While answering readers job search questions recently, I've often found my­self harping on the need to wage a creative search today.

Career Monitor

Janis Foord Kirk'

While answering readers job search questions recently, I've often found my­self harping on the need to wage a "creative" search today.

Career Monitor has looked at this topic in the past, but it bears repeating. A tight analogy can be drawn between looking for work "creatively" and the step-by-step approach necessary to sell a product.

Product knowledge: Mercenary though it may seem, in the workplace you are a product. The employer is your customer, purchasing your skills, abilities and temperament on the un­derstanding these will fill a need that she or he has.

When you're looking for work, one complicating factor is that you have to wear two distinctly different hats. Not only are you the product, you're also the sales representative. And, as any sales rep will tell you, it’s impossible to sell something you don't fully understand. So, before you can even begin looking, you have to know yourself.

Draw up a list of qualities and skills that you have to sell: technical and in­terpersonal skills, attitudes, work ethic, commitment, and the like. Once you've noted everything you can think of, take the list to at least two people who know you well. Ask them to critique it and add to it.

This is your personal profile; build it, understand it. Practice talking about yourself until you're comfortable. Talk to a friend, a tape recorder, even your bathroom mirror.

Research your marketplac e: If you have general skills, say as an adminis­trator or secretary, you may want to bound your marketplace geographically; employers in a 20-mile radius of your home, for example. If you have a specific occupation or profession, your marketplace is the employers who hire engineers, or warehouse personnel, or accountants, or building maintenance staff. And, if you have a specific Industry in mind, the publishing field, lets say, or telecommunications, your targeted marketplace is employers in these industries. The most direct way to research the needs in any marketplace is to talk to people involved in it. As your first ob­jective, draw up a list of specific em­ployers. If уоuг marketplace is geo­graphically bounded, drive or walk the streets and note the names of employ­ers, checking the Yellow Pages for phone numbers. Or, use municipal di­rectories which you can generally ac­cess through City Hall. For professional, occupational or industry specific markets, talk to associations and visit the business section of a major library. Ask to be pointed to professional and industry directories.

Once you have a potential employers' list, approach each one. Don't ask for work at this stage, conduct instead what's called a "needs assessment." Clearly state that you're researching to discover the needs of employers in this area or field. Ask for information. (Try to arrange a meeting rather than dis­cussing this over the phone). Ask perti­nent questions, such as: What skills do you need? What training? What future needs do you foresee? What sort of people do well in this field? Who else do you suggest I speak to?

Once you have a sense of needs in your targeted area, re-examine your personal profile; Look for training needs. Follow up each meeting or re­search call with a "thanks for your time and help" note.

Write your brochure: In this analogy, your resume, and the letters that accompany it, are your brochure. Given the kind of personal assessment and research you've been doing, your written approach can be specifcally targeted to the employer’s needs. Take time to write and edit this material. Present yourself to employers in terms of how you can be of benefit and meet their needs._;

Wage a marketing campaign: Approach employers in your targeted area looking not for information, but for job leads.

There are three looking ways to do this. You can write employers,_call or drop in. Decide which of these approaches, or what combination of them is mоst appropriate in your market. Be professional and persistent.

The presentation: In the sales jargon we're using today, this is your interview. For its duration, you have a captive audience, a prospective employer, a customer with specific needs. From your research, you'll already know about some of their needs, yo can ask about others during the interview. Continue to probe with genuine curiosity. Confidently talk about yourself and how you can meet these needs. Ask for the order: People ofter leave interviews without knowing whether or not they're in the running Unless the employer tells you, there's only one way to find out. Ask. Something like: "Am I a suitable candidate for this job? When will you be making a decision? I believe I can meet your needs in this job, what can I do toconvince you?"

Waging creative search for work is a rather lengthy process, and taxing.

You have to have your wits about you as you gather information and use it appropriately and cleverly. But give it a try. It works.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04