Step 1: So, You’re Looking For a Job…
I assume you’ve gone through your self-discovery process and should have some ideas about your goals. Do you? Do you know which industries you’d enjoy working in? Have you considered some companies that might meet some acceptance criteria for you? Do you know where you are willing to live? Have you written down your priorities? (See Step 1) Great! Now, figure out how you’re going to learn about industries and companies that interest you. Build your plan of what you need to know and who you need to talk to even before you build your resume.
After going through a self discovery process you should have some ideas about your goals. You should have thoughts about the industries that you would enjoy working in, some companies that might meet some acceptance criteria, where you wanted to live, and anything else that you found as a priority. Now figure out how you’re going to learn about industries and companies that interest you before you interview.
I’m surprised by how many people I’ve interviewed that don’t know much about what my company does or even who our competition is. I expect that a candidate would have researched the company and hopefully gained an understanding of my corporate function and its strategy. Professionals know what’s important to the business and knows, at minimum, the common problems in the industry related to that job function. Not knowing this basic information identifies the candidate as someone who is not very thorough or as someone who “just wants a job”. It doesn’t show a great deal of motivation.
There is a surprising amount of information on the internet and in trade magazines about every aspect of most industries, and at least the larger companies. You can read articles, blogs, or customer user groups. If you know customers of your target companies, or their competitions, list them out. They could be good interview targets. I’ve even purchased products from a company that I was interviewing with so that I could have some experience and could speak to the pros and cons of their offerings.
Explore your network. Do you know anyone in the industry, or are there friends of friends? You need to start creating a list (if you don’t write it down, it doesn’t exist) of people that would spend time with you. Classify that list by industry, companies, and type of relationship. There are some folks that you will be much more comfortable talking openly with and others that are much more distant relationships. Focus on those that you can openly ask for coaching. Don’t forget to include those people that you’ve identified as customers of your target industry or companies.
Create some type of loose structure to what you want to know. Your research should give you a firm foundation of the businesses that you’re interested in but should also have generated many questions. Write those questions down. If you have more than one industry that you’re targeting, develop separate lists based upon industry and also create separate lists based upon the target companies. These questions might vary based upon the business maturity of the company. For instance, you will probably be interested in the company funding strategy and the current venture capital interest for a start up to understand its market acceptance window. You might want to understand what the market expansion or new market strategies are for a more established company to gauge its potential growth.
You are almost ready to start setting up informational interviews. You’ve gone through a process of self discovery to understand what you want. You have also developed research portfolio on industries and companies that you are interested in working for. You should have summarized this information in was that you can reference. You have also developed lists of potential informational interview targets that will have unique and poignant information based upon direct experience with the industry and companies that you’re interested in. And, you have developed targeted lists of questions that you have based upon your research. You are finally ready to start building your resume.
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