Improve your chances of finding the perfect career opportunity by knowing how to create and implement an effective job search plan.
Finding the right job to suit your skillset and career goals can be challenging. It’s a competitive market, and everyone’s looking for a better job. The good news is, you can nail the job-seeking process. How? With an effective job search plan.
A job search plan is a roadmap created by a job-seeker to help them find and land the right post. It highlights strategies such as goal-setting, networking, and researching potential employers.
In this article, you’ll learn how to create and implement a job search plan that can boost your chances of getting the best results when you’re looking for the right career opportunity. Let’s get started!
1. Perform Self-assessment and Set Goals
When learning how to create and implement an effective job search plan, you need to be aware of who you are as a job-seeker first.
Take the time to assess your marketable skills. Hard skills like copywriting and programming are the abilities and capabilities you have that can be measured. They can be acquired from school, from online courses, or from your previous work positions.
You’ll want to evaluate your soft skills, as well. Unlike hard skills, soft skills are character and interpersonal skills you can apply to any profession. These include customer engagement, teamwork, and problem-solving.
List all these hard and soft skills so you have a visual representation of your capabilities.
Now you’ll want to determine the type of job you want in the first place. Assess your values and preferences.
What do you want most in a job? Is it work-life balance, like 72% of employees who consider it very important? Is it compensation or job security? Go back to your list of skills, too. After all, you want to know whether you have the capabilities needed to excel in the job.
Based on what you can do and what you want, choose your career.
Now set your goals. Your ultimate professional goal is, of course, to get a job in that industry. But that’s a broad goal. You want to make it specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. So, a good SMART goal could be “to land a job as a sales professional in a car company that pays X every year in three months.”
You’ll need to break down that overarching goal so you’ll know what to do to achieve it in the first place. That said, for our sample goal, our smaller objectives could be:
- To expand my vehicle industry professional network by sending 20 cold messages on LinkedIn by the end of the second month
- To update my resume and cover letter by the end of the second month
The more specific your goals and objectives, the better.
2. Create a Schedule
It’s now time to develop a schedule based on your goals and objectives. In your 30-60-90 plan, specify which goals you’ll achieve in 30, 60, and 90 days. Identify how exactly you’ll attain them and the metrics for success. When you break down what you need to do into manageable chunks, you won’t be overwhelmed.
The schedule can also help you organize job search activities and become more efficient. It can help you see whether you’re on track to achieving your goals and objectives, too.
To make things easy for you, use a digital calendar and just populate the specific days and hours with tasks you need to accomplish. A digital calendar won’t just help you save time. It will also keep you on schedule with its automatic reminders.
For instance, based on the goals and objectives you stated in the beginning, you might specify in your schedule that Sunday nights, from 7 to 9 p.m., are for scrolling through job listings. Monday mornings, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., may be for customizing and sending out job applications. In your schedule, you might also say Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., are for sending your cold messages to professionals and for updating your resume and cover letter.
3. Research Job Opportunities
Now you’ll want to follow your schedule to the letter. In this section, let’s focus specifically on how you should research job opportunities.
Begin your research on job boards and career websites like unjobvacanicies. Companies use these sites to get the best talent for each role. Read through the job descriptions, find the roles that are ideal for you, and list them.
Take the time to research companies, too. Is there career advancement there? Does the company implement an open-door policy? If their values align with what you’re looking for, add the company to your list of potential employers. If they don’t, even if a company has an opening for the job you’re looking for, don’t bother to add it. Remember, you’re not just looking for your ideal job. You’re looking for that ideal employer that meets your specific expectations.
4. Network
Professional networking should be part of your to-do list when learning how to create and implement an effective job search plan. After all, you still need valuable connections in your chosen field to increase your chances of landing your perfect job.
Use professional platforms like LinkedIn to develop these valuable connections. But you’ll need to create an outstanding LinkedIn profile in the first place. You want to get people’s attention. A good LinkedIn profile also connotes professionalism.
If you don’t have LinkedIn contacts just yet, upload your online address book from your email account then start connecting with people you know. This tip applies especially if your email contacts work in the same industry you want to go to. Since these contacts already know you, a simple “Hey [Name], let’s connect on LinkedIn” connection message will do.
But what happens if you plan to shift to a completely different industry? You can join LinkedIn groups catering to professionals in that industry. Then send cold LinkedIn connection messages to members of that group. For this strategy to work, it helps if you engage with their content first. This way, they’ll have an idea of who you are when you send them a personalized connection request. Plus, you’ll have something to talk about when you send the message.
That said, here’s a sample connection request for inspiration:
Once they accept your request, continue engaging with their posts. You want to ensure your visibility as much as possible. This way, when you send out your applications to some of these new connections, there is a much greater chance that your name will ring a bell. You increase your chances of them reaching out to you for the job.
5. Implement a Personalized Application Strategy
Sending out job applications is part and parcel of any job search plan implementation. Every company is unique, and so is what they’re looking for in each role. So, you’ll need to go through your list of companies, their current job openings, and the requirements for each job role. Customize your resume and cover letter according to these requirements to show why you’re a great fit.
Make sure you have an eye-catching visual resume. Hiring managers receive hundreds of resumes weekly, so standing out is a must! Use numbers and statistics to showcase how your work in previous roles brought in measurable results. Include keywords from the job description to ensure you capture the attention of application tracking systems. Finally, you could also include clickable links in the portfolio section. That way, it’s easy for hiring managers to see the work you’ve done previously.
This resume, for instance, ticks all the previous boxes:
Your cover letter should be personalized, too. But unlike the resume that focuses on your past, it should focus on the future. What do you plan to do next and why? If you’re making an abrupt career shift, explain why that shift is happening in the first place. Have a good opening statement by explaining your value in a concise way.
Don’t forget to make formatting changes to your cover letter and resume according to each company’s specifications as well. Failing to do so will likely make a hiring manager feel that you are unable to follow these straightforward instructions.
In Closing
A job search plan is essential for every job-seeker. It helps you streamline your job search efforts. The result? You increase your chances of landing that perfect role in the job market.
You learned how to create and implement an effective job search plan with this article.
Conduct a self-assessment and set your goals. Then create a to-do list. Of course, you’ll also need to research job opportunities and potential employers before implementing a personalized application strategy. Don’t forget to network with potential employers and colleagues to increase your chances of job search success.
Follow these tips and you’ll land your dream job in no time. Good luck!
FAQs
Why is a job-search plan important for job-searching success?
Knowing how to create and implement an effective job search plans are essential because they help you define your career goals. They then allow you to focus on seeking job opportunities that will help you achieve your set goals.
How do you create and implement an effective job search plan?
First, set your career goals. Then create a calendar of the job search-related activities you need to perform. These include researching job opportunities and companies that align with your goals and networking. You’ll also need to customize your resume and cover letter, then send them following your schedule.
How long should you plan for when searching for a job?
A typical job search plan should cover what you’ll do in 30, 60, and 90 days or until you land that post.