Well, it’s actually very simple. It’s a matter of campaigning for a job, creating momentum, and then bringing it all to a crescendo at the end—a beautiful finale that gives you choices and leverage to negotiate your best deal.

Here are some tips to make this happen in your job search:

1. Heal from your job loss or from the pain you experienced in your last position. Because of financial pressures, most of us jump into a job search too soon. While you don’t want to waste six months watching daytime TV, do take a few weeks to relax, enjoy your family, and heal. When you are ready, hit the job search hard.
2. Treat your search as a job. Have a special desk or area where you keep all your records and supplies. Create a professional-sounding voice mail message. Set up a fax account. Print business cards. Have regular business hours. These actions will also allow you to maintain balance in your life. When you are working on your search, really work. Take breaks and enjoy your week-ends.
3. Have a clear focus. Make sure you know what job position(s) you are seeking by name. Customize your resume and cover letters so that everything proves you are a perfect match.
4. Start with people you know and build your network outward. The best job leads come from friends of friends. Start by having coffee or lunch with friends, former coworkers, clients, vendors and other business contacts. Focus on the other person. Ask about their careers, and they will return the favor. You will get lots of job ideas. Follow up consistently on each one, and report back to the person who provided the lead.
5. Apply freely for jobs that are right for you. Don’t be too concerned about whether you would like a specific company. You can determine that in the interview process. Be open to surprises. The company you were avoiding just might have a great new division that is heaven to work for. By applying freely, you might just get opportunities to interview. Worst case, you’ve won a chance to practice your skills. Best case, you’ve stumbled on a job that you really want.
6. Don’t wait, keep moving forward. If you have a great interview, go back to your office and apply for more positions. Don’t get too focused on one job. And, please don’t wait around for the offer. Companies are taking much longer—sometimes up to six weeks between a successful interview and the offer. If you don’t get the offer, you have other options. If you do, you have other opportunities you can use for leverage in your negotiations.
7. Tell everyone “I’m getting lots of interviews.” This statement is a bit of attraction theory—when you speak it, your subconscious begins to believe it and your behaviors start to cause it. The statement also puts subtle pressure on HR managers to get you in for an interview fast. If you say it in an interview, it makes the future employer think, “We better make an offer soon.” It’s all good.

When you are in momentum, you feel more confident and upbeat. So, get out there and take lots of little steps that rev up your job search. Wouldn’t it be great to get 2, 3, or even 4 offers at the same time?

“I’ll Take Anything”: Three Words That Will Kill Your Job Search,

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2720-Job-Search-Ill-take-anything-Three-words-that-will-kill-your-job-search/?pf=true

“Should I give him my resume? I don’t feel it’s ready yet.”

The answer: NO! Where is it written that people can demand a resume, even if you feel you’re not yet ready? What if you are seeking a career change, but don’t yet know how to frame your experience? What if you have NO IDEA what to apply for? It’s better in these circumstances to hold back, focus on your research, refine the resume, and send it along a week or two later, when YOU are ready. Of course, you might miss out on a great job opportunity. Then again, you might have missed out because your resume wasn’t up to par, anyway.

Here are some other circumstances when you might want to wait instead of pushing forward:

• If you have a big family event, such as a wedding, and you know your time will be taken up completely with the preparations.
• If you have a dear one in a medical crisis, and you might be doing hospital duty for the foreseeable future.
• If you are planning to leave the country on a major pleasure trip.
• If you are planning some surgery or other medical treatments.
• If your spouse is very close to getting a job offer, which could force a move to a new city.

Your resume is a marketing tool. Use it when you are able to follow-up and really pursue appropriate job opportunities. Chances are, when your head is fully in the game, and you know that your resume really “sells” you, it will work more effectively. Your success is a combination of great marketing tools—such as your resume, business card, cover letter and networking—plus a focused, consistent effort on your part.

1. Consider other jobs at the same company. It’s likely that the company has more than one open position if they are hiring. Apply for several others that fit your skills.

