Properly document the job search effort

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It is important that you create a file or journal to record all your job search efforts in such a way that information can be easily retrieved. This will help you in your preparation for an interview. Poor information management has been the bane of most intelligent applicants. A lifetime opportunity can be lost by a careless misrepresentation of information due to poor recording of facts. Always remember that a paper and pen is smarter than the sharpest human mind. This is because it does not forget. Write down all relevant information within the first ten minutes of hearing them. Store important information about opportunities in places you can easily retrieve them. This is not an expensive exercise, it only requires being conscious of your need to track information as they come to you.

Properly document the job search effort

Determine the cost of job search

Searching for a job is a full time job in itself; requiring the use of time and resources. Most people hardly give thoughts to the expenses involved in job search in terms of physical, material emotional and financial resources (transportation, telephone calls, stationery, photocopying, postage, and dressing). The important thing to note here is the effective management of time and resources in the course of your job search.

DETERMINE SOURCES OF YOUR JOB

Seeking is always pre-requisite to discovery. This principle holds true for jobs. However, most people are looking for the right things in the wrong places; thus, the first step in a successful job search is an analysis of the most common sources of employment. The following are the common sources of job prospects: * Applying directly to a company without seeking suggestions or referrals from anyone. This could be based on your investigation of the company's activities. It is surprisingly the most effective source of job prospects. * Advertisement in newspapers, professional journals and magazines * Career offices in Schools * Recriutment agencies * Company's website * Word of mouth from friends, families and mentors * Career Fairs * Social Organisations and Groups * Government Employment Agencies * Networking through professional and social groups. Using every source of information available to you increases your chances of getting a job within a minimum time.

DETERMINE YOUR KIND OF JOB

You will have to determine your kind of job in line with your career objectives in order to impress employers at interviews. Determining your kind of job does not mean that there is a particular job you are most suited for, it only means that you have carefully appraised your interest, values, qualifications, training and experience and match them with various job profiles in various sectors or industries of an economy. You are likely to be suited for a job in more than one industry, but you will have to define yourself appropriately for an employer to understand what you have to offer. For instance, a person may be suited for work in the financial services as well as telecommunications industry depending on the matching of abilities to the required job profile.

Determine your career objectives

I have observed that there are two kinds of job applicants in the job market:- The marketing applicants and the market-driven applicants. The marketing applicant is the person looking for a job everywhere, through everyone and at whatever price. These are applicants that have a uniform resume or CV that is circulated every where. These applicants are working hard at getting a job and are often frustrated after several months or years of waiting without end to get a job. The market-driven applicants on the other hand are those that carefully tailor their application in line with the specific requirements of the job market. They tend to observe the changing trends in an industry, sector or economy and position themselves with requisite skill for emerging opportunities. These applicants are well prepared and are always an empoyer's delight at interviews. These applicants work smart at getting jobs and are often rewarded with several offers. Success and failure at job search begins with this distinction. A market-driven applicant determins his career objective as the beginning of a job search. A career objective is a careful description of what an applicant wants to achieve with the job he is searching for. This is an important part of a winning resume. The employer tends to favor applicants that are focused, organized and pro-active.

A FAILURE TO PLAN is a plan TO FAIL

There are some important job search facts you need to know that will help you to create a good job search strategy.These are: ¡.75% of all jobs are never advertised ¡¡. Who you know is as important as what you know ¡¡¡. 86% of employers in most developing countries have fewer than 100 employees ¡v.71% of new job seekers found their job through the internet, friends and relatives v. 24% of new job seekers found their job through old contacts with an employer when no job was posted v¡. 5% of new job seekers found their job through newspaper or web advertisement. Having the above in mind, a blueprint for a successful job search will include the following courses of action mapped out by the job-seeker to enhance a fruitful result in the job search.

A detailed analysis of each of the criteria posted previously

Concern for Effectiveness: A person demonstrating this competence will: ¡. Express pride and/or enthusiam about increasing productivity or reducing cost ¡¡. State specific improvements or benefits that result from his/her involvement in activities ¡¡¡. Look for ways to reduce cost and time and increase operational efficiency, without compromising quality and attention to detail ¡v. Express concern for wasted time or lack of return on investment of time and resources 2. Initiative: A person demonstrating this competency will: ¡. Do things before being asked by others or forced by events ¡¡. Seek the needed information on his/her own to aid the accomplishment of a task ¡¡¡. Take action that goes beyond the requirements of the situation ¡v. Take action in solving problems or pursuing opportunities 3. Enthusiam for Work: A person demonstrating this competency will: ¡. Express pleasure at having the opportunity to learn new things ¡¡. Speak enthusiastically about his/her role in the accomplishment of a task ¡¡¡. Regard work as an activity that should be enriching, enjoyable and meaningful. Self Confidence: A person demonstrating this competency will: ¡. Express confidence in his/her own abilities ¡¡. Interact confidently with others in positions of authority ¡¡¡. Confront people in positions of power about disagreements ¡v. Take calculated risks to reach challenging goals.

