Designing, constructing, and launching a multifaceted job search campaign is crucial to a candidate's job search success. How do you strategically design a campaign that delivers?

By crafting an action plan to guide and track action plan activities. While integrating job search mechanics like resume development, marketing, interview preparation, offer negotiation, etc. are important, your ability to build and maintain campaign momentum is equally critical to landing your ideal role.
 
A well-designed action plan lays out the campaign activities you will complete in a given day, week, month, or year while also offering a roadmap candidate can evaluate to track campaign activity and make any modifications necessary for success. An accountability partner like a family member, friend, career development practitioner, or career coach can offer the support you need to achieve your goals - whether they be landing your ideal job or being selected for promotion.
 
To learn more about developing and executing an action plan that delivers results, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

To prepare success stories aligned with employer requirements, review the job posting to identify the top competencies/skills required for the job then construct a script that addresses each one with an example in the form of a PAR success story. (Attached is a copy of the job posting you shared, highlighting the transferable skills I suggest you focus your efforts towards as well as an introduction to the PAR formula.)

Many candidates make the mistake of describing past or current job duties without validating claims of experience with quantified examples. Many employers use the behavioral interview method to explore real examples of how well you perform in your area of expertise. The behavioral interview method is applied because research studies suggest past behavior predicts future behavior and success on the job. Therefore, the successful candidate will creates informative PAR success story examples that validate how they've previously performed a specific task.

Craft your response using the following formula:
P stands for the problem with which you were faced as well as the inherent challenges,
A stands for the action you took to solve the problem, and
R stands for the result you yielded.

This approach applies regardless of the question you are posed. Naturally, this approach applies when responding to behavioral questions that present themselves something like "Tell me about a time when...", but when you are asked a question as general as "Tell me about yourself" or "What are your strengths/weaknesses", you still should respond with the employer requirements and job duties in mind (see the attachment entitled "Professional Value Proposition" ). For instance, when responding with your strengths, emphasize those that are aligned with the employer need OR when sharing a weakness be sure to identify something not relevant to the position and while doing so talk through how you have adapted to improve in this area.

Remember, every interview response should directly or indirectly emphasize your ability to quickly hit the ground running by offering examples of how you've successfully performed the work in the past. If you reserve time to write and rehearse your answers, your interview responses will be strategically tailored to the core areas of the role.

For more support in preparing for an upcoming interview or performance review, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

Below are a few tips to support your efforts to strategically prepare for your next interview:

¨  Research the company, the job, the industry, and any other pertinent intel to clarify pain points and response strategy.
¨  Practice value statements (developed using the PAR framework) offering specific examples of past accomplishments that relevant
position requirements, organizational culture, and team objectives.
¨  Prepare interview portfolio to include a pad folio with notepad and pen, networking business cards, and copies of updated resume.
¨  Approach the interview like a consultant, offering solutions to pain points.
¨  Prepare closing questions and if appropriate, 30-60-90 day plan.
¨ Send follow up note after the interview.

Our team organizes video and audio conferences to conduct mock interviews and interview strategy sessions. To learn more about this service, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

Before the interview, do your homework! Review the company’s website and learn more about the key personnel, the work they do, their clients, and potential areas where you might be an asset. Google the company. Look for recent news articles about the company. Review the company’s social media profiles (if they exist). Check out the company on Glassdoor.com (www.glassdoor.com) and see what current and former employees have to say. Ask your network for help learning more about the targeted company. If you know your interviewer’s name, Google that too. Check out his or her LinkedIn profile and social media accounts. And prepare a list of targeted questions to ask in the interview — 3-5 questions that demonstrate you’ve done your homework and that, when answered, will give you additional insight into the company.

In the interview, listen carefully. Your interviewer is assessing your fit with the company, but you should be doing the same. You want to make sure that this job is right for you, too! Be prepared to give a “closing statement.” If you’re given the opportunity in the interview, be ready to summarize (in 90 seconds or less) why you think you’d be a good fit for the position. If possible, incorporate in the additional information you’ve learned in the interview itself! Prepare the key points of this closing statement in advance, but practice it until it sounds natural, not canned or rehearsed. And before the interview ends, ask if the interviewer needs anything else from you to help with the decision — a list of references, work samples, a 30-60-90 day plan for what you’d do in the first three months on the job, etc.

