In April, Arras People were selected by the Department for Work & Pensions to provide a JobSearch Support Service for project professionals who have recently been made redundant or are in long term unemployment. The service is accessed by referral from the Job Centre Plus
The services offered through the Arras Job Search Support (AJSS) service include;
Individual CV Review, Planning for Success, Finding Roles and Interviewing for Success.
The service is 1-2-1, very much like our careers clinics but the advantage for current jobseekers who are claiming Job Seekers Allowance is that its free!
Part of the service – Finding Roles – leads me on to some excellent advice from the Barefoot Coach, Simon Davie. Simon runs Sliding Doors, an outplacement organisation based in Australia, you can also tweet Simon here. The article below is reproduced from this original source.
Simon’s top 10 ways to find a job
Understanding what jobs are out there is obviously an essential part of research that needs to carried out to give you the best chance of securing the job you want. Even during difficult times, there are a number of different approaches, and one of the biggest mistakes people make is only choosing one. Here are 7 methods of searching for jobs – choose 3 or 4 (and no more) and give it your best shot. If you do this, and do it well you will be increasing your odds of getting a job from around 7% (from choosing one method), to over 80%.
Although this is one of the preferred choices of job search techniques, it is also statistically the least effective. Even if you’re not one of those who send of resumes to lots of positions without tailoring the resume or cover letter, it’s still not a great method to rely on. If you do want to choose this as an option, male sure that you choose another 2 or 3 methods to accompany it. There are also ways you can improve your chances, so make sure you consider the following:
1. Trawling Job Sites
There are literally thousands of job sites you can choose from. Rather than listing sites for each country for you to trawl through, the best way to find the biggest job sites in the country you are searching, is to Google “Job sites” and look at the top in “Sponsored Links”. Due to the fact that companies pay per keyword, usually only the major players will appear here. Otherwise, search some of the other links that appear until you find one you are happy with.
To make your online search DRAMATICALLY more efficient – use the following tips%u2026
Google will work much more efficiently if you are specific in your search request.
1. Be specific in the words you choose to search
a. Eg. Use rather than
2. Use quotes can make your search 90% more effective.
a. Searching Google for produces 224,000 records (at the time of writing).
b. If you add speech marks around the words “Event Management” so it reads
2. Getting online jobs sent to you
Again, not the most effective way of finding a job, but if carried out well can be an efficient investment of time. The idea here is to go to websites where you can register your resume and the type of job you would like to apply for.
The golden rules here are:
1. Be very clear of exactly what you are interested in (see dream job section)
2. When you register, make sure you sells your strengths clearly as if you were submitting a resume.
3. If the right jobs aren’t coming through and you want to continue to pursue this option, consider changing your search criteria.
3. Searching the local and national newspapers
This involves a fair amount of effort and routine and certainly has its merits. It has been a tried and tested approach and as there is significant revenue created for the newspapers it will probably be around for as long as the newspaper lasts as a viable form of communication.
It’s not a massively effective method for either the employer or the job searcher, but in conjunction with a couple of more tailored approaches it can come up with the goods.
4. Registering with an agency
The key to this method is to do your homework when selecting the agencies that are representing you. Don’t saturate the market with your resume, as this takes time which is better spent on adding a couple more approaches into your job search plan or strengthening the relationships with a few targeted agencies.
The best thing to do is to work out which sort of jobs you are going to target, research well and then build a relationship with them. Use the internet as a starting point as this will help narrow down to an extent, although there are literally thousands of agencies that sprouted up in the boom times, so be wary that not all will be working as hard at finding you a job as you may think. Speak to people that you know that may have used an agency in your field of choice to see if they can recommend someone. It’s also better if you have a name you can use as you are then able to build on an existing relationship.
This method works best in times of prosperity, but unless you are able to get a good relationship going with an agency that will use you as their preferred choice, it is not reliable in times of recession.
5. Using existing relationships of people you know
This is one of the more successful methods of job searching. Statistically, ten times the number of jobs are given to people where an existing relationship already existed compared with job ads! This may sound discouraging at first, but you may be surprised how many people you have a direct or indirect relationship with.
