Ten Steps to Finding a New Job

by Chandra Louise, Ph.D.

Good jobs – ones that are well-aligned with our interests and abilities – often don’t land in our laps!  Finding a good job requires work. The purpose of this outline is to help you to find a better job, not just any job.

Complete these 10 steps and be that much closer to a fulfilling, rewarding career!

• What do you like to do (e.g., writing, speaking, creating, thinking, problem-solving, tinkering with machinery, etc.)? Think creatively here – don’t block your thinking by identifying only those things you think are “productive”.  Brainstorm everything!
• What do you dislike doing?
• What would you say are your most important values (e.g., time with family, money, autonomy, control)?
• What are you most passionate about (e.g., the environment, children, doctor-patient relationships)?
• What are you good at?

You may have some difficulty answering these questions if you try to do this exercise by yourself. That’s okay. Ask a friend or trusted colleague to help you!

Spend some time really defining the answers to these questions. Your answers can provide a roadmap for the rest of your career exploration.  Remember, the more closely you can align your passions, talents, values, and things you enjoy doing, the happier you will be.  So, be creative in answering these questions. Then brainstorm different career paths that would allow you to pursue your interests, passions, talents, values, and allow you to use your abilities.

2. Find at least one person doing the work you want to do, who is willing to help you. 

Ask around.  At this point, you may have many interests. If so, narrow them down to the few that you believe would best suit your interests, values, and passions. Then, once you have narrowed down your interests to a manageable number, start identifying people to talk with.

In some cases there may, in fact, not be anyone doing exactly what you want to do. Chances are, though, that someone is doing something similar, or is using a model you would like to use. Go to the library, look on the Internet for similar topics, and identify some related professional societies.  There is a professional society for just about everything!

3. Enlist this person’s help.  If he or she isn’t able or willing to help, find others and enlist their help.

Call the person, identify yourself, and ask if it is a good time to talk. If it is, explain that you’re exploring your career options, and state that you thought he or she might be able to provide some advice.  If he or she is willing, ask the following questions:

• Does he or she like the work?
• How did he or she break into this line of work?  What was his or her previous background, and what interested him or her in the work?
• What does he or she like about the work / job?
• What does he or she dislike about the work / job?
• Are there any particular unmet needs in the marketplace, where new opportunities may be created?
• What is the job market like for this type of position?
• How much money might a new person reasonably expect to make in this line of work?
• What skills are most important to the work?
• What professional societies exist for this type of work?
• In what organizations might a job seeker find this type of work (e.g., companies, non-profit organizations, government agencies, etc.)?
• What employment arrangements are available in this line of work (e.g., contract, part-time, full-time, entrepreneurial opportunities, etc.)?
• Does he or she know of anyone else you can talk to about this type of work (to get more perspectives and explore the job market further, etc.)?

Be polite! Thank the person for his or her time and insights before hanging up! A follow-up note, to say thanks and to enclose a copy of your resume, is a major plus!

To make sure you’re getting a complete and well-rounded perspective, try to talk with several people who are working in the field to which you aspire.

4. Based on your conversations with the people in Step 3, decide whether you want to pursue this line of work.

To help with this decision, ask yourself the following questions:

• What aspects of a position are most important to you?  (e.g., salary, type of work, flexibility, autonomy, teamwork, work environment, location, desire for privacy, meets your interests, values, passions, etc.)
• Might this line of work help you meet your most important goals, interests, values, and passions in life, either now or in the future? (yes or no)
• How might this position help you meet your most important goals, interests, values, and passions in life? (what potential gains do you perceive – e.g., satisfaction, good pay, etc.: pros of the position)
• How might this position take you further away from achieving your most important goals, interests, values, and passions in life?  (what potential down-sides do you perceive – e.g., inadequate pay, too sedentary, too much travel, etc.: cons of the position)
• Based on this balance of pros and cons, are you interested in pursuing this line of work further? (yes or no)

If the answer to this last question is yes, please continue. If no, please go back to Step 1 and identify another path that might be more suitable for you.  It’s better to take the time now than to spend years in a position that doesn’t suit you well!

5. Identify talents, skills, and experience that will be important for success in this line of work.

Here, it might be helpful to create some functional areas that are relevant to the position or line of work.  Base your functional areas on the advice you got from the people in Step 3. The following functional areas are included for the sake of example. Customize yours to the position or line of work to which you aspire.

• Writing experience
• Supervisory experience
• Technical skills
• Knowledge of software
• Management experience
• Budget management
• Teaching experience
• Professional presentations
• Other skills (skills that are not easily categorized into any other functional area)

Be creative. Ask yourself:  How does my experience relate to the skills and activities that the people in Step 3 mentioned? The lingo may be different, but the skills are the same. How can you translate your skills into their lingo?

Note:  The exercises you have done above can help you begin a “functional” resume. A functional resume enables people to see exactly what you’ve done, and how it relates to what you want to do.  This resume style works particularly well for people who are looking to make a career transition, although it works for everyone. When you find out what skills are required for the positions to which you aspire, you can then tailor the functional categories of your resume to highlight those skills that you think will best fit that particular type of position.  You can also use these categories to write a dynamite cover letter highlighting exactly why you would be good for the position to which you aspire!

When creating a functional resume or cover letter, if you don’t have an exact job description, look at a variety of job descriptions in the fields you’re choosing.  Then take the elements of that job description or job advertisement and lay your skills up against those elements. This exercise will stimulate your thinking about the skills you have, and will help you to articulate them in a manner that is easily understood by your potential employer.  Employers can tell you stories of applicants who have won job offers simply because they took the time to do this exercise!

6. Ask yourself whether you are qualified for the line of work you wish to pursue.  Are you confident that you can do it? Are there any additional skills or training you might need?

