Conducting a Job Search Campaign

What we hope to do in this chapter is provide you the strategies to conduct a job search campaign, and to do so successfully regardless of the strength of the employment market. All too often, job search strategies are written for the status quo - for the average job seeker - well, not this one. While reading this chapter is not going to guarantee you success, it is designed to "raise the bar" when it comes to job search strategies.

People who seem most prepared to begin their job searches have thought seriously about and begun to focus in on what they want to be when they grow up. Career advisers call this self-assessment - a process whereby job seekers introspectively examine both personal and career-related goals, interests, and values. They do so by asking themselves questions like:

• What types of jobs interest me?
• What would be my ideal work environment?
• Geographically, where would I like to be located?
• Which is most important - a high starting salary or financial security?
• How important are "quality of life" issues?...for me to achieve work/life balance?
• What would I like the content of my job to consist of?
• How important is it for me to like the people with whom I work?
• Is it critical for my new employer to be ethical?...for my new company to be socially responsible?
• How important is long-term job security?
• Where do I envision my career headed in the future?
• Will a graduate or professional degree help me attain my career goals?

At the beginning of your job search, it is not important for you to have satisfactorily answered all of these career-related questions. What is important is that you know the questions you need to address and use the job search process as a means of finding some answers.

BASICS OF THE JOB SEARCH CAMPAIGN

The first two things you need to know and do to conduct a successful job search:

1. You need to learn what may be a new vocabulary, including some of the key words that are introduced throughout this chapter. These include: resumes (sometimes targeted) and cover letters, researching employers, people (not computer) networking, interviewing styles, career and job fairs, job listings, career resource library, on-campus interviewing, and alumni career network.
2. You need to visit your career services office (or whatever title it goes by), meet one of the staff members with whom you seem to communicate well, and ask him/her to define the key words above in the context of your school. The counselor will likely ask you some questions to assess your current understanding of and level of preparation for the job search process (e.g., have you prepared your resume, do you know where to find background information related to the employers attending our career fair, are you confident with your interviewing skills, etc.). If he or she fails to ask you questions about your job search status, by all means take the initiative and volunteer the information. Finally, ask the counselor to describe how you, individually, might successfully employ the available career center programs and services to conduct your job search. An important point for you to remember - career services staff are there to provide you with the tools to achieve your career goals. Good counselors, like good teachers, simply guide you through a process of learning.

If you only do the above and you graduate in a year when employers are madly scrambling for new employees, there is a pretty good chance that you will secure a good job. However, you will need to go beyond the basics if you are not fortunate enough to graduate in a "good year." Moreover, you'll need to go beyond the basics to secure a great job.

KNOWING WHAT INFORMATION THE EMPLOYER NEEDS

Typically, conducting a successful marketing campaign means learning what the customer wants, needs, and/or expects from a product or service. Take a look at the following list. It addresses some of those personal characteristics employers are seeking.

Top 10 Personal Characteristics Employers Seek in Job Candidates

1. Communication Skills
2. Work Experience
3. Motivation / Initiative
4. Teamwork Skills
5. Leadership Abilities
6. GPA / Academic Credentials
7. Technical Skills
8. Interpersonal Skills
9. Analytical Skills
10. Ethics

Source: Job Outlook '99, National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)

You need to convey to employers in your cover letters, on your resumes, and during interviewing opportunities that you have these qualities. Think of specific examples that will help you demonstrate that you have them; examine your class work, involvement with campus or community organizations, or work or volunteer experiences. The person who says, "I believe I have strong communication skills" fails to give the employer any supporting evidence. Compare that to, "I believe I have strong communication skills. As the service coordinator for my sorority, I made more than 20 presentations to university and community groups to explain the purpose and goals of our charitable campaign."

This next list focuses on the desired job-related skills employers are seeking, many of which are tangible (e.g., computer, written communication, and career-related work experience). However, determining ways to describe the intangibles on this list, such as your flexibility, may take some thought. Again, one strategy is to describe relevant school and volunteer/work experiences with enough detail to clearly demonstrate that you possess the skill.

Desired Skills Employers Want

(5 = extremely important)

Rank	Skill
4.66	Interpersonal
4.59	Teamwork
4.48	Verbal Communication
4.30	Analytical
4.15	Computer
4.10	Written Communication
4.00	Leadership

Source: Job Outlook '99, National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)

MARKETING YOURSELF - RESUMES AND COVER LETTERS

It may sound impersonal to talk about yourself as if you were a box of cereal, but learning how to effectively market yourself is the single most important element to a successful job search campaign. If you view yourself as the product you most need to sell - focus on your strengths and articulate them in everything you write and say - you can be confident knowing that you are presenting yourself in the most competitive way.