This may be a recommendation by a business colleague or a friend of a friend, so it is essential that you are clear of who you know%u2026 and who those people know too! The first step is to create your ‘Contact Map’
Creating your Contact Map.
First grab a blank piece of paper (or the back of this page) and put your name in the middle of it.
Then around your name, write down all the people that you could get in contact with.
Then write down anyone you know that they know. You can even ask them yourself. They don’t necessarily have to be people that you think will be able to help you out with a job. Assume that everyone is a possible lead. The idea is that you ask these 8 people if they know anyone that could help you in your quest for a new job.
If you stretch this out to include everyone you know, and everyone they know (or at least most) you will get an astonishing number of potential contacts that could be the lead to your next job.
As in example below, if Helen knows 8 people and these 8 people all know 8 people then she will have access to 72 people.
These contacts are now all aware to a varying extent of Helen’s skills so if a job comes up they will be more likely to mention it to Helen, via her friends.
If these people know 8 people each, Helen now has access to 584 people that could know of a job opportunity!
If you can think of 12 people instead of 8 and so do the others, you will have 1,884 people that could potentially know of a job opportunity that would suit you!
Don’t be afraid to get yourself out there. If you have difficulties in doing so, speak to a career counsellor or an alternative professional on a plan to overcome this, as it could pay dividends for you in the long run.
IMPORTANT POINT TO NOTE
The other important point here, is that you need to be able to summarise who you are and why you would be a valuable addition to someone’s team/company. This is so that your contacts are clear of who you are so they can then do you justice when talking to their contacts. This is sometimes called your ‘elevator speech’ as it refers to being able to tell someone you haven’t met before exactly what you want to tell them in simple terms and in less than 30 seconds.
6. Targetting businesses in your area
Once you know what type of job you are looking for and in what sort of industry, find out what companies operate in this space that are near to where you live. This is a great approach for a number of reasons:
1. There may be an existing relationship with someone you know in the area
2. You may know about the company and whether or not you are a good fit with what you want and what you have to offer.
3. You can speak to people in the area who may be able to help you prepare your resume and hopefully an interview too.
Although this may seem an unusual approach, this is a successful method of job searching and is recommended as an efficient use of time.
7. Approaching businesses that match your passions
Once you have established what it is that you are passionate about you can use this to target businesses that are aligned with your passions. Once you have identified which companies you are going to target, try and find out who to speak to about potential jobs. Knowing the right person to speak to is important, but if you can’t find their name contact reception and ask for the HR Manager responsible for recruitment.
Be able to tell them in 20 seconds who you are, why you are calling and why it is worth putting you through to the HR Manager. If it helps, write down the words you are going to say and make sure you consider why you are passionate about them.
If you are passionate about a topic, it will often shine through and your momentum is more likely to be maintained. As a result, this is one of the most effective methods of job search and should be included in your plan unless you have a very good reason not to.
8. Searching through industry journals
Find out what journals exist in your industry of choice as often there will be a classified job section. This has the advantage of being targeted to your industry interests and also can provide you with updated news of the industry in the rest of the journal.
This generally does not have a statistically high success rate, but can be useful for specialised industries, as it clearly refines your search to your target area.
9. Using volunteering as an entry point
If you have some spare time and finding a job is taking a little longer than you would like, then why not volunteer your services? It is a great way of making new contacts, especially if you volunteer in the industry which is aligned with your purpose and values. It’s also a good way of testing whether or not you have identified your purpose correctly. It may only be a few hours a week, but people are more likely to think of you if you are there in person and you may even hear of other jobs in a related field from someone else.
Volunteering is a great way to raise your morale as it is another way that you can make a difference. It’s a benefit for all concerned and as long as it leaves time for other search methods, it’s a great way to get ahead.
**See the Arras People Voluntary diary**
10. Career Based Social Networking
A great online way to get the word out in a professional capacity is through www.LinkedIn.com . It’s a fantastic site where people can find and stay in touch with people they know in a corporate capacity. It’s a bit like a ‘Business Facebook’ with all the benefits of contact relationships tailored for the business community.
The best aspect is that you can see up to 3 degrees of separation so by knowing only 20 people you may be exposed to over half a million!
If you don’t want to use LinkedIn or if many of your contacts are not registered, you may prefer to create your own ‘contact map’.
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