“The job market is pretty tight and there don’t seem to be many opportunities for me out there. How do I maintain momentum?“
Well, I’m a coach so instead of just trying to answer this straight off I usually throw a few questions back. I want to make sure you are doing everything possible to position yourself effectively and maintain momentum in a tight job market.
7 Key Questions
- How efficiently are you using your time to source advertised roles? (i.e. focusing on those for which you are extremely well qualified and not spending too much time on this as it is the smallest source of opportunities. Usually not much more than around 25-30% of the available roles)
- How targeted are your cover letters and resume when you apply for an advertised role? Specifically, are you hitting the advertiser’s “hot buttons” to have the best chance that your letter and resume will actually be read?
- What pre- and post-application contact and follow-up are you doing?
- Have you reached out to recruiters who work in your industry and functional niches? If so, what have you done to build rapport and maintain proactive contact? Never quite off their radar without irritating them?
- What feedback have you had on applications so far? Patterns?
- How much time and effort are you putting into maintaining and building your networks in your chosen industry segment(s)? Are managing to secure 3 to 5 meetings or phone conversations per week?
- How effective is your online branding and activity?
If you’re doing all of these things consistently, and have been on the market for about 4 to 6 weeks without much success in landing interviews, you have two choices.
Well, more than that but these will do for now.
Assuming you have good financial resources, stick to your game. Be patient. In time the role will come.
If you are targeting a salary of around US$100K or more it is likely that your job search could take 4 – 6 months or more. Make sure you have the reserves to ride out a 6-9 month campaign with little or no income; or have a plan for generating short term cash flow to see you through.
OR
Don’t give up on your primary search but start working on Plan B in parallel – now.
What works for one may not suit another. What’s your Plan B?
Ideas that have helped some of my clients maintain momentum
- Build a new prospect list in a related but different industry niche. Use this to assess the viability of a shift based on your transferable skills
- Open up your search to include short and medium term contract roles or consulting assignments for short term cash flow
- Seek out opportunities to do pro bono work using your skills and experience to benefit a business or NFP that otherwise could not afford your help. Apart from feeling good about making a contribution, you never know what new networks this can lead to.
- Volunteer – even if not in your core skill areas. It helps to get you out of your own head! Also possibly opens up new networks
- Explore buying or starting your own business. Just doing the research around this can open avenues you haven’t thought of or get you introductions to new networks
I hope that some of the thoughts here will help to unlock and accelerate your search for a fantastic new role. If so, it would be great if you would consider sharing this through your own social media channels.
If you’d like to chat about how tailored coaching could help maintain momentum in a tight job market and shorten your time to landing that great new role contact me here or email me here
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Photo credit: Patrick Hodskins on Unsplash
