Business communication building critical skill 6th module026

Researching
Jobs

Module
Twenty Six
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Learning Objectives
LO 26-1 Know yourself for successful job hunts.
LO 26-2 Know companies for successful job hunts.
LO 26-3 Recognize signs for staying with or leaving a job.

26-2


Learning Objectives
LO 26-4 Apply strategies for information
interviews.
LO 26-5 Apply strategies for tapping into the hidden job market.
LO 26-6 Assess weaknesses for stronger job application appeals.

26-3


What do I need to know about
myself to job hunt?


What achievements have given you the most satisfaction?



Would you rather have firm deadlines or a flexible schedule?



Are you willing to take work home? To travel? How important is money to you?

26-4


What do I need to know about
myself to job hunt?


Where do you want to live?



Is it important to you that your work achieve certain purposes or values, or do you see work as “just a way to make a living”?



Are the organization’s culture and ethical standards important to you?

26-5

What do I need to know about
companies that might hire me?


What the job itself involves.



The name and address of the person who should receive the letter.



What the organization does
and at least four or five
facts about it.

26-6


Print Sources for Addresses and
Facts about Companies

26-7


Examples of Trade Journals

26-8

Comprehensive Web Job Sites
Covering the Entire Job Search Process

26-9


Choosing Whether to Stay or Go
Are the following statements true or false for you?

1.Your boss likes you and advocates for you in the
organization.
2.Your boss is doing well.
3.You’ve been promoted in the last two years.
4.The company is doing well and can grow further.

26-10


Choosing Whether to Stay or Go


Do you love the work?



Do you have a great mentor?



Do you have opportunities to learn a lot fast?



Does the job encourage rapid change?



Is the company an employer of choice or a fun place to work?

26-11


Choosing Whether to Stay or Go
Telltale signs it’s time to leave

You have a lot on your mind, just not work.
Things change, not to your advantage.
Your boss takes you for granted.
You pigeonhole yourself.
Your mood ranges from angry to angrier.
You feel awful.

26-12


Should I do information interviews?
 Information
interview
 you talk to someone
who works in the area

you hope to enter to
find out what the dayto-day work involves
 how you can best
prepare to enter that
field.
26-13


Should I do information interviews?


Let you know whether or not you’d like the job.



Give you specific information.



Create a good image of you.

26-14


Should I do information interviews?


Ask the following questions

 What are you working on right now?

 How do you spend your typical day?
 Have your duties changed a lot since you
started working here?
 What do you like best about your job? Least?

26-15


What is the “hidden job market”?
How do I tap into it?


Over 60% of all new jobs come not from responding to an ad but from networking with personal contacts – the hidden job market



Referral interviews, an organized method of networking, offer the most systematic way to tap into these jobs.

26-16


What is the “hidden job market”?
How do I tap into it?


Start by scheduling interviews with people you know who may know something about that field—professors, co-workers, neighbors, friends.



Even when you talk to the person who could create a job for you, you do not ask for a job.

26-17


What do I do if I’ve got a
major weakness?








All of my experience is in my family’s
business.”
“I’ve been out of the job market for a while.”
“I want to change job fields.”
“I was fired.”
“I don’t have any experience.”
“I’m a lot older than they want.”
“

26-18


“I’ve Been Out of the
Job Market for a While”
 Understand how work in your field may have
changed.

 Be active in professional organizations.
 Learn the computer programs that professionals in
your field use.
 Show how your at-home experience relates to the
workplace.
 Create a portfolio of your work
26-19


“I Don’t Have Any Experience”
 Take a fast-food job—
and keep it.
 Join a volunteer
organization that
interests you.
 Freelance
 Write

26-20


“I’m a Lot Older than They Want”


Keep up-to-date



Learn the computer programs your field uses



Work with younger people



Use positive emphasis



Show energy and enthusiasm

26-21