their permission
Ask general permission before you start your job hunt. You don’t need to contact them each time, but you may want to remind them you are still looking if your job search drags on. By asking permission, you show respect for them and their busy schedules. Not everyone will agree. Respect their wishes; a half-hearted testimonial is worse than no reference at all!
Letters of recommendation
It might be helpful to get a letter of recommendation that you can show when you go to interview, and that you can use excerpts of in your CV.
Brief them
Do they know what you have been doing in your current and previous jobs? Do they know what you are applying for? It can help to let them have a copy of your CV plus details on the job(s) you are applying for. Give each referee a copy of the CV and cover letter that you sent to the employer. Also, supply each referee with a copy of the description of the job you are applying for and a list of the specific features you would like them to mention to the employer. Make it easy for the referee to help you.
Have correct contact information
Make sure you have all details correct, especially phone numbers and email address. Also be sure you have their correct job title. It may have changed since you were last in touch. It’s more official to include the person’s work rather than home contact details.
Keep them informed
When you know that a referee has been contacted, give them a call to say thank you. Later, let them know if you did or didn’t get the job. Periodically during your career search, send a letter of thanks to your referees, along with an update of how your career search is going. Developing your relationship with them can only enhance what they write about you. This will be a positive reinforcement of your interpersonal skills.
Remember to thank them
When you finally get the job, you can let your referees know how much you appreciated their involvement. This will help them feel good about themselves and make them more likely to help others in the future.
Activity: Decide who will make your best references and get in touch.
Visit the website to download the additional resources:
•Many forms are available to help you keep organised.
CHAPTER THREE: WHAT DO I WANT TO DO?
To some this may seem like a silly question. You bought this book because you want to get a job, but what job exactly? In a recession, not all jobs are attainable. Even worse, many are eliminated. Marie was expecting to get promoted to Land Director, but instead was made redundant when the building company she worked for lost 90% of its value. Kim was made redundant as fewer people were buying houses and she was no longer needed as a legal executive. Roger was made redundant as a sales manager for a car dealership when car sales dropped. They all loved their jobs and wouldn’t have sought a change in position, but their redundancy gave them time to reflect on what they actually wanted to do. Roger was a natural sales person with an excellent track record and found a job quickly, but Marie and Kim took time to consider alternatives and take a fresh look at the job market.
Marie was able to refocus and adjust her skill set and is now working as a project manager in sustainable development. It doesn’t pay as much as she earned before but she has a better quality of life.
Kim looked for work that would make good use of her high level of organisational skills and her legal background. She was fortunate to get two job offers and gained employment making great use of her particular skills and background. Her new job allows her to meet staff from law firms, enabling her to build contacts in case she wants to make a change when the economic climate improves.
Roger used the proactive approach and took another sales position, earning even more than before. Kim found her job in the newspaper and Marie was approached after uploading her CV onto a jobs site.
In a recession, the job you are qualified to do may not be available, so you may not be able to stay on the same career path – no matter how good you are. So you need to think about what else you can and want to do, to refocus skills to suit something else. If you have (or had) a job you hated, this might be the best time to consider doing something different.
Now it’s even more important to be clear on what you want to do. Knowing yourself, knowing more about the job you seek, and being clear about how you match up will dramatically increase your chance of success. If not you will be one of the many who browse through job sites in the hope that something appeals. You must know what you are looking for; it makes it much easier when you meet with people, as you are clear on what you want to do and can clearly state what you seek. This applies when meeting people both in person and on LinkedIn etc.
Being clear about who you are and what you want to do means that all your marketing material – CV, Cover letter, LinkedIn profile – send out the same message. You need to be consistent; everything must have a similar message to increase your chance of getting what you want.
Making a choice – what do I want to do?
You have a choice: to look for something similar to what you have previously done or to do something new, but what?
You will be revising your CV so prepare by doing some analysis.
Skills
Firstly, what do you do well? What are the top skills you have? What are the tasks that you are praised for achieving, and what are you qualified to do? It’s not just about what you have done in your last job; skills can include things you do outside of your main paid work such as a hobby or interest. That’s what led Bruno to follow his dream of becoming a golf pro.
Skills are the things we have learned to do. We gain skills through both paid and unpaid activities. As you think about your skills, don’t just think about the work you do in your day job. You may have gained relevant skills via hobbies (organised a wedding, or a group holiday) or perhaps voluntary work (leader of the Brownies). Perhaps you have entrepreneurial skills and have been selling things online or via market stalls.
Samira said: “My top skills are paying attention to detail, being quick and accurate with numbers and being organised. I’ve got good listening skills and I’m the sort of person that others confide in, I’m creative and like developing new solutions.”
Activity: Make a note of your top skills, if you need help, download the skills exercise from the website.
Some of these skills you will want to keep on using, but there will be many that you don’t enjoy, so cross them out! With the ones that remain, make sure you are specific.
For example, which are better, your written or verbal communication skills? Are your verbal skills better in one-to-one situations or in large groups? Providing an example of this skill will be very useful for revising your CV and at interview.
Organisation: I can organise people, information and events. For example, I planned a conference entertainment programme, negotiated with suppliers and produced publicity materials. (This can then lead to a separate heading of ‘Communication’.)
Identifying your skills reveals all you can do, and editing them determines which truly interest you. Doing this not only keeps you from focusing
