Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from this week’s session with our newest expert to join Ask the Coach, Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers based in New York City.
Barbara Safani is the latest career expert to join the NETSHARE team, and she had some sage words of advice for job seekers in today’s market. She noted that the landscape has changed, and the time to hire has increased substantially. Along the way, the parameters change, which means the job specs change, business needs change, and these delays have nothing to do with the candidates. It’s not about you!
And because searches take longer, you need to stay in touch with the hiring authorities without stalking them. Look for natural touch points. If you read an article or blog that is relevant, pass it along with a note, “Thought you might be interested in this…” And as you are interviewing, ask that all-important questions, “What is the next step in the process? What is your timeline?” Use tangible data points to determine when you need to touch base again.
One caller asked Barbara if she had a top five action list to get hired? Barbara did have a top five list to help executives find meaningful work:
- Network – Building your professional network is a lifelong endeavor, and you need to be consistent and persistent. Even when you are working, take the time to maintain your network of contacts. You never know when you may need them. Make a brief contact at least once a quarter to remind your network of who you are, what you did together, and how you know each other.
- Recruiters – Build relationships with recruiters. Recruiters are struggling like everyone else. There has been a huge reduction in inventory, and recruiters are looking for help like everyone else. Become a resource; Help them find qualified candidates who meet exact criteria. Remember they do not work for you, but they will help you if you can help them.
- Use online networking – Join those social networks you feel most comfortable with, because you will get more out of them. Using business sites like LinkedIn also makes it easier to reconnect with those in your network and find people who can help you get ahead.
- Direct targeting of companies – It’s up to you to find companies that need your expertise. You are the only one who can best determine if you have what that company needs, and if there is a good fit, even if they don’t have a specific opening. Make the contact, become known, and create your own opening.
- Online Career Sites – There are a wide range of online career sources, from the big job posting boards to the niche career service sites, like NETHSHARE, which offers networking tools, forums, resources, and screened job postings. The big job boards can be useful for researching the job market and see who is hiring, and the niche career sites with screened postings are better for applying for targeted positions.
Of course, even identifying these top five approaches, you still need to apply a multi-pronged approach and use all possible routes that lead to success. Spend more time on relationship building. When people are comfortable with whom you are, they can become your best ally.
