Job Search Planning: The 5 P's of Job Hunting

 

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Job Search Planning: The 5 P's of Job Hunting

Job search  can come with  twists and turns. Twist like off-again-on-again job search, etc. A situation like that can cause the search to drag on needlessly for a long time. And also compound the stress, pressure and cost of searching for jobs. 

To keep it sane, easily manageable while remaining consistent and averting the usual turns, it is good to have a concrete understanding of what is at stake when hunting for your dream job. That forms  the core of the discussion covered under the 5 P's of Job Hunting.

The 5 P's of Job Hunting

The 5 P's of Job Search shows the key factors that matter when hunting for a job. They include:

1. Positioning
2. Process
3. Persistence
4. Presentation
5. Personality

Positioning

Position is an important aspect of job search that, when done well, will make it getting a job  easy and fast. It is positioning that distinguishes one job applicant from another job applicant. Positioning covers what you say to potential employers about your self and how you say it.

To make a great positioning, you need to identify what makes you valuable to an employer, as well as use that information to  put together a unique value proposition that distinguishes you from other job seekers. Therefore, “pay close attention to the specific requirements  that are listed in the job posting. Then, assess how your skills and professional experience make you a great fit for the position.

Process

Searching for job  is strategic. Instead of applying to all available job postings, focus on vacancies at companies that you admire. “Applying to every single job posting you see can be a big time suck”. Plus, the better the company closely matches your goal, the greater the likelihood of being able to convince  the employer to show  interest in you.

Create a list of your target employers and then research them. Find out what those companies specialize in, who their competitors are, and what their goals are. Doing so will give you the kind of idea/ information you need to impress a hiring manager.

Persistence

Job hunting needs persistence. It can sometimes feel like  a marathon— even top talent can spend six months to a year job hunting (or longer, depending on how tight the industry is) before they land an offer. So, to power through a job search, lots of stamina is needed.

To stay motivated along the way, to prevent twist like off-again-on-again job search, set small, achievable goals in your job search that will give you a sense of progress. For example, connecting with one  new professional in your field of interest each week and strengthening the relationship or attending one networking event a month is a realistic goal that would help you forge valuable relationships in your industry, and leveraging these relationships later on could help you land job interviews.

Presentation

One of the best ways to prove your worth to a prospective employer is by preparing an elevator pitch to deliver at job interviews. An elevator pitch provides concrete examples of how you can apply your skills to improve the prospective employer’s business by showing the prospect how you applied your skills in achieving a related target in your past or present engagement.

For instance, “if you’re in marketing, don’t just say one of your biggest skills is content marketing. Instead, say that you can grow their website’s blog traffic, explain how you’d do that, and then tell them about that one time you doubled a company’s traffic in a year.” 

Use numbers to quantify your achievements. Practice your pitch in order to get comfortable with delivery. 

Personality

Remember  that while you're busy job hunting, companies are also busy  hunting  employee. "Make yourself an attractive target by showing job interviewers who you are as a person—not just a professional. After all, no one hires on the basis of credentials alone, which is why many employers ask applicants to describe their personality."

Try to relate some of your personality traits to the position that you’re interviewing for. So, for a customer service job, you might say, “I’m a problem-solver by nature. My immediate goal when I speak to a customer is to get their issue resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible.” 

For an administrative assistant job, you might say, “I’ve always been an extremely organized person. That served me well in my last job, where my attention to detail helped save the company 10 percent on a major account.”