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Health & Fitness

Begin A Job Search Campaign

Prepare a Resume                                                                                                                                                                           ( Use resources from NhN or hire a professional if you can afford to )

 

Use the assessment form to determine your career direction

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(A clear understanding of your skills and those companies)

 

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Order personal business cards  

(Suggested resources:  Vistaprint.com - office supply stores or local printers)

 

Prepare a Marketing Plan.  This can be used when you are speaking with colleagues and contacts, who can help you make connections in your industry and/or in companies you want to target.  Plan should include:

 

Professional Objective

Preferred Functions

Positioning Statement

Areas of Expertise

Representative Accomplishments

Target Characteristics (to include Geographic Locations; Industry or Type of     

Organization; Organizational Culture)

                Candidate Networking Profile

 

Prepare a Target List of companies – establish distances from home, industries, company names, do research on them, bring list to weekly meetings so you can talk from it.

 

Prepare both a 30 second and a 2-minute written "Elevator Pitch" to share and practice with your friends/family/colleagues/and NhN weekly meeting members.                                                                                           (Use NhN template to create yours )

 

Prepare a written list of 6-10 "SOAR" Stories  (Accomplishments you can talk about during an interview - Situation/Obstacle/Action/Results) and memorize them for use during interviews

 

Create a LinkedIn profile and connect with your professional colleagues and other NhN members to build your network. Note: your local library should have written or electronic tutorials on how to set up and use LinkedIn.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                               ( Once you do, join the Neighbors-helping-Neighbors USA LinkedIn Group )

                 http://www.linkedin.com/groups/NeighborshelpingNeighbors-USA-3892534

 

Create a profile on LinkedIn.com, Monster.com, Careerbuilders.com etc... 

 

Consider setting up a Job Alert with Indeed.com, , which culls jobs you specify from all sorts of  job boards, including Monster and Careerbuilder  set up on your specific industry boards.

 

Create list of companies and save their web address so you can check their career/job listings daily.

 

Attend other networking events and learning events and industry specific job fairs.                                                                 

(Search Google to find them where you live for this type of listing on internet. )

 

Join Industry specific groups/associations to continue to build your network and to stay abreast with what is going on in your industry. Join all trade magazine sites for your field.

 

Go to your local DOL and Unemployment/One Stop office and speak to a counselor about what they can offer you to assist with job search (ex: resume writing session, technology classes, etc...) and sign up for all available offerings

 

Go to your local library and speak to the Library Director about available hard copy and electronic tools available for your job search

 

Create a professional email address for yourself and use it exclusively for your job search  (ex: JaneDoe@gmail.com or JohnDoe@yahoo.com )

 

Make your resume file title your name as it is easier for people to find you in their computer files                         (Jane_Doe Resume.doc or just Jane Doe.doc)

 

Consider changing your home and cell phone voicemail messages to be more professional                                              (like it was as if someone was calling your office)

 

Consider working with a Career Coach (fee based) if you can afford it. Make sure that coach has proper credentials, and seek out references from people who have used them.   

 

 

This is not a complete list, but certainly a start that can be built upon. 

 

There are many tools and resources listed on the site on the NhN site :  www.nhnusa.org

 

Many under Library of Documents  

http://www.neighbors-helping-neighbors.com/library-of-documents.html

 

Use the job search tab on site:

http://www.neighbors-helping-neighbors.com/jobsearch.html

 

Book project is underway Smart Job Hunting  www.smartjobhunting.net

 

Free free to email me and tell all your contacts about NhN  - john@nhnusa.org




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