Warrior Up: 11 job search tips to land a great role

A lot of talented folks are impacted by job layoffs.? While things like ATS resume screening have made a big impact on the job search, old school planning and persistence remains the best approach.? I’ve updated this entry in hopes it can help you land a great role.?

As we approach March 1st calendar date, I’m reminded of my first job out of B school with a consulting company that merged then renamed marchFIRST (sic). As great as this idea sounded at the time, the Ides of March came quickly with waves of dotbomb layoffs. A mentor of mine stuck with me during this challenging time, calling me every Friday to check on my progress and give me tips and encouragement. Because of Frank, I pay it forward by regularly coaching colleagues through the search process with these tips

For those of you who have benefited from similar assistance in your own search, I encourage you to continue to pay it forward.

12 Tips for the New Job Seeker:

1. Pause & Reflect: Take time to analyze past roles. Reflect and seek feedback from former colleagues.
2. Know Your Worth: Research freelance and full-time rates for your skills. Don't undervalue yourself; negotiate confidently.
3. Build Resilience: Establish positive habits like regular exercise and effective task management.
4. Define Your Ideal Job: Draft job descriptions for your dream roles, identifying common themes and priorities.
5. Target Your Search: Focus your energies on specific companies.
6. Optimize LinkedIn: Updating your profile, LinkedIn Premium and posting strategies.
7. Craft Effective Resumes and Profiles: Customize resumes for ATS compatibility. Consider concise profile formats for initial introductions.
8. Perfect Your Elevator Pitch: Develop concise versions of your introduction. Practice and refine.
9. Seek Mentorship: Identify potential mentors and maintain regular communication. Value their guidance.
10. Optimize your LinkedIn: Allocate time efficiently on platforms like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Indeed. Prioritize quality over quantity in applications.
11. Master Networking: Provide value in connections and ask for referrals thoughtfully. Maintain a systematic approach to outreach.

1. Stop & think: Take a breath.?Take another.?Take a long walk.?Take another.?Let the mental dust settle before reaching outside of your personal network

• Think about what worked and what didn't work about your last role.?This could include industry, company size, location, function, team dynamics, work-life balance, travel, ....?What would you keep and what would you change for your next role?
• If you can, ask recent colleagues for feedback.? “Whats one thing I could improve for my next role?” is an easy way to ask

2. Remember your worth.?Employers struggle to find and build talented teams.?Never apologize or feel like there isn’t value in the chance to get a piece of you.? Do research to determine freelance and full time rates for what you do.? You can go below market worth as a loss leader strategy, but never negotiate against yourself.?

?3.?Warrior Up: Build positive habit loops to avoid mental and physical strain

• Pick an exercise/sport that you can sustain.?Pay for a regular gym or a class if that helps you commit.?Regular physical exercise is not optional because you are going to need the endurance, stress relief, and positive behavior loops to improve your performance, encourage good sleep and temper food and alcohol consumption
• Choose a task management system.?Old fashioned lists, asana/Monday/project, or kanban (my preference), whatever works for you.?The trick to making this worthwhile is not bells and whistles but ongoing use
• Pace yourself,?this is only urgent to you.?Its fine to set timelines for responses but be prepared for very slow weeks/months
• If you have time, find one hobby that you love and wished you could spend more time.?It could be music, painting, writing, gardening, whatever.?Give this to yourself, your soul deserves and needs it.?Extra points for more social activities that expand your network

4.??Your Ideal Job: Write a short (1/2 -1-page) job description for 3-4 ideal jobs. The more specific?you can be about what makes this unique the better it helps identity?common themes and priorities?

• Look for examples of your ideal job in the job postings you find or have applied to in the past.?Keep these examples handy for sharing with contacts as an illustration of what you are looking for
• Take a formal account (on paper, word or excel) of the most important elements of your ideal job.?Is it location, pay, mission, team dynamics, growth potential, brand recognition.....??Group your list into 3 groups: Top 3, Second 3, Nice to haves

5. Target List: Make a list of the top 3 -5 industries you want to focus on.?This could be because of prior experience, current and potential growth, location,....

• Remember your ideal job work, and define your ideal company size.?This is an important lens because of its impact on the job scope, team size, resources, and pay
• Make a list of the top 5-10 companies you want to focus on.?Most if not all of these should be in your top industries and company size.??
• This list will serve as a focal point for advanced networking (section 10)

6. LinkedIn:

• Take a course on Linked in basics.?Check out Linkedin profile tips and best practices
• Turn off notification settings for changes to your account.?No need to advertise every small change
• Find a few favorite profiles of people who are in your field (use LinkedIn's "people who looked at Joe also looked at..." function)
• When your resume?/ portfolio and linkedin profile are updated its time to start your search in earnest. Its now a time to consider LinkedIn premium.?The monthly fee gives you top SEO rankings for recruiters, access to free training & certificates, and other benefits like InMail.??
• Consider adopting regular posting strategies to raise your LinkedIn feed activity ( articles, experiences, shoutouts). Leverage an ai tool like chatgpt to develop new post ideas and drafts.? While there are specific linked in tools like authored up, I struggle to find the value.?