As with the marketing of any product, you need to develop supporting documentation to convince clients that you are worth the investment of their time and energy. The written marketing pieces over which you have the greatest amount of control are your personal resume and the cover letters you develop to connect the resume to the positions in which you are interested. Additionally, the availability of quality word processing and laser printing allows you to produce professional-looking materials that can be customized for each position to which you apply.

The cover letter is used most often to introduce resumes forwarded in response to employment classified ads or other posted job listings (including those on the Internet). Increasingly however, job seekers who attend career fairs or participate in on-campus interviews are providing recruiters a cover letter to accompany the resume they hand over during the fair or interview. What motivates candidates to take these extra steps? They are looking to gain a competitive edge in the employment market.

Whereas the resume is an abbreviated listing of information focusing primarily on your college career (including academics, extracurricular and volunteer experiences, and employment experiences), the cover letter affords you an opportunity to present this information in a business letter format that is grammatically correct. Remember how much importance employers place on communication skills.

Generally, cover letters are no more than one-page in length and contain three or four short paragraphs that address four implied questions: how you learned about the job, why you are interested, how you are qualified, and what steps you plan to take to be considered. Depending on the amount of information you are presenting, paragraphs #2 and #3 can either be combined or separated - it is a judgment call on your part based primarily on how much information you convey. Focusing on each of these paragraphs, here are some important points to remember.

• Paragraph #1: How you learned about the job?
  
  Identifying your source of information about the job is, for the most part, a rather simple and conventional way to begin the dialogue. For employers, it clarifies the intent of your letter as well as gives them some sense of the effectiveness of the various methods they use to advertise employment listings. For you, it affords you the opportunity to specify the job or corporate division or geographic location in which you are most interested. And, if you happen to have been referred and/or encouraged to apply by some influential person in your employment network, identifying the individual by name in this initial paragraph may be beneficial (e.g., your cover letter and resume may be routed more expeditiously through the review process).
  
  
• Paragraph #2: Why you are interested?
  
  There are likely many reasons you are interested enough to take the time to write a cover letter to attach to your resume. For the most part, employers are interested in hearing you address the reasons you are motivated - why this company, why this particular job, why this location, why at this time in your life do you believe you are ready to pursue this opportunity. Remember, among the Top 10 Personal Characteristics Employers Seek In Job Candidates, motivation/initiative was ranked 3rd.
  
  
• Paragraph #3: How you are qualified?
  
  Arguably the most important paragraph in your cover letter, this is your opportunity to relate your qualifications - your academic training, your work experiences, and your extracurricular experiences - to the various skills the employer has outlined in the position description. Using the information listed on your resume as a reference point, you set about to convince the employer your qualifications are not only a good match, but that you are confident you can help the company achieve its organizational goals.
  
  There is truly an art to cover letter writing - a subtle way of conveying information about you, but in ways that address the employers' needs.
  
  
• Paragraph #4: What steps you plan to take to be considered?
  
  

  Much has been written about how to close a cover letter, and many of the examples seem to suggest either passive or aggressive closings. If every employer took the time to respond to every cover letter they received, then a passive closing would suffice. However, employers are often inundated with responses to position listings and often lack the time or resources to respond to everyone. As a way of maintaining control, some job campaign strategy writers recommend a more aggressive tactic.
  
  

  In-between these extremes is an assertive approach that seems to meet the job candidate's need for maintaining some control while, at the same time, offering him/her another opportunity to demonstrate interest and professionalism. Using this approach, you would close the cover letter with a sentence like: Thank you for your consideration of my credentials. I will contact your office in the next ten days to see if you require any additional information regarding my qualifications. About ten days later, you contact the employer to see if their decision process might be expedited by your completing a company application form, or by forwarding a copy of your transcripts, a list of your references, a writing sample, etc. By making this call and offering supplemental information, you are demonstrating sound, professional business skills. And, after you have made the offer, it is quite appropriate for you to then inquire about the disposition of their search process, and in particular, the status of your candidacy.
  
  

SAMPLE COVER LETTER

MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT'S ON CAMPUS

There are probably a number of programs offered annually on your campus that can help you with your job search. While they won't make the process effortless, they can greatly reduce the time, energy, and expense of considering career opportunities on your own. Each has a different objective for helping you achieve your career-related goals and each has a different purpose and value to employers seeking qualified job candidates.

Career and job fairs:

Career and job fairs are often sponsored by your campus career services office, an academic college, a consortium of colleges, or even off-campus commercial ventures. Such events allow employers to collect job search paperwork from a significant number of candidates, talk with people long enough to develop some first impressions, and distribute information about their firms.

