"The Job Seeker's Guide"DEFINITION OF TASKS
The principle task is to build contacts.As many people as necessary to lead you to those who appoint personnel.
Many tasks need to be undertaken and many qualities are needed to successfully undertake and complete them. Thankfully the skills needed in the hunt for a new job they are not particularly difficult to learn.
Let us look at the tasks and then at what needs to be done to complete them:
1) Prospecting-identifying the person you need to talk to.
2) Making the appropriate approach to that person.
3) Getting into dialogue with that person.
4) Building a rapport with that person.
5) Getting that person to be interested in you.
These are only the initial tasks, in broad terms. We shall be looking at each one individually as we progress as well as the tasks that follow.
The need to know at all times where you are along the road to getting a job with any prospective employer is of paramount importance. The identification of the path, or a simplified version of it, is as follows:
How many prospects do I need?
(a) to enable me to make sufficient approaches
(b) that will enable me to enter into dialogue with
(c) enough people with whom I can build a rapport
(d) that will get enough people sufficiently interested in me
(e) to enable me to secure interviews
(f) that will lead to them considering me for positions of employment.
This progression of tasks looks quite long. Soon we will look at an example of simple arithmetic that will illustrate the amount of work required at each of the stages. Working backwards from "the job" you will be able to calculate how many prospects you need to start with. I have exaggerated the numbers to make the point.
You are looking for ONE job for which you may need to attend, say, TWENTY interviews before you are made an offer of employment. Let's run the sequence backwards and see if the illustration makes sense.
Start with "THE JOB". Assume that the letter of employment is in your hand and you are, in your moment of triumph, looking back at the many and various tasks you have undertaken to get to this point.
The progression would look a little like this:
5) To have secured the TWENTY interviews you may have needed to have had FORTY people seriously interested in you.
4) For the FORTY people to have been seriously interested may have needed as many as ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY with whom you have built a rapport.
3) To arrive at the required ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY with whom you have built a rapport, you may have had to establish a dialogue with TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY to whom you have made an approach of one kind or another, more likely FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY.
2) To have arrived at FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY you decided were worthy of your further attention and suitable prospects for you to approach you are looking at about ONE THOUSAND prospects.
1) ONE THOUSAND PROSPECTS, FOR ONE JOB OFFER. ?????
I have achieved what I set out to achieve. I have got your attention and you are working it out. You are calculating and trying to get your mind around the physical task that is before you. You are examining the logistics of the exercise. You have grasped, or I hope you have grasped, what is required to JOB HUNT.
This is why I quoted an outrageous escalation of figures in my example of what is involved in the process of looking for, and securing, a job.
Obviously you do not go all the way through the stages I have illustrated with every prospect you consider. Many are rejected at the outset and in consequence do not take up much of your time.
The point is, numbers don't matter, provided you have a system to manage the number of prospects you require to get the job you are after.
What does matter a great deal is that you squeeze every ounce (or should I say gramme) of value from everyone you come into contact with. Your prospect may not need an additional employee right now, but might know someone who does. Contacts with people may be nurtured or dismissed, but only after you have made the contact in the first place.
Your principle task is to get hold of information that will lead you to that job vacancy.
Evaluation as to the worth of each contact is quite another matter. You must decide what is a blind alley. What at first seems a waste of time can sometimes prove to be an asset. Snippets of information will find their way into your conscious mind. Retrieval of a snippet at will is often quite difficult. A contact may tell you that a new item of plant is being installed on the premises of a company near you. You are keen to know more. You know you had a conversation about a similar item of equipment with someone a few weeks ago but simply cannot remember who. Not an unusual problem. It happens to us all.
A proficient Job Hunter simply cannot allow such a shortcoming to get in the way.
But if you are able to find it you will be able to use it.
Do not make snap judgements as to what is valuable and what is not. Think long and hard about how the information you are considering dismissing might prove to be an asset in the future.
The maintenance of records is to be a vital part of your activities.
By now you should have some idea of what is required to be effective in the JOB HUNTING so don't be put off by what may seem to be a boring, laborious task.
