Dave knew he had the knowledge, skills, and experience. After all, he’d been successful for years. When his employer folded up shop and left town, Dave knew that it would only be a matter of time before he was re-employed in the same field. Indeed, he had expected that another employer would snap him up. Yet that hadn’t happened. Dave just couldn’t seem to find the leads and connections, despite the obvious value of his skills, his great reputation, and his plain worth to whoever hired him. Dave hadn’t thought he’d need a resume. But after waiting longer than expected to find a new position, he decided he’d better sharpen his job-hunting skills.
Nexus
The above vignette reminds us that gaining a first or next job in a field depends on making connections with employers or others who can offer you the opportunity you want or need. You may have all the skills an employer needs, but if the employer isn’t aware of you as a candidate for the position the employer needs to fill, then you won’t get a job offer from that employer. Making a connection between you and prospective employers can follow a traditional process that this chapter describes. But alternatives exist to the traditional job-search process. This chapter ends with some examples of non-traditional paths into jobs.
Identity
A first step in the traditional job-search process involves identifying who you are along the measures that employers value. A large part of this guide so far has been to help you discern what you could share with employers that would attract them to you. All the reflection you’ve done over your knowledge, skills, experience, interests, and aptitude should have given you a rich store from which to draw when projecting to employers who you are and why they may want to hire you. From your reflections, you should be able to give an account and examples that identify you as competent, masterful, qualified, resourceful, accomplished, creative, innovative, trustworthy, credible, committed, and even unique in your knowledge, skills, and aptitude for certain fields. You should have a clearer sense of yourself and how you can communicate that sense to others who might be interested in having you work for or with them. Draw on your Career Journal to project that identity.
Resumes
The single most-traditional way in which to connect with prospective employers is through a resume. That’s the resume’s purpose, to enable employers to quickly discern whether you have the qualifications to fill a position they have open. Your resume should reflect your name, address, telephone, email address, education, licenses or certifications, training, experience, honors, memberships, publications, or other attributes important in your field. Locate example resumes in your field to see what they routinely reflect, and have your resume reflect your own information in similar categories. Resumes in different fields also follow different styles and conventions. Respect those conventions. Don’t, for instance, share a resume adorned with flowers and kittens if you’re applying for a finance job. Flowers and kittens might work well for gardening, pet store, or daycare roles, not in other roles. Respect conventions, but show how you are special or even unique. See the example resume among the other forms at the end of this guide, but find resume examples in your field.
Covers
Job candidates generally apply online for jobs, whether through online job-search and recruiting applications or directly to employers through email or similar online systems. You might think that submitting your resume online is enough. But the convention in many instances is to submit a resume under a cover letter or cover email that highlights your particular interest in the specific employer’s job. Your resume may be general to the field, although you may and probably should adapt your general resume to the specific job for which you are applying. But your cover letter is specific to the employer with whom and role for which you applied. Make your cover letter reflect your specific interest in the job for which you are applying. Resumes are an art form. Cover letters are even more so. Study example cover letters in your field and respect their conventions, while highlighting in your cover letter your special attributes for the specific job. See the example cover letter among the other forms at the end of this guide, but find cover letter examples in your field.
Online
Job recruiting and job search today are routinely conducted online. A resume and cover letter are conventional print formats adapted awkwardly to the online nature of job search and recruiting. Don’t neglect your ability to reflect your qualifications and commitments to prospective employers through your online presence. They’re going to check your social media accounts and other online presence anyway. You may thus consider creating or reforming social media pages and personal websites specifically for your job search. The candidate who submits a conventional cover letter and resume while simultaneously directing prospective employers to the candidate’s online pages and sites demonstrates a technological prowess, communication skill, and digital awareness that employers often value if not require. At a minimum, be aware that employers will look at your online presence in the course of evaluating your candidacy.
