If you focus on all of the steps in this process, execute each of them well and repeatedly, you will meet those milestones, and the result will be a job offer you want. My process is very simple – it just isn’t very easy. There are easier ways to find a job, and if you choose those methods over mine, you will get the job you deserve – but not the one you want.
The milestones in the job search process I recommend, in 21 words, are:
- Get interviews with many organizations
- Perform well on those interviews
- Secure a job offer
- Negotiate its terms
- Begin your new job
My simple process is focused on answering one simple question. Every hiring manager is going to ask in his or her own words, “What can you do for me that the other people I’m interviewing cannot?”
All of your job search activities have the goal of you answering that question persuasively. Writing a resume, phoning for an interview, working through a “screening” interview, and practicing your interviewing skills, are all designed to put you in front of that hiring manager and prepare you to answer that question. Your follow-up communications are intended to secure your opportunity to answer that question again for other decision influencers. Even as you negotiate the job offer, the employer is still seeking to confirm by your actions that your answer to that question was accurate.
The process is simple, the work is hard, and success can be yours – if you learn to answer that question correctly, and better than anyone else does. If so, you will have multiple job offers. If not, you will very likely have to settle for a job that is less than you think you deserve. It’s that simple.
