Today, I was conducting job skills workshops at a library. While I was there, the library’s story time took place. A line of little munchkins came marching by the door and filed into the room adjacent to mine. It wasn’t long before I could hear laughter, excitement, and music drifting through the doorway. A rowdy round of the ABC’s followed. One of the workshop job seekers said, “I wish I was one of them! Life seems so much simpler and more fun.”
So I started thinking about writing the ABC’s of job seeking to possibly interject a bit of fun in my workshop. Unfortunately, I have never been known as a particularly “fun” kind of gal, and all I could come up with were the CCC’s for job searching. 🙂
Consistency: steady continuity; free from variation or contradiction
Plan your job search day, just as you would any other work day – it is your full-time job! Make a to-do list of the activities that you want to get accomplished. Assign a certain block of time to completing each of these activities. Make time in the morning for going into businesses and introducing yourself and for making phone calls related to your job search. In the afternoon fill out applications, create resumes, practice for interviews, do research and come up with targeted lists of companies where you would like to work. A haphazard job search normally leads to haphazard results.
Customization: making something according to a customer’s individual requirements
We are currently operating in an employer’s market. In order to stand out, we need to demonstrate that we don’t just want a job, we want their job! That means customizing your resume, your 30-second commercial, your marketing style, etc. based on the position and company to which you are applying. Show you can “fit in” by “speaking their language”. Connect the dots to demonstrate how your past accomplishments can make a difference at their business. Talk in dollars ($) and percentages (%) to grab management attention.
Connections: establishing relationships or rapport
Unfortunately in our digital world, personal interactions are becoming more and more scarce. The ability to form relationships and gather information from these interactions is pivotal to finding job opportunities in the labor market. The majority of available positions just don’t get openly advertised. Even if they were, you are much more likely to get an interview if you know someone. But remember, it isn’t so much about that someone whom you know as it is about finding out who that someone knows, and then utilizing those connections to help you reach your goals.
So, consistently talk to people (whether it is in person or using any of the available forms of electronic media) to form connections! And when you talk to people, be sure that you customize what you are sharing about yourself to go along with the type of opportunity that you are hoping to find.
Even though I didn’t manage to sing my ABC’s in the workshop, I truly believe that these CCC’s will not only help people in my class, but prove helpful in moving your job search forward . . . and wouldn’t that be fun?!
Bobi Cook is a Regional Facilitator for Workforce Solutions in the Houston – Galveston area. She currently conducts job skills seminars throughout the 13 county Gulf Coast region utilizing her MBA and over ten cumulative years experience as a professional educator, quality systems manager within the automotive industry, and small business administrator to help job seekers develop and implement successful job search campaigns.
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