And don’t forget that it’s okay to specifically express your interest in working for the company! At the end of the interview, ask what the next step is. You want to know if there is another round of interviews, and when it will begin, or when the hiring decision will be made. Ask if it’s okay to follow-up — and if they’d prefer phone or email?

Immediately after the interview, send a follow-up/thank you note. Handwritten notes are always appreciated, especially if you can mail it the same day (and the hiring timeline allows sufficient time for it to be sent and received). Otherwise, an email follow-up is fine. Express your appreciation for the opportunity to meet, reiterate your specific interest in the job and the company, and confirm the “next step” — whether that’s information you’ve promised to provide, or what you’re expecting from the interviewer.

If you don’t hear back from the interviewer in the time you expected to hear from him or her, it’s okay to follow-up. Just remember that hiring often takes much longer than expected, so don’t be a pest. Be respectful in your follow-up efforts. (“You had mentioned that you thought the second round of interviews would start this week, and I just wanted to make sure that you had everything you needed from me to assist in your decision-making.”)

If you don’t end up getting another interview — or the job offer — try to follow-up with the interviewer to get feedback — specifically, why another candidate was a better fit. You may not be able to obtain this information (busy hiring managers may not take the time to respond), but if you can get this type of feedback, it can be helpful in your overall job search. If you can’t reach the hiring manager, watch who is ultimately hired, and assess that person’s professional profile and see if there was something that might indicate a key qualification (perhaps a certification, or a past employer) that might have set them apart. Sometimes you just won’t be able to tell, however, and you must simply move forward to the next opportunity.

Get in the habit of rewarding yourself for effort, regardless of your results. If you put in the effort, eventually the results will follow. To further clarify recommendations we offer to clients, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

As you clarify your job search goal and action plan, I encourage you to gain a better understanding of your competitive advantage by assessing the demand for your preferred job title and skill set.

Start, by locating one or two job postings that describe your ideal job functions/duties as well as position requirement. This exercise will help you gain a better understanding of the roles you're seeking and the skills employers have identified as critical to performing the outlined job duties.

Only worry about physical location if you intend to immediately launch your search and you are also interested in assessing the number of openings available. If so, pay close attention to the number of opening available that match your target role.

Finally, this assessment allows you to compile a list of target employers seeking your specific skillset and even position you to conduct complementary research to identify area employers that may not surface because their not currently recruiting candidates.

To uncover labor market research that positions you for the win, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

While your LinkedIn profile and resume should complement one another, one should never duplicate the other. An alternate approach you can consider is to write the profile in the first person (e.g., I delivered... we managed... etc.). This approach will allow you to infuse personality into your profile while leveraging Linked  as a social media channel. In addition to the attached personalized suggestions, below are general tips we suggest to immediately improve your LinkedIn profile:

Detail: Confirm your LinkedIn profile is completely up-to-date. Be sure to include relevant quantifiable achievements and keywords to demonstrate your unique value and personal brand.

Be compelling: A summary that succinctly tells your story makes you more likely to turn up in a future employer's search.

Visual: Make your profile stand out by adding rich media (videos, slides etc). Just adding a profile photo could result in 14 times more profile views than someone without!

Volunteering: 42% of hiring managers surveyed by LinkedIn said they consider volunteer experience to be equivalent to formal work experience.

Skills: Remember to showcase your skills. Candidates who add skills to their LinkedIn profile get around 13 times more views.

Stay active: Get noticed by routinely publishing meaningful status updates and other strategic content on the site.

Groups: It's important to join and be active in groups. This looks good for potential employers or clients searching for you, you increase your ability to network with individuals outside your network, and your profile is 5 times more likely to be viewed.

LinkedIn is a critical component of your career management strategy so we enourage you to schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists to discuss approaches aligned with your communication style. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.