Give Yourself an Edge – Build a Job Search Project Team

For most of us who have been laid off at some point in our careers, the full-time job of finding a new job can seem pretty daunting. There we are “all of a sudden”, by ourselves, sitting at home challenged with the task of figuring out how to convince some hiring manager that they should make us an offer.

One of the biggest mistakes made at this critical juncture in the job search process is that the person in transition feels that they need to accomplish this by themselves. Not true! There are a host of valuable resources available to job seekers that they often fail to use.

Think of your job search as just another special project to complete (you know, “other duties as required”). Since no one person does everything for their employer, each winds up playing a role in the overall scheme of the company’s ability to successfully do business. The job search process should be considered no differently than a project worked on while employed. Such projects normally (officially or unofficially) involve a team of people with different talents who combine their respective skills & resources to achieve the desired objective.

How can you apply that same concept to your job search? Contact former co-workers, clients, vendors, family and friends and let them know that the best way to help would be to allow you to tap into their expertise/skill sets to assist with the following phases of your job search project:

Marketing

• Formatting, editing and overall professional look for your resume
• Social networking setup, content & usage (LinkedIn, blogging, etc.)
• Business cards that look professional & serve a purpose
• Development of a one page Executive Profile for networking purposes
• Arrangement with a professional photographer to take a high resolution digital portrait
• Brainstorming regarding written communication and personal branding strategies

Coach/Mentor

• Helps you determine, “what you want to do” going forward
• Keeps you on track during the job search
• Provides “voice of reason”
• Provides honest, candid feedback (doesn’t answer questions with, “Awesome, dude”)

Relationship Manager

• Assists with development of target list of potential employers
• Schools you on how to network & build relationships effectively
• Facilitates some introductions & creates or finds solid networking opportunities
• Gets you comfortable using the consultative approach for your interview discussion
• Works with Marketing to develop a strong positioning statement for use when networking
• Helps you develop effective follow up strategies for networking and interviewing

Research/IT

• Keeps you from being your own worst enemy regarding technology
• Provides guidance regarding use of technology to facilitate effective research (company information/online forums, LinkedIn advanced searches, development of professional & effective email e-signatures, information regarding interviewer/hiring manager, etc.)
• Works in conjunction with the Coach and Relationship Manager to convince you that staring at a PC screen for hours every day is not an effective job search strategy

Training

• Presentation skills (using and reading body language, inflection of voice, incorporation of the consultative approach to selling yourself as “the ideal candidate”)
• Interviewing practice (everything from a great handshake to excellent delivery of your message)

You may feel that, “I don’t need anyone to help me with putting a resume together, using LinkedIn or preparing for an interview”. Well, maybe not. But, if you are not in that one or two percent of all job seekers that can really do all of these tasks very well by themselves, then you will most likely find that building such a support team elevates your “game” from getting just a few responses to being called for interviews and receiving offers.

If your boss had assigned you a special project, the successful completion of which was synonymous with your continued employment, would you “go it alone” or put together a team of highly skilled people to help in the effort?

Here is another plus to building a job search support team – If, during the interview, the hiring manager hears about the process you led/coordinated/managed to “bring in the talent necessary to get the interview and close the deal”, what does that say about you? How many of the other candidates do you think have done the same thing? What a great way to demonstrate to a hiring manager that you have “stayed in the game” even though you are in transition.

Trust me - that can be a “wow” for the hiring manager, which is used as part of the process to determine the candidate selected from among the finalists for a position.

People want to do whatever they can to assist friends, family, former co-workers or business contacts with their job search. Recruiting these folks to take an active role on your job search support team provides them a very rewarding opportunity to use their particular skill set to assist with the successful completion of what might just be your most important project.