Portfolio
Many employers appreciate, and some employers require, seeing examples of your work in the application process. If that is a common practice or requirement in your field, have those work examples ready, and let employers know that you have them available. Your resume, cover letter, and cover email can offer to share those examples. Some fields welcome or require writing samples or publications, while other fields welcome or require graphic designs, artwork, project examples, or other items. Think in terms of presenting your portfolio of work. Also think how best to organize, distribute, and present your work online, whether as attachments or a folder, website, or single assembled presentation. That presentation may be exactly the skill your employer needs to see to favor your application.
References
Employers routinely request and check references. A standard way of handling references is to indicate on a resume and in a cover letter that references are available on request. Disclosing references on a resume may lead to your references getting calls from prospective employers without your knowing it in advance. Offering references on request ensures that you have an opportunity to alert your references that they may be getting a call from a specific employer, which can help your references accept the call and respond favorably to the check. Of course, never list a reference without their permission in advance. Try to list references in your field who know your work. But also consider offering a reference from outside your field to vouch for your good general character.
Letters
Recommendation letters are another conventional way, after a resume and cover letter, of presenting your character, skills, and experience in a favorable light to prospective employers. If you have acquired general letters of recommendation, to whom it may concern, then you have the option of distributing them freely, such as with your first submission of a cover letter and resume. Follow your prospective employer’s guide for whether they welcome, expect, or are not ready for recommendation letters. Submit them on request if your employer prefers so. Asking your recommenders to write multiple letters for individual employers, addressed specially to each one, can burden some recommenders. Be sensitive. Go for a general letter instead, unless you have a special position for which you are applying with good prospects, where you may honor your recommenders by even asking them to write a special letter. Ask for a special letter if your recommender knows the agency, company, or firm to which, or person to whom, you are applying, and they know your recommender. As in the case of references, seek recommendations from well-respected individuals in the field in which you are applying.
Searches
As already indicated above, job recruiting and job search today are routinely conducted online. Check the popular applications to see if they include multiple listings from credible entrants in your career field. If so, then signing up for alerts from those applications can be a good way of learning of opportunities. But also do general internet searches using various terms and phrases to learn of job openings in your field. And check the websites of employers in your field for their job postings. Many employers maintain a dedicated webpage soliciting applications. Some employers recruit primarily or solely through their own website rather than using an online service. But don’t restrict your search to online resources. You can also contact prospective employers directly by mail, telephone, or in person, asking about job openings. I got my first law job, one that I held across decades, by walking in off the street with a resume and cover letter in hand. And it was the first and only firm to which I applied. Right time, right place. Networking among family, friends, and acquaintances can also help discover hidden opportunities that employers won’t advertise. Let connected individuals who know you, know that you’re looking for a job. They’ll keep an eye out.
Applications
If you’re free to look for other jobs without offending a current employer, then depending on your field, your general approach might well be to apply, apply, apply. You can learn a lot by applying, such as whether your application materials are appropriate, whether you are qualified, what it takes to get an interview, and so forth. Applications can also lead to additional job tips, including from the employers with whom you apply. They may not hire you but may connect you with another employer. Also, recognize that hiring involves a great deal of fortuity. It isn’t necessarily whether you’re the best candidate for a particular job. Instead, timing can be everything, as can be the person or committee reviewing the applications, the interview committee, and other factors including internal candidates. Just as you may later realize that your hiring was a providential fortuity, you may likewise realize later that your passover for another job you thought you should have had was providential. You have no sure thing in job applications. And so, applying often and widely can be a good strategy, unless you’re seeking a leadership or management position where circumspection, internal connections, and sensitive approaches may be the better course.
Interviews
Prepare for any interviews employers offer you. Don’t go in for an interview on a lark, unfamiliar with the employer and unprepared to answer standard questions. Do your research. Learn everything you can about the employer and the position you seek. Draw for information on any acquaintances you have who work for the employer or know the employer’s operations. Also search online. Predict the questions they will ask, and prepare and rehearse your answers. Arrive for your interview rested, fresh, and with appropriate dress, pleasant demeanor, and extra copies of your resume, cover letter, and work examples. If the job posting did not state a salary range or other compensation terms, you may ask at the end of the interview. Otherwise, leave compensation and benefits for a discussion after you receive an offer, which will likely include those terms anyway. Let your interviewers know if you have any deadline for their decision, such as if you have other offers pending to which you must soon respond, although without disclosing other offerors. A later chapter describes how to respond to offers.
