New Year, New Job

In the market for a new job? Not in the market for a new job BUT always interested to know if a better job is out there? The month of December is a great time to review your personal job search process and possibly make adjustments. Here are a few recommendations from theStyleCareers.com team…

1. REVIEW & UPDATE YOUR RESUME

Have you changed companies? Taken-on new responsibilities? Got a new title? Make sure your resume information is both current AND easily read. Make sure to UPDATE YOUR RESUME wherever it may be; hardcopy, job boards, company websites and recruitment agencies.

This might also be a great to time to EVALUATE THE FORMAT of your resume. For example, as job seekers gain experience, the trend is to move from a resume that is in a chronological format to one that is more accomplishment based. There are a lot of good resources online for resume writing. If you aren’t getting a lot of hits on your resume, it might be time for a format change!

2. REVIEW, UPDATE & PRACTICE YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH

An “Elevator Pitch” is a concise, carefully planned and well-practiced description of the VALUE you bring to a company. The pitch should be EASILY UNDERSTOOD by a layman and last 30-45 seconds; the typical time it takes to ride an elevator.

You never know when you might bump into someone who might be able to help in your job search. Make sure your Elevator Pitch is up-to-date, polished and practiced!

3. REVIEW & UPDATE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

With respect to social media, assume that a potential employer will see EVERYTHING you’ve ever posted and EVERYTHING that anyone else may have posted about you. Keep in mind that your social media profiles are not your only social media presence. Tagged photos of you, comments you’ve made, groups you’ve joined and event you’ve attended are likely to be available to potential employers.

4. CREATE A JOB SEARCH ACTIVITY LOG

Track applications, follow-up messages, contacts, etc… The more detailed you are, the better you will be able to evaluate your search, interview and follow-up practices.

It is important to follow-up on resumes you’ve sent, interviews you’ve had and contacts you have made, BUT KEEP IN MIND, no one is going to hire a stalker. Use your job search activity log to ensure that you are conducting the right amount of follow-up.

Ideally, you should keep your job search activity log on some sort of smart device (phone/tablet) so that you can record activities and/or chance encounters immediately after they happen.