Chapter 5: Expanding the Talent Pool: Recruitment and Careers

Job-Search Strategy #1

Job-Search Strategy #2

Job-Search Strategy #3

Job-Search Strategy #4

Assessing Values

Job Search Strategies

In this chapter, you have read about how employers plan for their human resource needs. In the next chapter, you will read about the ways in which employers search for candidates. But what about your own plans? How can you plan for your future jobs, and search for a compatible employer? There are ways in which potential employees can find qualified employers. These techniques, commonly referred to as job-search strategies, have been compiled from a variety of sources. Your career planning will benefit from an understanding of these strategies, which are described briefly below.

Job-Search Strategy #1

Review the material you have prepared on your life goals (Chapter 1) and your dream job (Chapter 3). Based on the information generated from these exercises identify a few jobs and a few sectors in which you would like to find employment. Try to develop generic rather than specific or narrow employment objectives. For example, broaden the goal of "grade-school teacher" to "teaching young children in any situation" or "communicating with children." By enlarging the goal, you will not restrict yourself to searching for a job at the local elementary school, but will widen the search to educational publishing houses, youth television stations, youth centres, private tutoring organizations, camps, and so forth.

Job-Search Strategy #2

Once you have identified several jobs or careers of interest to you, such as investment banking or advertising, obtain a lot of information about the field. There are two main ways to do this. First, search the Internet for materials that describe the duties and education requirements associated with these jobs. Look for any trade journals with articles about future employment opportunities in your chosen field. Search for newspaper articles on the sector or on the companies hiring in the job categories that interest you. Note the names of people who are active in the field.

Second, interview people who work in the field. These names can be generated by informing all your friends and relatives about your job search and by asking for names of people. Phone the industry or professional associations and ask them if they could give you names of people willing to talk about their jobs. Cold-call the names gleaned from the library search. In these interviews, do not ask for a job—ask for information. Then send a thank-you letter. If there is any possibility of a job, the interviewers know you are interested and will contact you.

Job-Search Strategy #3

Searching for a job is a job. Manage your project. Set goals such as "five calls a day" or "read two trade magazines" this week. Track your work by organizing a contact list such as:

Track your information gathering by listing the source and key points. You may need this type of information in future interviews.

Job-Search Strategy #4

At this point, armed with information about your interests and industry/employer needs, contact a potential employer about a job. How do you do this effectively? According to one expert, here are the success rates associated with each job search strategy:

• Using the Internet: 4-10 percent;
• Answering local newspaper ads: 5 -24 percent;
• Approach private employment agencies: 5–28 percent;
• Responding to ads in trade journals: 7 percent;
• Mailing out your resume to employers at random: 7 percent.
• Asking friends, relatives, teachers, etc for leads: 33 percent;
• Researching an employer and targeting your search: 86 percent;

The most important step you can take is to research the employer for whom you wish to work. Ask friends, use the library or Internet, read trade journals and business reports, (including the company's annual report). Then write a covering letter explaining what you can contribute to the organization. Include a résumé, tailored specifically for that job or employer. (The next chapter will teach you how to write different types of résumés).

The most critical factor in a covering letter is understanding the needs of the organization and what you can do for it using your skills and experience. Two examples:

I noted in the Fashion Trade Magazine that your organization is expanding into Canada and planning to open four stores. I can help you. I have opened and managed a retail store.

The Report on Business article in which you were interviewed indicated that your organization is focusing on customer service as a competitive advantage. I have significant experience in training personnel to meet service objectives.

The use of these strategies will increase the probability of your finding employment in a field of your choice.

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Sources: R.N. Bolles, The 2007 What Colour Is Your Parachute? (Ten Speed Press, Toronto, 2007); J. Noble, The Elements of Job Hunting (Holbrook, Mass.: Bob Adams Inc., 1991).

Assessing Values

An important component of a career plan is an awareness of your career interests. This chapter has suggested many strategies you can use to determine your interests, from reading career planning workbooks to visiting career counsellors who are qualified to administer interest and skill inventories. You can also request self-scoring interest tests from the Guidance Centre of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 70 Gordon Baker Road, Toronto, Ontario, M2H 3R7.

Although any of the above tests will guide you in your choice of a career, the choices will be very generic (e.g., teacher, lawyer, or technician). A further step in career planning is to identify your values, so that you can determine how you can achieve satisfaction in an occupation. For example, there are many ways to "be" a teacher. If you value security, then you might want to teach in a school or university system where there is tenure; if you value monetary rewards, you might prefer to develop training materials for which you could receive royalties; if you want status, you might wish to lead executives in skills acquisition or head the Ministry of Education; an interest in caring for others might lead you to be a personal classroom assistant for a child with disabilities; a desire for independence could be translated into freelance tutoring or training. As you can see, while all these jobs involve "teaching," an individual's value system is satisfied in a different way in each.

Perform the following steps to identify values that are important to you.

Step 1: Each of the squares below represents a value. Print this page, then cut out each so that you are left with fifteen separate squares.

Step 2: Divide the squares into three groups or piles, not necessarily equal in size. One group should consist of those "value squares" that are most important to you. The next group should consist of those values that are least important, while the middle group should represent values that fall somewhere in the middle.

Step 3: Within each group, rank each value square from most to least important. You should now have a ranking of numbers from 1 to 15 representing your value system. Consult this value system if (or when) you have established an occupational choice. Your values will help you determine exactly which job within that occupational category will give you the most satisfaction.