Get Hired in a Tough Market: Insider Secrets to Find and Land the Job You Need Now - Softcover

De Back, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0071637052 ISBN 13: 9780071637053

Verlag: McGraw-Hill Education, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

Want that job? Then make employers want you!

Cutting-edge strategies that make you stand out--and blow your competition away!

In an uncertain market, job seekers need to use every tool at their disposal to find the right position. From the pre-work that gets you off on the right foot, to approaching opportunities from multiple fronts, to interviewing and negotiation, career expert Alan De Back reveals the secrets to getting hired fast in a changing marketplace.

You only have one minute to sell yourself

The most important element in your job search is to learn to market yourself successfully. Using the one-minute commercial featured in Get Hired in a Tough Market, you'll learn how to put together an effective, concise, and customizable presentation that gives potential employers all the reasons they need to hire you.

Filled with worksheets, templates, checklists, and examples to provide leadership and support along the way, Get Hired in a Tough Market shows you:

• How to match your skills to those desired by employers--without going back to school
• Where to look for contacts you didn't even know you had
• How to properly leverage social networks--so your efforts won't backfire
• How to pitch yourself to potential employers so they'll never forget you

You'll learn the best ways to network, pursue leads, and make things happen! With the hard-won wisdom in this indispensable guide, you're sure to be the next one hired--and an asset to your new team.

Alan De Back is an experienced career counselor, learning consultant, and speaker based in the Washington, DC, area. He develops and provides learning solutions for clients nationwide that help them achieve their career goals.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Alan De Back has over 20 years’ experienceas a career counselor and trainer in the corporate, academic,and government arenas. His clients include the AmericanManagement Association, the American PsychologicalAssociation, the Department of Defense and the VirginiaEmployment Commission.

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GET HIRED in a Tough Market

INSIDER SECRETS TO FIND AND LAND THE JOB YOU NEED NOWBy ALAN DE BACK

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-07-163705-3

Contents

Chapter One

Know Where You're Going

Developing Your Job Search Plan with Self-Assessments

You must know yourself and what you have to offer to a potential employer before you actively pursue any opportunities. In times of tough competition, too many job hunters immediately jump into the search without considering what it is they have to sell. It's inefficient to market yourself without having any idea of the strengths or skills that make you the ideal "product" for an employer to hire. You will have an advantage over your competition and make yourself far more attractive to a potential employer by identifying your unique skill sets and what distinguishes you from others. You must take the time and effort to figure out what makes you stand out from the crowd!

In this chapter, we'll review a process for thoroughly examining your skill sets. You'll learn how to identify your strongest skills and how to articulate them effectively. You'll also have an opportunity to examine your interests and how they relate to your skill sets. Combining your interests and skills will increase your motivation and make you a stronger candidate—always important, but especially critical in a tough job market.

MARY ATTENDS A RECEPTION

Mary had been invited to attend a reception for a friend who was retiring. She generally hated attending events like this, but she had known the colleague for many years and wanted to honor her achievements. Besides, she thought to herself, most of the people at the reception will be people who work in my field. Who knows what kinds of contacts I might make?

Mary arrived at the reception and began to mingle. She noticed a small group of friends she hadn't seen recently and joined them. They introduced her to Sarah, another woman chatting with the group.

After a few minutes, Mary found herself in a conversation with Sarah. As they discussed their work, Sarah mentioned an upcoming job opening with her organization. Wow, thought Mary, maybe I've struck gold here!

"So what type of opening do you have coming up?" asked Mary. "I may be looking for a new opportunity."

"Well," answered Sarah, "it's a project manager position working with one of our most critical clients. We really need to find someone with the right skill set who will also be a good fit with this client. What are some of your skills in project management?"

Mary was shocked. She hadn't expected to be asked about her skills and hadn't really thought them through. "Well," she started, "I'm awfully good with people. I like people and people really seem to like me. That's all I can really think of at the moment."

"Oh," answered Sarah. "Well, people skills are a small but important piece of the puzzle, for sure."

Within a few moments, Sarah had politely excused herself and moved on to chat with another group. Mary was left with her glass of wine and her thoughts. I think she wanted to know more about what skills I could bring to her organization, she thought, but people skills were all that I could come up with.

WHY ARE SKILLS IMPORTANT?

Mary's experience is just one example of why knowing yourself is the first critical step in the job search process. In a tough job market, you must take every advantage to set yourself apart from the competition. A major component of that process is knowing your skill sets cold and being ready to articulate those clearly and concisely. Most employers are looking for new employees who will be able to hit the ground running and begin contributing, in a significant way, as quickly as possible. In current work environments, which have often been cut to the bone, there just isn't time to hand-hold new employees and to slowly bring them up to speed. If you aren't seen as someone who possesses the skills needed to become productive quickly, your competition will win out.

You must know who you are and what your skills are in order to make that case for yourself.

Mary has clearly not reflected on her strongest skill sets and how she has used them. In fact, she's not unusual—most of us never make the effort to identify our various skill sets. Sure, there are things that you know you do well in both your personal and work lives, but in your day-to-day life you are rarely asked to describe them. The job search process, on the other hand, puts you in a variety of situations where you need to be able to identify and describe those skills on demand. If you do the homework, you'll be ready. If you don't, you'll find yourself in the same shoes as the bulk of your competition—struggling with how to sell yourself and your skills.

Most skills can be categorized as either technical skills or transferable skills. You need to assess both types of skills. Here are short definitions of each:

* Technical skills: These are skills that relate to a specific technical competency. Examples might be proficiency with computer software programs, fluency in a foreign language, or the ability to use a certain type of mechanical equipment.

* Transferable skills: These are skills that have to do with how you interact with or communicate with other people. Examples could be presentation skills, supervisory skills, or writing skills. Transferable skills are also sometimes called "soft" skills because they are needed in a variety of work environments in a range of career fields.

Most career fields require a mixture of technical and transferable skills in order to achieve competency. Many people find it easier to recognize and communicate their technical skills. The transferable skills tend to be hidden or taken for granted. You must make the effort to identify and describe both skill sets.

By now, you probably understand the need to better recognize exactly what your skills are, but where do you begin? How do you determine exactly what your skills are—especially your more subtle transferable skills?

HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY YOUR SKILLS?

To develop a solid overall view of both your technical and transferable skills will require quite a bit of work and introspection. You will probably need to go outside yourself to get input from others. The end result, however, will be well worth the effort. This easy-to-follow three-step process will help you, as will the accompanying worksheets.

1. Write two success stories. Using Worksheet 1.1 at the end of this chapter, write two stories that describe some sort of achievement or success you have experienced. One should be strictly work-related, and the other can come from either work or your personal life (perhaps related to volunteer work you have done or an activity in an organization you belong to). As you write your stories, describe what you did, what obstacles got in the way and how you overcame them, and what strengths you drew upon to ultimately achieve your end result or goal.

After you have written your stories, read through them several times. Let a few hours (or even days) lapse between reviews. The breaks will give you the opportunity to really think through your achievements and what went into them. You may recall additional information that you want to add as a result of your reviews. Highlight any skills (technical or transferable) that...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: McGraw-Hill Education
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0071637052
• ISBN 13: 9780071637053
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 224
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar