Thinking Out A Great Job Search Strategy

When you're looking for a job, you might think that a good strategy is to wait and see what develops, and trust that fate will bring you the career that you want. But usually, job seekers who take this approach miss out while more focused job seekers score great opportunities.

There’s definitely nothing wrong with romanticizing the job search process a bit because it pushes you forward when others are feeling pessimistic. However, you can set yourself up for a tough time if you go straight into your job search without doing a bit of planning first.

So how can you create a strategy for yourself? Here are some ideas …

Find Your Passion

One thing many early job seekers don’t think about is what they’re passion really is. They may have spent time studying something in school, but haven’t really discovered what about that “something” makes them want to pursue it professionally.

Until you find a career you're passionate about, you're not going to have much success with your job search. You may be able to get a few jobs to get by, but you will likely find yourself unhappy until you discover what you love. How do you do that? Writing out your passions is one great way to do this. By looking at what you really love, you could really start to pinpoint your job search strategy.

Match Your Passion to Your Job Search

After you’ve taken time to find your passion, it’s time to really gear your job search in that direction. You may have a business degree and be pursuing an accounting job. However, you don’t really like accounting – you’d prefer to be involved in the more creative aspects of business.

Why not consider a job in a field such as marketing, for instance? Most likely, you will be able to speak more passionately about it and may be able to come up with examples of when you used marketing in past jobs, classes or even social and volunteer events you participated in. Remember, a hiring manager can always appreciate when your passion falls in line with the job you’re pursuing – actually, they would prefer it that way.

Use the Correct Language/Keywords on Your Resume

After you’ve pinpointed your passion and have matched it to your job search (meaning, you’ve found some jobs to pursue that fall in line with what you want to do with your life), your next goal is to translate this onto your resume. A great way to get started on this is to look at job postings--as many as you can--and see what's available.

This can make it simple to match what you can provide to what employers are looking for. Remember that keywords specific to the industry are often very important, and you should look for ways to include these keywords in your resume. And also, don’t forget to write in a way that speaks of passion for the job.

It’s exciting to begin searching for a job, but you want to have a strategy along the way. By finding your passion, matching it to your job search and then translating it all onto your resume, you could move that much closer to have a successful job search strategy – and eventually, a successful job.