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Talking About Your Target Job

6/27/2023

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By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Your Target Job

As you begin your job search, you need to identify key characteristics of your target job. To begin, make sure you do a little soul-searching and have a clear picture of what you want from your next role. For guidance on how to go about that process, check out my article entitled, "​Career Planning: Figuring Out What You Want To Be Next." 

Here are a few of the main pieces of information that will help you move forward:

  • Your target job title
  • Working arrangements: hours per week, job location, remote/onsite/hybrid
  • Company size and industry
  • Key skills you want to use
  • Problems you want to help solve

About Your What I Want Statement

​Now, let’s figure out how to take that information and make it into a clear statement outlining key components of what you want. Remember, the purpose of this statement is to help you clearly communicate what you are looking for in your next work opportunity. The more you talk with people about what you want, the clearer the details of what you are looking for will become for you. 

Your What I Want Statement: Job Title

If you are targeting a specific job title, your What I Want statement might look like this:

  • I’m seeking a full-time technical writer role with a growing software company. I want to collaborate with product management to document new and existing product functionality. I also want to use my skills in knowledge management to optimize knowledge base searchability. 

  • I’m interested in finding a contract social media marketing consultant role where I can help a small to mid-sized business create their social media presence. I want to develop and execute a business strategy to grow audience size and engagement for TikTok and Instagram.

  • I’m currently seeking a full-time technical project manager position that is 100% remote or hybrid/onsite in Baltimore, MD. I would like to work in the telcom or communication industries supporting cyber security projects.

Each of these examples highlights a job title, type of organization, and even the specific skills each person would like to use in their new job. 

Your What I Want Statement: Open To Options

If you are open to multiple roles within different types of organizations, you will write your statement differently. For one, start with the soul searching you did and pinpointing key characteristics of what you want in your next job. Review your list, and prioritize which factors are the most important to you. It could be the type of company you’ll work for, the geographic area, work arrangements, or specific skills that you’ll use more.  

Focus your statement on the aspects that are most important to you. Here are a couple of examples that I have used in previous job searches:

Earlier pandemic, I used the following What I Want statement: 

  • I am seeking a 100% remote full-time learning and development position. I am interested in roles with larger organizations where I can be a strong contributor and leverage my skills in needs assessment, performance consulting, change management, instructional design, and learning facilitation. I am open to roles as a strong individual contributor, managing the learning function, or managing a team. Job titles that may be appropriate for me include Learning Consultant, Learning & Development Lead, or Training Manager. 

For my most recent job search, I used the following What I Want statement: 


  • I’m searching for a Learning & Development role in the greater Omaha, NE area. I have a wide talent management skill set, and I am interested in roles that involve leading a team, player/coach, managing projects and programs, or acting as an individual contributor. My target job titles include Learning Consultant and Learning and Development Manager. I’m also open to similar job titles in the areas of L&D, sales enablement, or organizational development.

Overall, since I wasn't focused solely on one job title, I prioritized what mattered to me and went from there. Notice that I start with specifying the field, and the work arrangements that were most important to me. Then, I reviewed a few key skills I had that I wanted to use, and in one case talked mroe about the employer. Since the goal with these statements is to help communicate what you want, this is a good way to narrow it down so people are better able to help you in your job search. 

Using Your What I Want Statement

Writing a clear and concise What I Want statement can help you as you review job openings you encounter and empower you to prioritize your job applications to those that most closely align with your job search goals. You can also include a version of this statement in the following contexts: 
​
  • Your cover letter
  • Your LinkedIn About section (while in career transition)
  • Emails to recruiters, connections, or hiring managers inquiring about roles
  • Posts asking for assistance in finding a new job

Learn More

  • The Layoff Lady: Career Planning - Figuring Out What You Want To Be Next
  • The Layoff Lady: I Just Got Laid Off--Now What?
  • The Layoff Lady: What To Include on Your LinkedIn Profile
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My Top 3: Tools To Help You Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

6/20/2023

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By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

About Personal Branding

Whether you're actively job searching or just trying to build your professional network, sharing content on social media is a great way to demonstrate your value. By identifying topics that people with your professional focus care about, and finding helpful content on those topics, you will help people associate your name with those areas of expertise. 

While regularly sharing content is valuable, it can also be time-consuming. Here are three tools I regularly use to organize and streamline this process.  

Google Alerts

On LinkedIn, you will share some content that you directly create. This might include a post about an event you attended, your career news, or your observations on a given topic. When it comes to LinkedIn, most of my content includes articles on key topics of interest, with some introductory commentary framing the value I see in the article. 

This means I need to locate and collect those articles to post them as needed.  

