Can't find the job? Are you utilizing all possibilities?

Finding a job can be a challenging task, but there are many strategies and tools that can assist in this search. Where to start?

Before you start looking for a new job, consider what exactly you are looking for.

Identify roles/positions that interest you.

Check if you have sufficient competencies to hold them.

Specify the type of company/organization: e.g., local company (small/medium), corporation, medium-sized international company, state-owned company, etc.

Specify the type of enterprise/organization: manufacturing, services, trade.

Specify the type of business/sector (if it's important to you) e.g., new technologies, automotive, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, electronics, banking, professional services, etc.

Define the location of your future employment (is it the city where you currently live? Are you open to relocation? Where? (define: specific cities/provinces/countries).

Specify the salary level you would like to achieve and what additional benefits are important to you.

The situation is clear if we know we want to continue our career in the current area, only wanting to change the employer. It's more complicated if, for example, we want to change the type of business. In such a situation, it's worth checking if experience strictly in that sector or additional skills or qualifications, which we do not possess, are required. I'll give an example from my daily professional practice as a headhunter in the purchasing area: a buyer in a manufacturing company (if buying production components) is a completely different position than a buyer in a trading company. Some competencies overlap, but transfers to trading companies from production are very rare and not always successful. Conversely (i.e., from trading companies to manufacturing) are practically impossible. If we cannot afford a longer work break (a few months, because that's how much it's safely worth reserving for searching for a new one), it will be safest if we focus on looking for a position very similar to the one we held. I do not recommend a complete change of profession in the situation of urgent job searching. Why? Such a move requires preparation, which takes time, often investment in additional competencies, and may result in a lower salary in the initial period. Of course, one can count on "luck," but the effect is highly uncertain.

How to effectively look for a new job?

Effective job searching involves the simultaneous use of several methods.

• Network – network of contacts
• Direct applications to companies
• Recruitment firms
• Advertisements

Below I summarize each of them:

• Network – our network of contacts. In Poland, finding a job "through connections" still has a pejorative connotation. Personally, I think this is entirely unjustified – what, after all, is wrong with recommending people whose competencies match the employer's expectations. Therefore, it is worth building and using a network of contacts, as it can work both ways. Our network of contacts can also include acquaintances, friends, family members.

How to use the network in job searching?

It's worth dividing our network into professional (closer – people we directly worked with/ further – people we know but did not directly cooperate with) and private. Knowing what position we are specifically looking for, we contact representatives of our network and inform them that we are looking for a new position – we convey information about our previous experiences and competencies.

Why do we divide the network? – because people who are on a private level or also in the further professional network of contacts do not necessarily know what we have been doing so far, what our professional successes are, what we can do, and what we are looking for. It's important not to "burden others with the responsibility" of finding us a job – meaning we need to be specific. We must prepare a good CV along with information in the email, which our acquaintances can simply quickly forward to other people in their network or directly to recruiting people in the company/organization they work for. In the so-called "cover email," we include the following information:

A brief summary of our professional experience. A brief summary of our key achievements Information on what positions, in which companies/organizations, in which region we are interested in (see the beginning of the article: "Where to start.") I emphasize – the email should be concise, bullet-pointed, containing the above points, encouraging to review the CV sent along with the message as an attachment.

Sending such information, we do not risk unprofessionalism and do not burden the other party with "our problems". I strongly advise against sending a CV with the message "if you hear that someone is looking for a candidate with my profile, I would be grateful if you could forward my CV". It's not "someone" who should be looking for a job position for us, but we should offer our competencies and clearly state what we are looking for, and "that someone" may do us a favor by directing our CV to other people.

More and more corporations offer a monetary reward to their employees if they recommend interesting candidates for vacancies. In this way, the company saves time and money. Searching their own database, publishing advertisements, evaluating applications, collaborating with recruitment firms – all this takes time and is costly. In the situation of using employees' networks for recruiting candidates, we talk about the utilization of the so-called hidden job market. According to American statistics, about 22-24% of job seekers* find jobs from the hidden job market.

