A successful job hunt starts with four documents no recruiter will ever see:
Good preparation will make a job hunt more efficient and more successful. The following four documents are working documents. No matter how well you drafted them, they
will change over time as the role that you are looking for becomes, and the value you can bring to a new employer, become clearer and clearer.
These are:
1. A target profile: This is a detailed description of the role you are looking for. It will contain very specific notes on the ideal role and companies and organisations you would ideally like to work for. It also contains bare minimum requirements, essential elements of the role, demands on work culture and values, and red flags and green flags to look out for. There will also be thoughts on the career trajectory that you wish your next role will bring you on: where do you want to go?
2. A persona profile: This includes all formal qualifications that you have. All skills that you are aware of, what kind of work you particularly enjoy, and what kind of work that you particularly loath. It will include a list of your genuine strengths and weaknesses (not to be confused with your answers to those questions in an interview). It will also contain thoughts on skill gaps and how to fill them. It will also contain thoughts on values that are particularly important to you. Here there is also room for thoughts on how important your career is to you and your family: where do you want to go and what sacrifices are you and your family wiling to make?
3. A Master CV
This is an extensive tabular CV, several pages long, which includes extensive bullet points to each career step you have taken, all certified qualifications etc. It will be used as the efficient starting point for each CV that you customise according to the job description you have received. You strip what is not required for this particular role. If you need to add bullets to cover job requirements: add them to the master CV as well.
4. Collection of success stories
Write down specific success stories that you played a role in.
Commercial successes, successful projects, examples of managing conflict, overcoming etc.obstacles, managing crises. Be brief and follow the STAR narrative: Situation, Tsk/challenge, Action and Result. Make sure to add facts and figures. A selection of these stories can be used to make your cover letter stand out, to add to the tabular CV or even to add as a separate “key experience” document, that will make your application stand out.
Many clients initially consider these documents a waste of time. All of them have revised their opinion: putting things down in writing is very different from “sort of knowing” who you are and what you are looking for. And being the candidate who can answer questions about past experience with clear, pertinent success stories is far ahead of any competition.
Message me if you have any further questions.
Comments