One way I locate helpful content on each topic is to set up a Google Alert for keywords or phrases relevant to my professional skill set. Each Google Alert sends you an email with new online content regularly. Here are a few examples of what Google Alerts you may want to set up:
​
  • As a project manager, you may set up alerts for keywords like these:
    agile, change management, project management, scope creep, Gantt Chart.
  • As a salesperson, you may set up alerts for keywords like these:
    social selling, prospecting, lead generation, territory management.
  • As a loan officer, you may set up alerts for keywords like these:
    buying your first house, buying vs. building a house, mortgage programs.

After you identify the keywords for topics that people in your industry talk about, create alerts to keep a steady stream of content coming to you. 

Flipboard

Flipboard serves two essential purposes. First, you can follow exciting topics and see content other users share. Second, you can use Flipboard to create magazines on a given subject area and bookmark content that interests you for later use. 

Here are a few ways you might find content to save in a Flipboard magazine: 
​
  • As a project manager, while scanning a newsletter from the Project Management Institute, you read an article entitled "Top Five Causes of Scope Creep." You save the article in your Project Management magazine for later reference. 
  • As a salesperson, one of your team members mentions an article they found on Hubspot about sales prospecting techniques you should use according to data. You Google the phrase, and save the article you find to your Prospecting magazine to review later.
  • As a loan officer, you run across the newest first-time homebuyer fact sheet from FreddieMac, and save it to your First Time Homebuyer magazine.

Gathering possible information to post when you run across it, organizing it, and making it easy to access later on will save you a lot of time figuring out what to post.

Buffer

While the other two tools are about finding and organizing possible content to post, now let's look at a tool to schedule those posts.

There are several tools available to help you manage social media posts. Currently, I use Buffer. This online platform has a free version that will enable you to manage posting on up to three social media platforms. When my goal is building my professional network and job searching, I focus on LinkedIn. 

Buffer enables you to create, schedule, and update posts as needed. When searching for a new role, I may post as often as daily. When focusing on building or maintaining my network, I may post once or twice a week. The Learn More section includes recommendations on how often and at what times you may want to share content for the greatest impact.

Creating  A Post

When I create a post to share an article, I often include the following details:
  • A short statement framing up the article I'm sharing.
  • A link to the article.
  • One to five hashtags to drive viewership.
  • Optional: a call to action.
​
Here are a few examples:

  • As a project manager, you might post the following:

    I'm a project manager who leads enterprise-wide software implementations and focuses on keeping my projects on time and within budget. Part of that is staying clear on what is "in scope" and "out of scope" for projects.

    Check out this article on the "Top Five Causes of Scope Creep" for a reminder on root causes and how to manage them. Number three is the one I battle constantly: http://www.scopecreeparticleurl.com

    #projectmanagement #scopecreep

  • As a salesperson, you might post the following:

    As a high-personing salesperson, I'm always learning new ways to find new potential clients. This article from Hubspot outlines data-driven sales prospecting techniques you should add to your overall prospecting strategy: http://www.salesprospectingarticle.com

    What is your go-to strategy for prospecting?

    #sales #prospecting #pipelinebuilding #sellallthethings
    ​
  • As a loan officer, you might post the following:

    Buying your first home is one of the biggest financial decisions you will ever make. For a few recommendations on where to start, check out this first-time homebuyer fact sheet on key points for your consideration as you plan.  
    www.buyingyourfirsthomedocument.com

    If you'd like more information on financing your first home, I invite you to contact me at loan.officer@imaloanofficer.com.

    #firsttimehomebuyer #mortgage #buyingahome ​ 

Learn More

  • The Layoff Lady: The Why and What of Posting on LinkedIn
  • How To Set Up a Google Alert
  • Flipboard
  • Buffer
  • Buffer: When's The Best Time To Post on LinkedIn (2023)
  • Hootsuite: How Often To Post To Social Media (2023)
  • The Layoff Lady: I Just Got Laid Off--Now What? ​
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Job Search Insights By The Numbers After Layoff #7

6/13/2023

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By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

I Found a Job!

After 9 months of career transition, I am gainfully employed again! I'm excited to be working in an amazing organizational development role. 

Each layoff and subsequent job search brings its own challenges. Take a look at my lessons learned from this time around. 

New Challenges

  • ​​The prevalence of remote work added a few new challenges and opportunities, to the job search process. For one, removing many geographic restrictions meant more available jobs. For another, more people applying for jobs nationwide means significantly more applicants (and more competition) for those available roles. 
  • For the first time in my career, I accepted an offer and later had the employer rescind that job offer.
  • I actually had two job searches. The search before I accepted job offer #1, then the period of me waiting for the job to start, followed by my re-launched job search and accepting job offer #2. It was like being laid off twice without ever even managing to start one of the jobs. 

