Our Job Support mission focuses on these items.
Mentor job seekers.
A venue for networking.
Career workshops to build job-search skills.
Resume and handbill development.
Interview guidance and practice.
Elevator speech development and practice.
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” –Eleanor Roosevelt
Our Job Support meetings focus on these items.
- Mentor job seekers
- A venue for networking
- Career workshops to help guide your job search.
- Resume and handbill development.
- Interview guidance and practice.
- Elevator speech development and practice.
- Speakers to education and inform.
Remember – Everyone within 3 feet should know you’re in job search. In these days of COVID-19, that could translate into everyone with whom you communicate by phone or online.
"Tell Me About Yourself" - Time To Roll Out Your Elevator Speech
An elevator speech should be short and to the point — about as long as it takes for the average elevator to get to the top floor of the average building. It should consist of your name, your target profession/job title, your targeted industry, and some target companies. That comes from 24/7 mentor Mark Lyons.
Gene Flynn, who leads Holy Family’s Job Search Coaching, offers this from his Job Search 101 session.
People are often willing to help you, but they need to understand what you are looking for and that you are competent.
- No more than 30-seconds
- Your name
- A clear statement of the position sought
- A brief statement of your added-value or brand
- A short ask for advice
A job seeker needs at least two different versions, one to give to a general audience and a second to give to an industry-knowledgeable person (where you might use industry specific terms and abbreviations.)
Tom Kabarec's Five-Step Networking
Send out 5 solid postings per day – applications, resumes and submissions to companies. Do this outside of the networking hours of 9 to 5 pm.
Have 4 face-to-face interactions with people for networking opportunities. Have coffee or lunch, a one-on-one meeting with someone to get advice, direction and new networking contacts
Attend at least 3 good networking events – similar to Holy Family Job Support – to create new contacts. The goal is to make new contacts with people with whom you may have coffee and share contacts.
Try to get at least 2 interviews per week. That may be a face-to-face, phone or online interview.
Spend some time on yourself! Walk, work out, clean the garage, etc.
DON’T CONFUSE #1 AND #5!
Building Your LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn is a critical piece of your job search toolkit. Building a professional profile takes time and effort. It’s especially overwhelming for people who haven’t been in the job market for the past 10 – 15 years!
Fortunately, Holy Family Job Support has a LinkedIn expert among us. Here are Denis Curtin’s top 10 LinkedIn tips.
- Have at least 501 connections.1001 is even better.
- Include a head and shoulders picture of yourself in your interview outfit.
- Create a custom URL for your profile using your first and last name.
- Join 100 LinkedIn groups including the largest groups with more than 500,000 members.
- Add your Word document resume to your Featured section.
- Add 100 Skills. Request endorsements for each Skill.
- Obtain at least three written recommendations with at least one from this year.
- List your email address at the Beginning of your About section.
- Complete the information in the Open to Finding a New Job section.
- Be sure to add a banner photo at the top of your profile behind your picture.
For more information view the webinar slides posted in the Featured section of Denis’ profile:
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Booker T. Washington