7. Resume vs Profile

Resume Tips: A lot of great tutorials are already out there to get started, try to match the service with your tenure and industry

• An important update to this article is the rise of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and how it impacts required resume content and format.? Because ATS works by keyword matches, successful resumes must be personalized, a time consuming process
• Minimum: run your current resume through an existing ATS reader to help flag formatting issues.? I use jobscan but there are other services
• Better: Check out the skills section in postings you find compelling, it clarifies matching and missing skills.? I use these to create a master skills list by job position type to get a better handle on the general skills needed for similar roles.

Profile Tips: Because of the hyper personalization required, I’ve found the resume less useful for introduction stage conversations.? Dense and jargon rich, today’s ATS optimized resume often fails to provide the first glance view needed.

Sharing a 1 page profile page format I’ve developed in hopes it's helpful.? You can leverage links, charts and tables to better communicate high level experience and accomplishments. The Objective/Key Initiatives/Results (OKR) format helps consolidate accomplishments from different companies .

8. Sales Pitch:??Develop a 1 min version of who you are and what you are looking for.?This will likely be difficult.? Now try to shorten it to 20 seconds.? This will be more difficult.? Practice both lengths a few times, then record them and listen to the playback.?Repeat. Use a half whole day for this, its an essential component of a good first impression.? Another good way to get practice is to go to a speed date style business meet up.? I like to practice with groups that aren’t mainstream to my industry first to build more confidence in a lower risk setting.

?9. Find mentors: Read this short ted article on 5 different types of mentors

• Identify 5 people that might be a good fit for your own mentor team.? Best if they have a vested interest in helping you, but start with who's guidance is most valuable.?
• Reach out to the first and ask for your first meeting.?At the end of the meeting, ask if they wouldn't mind talking again with you and sharing advice.?Pay for lunch/coffee
• Set a regular schedule (1 time per week/month/quarter) but be flexible

10. Job site postings: Sites like Linkedin, Glassdoor and Indeed are a gift and a curse.? You should budget a solid day or 2 to get your profile in good order. After that, its recommended to budget the time you spend on job boards (perhaps a few hours a week) to avoid a diminishing return in time invested.?

• Keep a separate spreadsheet to track the positions posted. This helps reduce redundant postings and ensures quick access to a position posting if you end up getting called back and need to review the position.
• Quality vs quantity: Used to be it was normal to get 1 interview in 10 to 20 submissions.? Im hearing its more like 1 in a 100 right now.? Everyone I’ve spoken with stresses the value of using existing or new contacts to help you get your foot in the door.?

11. Networking: This is the old-school part of the search that takes confidence and persistence. Personal connections are more important than ever in cutting through the noise, so make this part of your search a priority

Basics:

• Networking is a 2-way street.?You should always strive to provide value in a connection, whether its advice, connecting others, an article,....
• Try to ask and give 1 -2 names for follow up at every interaction (esp w new connections).?"Who else do you think I should talk to...?"
• Consider your ask carefully.?The ideal is to ask for enough so that people can actually satisfy your request and feel good about it.?This is Ben Franklin's borrow a book and return it tactic and is effective at building deeper connections and support. Unless there is a specific position they can help influence, a lower intensity ask like specific advice is often better than asking outright for a job. As you build on smaller completed asks, motivation to help increases. ?

Networking, the Weekly Edition

• Make a list of contacts with columns for name, company, date of last contact, contact reason,?date for next contact, and priority
• Start by reaching out to a handful of close friends who are likely to respond and forgive unpolished sections as you build up confidence and style
• Set a weekly target for # calls and meetings.? Expect a 10% response rate and celebrate if your actual is higher
• Over time you should develop 2-4 template emails, often based on connection type (personal connection, work colleague, no connection...)
• Keep a running track of the outreaches you make.?Pace yourself here, you will run out of warm leads soon and will benefit from ongoing improvements you make along the way.?

Conclusion:

While every search is different, the recruiting process is more complex and competitive than ever.? Hope these tips significantly enhance your job search. ?Stay resilient, adaptable, and proactive throughout the process. I encourage you to pay it forward by sharing your knowledge and supporting others in their job search endeavors.

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