Land Your Dream Job

How to land your dream job.

“Do the best you can, with what you can, while you can, and success is inevitable.” Steve Maraboli

With the current pandemic and unemployment as high as it is it I know many of you are looking for the next move.  Your next career.  Many days you may be thinking why is my inbox empty? Why didn’t the recruiter call me or select me?

This week we are going to talk about some steps to take to help you land your dream job.

The company I worked for went out of business as the pandemic hit.  Thousands of people were suddenly left jobless.  Out of panic and fear many of them grabbed the first job they could without putting much thought into it.  Today they are miserable.  This morning they woke up dreading going to that job they hate.  Or maybe, not even hate, just find it so-so and they feel themselves sliding down the spiral of being more and more complacent each day.

This is lesson 1 for the job seekers.  Define your career search.

What type of company do you want to work for? Do some research online and find those companies.  What is most important to you:  culture, a company that gives back, benefits, a target wage, a company that embraces work from home.  Use Google to find the companies that are the best at what you want from a company.  Doing this important step also makes this interview question a breeze when asked.  You’ve already invested time answering this one for yourself, so you are prepared to answer the interviewer.

The next group of people are the ones who stuck it out a little and then COVID impacted us further and recruiters stopped calling.  What happened next is a travesty.  They gave up on themselves.

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day whispering, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’”– Mary Anne Radmacher

Lesson number 2 for the job seekers.  Do not give up on yourself.

Employers are hiring.  Maybe you need to change up your process.  When you were doing the hiring you knew the numbers.  It took so many phone interviews for a live one and so many live interviews for an offer and so many offers for an accepted one.  Put that in reverse as you search for your next career.  How many contacts to get an interview?  How many 1^st interviews to get a 2^nd all the way to the offer.  If you haven’t built on that first level your chances of moving to next levels are lesser. Do not give up

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” –Thomas Edison

I’m going to use a non-work example for the next lesson.  I am by no means a girlie girl.  Fashion magazines are not for me.  I prefer sweats to anything – even pre-pandemic and when it comes to attire, I could really use Granimals for adults.  If you’re too young for that Granimals was a clothing line that you matched your tops and bottoms by matching the animals on the tags.  If you had a lion top you could be confident pairing it with a lion bottom. Despite this, I love to buy makeup.

I’m a sucker at any cosmetic counter for buying whatever is new and trendy and then I try it once – suck at it and a fortune sits in my drawer.  My daughter is 21 and she has some favorite YouTubers for girlie stuff so last week I thought let’s see if I can figure out how to use some of this stuff collecting dust in my drawer.  I watched a couple videos and put the techniques to use and although not perfect – wow!  I kind of impressed myself with what I could do.

Lesson 3 for job seekers watch videos, listen to podcasts, read articles on how to ace the interview.

There is so much free knowledge out there.  Take advantage of it.  Also, and I can’t stress this enough, practice.  Grab a friend, spouse, dog or mirror and practice.  Hear the words come off your lips.  Did you like what you heard?  Would you hire you or send you up the channel for the next interview?  If not revise and try again.

“When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him, he will win” – Ed Macauley

I learned a valuable lesson driving a CEO around Chicago so that they could get the lay of the land.  They were a recent new addition to the company they were heading and as we drove, they shared with me all the people they were connecting with to find out more about the company, the business, and the market.  As they went through the list of people, I thought to myself, I know all these people too.  Some of them very well.  Why don’t I ever tap into their knowledge?  And being a great student, I called them all immediately.  How fortunate because that was September of 2019.  Now, as I call them in 2020 it’s not awkward.

Lesson 4 for the job seeker.  Reach out to your connections.

Ask them questions about your business and your job search.  There are 10’s of millions unemployed and getting in front of the decision maker is so much easier through a connection.

“Know where you want to go and make sure the right people know about it.” — Meredith Mahoney

The very same CEO I drove around Chicago has been a great mentor to me in my own personal search.  They ask great questions to get me thinking and commented on own skill they thought put me at an advantage of other candidates.  I knew it was a tool in my toolbox, but I didn’t connect how it made me stand out from other candidates until they mentioned it.

This brings us to Lesson 5 for the job seeker.  Know the value you bring.

Once you determine what it is how do you articulate it?  Write it down and create a value statement for yourself.  This is perfect for a cover letter or for that introductory LinkedIn message to the decision maker for the job you desire.

I hope these 5 lessons

1. Define your career search
2. Do not give up on yourself
3. Practice for the interview
4. Network
5. Create a value statement for yourself

Help you land your dream job.  And here’s a bonus #6.  Everyone has answers, geniuses have questions.  Make sure to have questions for the interviewer.

Make it a great week!