Internships
The above sections describe a traditional job-search and recruiting process. Many workers, though, find employment by non-traditional means. Internships within a program of education are one way of getting into a workplace, learning the necessary routines, and proving one’s worth. A substantial percentage of interns in some fields receive job offers at the internship’s conclusion. Even if you don’t receive an offer, an internship may give you work experience, work examples, references, and connections for a successful job search leading you to another employer. But in either case, treat your internship as a job tryout. One way or another, it is. And if you’re in a program of education that offers internships, seriously consider pursuing one. You may get a job out of it, or you may learn that you don’t want to work in that field. Both outcomes are valuable.
Projects
Working on a project for an employer can be another effective way to get a job tryout. Whether you are in a program of education in your field or not, you may find prospective employers who have special projects for which they either require additional paid labor or would benefit from extra volunteer help. Those projects may involve charitable work for which the employer will receive no compensation. Especially in those cases, employers may welcome your volunteer work alongside their regular employees who may be volunteering extra work hours to complete the project. In any case, whether you and other workers are paid or volunteers, project work may enable you to meet and get to know the managers and employees of prospective employers, and enable them to get to know you and your skills. You could get a job lead or job reference, or even a job offer, out of it.
Partnerships
The practice in some fields and with some firms is not always to hire new employees but instead to offer some form of partnership, joint venturing, job sharing, or office and staff-sharing arrangement. Personal-service providers, whether barbers, cosmetologists, massage therapists, or even accountants, tax preparers, and lawyers, may prefer such arrangements. You may want and need a paycheck. But you may have to take and may actually do better with an office-sharing arrangement. The established provider with whom you share a facility, staff, equipment, furnishings, or other necessities and conveniences may refer you enough work to get you started on building your own practice. You may soon be glad that you’re not giving all the income you generate to your employer, only to get a little bit back. Or conversely, you may quickly prove your skill to the established provider who gave you the opportunity, resulting in an attractive job offer. Don’t overlook these startup opportunities.
Contracting
Contract work can be another attractive option to enter a field or continue in a field without a formal employment relationship. Employers must be careful not to treat as contractors, workers whom the IRS and other agencies would instead classify as employees. Employers can accumulate significant liability and regulatory risk by doing so. Yet if a business can carve out work over which it does not need to maintain control, as to the time of the work or the tools and methods to complete it, then the business may be able to contract it out to you and other skilled providers without treating the workers as employees. Contract work can give you flexibility to pursue other opportunities, while earning needed income and developing greater skills and network contacts. If you apply for a job but get an offer for contract work, don’t cast aside the offer too quickly. You may even get a job offer out of your contract work, if you prove you are as good as your application materials claim.
Journal
Title My Applications the next section of your Career Journal, after the My Place section. Here, begin by recording the steps you need to take and then do take to prepare your application materials. Include not only your resume, cover letter, references, and recommendation letters but also examples of your work and any online web page or social media page you may want to share with prospective employers. Next, record your job search activities. Record every helpful bit of information you learn or discern from your job search, especially job postings and job leads. Next, record your job applications. You may find that an online job-search application enables you to track your applications and responses to those applications. If not, consider adding a table to your Career Journal to keep order to your job applications. Include application dates, employers, materials, responses, status, and next steps. Let the quantity and variety of your applications encourage you as you record them, while you also use this section to analyze, evaluate, and adjust your search.
Key Points
Gaining job interviews and offers involves connecting with employers.
Your job applications must project an attractive employment identity.
Resumes and cover letters should respect the field’s conventions.
Ensure that your online presence reflects your job fitness.
Have available appropriate examples of your work to present.
Have available references from within the field to which you apply.
Have available recommendation letters from qualified individuals.
Conduct online, in person, and networking job searches.
Apply frequently and broadly unless seeking sensitive positions.
Prepare for interviews with all due respect for the role and participants.
Internships and special projects may introduce you to employers.
Office sharing and contracting may be employment alternatives.