2. Approach the company from all angles. Tell your friends and family you want a job with a particular company. Then ask, “Do you know anyone who works there?” When you get a yes, make arrangements to have an Information Interview with that person. Your goal: inside information about company structure, executives, departments, new products, distribution channels–the whole nine yards. An insider can tell you what’s likely to happen in the next few weeks and months. If the person is impressed with you, there’s a chance they will hand deliver or email your resume to just the right manager. That’s a perfect scenario — a manager asking HR about a candidate. You are much more likely to be considered because the employee’s effort is an implied endorsement of YOU.

3. Keep searching on your job title in the job boards. Things change daily. Keep searching for new job boards that specialize in your type of work. As you learn about jobs similar to yours, search on those new job titles. Chances are, your marketing background will transfer nicely to ANY marketing, merchandising, or sales support role. Become an expert in the job titles you are suited for.

4. Consider businesses that are vendors or customers. You already know people in these companies because you talk to them every day. Choose a few people you can trust and tell them, “I’m on the look out for a new opportunity. I would really appreciate your help in getting an interview with your company. Do you know of any positions that might be right for me?” If your boss finds out, just brush it off saying, “I’m always looking to improve myself, but I’d really rather grow with this company.” You’ve expressed your loyalty and put your supervisor on notice — you are a person on the move!

5. Study your target company and approach competitors, vendors and customers. Your skills in that industry will likely work whether your talking computers, or computer parts. Go after all the related companies you can think of.  Go directly to their company websites to apply.

With these five tips you can hopefully revive your job search. When you get a disappointment, just say, “Next!” as if you were saying “Yes” to the next employer lined up to hire you.

A college ceramics teacher decided to do an experiment with his two fall pottery classes.  He told one class that they would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced that quarter—that their grade depended on the number of pots they threw. So, the more the better!  The second class was told that their grade was determined by the quality of their work and that they only needed to produce one “perfect” pot.

Question: Which group do you think received the highest grades?

Well, it turns out the works of the highest quality came from the group that was graded on quantity not quality. It seems that while the “quantity” group was churning out pot after pot they were also getting better at pot throwing! The “quality” group sat and pondered, thought, and redesigned their pot trying to get to perfection. In the end, the perfect pot group had little more to show for their time and efforts than a lot of theory and a few not-so-perfect pots.

Is perfectionism holding you back in your job search? Are you looking for the perfect opportunity and passing on the so-so option that might turn into something else? Do you endlessly ponder whether your resume is perfect, and spend very little time networking? Are you so concerned about all the advice you’ve received that you are afraid to make a move?

It’s important to realize that job seeking—like any human endeavour—is messy. You might issue a few emails with (gasp!) a typo. You might be on the phone when the prospective employer calls. You might forget to follow up, and then wonder if you’ve waited too long. Or, like the proverbial teenage boy, you might be so afraid that you never pick up the phone!  You might see a job ad, be missing just one requirement and tell yourself: “I can’t apply for that job.”

My book, New Resume New Career, details the stories of 50 real-life career changers. They had to put on their thinking hats and screw up the courage to revitalize and reformulate their careers. Not all of them got their dream job the first time out, but they are all moving toward that dream. They inspired me as I was writing the book. One year later, I love hearing updates and the twists and turns their careers have taken. Here are some tried-and-true lessons I learned as I helped them in their searches:

1. The best leads come from people—usually friends of friends. YOU may not be friends with an important person who can give you a job lead, but your friends might. You MUST network with friends in order to find out about jobs and be presented through people channels.
2. The universe loves speed—when you hear about a job lead act on it immediately. If you can be the first to apply, the job might never even “go public,” creating a win-win for you and the company. They save time and money interviewing, and you get a job!
3. See your resume as a marketing document—include only information that sells you into a specific job. Check out my Resume Billboard™ section in New Resume New Career.
4. Follow lots of leads—try not to get too focused on one opportunity and get your heart set on it. Just like the pot-throwing class, you will become better at job seeking if you do more job seeking activities.
5. Open up to the possibilities—put away those thoughts of “I’ll never do THAT again.” The bad experiences you may have had in the past won’t necessarily repeat. Be curious when you hear about opportunities. Remember that it’s expensive to advertise jobs. Behind the job that’s “almost right” could be one even better for you.

