The Bookseller.com

18th May 2008

John Lees is author of a range of careers books: How To Get A Job You’ll Love, Take Control of Your Career, Job Interviews: Top Answers to Tough Questions and Why You? CV Messages to Win Jobs (McGraw-Hill). His website is johnleescareers.com.

Getting that first job

28.03.08

If you want an average career, follow the herd, and adopt an average job search.  It’s too easy to settle for playing the job market by lottery rules.  If you just chase advertised jobs in the book trade you may be up against 400-plus other applicants.  With those odds, it doesn’t matter if you have the best CV in the world.  Rejection leads to loss of confidence, and it’s easy to start trashing your goals.

Getting your first job in a competitive sector starts with research before job search. How well do you know the sector you are trying to get into? Candidates who get offered jobs demonstrate in-depth knowledge of who and what is going on. You should, at the drop of a hat, demonstrate knowledge about the key organisations and players, and the latest trends in your sector.

The second key factor is hunger to succeed. A recruiting employer is often faced with a wide range of candidates with similar skills and experience, and wants an answer to the question Why You? Talk to people who have broken into tough sectors like publishing and the media and you discover that the ones who get shortlisted are the ones who can demonstrate a hunger to find out more and do more. Take whatever opportunities you can to undertake short-term placements or visits. Seek out pathfinders – people who qualified just a year or two back and are now in the trade – find out how they did it.

Effective career changers know that a multi-strategy approach works best:

1    Build up a strong relationship with at least six good recruitment consultancies.  Make sure they understand what you’re really looking for, and don’t let them flatter you into the wrong role.  
2    Learn how to interrogate job advertisements, matching your strengths to an employer’s shortlist in a brief, highly focused cover letter.
3    Use good job boards, especially organisations’ own sites, but don’t waste time on the Internet during working hours when you can be following steps 4 and 5.
4    Investigate your choices by talking to people about what’s out there.  Keep asking people ‘who else should I be talking to?’.  Enthusiasm to find new outlets for your talents gets you noticed in the hidden (i.e. unadvertised) job market.
5    Target organisations directly with a well-pitched letter and CV explaining why your strengths and experience are a great match for the role.

For more free career tips see www.johnleescareers.com.
 
JOHN LEES GIVEAWAY

For your chance to win copies of John Lees’ career books, share your zaniest or most traumatic job seeking experiences below - the person with most interesting story overall wins a FREE, 1-to-1 coaching session with John Lees himself!

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