WRITTEN BY DAVID MARWICK FOR KEMPMILLJOBASSIST ON 20 JUNE 2019
You worked hard in school (be it high school, college, or grad school) and you finally graduated. Congratulations!
Now what?
In a way, doing well in school is like a child’s game of connect-the-dots. It takes a lot of work, but if you follow the rules, you will end up with a degree. Looking for a job is very different. It’s like being handed a blank piece of paper and a box of crayons and being told “Good luck!”
Myriad online articles cover various aspects of the job search, but I recently found a free podcast series that walk you through all the major steps of a job search.
Earlier this year, Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart recorded a seven-part podcast which she calls “Five Days Behind the Scenes in the Hiring Process.” You can sign up to watch them at https://www.sixfigurestart.com/job-search-mini-course. The seven episodes total 107 minutes, with very little “selling” imbedded in them. Here is a summary of each:
Episode 1: Introduction (9 minutes). She describes how her career unfolded, provides an overview of the five substantive modules, and explains their sequence.
Episode 2: Resumes (17 minutes). She highlights what makes a good resume and how recruiters (and others) read resumes (focusing on career progression, brand names, and tangible results). Then, she offers tips on preparing a resume and clarifies the limits of resumes. Finally, she notes that resumes are just one marketing tool and that marketing is just one of six major steps in your job search.
Episode 3: Job postings (17 minutes). She describes sources of job postings, ways to analyze them (in terms to content, tone, and emphasis), and their limits.
Episode 4: Recruiters (14 minutes). She defines the different kinds of recruiters (for example, inhouse vs. contingent), the best ways to work with recruiters, and actions you should take when a recruiter calls you.
Episode 5: Interviews (14 minutes). She identifies the common types of interviews (such as phone, Skype, and group interviews) and identifies job seekers’ common verbal and non-verbal mistakes during interviews.
Episode 6: Job search targets (12 minutes). She notes that your “ideal” job lies at the intersection of four factors–your interests, strengths, priorities, and opportunities. To stimulate your thinking, she suggests a lengthy list of possibilities for each factor. Finally, she explains how knowing your job search targets affects all of your job search steps.
Episode 7: Wrap-Up (25 minutes). She outlines her six-step approach to a job search and explains how the material in each of the five substantive podcasts relates to these steps.