Continuation

Concern for impact: A person demonstrating this competency will: ¡.Try to have a
specific impact on others ¡¡. Use or suggest strategies for influencing others(such as possibility of reward,convincing through the use of logical argument). 2. Conceptual Thinking: A person demonstrating competency will: ¡. See connections or patterns between seemingly unrelated facts or events. ¡¡. Be able to identify the major issues in a complex situation 3. Analytical Thinking: A person demonstrating this competency will: ¡. Be able to describe problems in terms of cause and effect. ¡¡. Solve complex problems by breaking them down into manageable components or logical steps ¡¡¡. Consider alternative ways of solving problem 3. Interpersonal Astuteness: A person demonstrating this competency will: ¡. Be able to state how others likely to react in a situation ¡¡. Make plans and then take into account how others are likely to react ¡¡¡. Be able to note and interpret the non-verbal behavior of others. 4. Effective Communication: A person demonstrating this competency will: ¡. Use simple examples to communicate complex issues ¡¡. Be understood by others clearly and effectively ¡¡¡. Make effective use of data to support ideas.5. Flexibility: A person demonstrating this competency will: ¡. Be able to articulate serveral perspectives on problem ¡¡. Be able to switch to alternate strategies when necessary.

The selection of competent employees in highly rated job

Requirement & Explanation:1. concern for effectiveness. This is an underlying concern for doing things better 2. Initiative: This is a willingness to go beyond what the situation requires and to act before being ask 3. Enthusiam for work:This refers to being zealous about the job and a consequent willingness to work hard and energetically 4. Self confidence: This can be defined as a sense of confidence in one's ability to succeed,reach challenging goals,or overcome obstacles 5. Concern for impact: This is a continual awareness of the impression one is making on others 6. Conceptual Thinking: This is the ability to assess experiences,observations and seemingly unrelated bits of information and from that assessment to see patterns, and to draw inferences and conclusions not readily apparent 7. Analytical Thinking: This is the ability to think logically, to see relationships between cause and effect and, as a result, to plan, anticipate, and evaluate systematically 8. Interpersonal Astuteness: This is exhibiting and understanding of the desires, strenghts and weakness of others; an ability to interpret the feelings and unstated concerns of other people 9.Effective Communication: This is the ability and skill to make effective presentations to others, either formally or informally 10. Flexibility: This is the willingness to shift strategies and accept other view points.

Every once in a while ask yourself, "Based on my own work each day, would I hire myself?

Have you ever thought about the above question in your search for job? If you have, what do you think an employer wants? The importance of this question in an interview session is shown with questions like "what value can you add to our organization? Or why do you want to work with us?" From these questions, it can be deduced that an employer wants someone that can add value to the organization. However, adding value to the organization is a function of the ability to solve problems. Most people are qualified educationally for the job, but they fail an aptitude test or interview session to show that they can do the job. Employers will consider the educational qualifications, level of training, experience, job interest and your career goals. All these however, must translate to your ability to perform creditably and excellently on the job and not just to have qualifications.

How to identify and use your skills efficiently

1. Identify your skills ¡. Prepare a list of your skills by reviewing your previous work, wether in a paid employment or as a volunteer. ¡¡. Review and add identifiable foundational skills. ¡¡¡. Review the skills typically required of the job you are interested in, ie. Marketable skill. ¡v. Make a list of all those achievements, or similar "good experiences" that you have had in the past 2-5 years `wether work`related or not. Those you feel you did well, enjoyed doing, and feel proud of doing. Add these skills to your list. They are called your motivated skills v. Add all the identified skills, rank and choose the best seven. Now,for each one chosen, write down or tell someone the following: ¡. What you did ¡¡. How you did it ¡¡¡. What happened 2. Know the skills Employers want ¡. How strong are your foundational skills? Take a careful look at them. These are skills all Empoyers need from a prospective employee. ¡¡. When you see discriptions of jobs you want, pay close attention to the skills the employer wants. These are work content skills. ¡¡¡. Learn what peculiar skills are required for the job in which you have an interest.

