We're going to start today with a look at the stages in the job hunting process. Let's look first at the process from the employer's point of view. Then we'll come back and look at it from your point of view. From an employer's perspective, the process begins with the need. What is the organization looking for? Well simply stated, the best candidate for the job. The need grows into a job description, in which are specified the core competencies needed by a candidate. To these core competencies are added the characteristics of the organizational culture that the candidate should fit into. Finally, a job posting goes out on the organization's website. Perhaps also on the websites of professional organizations, and also job posting sites. The organization may also be working with professional recruiters. Many of the premier tech companies and other large organizations will also scout LinkedIn and related sites, looking for potential candidates. All right now, click. You submit your resume online, what happens next? Most companies follow a standard process that has been carefully designed and constructed. First, your resume is routed automatically to the recruiting specialist assigned to the hiring manager. The recruiting specialist has received extensive training in human resources or HR. The specialists may have years of recruiting experience, but rarely has the expertise in the specific position you're applying for. In a large company, the recruiting specialist often works with several hiring managers, covering multiple open positions. Among their daily tasks, they scan incoming resumes for each open position. A poorly formatted, messy, or otherwise unprofessional resume gets rejected immediately. If your resume passes the quick look test, the specialist will spend another minute or two doing a light read. Sometimes this scan is done electronically by specialized HR software. The scan looks for keywords and phrases that match the criteria given by the hiring manager. These depend on the open position, but they should match the keywords and phrases from the posted job description. If you're thinking along here, you've just realized that the one resume fits all idea is false. We'll talk later about how you keep a resume database, then customize resumes to specific job requirements. If your resume passes the keyword test, it moves on to the screening phase. The recruiting specialist sends your resume to the hiring manager for review. If your resume shows concrete evidence of experience in the core competencies needed for the position, it will move on to the next step. If not, your resume is rejected. The next step will be for the recruiting specialist to contact you to schedule a remote interview, maybe by phone, maybe by Skype. You'll learn more about these interviews later in the specialization. If the phone interview confirms you're qualified for the position, and you show interest and enthusiasm, and you demonstrate an effective communication style, then the specialist will move you to the in-person interview phase. There are many in-person interview formats, and the more senior the position, the more extensive the in-person interviewing process will be. Ultimately, if you succeed in the interviewing process, and this specialization will give you the tools to do just that, then you will turn those interviews into an offer. You may negotiate terms of the offer as appropriate to the position. The more experience you have, the more senior the position, the more room you have to negotiate. Once both you and the organization have accepted the offer, you're hired. Now let's look at the process from your point of view. Remember that the top organizations all have carefully designed systems to find the best candidates. You need an equally well-designed system to find your best opportunities. Who are you? And where might you fit into this world? Of all the questions you will face in life, these are the deepest and most complex. Wherever you are in your life, your job search is best oriented around these questions. What work you want to do? What works can you do? Where in the world do you want to work? And what kind of working environment do you work best? With what kind of people? And what kind of organization? Researching these questions is the first step to finding a job that's right for you. Deciding what you want to do, where you want to do it, and knowing what you have to offer will help you target a job you can excel at and feel good doing. Researching yourself entails identifying your strengths, those core skills that you have proven experience with, whether from work, school, or volunteer activities. You'll learn more about this process in the next module. The kind of environment you work best in should be the kind of environment you seek work in. Do you like a highly structured workplace? Or are you at your best in a more unstructured environment? You'll learn more about that in this module. The kind of people you work best with who will guide your search. Do you feel more comfortable with conservative, low-risk people or are you more an entrepreneurial spirit that seeks high-risk opportunities? You'll learn more about that in this module. Now you start building your list of target jobs. Each target includes a geographic area where you want to work, an organization you want to work for, and the position you're qualified for. You'll learn more about that in course two of this specialization. The larger your list of target jobs, the better your chance of finding a job that's right for you. If you're only going after one position, your search is weak. You should aim for at least 5-10 target jobs at a time. You market yourself to each of the targets you've selected, you get an interview, and you turn that interview into a job offer. You'll learn more about these steps in courses three and four of this specialization. With planning, persistence, and patience, you're hired.
