Find Your Next Job!
Finding a job that pays the bills AND is fulfilling can feel overwhelming. The steps listed above provide a guide to make this challenge less daunting and help you get on your way to landing a great job. If you want more help, enroll in Group Sixty’s Career Boost online course to help put each of the steps above into action.