To often the job hunter gets mired in defining themselves as, "unemployed," or perhaps as a, "job hunter," or they are in "transition." They obsesses about job hunting, worrying about the nuts and bolts of their job search activity and jump from one highly touted best job hunting idea to another.
Available jobs are a variable you have little or no control over, but you can control the way you think and how you market your skills. Prospective employers are looking for problem solvers with strong assurances that the specific job candidate can fill their needs.
So a more effective job hunting approach is to stop talking and acting like every other job hunter. Replace this negative persona with a proactive approach selling your know-how, your problem solving achievements and as an expert in your field.
It will not be your skills or your years of experience that will motivate an employer to hire you, there are too many others with the same skills and many have more years of experience. This is not the way to stand out from a crowded field of competitors.
To raise your job hunting strategy to another level you need to properly market the one thing the employer needs-your know-how. Your ability to solve problems, create solutions and help grow the business are all vital needs that you with your unique skills can provide. When you change your behavior along with your thinking from that of an unemployed job hunter to that of an authority in your field you now move closer to finding the right job.
Your challenge is to show a high level of expertise in your field. Marketing your know-how starts with formatting your accomplishments to clearly demonstrate how you have solved problems or produced a positive result.
Go back over your current and previous jobs and list your accomplishments. Stay away from duties and responsibilities. Did you win any awards? What did you do to earn them? Now write out the results achieved and the benefits provided your employer and the organization. With each achievement quantify the results. You didn't improve something, you increased something by what percent, you did something faster, under budget or you cut costs and improved results.
Now look over your list. Is there a pattern? Does one thing or one key area strike you above all others? This should be your area of expertise. Now your challenge is to discover employers, who above all else, need someone to apply this know-how to their operations.
In addition, develop a summary statement on your resume that communicates your know-how in plain language. It should be crafted so that there is no ambiguity in you ability to generate above average returns on investment.
You now have a primary focus in your job hunting. Your elevator speech, with a bit of practice, will become the center piece in you marketing efforts. In any job interview, by incorporating an achievement into a compelling story, with obstacles overcame and lessons learned, you show yourself as truly a professional and an expert in your field.
Your journey is now complete you've traveled from being a job hunter selling skills to an expert who can solve the employer's problems. By replacing a neutral to negative mental approach in your job hunt to being a proactive problem solver you've now shown you can deliver benefits and value to the prospective employer.
And this is exactly the assurances the employer is searching for. In addition you will have a renewed confidence, you attitude will soar; both are desirable personal qualities that will gain valuable points with the employer.
About the Author:
John Groth has changed careers seven times during his working life. Learn more about changing careers, job hunting tips and career planning at http://careersafter50.com. Discover how others over age 50, built winning career plans and found the right careers by job hunting after 50.
