Part I: The 3 Principles & 22 Factors™ of Job Search

 

What are the elements of a successful job search? The answer may surprise you.

If you asked this question of 100 professionals who are in an active job search, their responses would typically cluster around a half-dozen items such as: “developing a good resume, working with recruiters, finding positions on job boards, networking with colleagues, making the most of LinkedIn, interviewing effectively.”  These answers are correct of course, but only partially correct, and address only portions of one dimension of the search – an area we call “Search Execution.”

As we’ve mentioned before, professionals often “don’t know what they don’t know” about the process of job search.   Unless they’ve conducted a search recently, assumptions and knowledge about managing an effective search often date back to early years in one’s career, or are based on bits and pieces gleaned through friends, colleagues, or recruiters.

On top of this, many accomplished professionals make the mistake of thinking:  “I’ve been successful in my career, and therefore, I’ll be successful in my job search.” Not necessarily.  The skills and know-how required to get the job are rather different than those required to do the job.  It can be a rude awakening.

As we mapped out the successes and challenges of the many individuals we have worked with, we determined that there are three equally important areas that need to be addressed to optimize a job search. Yes, Search Execution is one, and perhaps the most obvious, but there is also the critical aspect of how one best fits in the market — as well as the dimension of managing the emotional roller coaster so often present in the search process. So, our organizing framework for conducting an effective search includes these three equally important areas. We refer to them as the 3 Principles of Job Search success:

  • Principle 1.0 — Market Realities — understanding and capitalizing on how you best fit in the job market

  • Principle 2.0 — Search Execution — developing highly effective and comprehensive job search strategies, tactics, and tools

  • Principle 3.0 — Inner Game — maintaining mental and emotional fitness throughout your job search

For many individuals, it’s tempting to focus exclusively on Search Execution, but we encourage you to not make this mistake. In our experience Market Realities and Inner Game play an equally important role in the outcome.

Each of these Principles is further broken down into “Factors.” We’ve identified a total of 22 Factors that determine success across these 3 Principles, and you’ll learn about them in the following chapters. For now, suffice it to say, that each of these 22 Factors can play a pivotal role in your success and give us the granularity in our framework that enables us to provide you with specific insight and advice. Some of these  will be familiar to you — others will not. Don’t be overwhelmed by these numbers and terms. What’s important to understand right now is that the Job Search Diagnostic™ will identify for you which of the 22 Factors is most important for you to focus on.

Keep in mind that every search is unique; and remember the lesson of the 80/20 Rule -- typically 80% of your improvement will come from focusing on the 20% of the Factors that provide the greatest opportunities for improvement.

So with this framework of job search success in mind — 3 Principles & 22 Factors™ — let’s now move on to more information on each.

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