Remember that you are being evaluated on your thinking skills. Find a way you can contribute to the business, bringing in expertise you have gained from other jobs. Study the company website and read all the press stories you can find. Chances are, you have something to contribute—an idea, a provocative question, even a story about a similar challenge another company faced. There is some risk to this strategy: your ideas might be slightly off because you don’t know the full story. However, if you present your work with that caveat, the prospective employer will respect your effort, thinking, proactivity, and your professionalism in preparing these documents. Here are some types of Interview Gifts you can provide:

1. A SWOT Analysis: You could take a product or service the company is considering. Even without all the data, a SWOT analysis can show your critical thinking skills and background experience.
2. A planning document: This could take the form of “How I would approach this important assignment.” As a marketing director candidate, I wrote a document outlining the steps to creating a marketing program. I got the job, and actually used the plan during my first 90 days on the job.
3. Relevant case studies: Create a document listing some of your major projects with situation, strategy, tactics, and results. You can present these verbally, or leave the document for your interviewer to read later.
4. A list of challenges and recommendations: If you are moving from the buyer side of the business to the vendor side, you might prepare a document such as “10 Ways Consultants Can Increase Value for Their Clients.” Because you have been the client, you are offering insights from your perspective.
5. Portfolio: If you are in advertising, marketing or graphic arts, it just makes sense to bring in a portfolio of your creative work. Many other job seekers—even administrative assistants—can prepare a portfolio that shows their work. If you have saved newspaper clippings, blog posts, invitations, advertisements, sample proposals, etc. you can turn these into a portfolio to prove your skills.
6. A White Paper: This is an opinion essay–500-1,500 words–about some important issue facing your business. It doesn’t even have to be published. With the White Paper, you demonstrate that you are on your way to becoming a “thought leader.” Who wouldn’t want to hire that?

If you’d like to follow all the coaching provided for my Parade Magazine job seeker, log onto Parade’s What People Earn page. Be sure to hit “previous” and “next” to see all the articles.

For more success tips for your job search, read New Resume New Career, now in bookstores nationwide and on www.Amazon.com. For a free 30-minute consultation about your own career goals, contact Catherine Jewell by emailing cj@careerpassioncoach.com.

Tell the job you are applying for. Begin by stating something like: “I am proud to submit my resume for the position of Regional Marketing Director.” Most companies have several openings. Be sure you state which one is of interest to you.

Tell how you learned about the job. HR managers want to know if their internet listings are generating qualified applicants. If you learned about the position from CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, or even the company website, say so.

Use names. Let people open doors. If you have a contact within the company, be sure to use his/her name. Having a contact gives you an implied endorsement. You might say something like: “Mary Jones in purchasing suggested I apply for the position of Senior Marketing Director. Mary and I worked together for at XYZ Manufacturing years ago.” The HR manager will call Mary and get a reference. This is your ticket to the top of the pile!

Give 3 reasons why you can contribute more than other candidates. Write a short paragraph about three qualities that make you a great employee. Elaborate by giving an example for each one.  Here’s a sample:  “Accountability – I hold myself to a high standard, and train my salespeople to look to their own activities, sales techniques, and follow-up to gage their success. I am certified and train all my agents in the XYZ Follow Up system. The result is a team of agents who achieved 3% growth during a time when our market experienced an 8% decline in home sales.”

Ask for an in-person interview.  In sales, it’s called “Asking for the order.” At the end of your letter, state your desire to contribute to the company. Then, close with something like: “I’m excited about this opportunity and look forward to the interview process.”

Passion is always in fashion. Your resume should be professional, fact-based, and devoid of emotion. The cover letter is a place to show a little personality and passion for the work and the job at hand. It’s very appealing to hire a job seeker who really wants the work.  Be sure to include your personal commitment, if you can. One winning cover letter ended this way: “As the mother of a diabetic child, I know the struggles each family faces. I hope to work for your organization, both to inform and support the families facing this challenge.”

If you’d like a packet of three winning cover letters, send me an email. cj@catherinejewell.com.