The fact that you don’t have all the qualifications needn’t stop you from applying for positions. Many employers ask for more qualifications than they are likely to find. Nevertheless, asking yourself about your qualifications may serve as a “reality check”, to determine whether your qualifications are indeed aligned with your aspirations.

If you find that you do indeed lack some of the qualifications for the work to which you aspire, don’t be discouraged.  There is probably a level at which you can work in the field and gain the skills you need to attain your goals.  For example, if you want to be a lawyer but don’t have a law degree or a law license, you can work as a legal assistant and attain your law degree at night. If you want something badly enough, you’ll find a way to do it!

7. Identify people who might hire you, or how you might otherwise generate income in the position or line of work to which you aspire.

Ask yourself the following:

• Do you want to apply to the people you identified in Step 3?
• Might the people from Step 3 be able to provide you with other contacts and possible leads?
• Is there a place where positions like the one to which you aspire are advertised, either in newspapers, on the Internet, at professional society meetings, in publications of professional societies, etc.?  (Remember:  85% of positions are never advertised, or are advertised only after a suitable candidate has already been identified, so try to get a foot in the door via a personal contact before the position is ever advertised.)
• Might the directory of a professional society, or attending a meeting of that professional society, help you to identify potential job leads? (many of the same techniques you’ve used in Step 3 will also work at this stage of your job hunt)
• Are there any chat rooms, special interest groups, or other places where you could meet other contacts and identify job leads?

Note: Be resourceful here. You are a detective. You need to find information. 

8. Think about the methods you will use to contact the people you’ve identified as possible leads.

Use the telephone!

The telephone is an excellent resource for this stage of your search.  You can call, express your interest, and offer to send a resume.  Or, if you’re in the geographic area of a contact, you can try to arrange for a face-to-face meeting, perhaps by offering to buy lunch!

Here are some other tips:

• Always be polite.
• When making “cold calls”, always ask if it’s a good time to talk.
• Explain your situation, what you’re looking for, and ask for help. See Question 3. If it’s someone you’ve talked with before, you can remind the person of your previous conversation(s).
• Make everything as easy as you can for the other person.  You want to come across as a helpful person; after all, that’s why someone will want to hire you. Hence, expect to do your own legwork.  Your contact can point you in the right direction, but the rest is up to you. Ask relatively easy questions, so that you’re not asking your contact to do too much work on your behalf.
• An interactive medium, such as the phone, is a great way to get people’s attention. E-mail or regular mail may be more convenient ( you can “dump” lots of information to many different people with very little effort), but how do you know that your contact didn’t just throw your information in the trash or hit the “delete” key? If your contact says that he or she would rather be contacted by e-mail, then by all means, do so. Otherwise, try calling your contact, scheduling a phone appointment, or setting up a face-to-face meeting.
• Before contacting someone in a particular organization, attempt to do some research about the organization and the positions that may be available within it. It is always helpful to know something about the organization, its vision, mission, products and/or services, and other relevant information.  Not only will it help you decide whether that organization is consistent with your values and missions, but your knowledge will also be viewed favorably by the person you’re talking with!
• Make sure your contact enjoys the conversation (be sure to thank him or her for the help, make him or her feel good about helping, be a good listener when he or she is talking). Often, being polite and letting the other person know how much you appreciate their help is enough reward for him or her.
• Try not to hang up without getting an answer to at least one of the following questions:  “Do you know of anyone else I should talk with about this?”  “Can I send you my resume?” “When can I contact you again?”

9. Decide on a schedule for following up with each of your leads.

Ask your contacts when you can talk with them again. Take your cues from them. If you ask when you can contact them again, they’ll tell you how frequently to call.  Send your contact a thank-you note stating when you intend to contact him or her next. Write the date on your calendar. When the time comes, do it! Contact the person again for updates and new information.

10. Clinch the sale and land the job.

What is the best way to do that? There’s no easier way to state it: follow up, follow up, and follow up!

If you don’t like to follow up, please be encouraged by this story. A manager had just obtained a huge new project.  She was swamped. Immediately, she knew she would need to hire at least one new person.

The manager received an onslaught of resumes.  She looked at them briefly, but never seemed to get very far in hiring anyone.  That was the paradox: the manager needed to hire someone, but because of the demands of the new project, she was too busy to do it! The resumes just sat in a file, untouched, for several weeks.

Then, the phone rang.  An applicant was on the line. The manager really didn’t want to talk right then. Nevertheless, she knew that she’d eventually have to talk with at least one person sooner or later. She accepted the call.

After asking whether it was a good time to talk, the applicant asked a few questions about the position.  He then proceeded to explain how he was qualified for the position, and expressed his interest in the position.  The applicant ended the conversation by asking for an interview and asking whether it would be okay to call back if he hadn’t heard anything within the next week.

The applicant called back a week later.  The manager still hadn’t made any decisions. Embarrassed by her own inaction, she promised the job seeker that if he called back within the next several days, she’d let him know whether she was interested in having him come for an interview.

The applicant called back several days later.  The manager then invited him for an interview.

This applicant eventually got hired. He is doing well in his new job.

Why did this applicant get hired instead of someone else?  It wasn’t his credentials.  Sure, he was qualified for the position.  But some of the other applicants were, too.  Some actually had more experience than he did.

This applicant got hired because he took charge of the process. He made it easy for the manager to hire him. He kept track of times and dates, made the calls, and kept contacting the manager until she gave him a yes or no. Needless to say, this polite persistence and initiative paid off for him!

Managers are busy people.  So, make it easy for them to hire you! Take charge. Follow up. Manage the process so that the manager has one less thing to think about – calling you!