2) Making the appropriate approach to that person.
3) Getting into dialogue with that person.
4) Building a rapport with that person.
5) Getting that person to be interested in you.
These are only the initial tasks, in broad terms. We shall be looking at each one individually as we progress as well as the tasks that follow.
The need to know at all times where you are along the road to getting a job with any prospective employer is of paramount importance. The identification of the path, or a simplified version of it, is as follows:
How many prospects do I need?
(a) to enable me to make sufficient approaches
(b) that will enable me to enter into dialogue with
(c) enough people with whom I can build a rapport
(d) that will get enough people sufficiently interested in me
(e) to enable me to secure interviews
(f) that will lead to them considering me for positions of employment.
This progression of tasks looks quite long. Soon we will look at an example of simple arithmetic that will illustrate the amount of work required at each of the stages. Working backwards from "the job" you will be able to calculate how many prospects you need to start with. I have exaggerated the numbers to make the point.
You are looking for ONE job for which you may need to attend, say, TWENTY interviews before you are made an offer of employment. Let's run the sequence backwards and see if the illustration makes sense.
Start with "THE JOB". Assume that the letter of employment is in your hand and you are, in your moment of triumph, looking back at the many and various tasks you have undertaken to get to this point.
The progression would look a little like this:
5) To have secured the TWENTY interviews you may have needed to have had FORTY people seriously interested in you.
4) For the FORTY people to have been seriously interested may have needed as many as ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY with whom you have built a rapport.
3) To arrive at the required ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY with whom you have built a rapport, you may have had to establish a dialogue with TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY to whom you have made an approach of one kind or another, more likely FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY.
2) To have arrived at FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY you decided were worthy of your further attention and suitable prospects for you to approach you are looking at about ONE THOUSAND prospects.
1) ONE THOUSAND PROSPECTS, FOR ONE JOB OFFER. ?????
RIDICULOUS. No one could find a THOUSAND "prospects"
I can imagine you saying this to yourself and if you are that's terrific.I have achieved what I set out to achieve. I have got your attention and you are working it out. You are calculating and trying to get your mind around the physical task that is before you. You are examining the logistics of the exercise. You have grasped, or I hope you have grasped, what is required to JOB HUNT.
This is why I quoted an outrageous escalation of figures in my example of what is involved in the process of looking for, and securing, a job.
Obviously you do not go all the way through the stages I have illustrated with every prospect you consider. Many are rejected at the outset and in consequence do not take up much of your time.
The point is, numbers don't matter, provided you have a system to manage the number of prospects you require to get the job you are after.
What does matter a great deal is that you squeeze every ounce (or should I say gramme) of value from everyone you come into contact with. Your prospect may not need an additional employee right now, but might know someone who does. Contacts with people may be nurtured or dismissed, but only after you have made the contact in the first place.
Your principle task is to get hold of information that will lead you to that job vacancy.
Evaluation as to the worth of each contact is quite another matter. You must decide what is a blind alley. What at first seems a waste of time can sometimes prove to be an asset. Snippets of information will find their way into your conscious mind. Retrieval of a snippet at will is often quite difficult. A contact may tell you that a new item of plant is being installed on the premises of a company near you. You are keen to know more. You know you had a conversation about a similar item of equipment with someone a few weeks ago but simply cannot remember who. Not an unusual problem. It happens to us all.
A proficient Job Hunter simply cannot allow such a shortcoming to get in the way.
The "BUZZ" comes when you have started to work your plan and can measure the progress of what has been achieved.
Information is valuable and the ability to retrieve it is equally so. The only way to prevent information from being useless is to keep comprehensive, cross referencing records. It may take a little time to find what you require depending on your system of recording and filing.But if you are able to find it you will be able to use it.
Do not make snap judgements as to what is valuable and what is not. Think long and hard about how the information you are considering dismissing might prove to be an asset in the future.
The maintenance of records is to be a vital part of your activities.
By now you should have some idea of what is required to be effective in the JOB HUNTING so don't be put off by what may seem to be a boring, laborious task.