• Direct applications to companies

Currently, practically every company has a website. Many companies have "career" tabs where we can find current vacancies and contact a person. Many companies also have their own candidate database and before they publicize the job description in the form of an advertisement, they try to define potential candidates in their own database (saving time and money). It's worth making a list of companies where you would like to work and proactively send our CV to them (informing in the "cover email" what positions/roles we are interested in). If you have defined the sectors that interest you, then in the next step specify the companies that may be interesting for you.

Defining potential employers you can consider aspects such as:

You are interested in/feel close to a particular product or service offered by the company

The company or organization offers something you consider important, e.g., breakthrough technologies in healthcare, economy, ecosystem, etc.

The company or organization is located near your place of residence and for purely logistical reasons working there would increase your quality of life,

The organization is a leader in new technology/business branch, systems, processes and you know that working there would strengthen your professional development,

The organization is prestigious, is known for employing the best, and you know it would be a good point on your CV (important to check if the perception of such an organization is consistent with the actual state),

The organization is known for offering salaries higher than the market average (however, I warn against basing your motivation solely on this premise),

The organization is known for an effective talent development program, which will enable you to achieve an expert level in your field.

After analyzing the above aspects, you should have already defined several companies. Developing the list it's worth using the CAVAC* model, meaning finding companies/institutions that:

Compete with these companies (C- competitors) Associate these companies (A- associations) Supply to these companies (V- vendors) Are clients of (C-clients) these companies Belong to the group of these companies – are financially linked, e.g., are subsidiary companies (A- affiliates)

In defining companies, the following can also help:

Trade shows/meetings – it's worth reviewing the list of exhibitors Industry groups, e.g., on LinkedIn – it's worth joining them and analyzing in which companies the members of these groups work Industry press/blogs

Industry associations I encourage monitoring the websites of these companies and their social media profiles – often, at the early stage of the recruitment process, job offers are published there. Additionally, you can learn more about new initiatives or projects. Having such information, you can better prepare a cover letter, indicating what added value you will bring to the organization, or specifying why you want to join this organization.

Contact persons (e.g., HR and potential direct superiors) can most likely be found on LinkedIn – it's worth inviting them to our contacts and sending our CV directly to them.

• Recruitment firms - job searching with the help of a headhunter (recruiter). It's important to remember that headhunters/recruiters do not work for candidates, i.e., they do not look for jobs for candidates, but look for employees for their clients (their work is paid for by institutional clients, i.e., companies/organizations). Therefore, the statement "a headhunter found me a job" is incorrect. Headhunters also use their own databases, their network of contacts (network) and do not always publish advertisements on job portals. Advertisements can usually be found directly on the agency's website (if the recruitment process is not confidential). If the network of contacts and the database of headhunters are limited, they look for candidates proactively (mainly through business networks such as LinkedIn) and publish advertisements on job portals. It's worth defining a list of recruitment firms, familiarizing yourself with their area of activity (for what positions they most often recruit), making direct contact with headhunters, and sending your CV to their database. I recommend inviting headhunters to your own network of contacts, there is a chance that we will then see on an ongoing basis for what positions they are recruiting. A large part of headhunters publishes advertisements in their own network of contacts.

• Advertisements. Let's not forget about the classic method of job searching through advertisements on the Internet. I also encourage using aggregators of advertisements such as Indeed (https://pl.indeed.com) or Jooble (https://pl.jooble.org). It's also worth taking care of receiving notifications from job portals for positions of interest – just specify what kind of positions and in what area you are interested in and set up an alert.

How not to get lost in all this – i.e., organizing the process

To avoid awkward questions "I don't remember when I applied to you" when you receive a phone call from a potential employer or headhunter, you need to organize and control the job searching process. For this purpose, I encourage you to fill in the following table containing the following information on an ongoing basis:

Contact person (name, surname, position)

Company/OrganizationContact (tel/@)

Date of sending CV

Source (e.g., from recommendation/network, application for position x, list of companies – proactively, proactively to the database)

Status (e.g CV sent, 1st interview, salary nego etc.)

This way, you can effectively manage your job searching process.

Sources:

http://www.resumehacking.com/hidden-job-market-vanishing

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20-job-search-tips-creating-list-target-companies-lisa/