Lengths of My Post-Layoff Career Transitions

​People often ask how long a career transition lasts. To give a partial answer to that question, here is my unscientific, skewed-sample-size data on how long each of my periods of post-layoff career transition have lasted.

The time listed starts with my last day of work with my previous employer (aka "Layoff Day") and ends with my first workday in a new role:

  • October 10 - April 8, 180 days (6 months)
  • February 2 - May 27, 114 days (not quite 4 months)
  • June 5 - August 14, 70 days (just over 2 months)
  • October 16 - March 12, 147 days (not quite 5 months)
  • September 22 - December 2, 71 days  (just over 2 months)
  • March 8 - April 27, 50 days (not quite 2 months)
  • September 21 - June 12, 264 days (not quite 9 months)

Overall, my average time in career transition is 128 days (just over 4 months). 
Layoff #7 was the longest one I've had so far, and 3 months longer than my previous record.

Contributing Factors to Length of Post-Layoff Career Transition

There are a few key factors that made this period of career transition longer than after my previous layoffs:
​
  • Time of year: 3 of the 4 times I have been laid off in the fall, I have not found a new role until after the holidays. In general, I find that if I have not accepted a new role before Thanksgiving, it takes me until at least March to land a job. Being unemployed over the holidays adds 1-2 months on to the total time in transition. 
  • Other layoffs: The flood of mortgage company and tech company layoffs starting in the fall of 2022 made the market very competitive with lots and lots of job seekers.
  • Initial focus on remote work only: Early in my job search, I was focusing primarily on roles with 100% remote work. I learned that many of these roles had hundreds of applications since now people from around the country, not just one localized geographic area, were applying. 

The Numbers: Job Applications and Interviews

Given that my previous employer was starting to make organizational changes, including a few rounds of "quiet layoffs," I started to keep an eye out for a new job starting in July of 2022, which I've included in this summary:

  • Total applications from July 2022 - June 2023: 159
  • Applications before layoff: 19
  • Applications after layoff and before accepting offer #1: 104
  • Number of companies who interviewed me at least once before offer #1: 16
  • Number of interviews from all companies before offer #1: 36
  • Job applications I half-heartedly submitted in between accepting offer #1 and having offer #1 rescinded: 11
  • Job applications after rescinded offer and before accepting offer #2: 25
  • Number of companies who interviewed me at least once after rescinding offer: 12
  • Number of interviews after rescinded offer: 20
  • Total number of interviews from all companies from July 2022 - June 2023: 56
  • ​​Most interviews with one company: 6
  • Number of final interviews: 4
  • ​Number of jobs where I was interviewing, and the position went on hold: 3
  • Number of jobs where I interviewed, then never heard from the company again: 3
  • Number of jobs where I interviewed, then found out they could not hire a Nebraska resident: 3

The Insights: More Opportunities and Complexity, Fewer Interviews

One challenge during this job search is the newly added focus on work location--specifically the following labels: onsite, hybrid, and remote. Part of why I felt comfortable relocating from Minneapolis, MN to Omaha, NE in mid-2022 was the prevalence of remote work. I also realized that the definition of "remote" for companies can vary widely. As I reflect on my job search, I wonder how many positions I applied for with companies who were not interested in or able to hire someone who lives in my current state of residence. 

While there are, indeed, many remote jobs available in my chosen field of learning and development, I discovered first-hand that companies and job search sites are not necessarily aligned on what each of these words means. 


​Remote jobs mean more applications for me and way more competition:

  • With previous job searches, which were more limited by geographic area, my goal was to apply for 2 jobs a week. It was easier to prioritize roles.
  • With this job search, my goal was to apply for 3 jobs per week. Many weeks, there were easily 10 jobs from which to choose.
  • While I applied for significantly more jobs, I had a lower percentage of interviews as compared to applications.

The Numbers: Working With Recruiters

Remember, LinkedIn is your billboard to the world. Be sure to make your profile a good representation of what you bring to the table as a job candidate. Have a strong headline that includes the job title(s) that interest you and a few key skills.

​Have your professional summary in the About section, your work experiences, and at least a couple of sentences about each of your previous jobs. This is what recruiters will check after you apply. This is what may come up in a recruiter's search when they are sourcing candidates. Make this count. Here are the responses from recruiters this time around:
​
  • Number of recruiters who reached out to me about roles that made sense for me: 8
  • Number of recruiters who I then talked to about the aforementioned role: 3
  • Number of recruiters who I responded to right before they fell off the face of the earth: 5

My Re-Launched Job Search

In April, when I re-launched my job search, I changed my overall approach. 

