The Essential Job Search Checklist

Here is a Job Search Checklist we hope will help make your job search easy this summer, especially when the intoxicating sunny weather and cold drinks are too much to resist.

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing this month, think of your job search as a multi staged space flight, and during each stage you have a checklist that gets you to the next stage – from Pre-Flight to Splash Down in the ocean, and for our purposes let’s say that ocean is the Caribbean.

Stage 1: Pre-Flight

1.     File for unemployment (if applicable).

2.     Update your resume.

3.     Update your LinkedIn and/or other professional networking profile(s), especially your photo.

4.     Develop your professional story. Write it down. You will need it for your Cover Letters and interviews.

5.     Upload your new resume on as many Job Boards as possible (Monster, Indeed, Glass Door, LinkedIn, and CareerBuilder) and create job alerts.

 

Stage 2: Launch (Applying)

1.     When you discover a job opening, carefully study its responsibilities and requirements and match it to your qualifications.

2.     Write a Cover Letter. Use the professional story you’ve already written, then tailor the rest to the specific company and opening.

3.     Apply. Make your resume as Automatic Tracking System (ATS) friendly as possible, and, “no”, there isn’t any way around the laborious online application processes.

4.     Reach out to people in your professional network for help, opportunities, referrals, and/or references.

5.     Have professional interview clothes ready to go.

 

Stage 3: Interviewing

1.     Show up on time, professionally dressed.

2.     Bring multiple copies of your Cover Letter and Resume.

3.     Have an Elevator Pitch ready and rehearsed for the classic interview opener, “Tell us something about yourself.”

4.     Have a list of well-researched questions to ask the interviewers.

5.     Post-interview, send hand written thank you notes to each of the people involved in interviewing you.

 

Stage 4: Re-Entry

1.     You have a job offer! Congratulations! Refer to this list of Champagnes for appropriate action.

2.     Research the fair market value for the job position that you are being offered.

3.     Negotiate your compensation package.

4.     Thoroughly review any employment contract and, when happy, sign it.

5.     Review and update your Career Plan, as necessary.

 

Stage 5: Splash Down

1.     Start your new job.

2.     Update your LinkedIn and/or other professional networking profile(s).

3.     Create an Individual Development Plan, either through your new company or on your own.

4.     Take advantage of any ongoing education, training, or certifications offered through your new company, or consider investing in updating key skills related to your field on your own.

5.     Maintain ongoing communications with people in your professional network, and develop the new connections you make in your new position.

 

Easy, right?

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercareerstrategies.com.