Type of skills required in the employment market

1.Foundational skills. Foundational skills are the ones every worker needs to exist in a work environment. These include the following: ¡. Basic: These are skills that are essential for all people to survive in life. ¡¡. People: These are skills required to live satisfactorily with others in any society ¡¡¡. Thinking: These are sometimes referred to as common sense. ¡v. Personal qualities: These are unique skills peculiar to a person due to his genetic traits. 2. Marketable skills. These skills can also be referred to "Work Content Statements". They are skills that help an employer in his decision to hire an employee to perform specific tasks. These include the following: ¡. All of the Foundational Skill. ¡¡. The skills listed in job vacancy advertisements. ¡¡¡. Skills unique to a particular company that other companies do not use. 3. Transferable Skills. Transferable skills are those that you can transfer from one occupation to another. For example, an architect can transfer his or her skills to occupations like that of an Engineer or a Builder. Your transferable skills are valuable because they enable you to work in a variety of occupations in different but related industry. 4. Motivated Skills. Motivated skills are those skills that you enjoy using. It is important you know this skills if, you want to work at something you enjoy doing. These are especially important in thinking about your career direction.

What can you offer Employers

Every organization has a purpose, vision and mission, and to attain this purpose they need highly qualified and competent personnel. You must determine what qualities you really have to offer a potential employer after assessing your skills and abilities. Your abilities provide you with the competitive edge you will need to secure a job. YOUR EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION; Your education can provide entry for you into the job market, but you can only stay in the market and maintain a high negotiating power through the assessment, recognition, and utilization of your ability on the work. JOB LOCATION, Geographical consideration could affect your interest in a particular job. It is essential that you assess your probable area of job location.

The principles for assessing your abilities

The following principles are useful in assessing your abilities and interests: 1) Expectation why do you want to do the kind of job you are aiming for? What are your immediate and future expectations from this endeavour? Build your expectations by looking out for relevant information from searching within you and also from your environment. 2) Interest Does your interest correspond with your educational qualification? It is advisable that you do a job that your interests can support, enhance and promote. Interest provides the drive or enthusiasm to perform and achieve a desired objective. 3) Career Objective You must have a career objective; it is only then that a job will be a meaningful tool to achieve this objective. Your job in this sense becomes a means to an end rather than an end in itself. You should set goals ; it is the only measure of direction in your life. Without a career objective, job seeking becomes a routine aspect of existence instead of a tool to achieving a meaningful and purposeful life. What do you want to become in five years from now? Without a determinable, definable and achievable target, you will work anywhere, anyhow and at any price. This is a cheap way to live.

The principles for assessing your abilities

The following principles are useful in assessing your abilities and interests: 1) Expectation why do you want to do the kind of job you are aiming for? What are your immediate and future expectations from this endeavour? Build your expectations by looking out for relevant information from searching within you and also from your environment. 2) Interest Does your interest correspond with your educational qualification? It is advisable that you do a job that your interests can support, enhance and promote. Interest provides the drive or enthusiasm to perform and achieve a desired objective. 3) Career Objective You must have a career objective; it is only then that a job will be a meaningful tool to achieve this objective. Your job in this sense becomes a means to an end rather than an end in itself. You should set goals ; it is the only measure of direction in your life. Without a career objective, job seeking becomes a routine aspect of existence instead of a tool to achieving a meaningful and purposeful life. What do you want to become in five years from now? Without a determinable, definable and achievable target, you will work anywhere, anyhow and at any price. This is a cheap way to live.

Success is not just about learning the right principles to apply.

A weakness can be said to be a lack of strength, power or determination in a particular area. It usually manifest as expressing difficulty in carrying out a task or resistance to change or new idea. A weakness once identified can be improved and changed into strenght. Your knowledge of your strenghts and weaknesses are usually tested in an interview process through questions like "Tell us about yourself". Once you are able to determine your abilities, you can begin to communicate them effectively to prospective employers and use them to your advantage in the market place. Success is not just about learning the right principles to apply, it is also the ability to know the principles that can lead to failure and avoid them. It is amazing to see how many people devote their lives to a field of endeavour or a profession that has little or nothing to do with their abilities. You are gifted with abilities to become whatever you choose to be in life, but you must know them and take advantage of them. The man who wakes up early to this fact will always be ahead of his colleagues.