  • I was open to a wider variety of job titles and placed a heavier focus on core responsibilities. 
  • I focused on companies with a presence in Nebraska.
  • I was more open to hybrid roles. 
  • I relied more heavily on formal and informal referrals. 

At this point in my job search, I had also built stronger relationships with my colleagues in my Omaha-area professional development groups. When I first launched my job search in the fall, I had only been in the area for 2 months. Between then and April, I had met more people in person, talked with them in meetings, presented to groups, and helped a few of them solve business problems. I'm sure getting to know me better and working alongside me helped them to feel more comfortable speaking to my skillset and recommending me as my job search progressed. 

My Overall Insights

  • Building and leveraging strong professional relationships can only make your job search better.
  • Being open to roles with an in-person component may give you a competitive advantage. 
  • Keep on doing the right things consistently. Remind yourself that over time, something will work out.
  • At the end of the day, you only need one job.  

Learn More

  • The Layoff Lady: Job Search Insights By The Numbers After Layoff #4
  • The Layoff Lady: Post-Layoff Job Search Insights from Layoff #5
  • The Layoff Lady: I Just Got Laid Off--Now What? ​
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What To Include On Your LinkedIn Profile

6/6/2023

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By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Your LinkedIn Profile: Purpose

While your resume is a concise 1-2 page marketing piece intended to showcase your skills as they apply to a specific job, LinkedIn is your professional billboard to the whole working world. 

When actively searching and applying for a job, you’ll include your LinkedIn profile on your resume. Hiring managers and recruiters will often view your profile to see which connections you might have in common and to learn more about you in general. Furthermore, recruiters may source you (invite you to apply or interview for an opportunity) based on the content of your LinkedIn profile.

Whether you are actively applying for a new job or simply building your professional network, it's a good idea to review your LinkedIn profile regularly and make updates to ensure your information is current and complete.

Your LinkedIn Profile: The Basics

Filling in these fields on your LinkedIn profile will make it an even more valuable tool as you build and grow your professional network:
​
  • Profile Photo: This is the primary image, displayed in a circular frame, that represents you on LinkedIn. It should be a headshot—a photo featuring a recent picture of you focused on your face. You don’t need to suit up for this either. Just make sure you’re pictured solo and you look pleasant and hirable.
 
  • Background Photo: When someone views your LinkedIn profile, they’ll see your Profile Photo, front and center, and your background photo along the top of your profile. Be sure to include a background photo aligned with your professional brand. You can even use a tool like Canva to add personalized details to your background. 
 
  • Headline: Your headline defaults to your last job title. I suggest updating it since this is such a high-value space. Consider including your target job title first, then including additional keywords (like skills, focus areas, and your field). Realize that when you comment on someone’s post, they will see your name and the first part of your headline. 
   
  • Experience: Here, you can highlight your recent work experience. For each job, fill in the required fields, including dates of employment. For the description, I suggest putting a sentence or two about what you did and including keywords to highlight your skills further. 
 
  • ​Education: Include the schools attended and degrees earned here. I suggest leaving off years since they are an indicator of your age. Including your schools here is a great way to later connect with people who attended that school.

​Your LinkedIn Profile: Next Level

Here are a few ways to make your LinkedIn profile even more impactful: 

  • ​​About Section: The About section is at the top of your LinkedIn profile and gives you a chance to tell. If you're job searching, this is a great place to include details about who you are and what you are looking for in your next role. You also have room to add additional bulleted points if you like. Write this in the first person (using “I” language) and further showcase who you are professionally. 
 
  • Customize Your Profile URL: By default, your LinkedIn profile's URL (web address) will be long and not very meaningful. You can customize your URL to make it friendly. I suggest using some version of your name. This minor update will look more professional on your resume—and make your profile easier to find. 
 
  • Emojis: While you don't want to add too many cutesy emojis, using these tiny graphics is a nice way to break up longer  bodies of text. By using a unique graphic for a bulleted list, an envelope next to your email address, or a splash of color to divide up long bodies of text, you can leverage emojis to liven up your profile and posts. 
​
  • Skills: Within LinkedIn, you can select up to 50 skills that will be included on your profile. This is another great opportunity to look at keywords included in your job listings for your target role. You can even indicate which skills you used in each job you listed. 

Learn More

  • A Full List of LinkedIn Emojis
  • How To Customize Your LinkedIn Profile URL
  • How to Add and Remove Skills on Your LinkedIn Profile
  • Royalty Free Photos You Can Use on LinkedIn
  • Free LinkedIn Banner Maker from Canva
  • LinkedIn Algorithm Explained & How It Works
  • The Layoff Lady: I Just Got Laid Off--Now What? ​
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    7-time layoff survivor Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady, waxes poetic on layoffs, job transitions, & career resilience.

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