7 Job Search Hacks That Will Help You Land Faster
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Many people thrash around trying to find a job. Here, I speak about 7 job search hacks that will help you land one faster.
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Non-obvious company connections
01:56 Your alma mater
02:28 AI Tools
03:17 Non-digital communications
04:02 Letters, postcards, handwritten notes, in person meetings
04:32 Word of mouth
05:58 Create content
06:27 Set goals
07:27 Outro
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Today I’m going to talk about seven job search hacks that are going to help you land your next job faster. These are tried and true methods that I’ve used with my clients, and they help them find work faster. Not all of them are going to be appropriate for you. However, experiment with them, because they will help.
I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. People hire me for no BS coaching and career advice globally. And a lot of my work is with job hunters. But it’s not restricted to that. I help firms, managers with hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, resolving workplace issues and career transitions. So here are seven of them that I think can help you.
And the first one is reaching out to non obvious company connections. Now, what the heck is a non obvious company connection? It’s one between you and a firm that’s not obvious. These connections can be based on a shared interest. experience, a mutual friend, or even a vendor. So reaching out to them can be a great way to improve your chances because you want to be casting a wider net after you get rid of the immediate connections that you have. So these connections can give you insights into a culture, introduce you to people who can help you get your foot in the door, give you support– there’s a lot of different ways that they can help. And obviously, you can use LinkedIn to find them. So in effect, this is like a second degree connection on LinkedIn. You can attend industry events, talk to some of the vendors that are there, see if they can provide introductions to you. And of course, speak to people that you already know.
The second one is using your alma mater as a way to improve your prospects and connect with your school community. Because your alma mater can help you with networking opportunities, plus getting a sense of community by connecting with people who’ve gone to the same school. So visit your school’s website, attend alumni events, join the Alumni Association, and stay in touch with your professors. It does make a difference.
Third, use AI tools. AI is obviously huge these days, and effects not just simply, well, it affects the job market as well. So you can automate tasks, get help with your decision making. There’s a lot that you can use AI for, to leverage in your search. So one thing is to help you figure out whether jobs are a good fit for your existing resume, and what to do to tweak it. They can help you prepare for interviews, they can help you with negotiations. I’m not going to recommend any tools because you may see this two years from now. And the tools I recommend may be out of date at that point or non existent. But start looking for AI tools to support you.
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Fourth, try non digital communications. Now, non-digital communications. Yeah, the phone, call people from your past who, when they hear your voice, and they hear yours, it just helps to foster a connection. And it’s not like you’re calling up to say ‘hi! I’m looking for a job. Can you help?’ Just it’s uh ‘Hi, how are you? They mention ‘What’s up with you?’ ‘Yeah, I’m looking for a job. But I’m not hitting you up for that. I just wanted to get reconnected with you. If by some chance you happen to hear about such and such, terrific, but I’m not trying to put the screws on you. All I’m trying to do is reconnect because it’s been a long time.’
Letters, postcards, handwritten notes, in person meetings, do something to reconnect with people from your past, so that this way, you’re closer to top of mind. And then after you’ve made that initial connection, don’t let it go fallow like it did before. Reconnect with them with a quick note every few weeks just to say hi, how are you, and bring them up to date on what’s going on with you?
Fifth is word of mouth. Now this is related to people from the past, of course. But often what you do is receive encouragement through word of mouth, and thus it’s a way of activating your network. The people in your field who you know who didn’t come to you from your outreach in non digital ways or even digital ways, but you can connect with people on LinkedIn, attending industry events, ask for recommendations and referrals. And be prepared to talk about your skills and experience. And this is the new elevator pitch. I want you to think of “People hire me for (fill in the blank), because I (fill in the blank).
In my case, people hire me for no BS coaching and career advice globally, because I make things easier for them in a variety of different ways that often relate to job search, hiring more effectively” et cetera. So I truncated it there because he didn’t need to hear me pitch, but I want to give you an idea of how I answer that, because it helps to make it very clear what you do. So come up with an elevator pitch that follows that framework, because it does help you clearly define what it is that you do in a non salesy type of way.
The next thing you should be doing is writing content because it helps you develop writing skills, copywriting, content marketing, you know, it’s it helps to build a portfolio that demonstrates your expertise. But more importantly, shared content on platforms like LinkedIn or on your website, or other sites where they accept content, it becomes a way that you could be located through Google for people looking for a particular expertise.
Lastly, I want to encourage you to set goals for yourself. Do them daily, weekly, monthly. The monthly goals get broken up into weeklies, the weeklies into daily. And of course, you make them specific and measurable, realistic and achievable. And as you go closer to the present, you want to make them smaller, and into more manageable steps. And of course, you track your progress and get enthusiastic and happy about your accomplishments toward achieving your goals.
How many times am I going to reach out to people today, each day in order to achieve my weekly goal or monthly goal? How many jobs am I going to talk to people about or submit my resume for again, look for ways that you can set goals for yourself that will help you achieve what you want and arrive at your destination faster.
I hope you found this helpful. I’m Jeff Altman. Visit my website, TheBigGameHunter.us There’s a ton in the blog that will help you. Plus you can find out about my video courses, books and guides, schedule time for Trusted Advisor Services where you ask me follow up questions or for that matter, you can schedule time for coaching with me. I’d love to help.
Lastly, connect with me on Linkedin at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Have a terrific day and most importantly, be great!
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ career easier. Those things
can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2500 episodes.
Website: https://www.TheBigGameHunter.us (schedule a paid coaching session, a free discovery call or ask questions using my Trusted Adviser Services)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter
Courses: https://www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses
Main YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jobsearchtv
No BS Job Search Advice Radio Podcast: https://anchor.fm/nobsjobsearchadviceradio
Video Podcast of No BS Job Search Advice Radio: Spotify
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffaltmancoach
Medium: jeffaltmancoach.medium.com
Resume & LinkedIn Profile critiques www.TheBigGameHunter.us/critiques
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