HR Forum – Newsletter

Three Key Steps to starting (or re-starting) a successful job search!

Mike Walker
aka Career Coach

The key to a successful job search is, in many cases, making sure that you have your “tools” ready before your jump out there into this competitive job market.  Taking a little time at the beginning developing your “tools” is a critical step to getting off to the right start. Tools, to me, include both verbal and written tools. The focus in this article is on the verbal tools.  We can talk about the written tools in the next article.

This brief write-up will help us all get our search off to a confident and prepared beginning. 

Step One:  Develop your “Professional Brand”

We all play multiple roles in our lives. Some of us are accountants, sales people, engineers, administrative assistants, construction workers, etc in our professional lives, but also hold a number of roles in our personal lives; husband, wife, father, mother, partner, friend, relative, coach, etc.

It’s important though in the beginning of your search to be able to quickly and easily communicate your professional brand in conversations and in writing.  Tom Peters writes that you should be able to get your brand on a bumper sticker.  It immediately tells people who you are from a professional or work standpoint. It should complete the sentence “I am a ….”  Examples include “I am a finance professional; IT professional, accountant, HR professional, auto mechanic, business professional, etc.  Hopefully you get the idea.

Your brand is then used to describe yourself professionally and is normally followed by very brief supporting statement.  Example:” I am a finance professional with significant experience in budget, forecasting and merger integration”.  Work on this and see if you can get it into one short sentence of less than 10 words.

 Step Two:  Prepare yourself to answer the “So what do you do question”

One of the most difficult questions to answer after being layed off is the social or introduction question of “So, Bill/Mary, what do you do?”  Prior to the layoff, this would have been an easy answer; “I work at X as a Y”.  But after being layed off, it’s sometimes a difficult question to answer and if not answered easily can make you, the person asking and anyone around you (family members, friends, strangers, potential network contacts, etc.) very uncomfortable.  It’s again important to develop a short clear answer to this question that not only tells the person who you are professionally, but gives them some information on what you have done and where you are in your search.  In some cases, this simple answer can also give the person asking the opportunity to become a future network partner.

One key to answering this question is to start with your Brand and then to follow that up with descriptive words that you developed under step one. This is then followed with a brief overview of where you worked and where you are in your search process.

Example: 

“So, Bill/Mary what do you do? 

I am a finance professional with significant experience in budget, forecasting and merger integration.  Most recently I was employed at X where I was the “title”.  As a result of the downturn in the economy, my position was eliminated and I’m now in the process of starting a search for a similar finance position”. (or whatever else you have decided to pursue)
This response answers the question quickly without making anyone too uncomfortable and also gives the person asking enough information to allow them to either wish you luck in your search, ask further questions about your search and how it’s going and/or offer to help as a network contact.  Being prepared and positive in your answer makes these meetings easier and opens the door for future conversations.

Step Three:  Develop and deliver your 30 second commercial (also known as an elevator speech)

Now that you have your brand and your answer to the “what do you do?” question, moving to the 30 second commercial is fairly simple. It’s important to develop this prior to beginning your search (or at least early on) because it prepares you to tell people:

1. Who you are (professionally)?
2. What your special skills or knowledge are?
3. Where you worked?
4. What you did there?
5. Why you are no longer working there?
6. What you are looking for?
7. AND How they can help?

This is used with people you know, people who you’ve been referred or networked to, people you meet in meetings or in public or as a way to answer the question “So tell me about yourself?”  It is also your opening line when making networking calls or calls into companies that you are trying to get into. 

The best way I’ve found to develop this statement is to write it out, work on it until you are comfortable with it, practice it in front of a mirror, with family members, friends, etc.  The more your practice it, the easier it becomes and the more natural and unrehearsed it sounds. 

Example:

I am a finance professional with significant experience in budget, forecasting and merger integration.  Most recently I was employed at X where I was the “title”.  As a result of the downturn in the economy, my position was eliminated and I’m now in the process of starting a search for a similar finance position”. (or whatever else you have decided to pursue) I’m currently interested in meeting with and talking to people to get their ideas on how to make my search more successful/effective as well as networking with individuals (or organizations) that might be aware of opportunities or have  other people that they know who might be someone that I should be talking with.

By working on these three key steps as you start you search, you should now feel comfortable that you have the verbal “tools” necessary to present yourself, answer uncomfortable questions and know how to use your preparation to move into the networking phase of your search.