Your strategy:

• Wear appropriate attire - some events are formal requiring you to wear interview attire while others are less formal allowing a more casual dress. For the best advice on appropriate attire, seek opinions from your career services staff.
• Prior to the event, review a list of all of the companies attending the program. For those in which you are most interested, conduct some basic research focusing on their major products and/or services, their primary markets (e.g., regional, national, international), and the qualifications they are seeking in their position descriptions.
• For the employers you most want to impress, take several "targeted" resumes, cover letters, and/or academic summary sheets. For other employers take several copies of a strong "general" resume.
• As you approach each firm representative, use a firm handshake and begin by presenting a 30- to 45-second personal introduction highlighting your academic and career interests.
• Use your time efficiently. To gain confidence, start with a few employers who interest you but who are not among your top choices. When you are at the top of your game - focused, articulate, high energy--approach your top choices.
• Ask employers for their business cards, and be sure to jot down key notes from each conversation (use the backs of the cards if you like).
• Afterwards, send follow-up thank-you letters to the employers you most want to impress, and be sure to include key points from the notes you made.

Employer information sessions and receptions:

Increasingly, employers view these types of programs as important introductory and/or pre-interview programs. They are designed to provide a substantial amount of information about their companies, as well as let recruiters meet interviewees and other interested students. The employer's objective makes sense - by providing general information about the company en masse, individual interviews can be focused more on candidates' skills and qualifications. While attendance is not mandatory, an employer's attitude can be negatively affected when a candidate fails to attend.

Your strategy:

• Conduct some basic research on the company. At a minimum, visit the company's web site, read any materials sent to you in advance, and review the company literature on file in your career services office.
• Attend sessions whenever you can, and arrive on time. If you can not attend a session, contact the recruiter in advance to let him or her know.
• Unless the employer specifies otherwise, wear interview attire to the session.
• Use an adapted version of the 30- to 45-second personal introduction you developed for the career fair.
• Find someone in the crowd who you can comfortably approach and ask them to tell you who people are and what they do; then strategize how you can gain the most from the event.
• Take along a few copies of your resume, just in case some representatives ask to see it.
• Collect business cards; jot down key notes on the backs of the cards.
• Listen to the presentation, and reflect on your own academic training and experiences.
• Begin formulating some of the interview questions you might be asked, and practice your responses to those questions.

Off-campus job searches:

For a variety of reasons, on-campus interviewing programs fail to meet the employment needs of all students. Probably the two reasons cited most often by students are:

1. the employers participating in on-campus interviewing are not looking for (interested in) students with my major or career interests; and
2. the types of positions the on-campus interviewing program supports are not of interest to me (i.e., because of job content, geographic location, etc.). So, many students utilize other job search strategies in order to find positions that satisfy their career goals.

Your strategy:

• Begin by contacting your career services staff to learn about and utilize all of the resources available to assist you.
• Meet periodically with a career advisor to keep him/her informed about your search, seek opinions, review updates of your resume and drafts of cover letters, etc.
• Attend career fairs and employer information sessions to become familiar and comfortable with employer interactions in those settings.
• Practice your interviewing skills:
  • rehearse answers to sample interview questions;
  • attend special career services workshops about job interviewing;
  • talk with friends about their interviewing experiences;
  • conduct a "mock" interview with your career counselor (some offices even videotape these practice sessions).
• Keep detailed and accurate notes regarding all contacts you make and the status of all correspondence you transmit.
• Be "active" and use some combination of the various strategies described below.

Job searches away from home:

This type of search can be very time-consuming but also productive. Sending out dozens of resumes with photocopies of cover letters is rarely effective. You are better off targeting your efforts to a particular geographic area and arranging a job-seeking trip.

Your strategy:

• Choose the geographic or metropolitan area in which you want to focus. Arrange when you can go for at least three days.
• Use various sources to identify potential employers.
• Get correct names and titles (by telephone) of key individuals and send them a resume and personal cover letter.
• Follow-up with phone calls to schedule appointments.

Send out your resumes and letters to individuals you identify by research and telephone work, and follow-up with a call. Since you are travelling to their city and paying your own expenses, there is a greater chance that they will put aside some time to speak with you.

Christmas vacation, spring break, and early in the summer are the times students most often use for interview trips. If the target metro area is only a few hours from campus, you can visit a number of times during the year.

Resume referral databases:

For many years, career services offices have been forwarding the resumes of qualified students and alumni to employers. As the capabilities of computer software to store, retrieve, and transmit resumes have improved and gained wider use, the process has become more efficient and effective. While your part in this is relatively passive (your career center forwards your information), referrals represent yet another method to have your credentials presented to potential employers.

Your strategy:

• Keep the resume you have in the database(s) up to date.
• Periodically check to see to which employers your resume has been referred.
• If an employer interests you, customize a resume and cover letter and send it to the employer directly.
• Keep accurate, easily accessible records of all contacts in case you need to follow-up later.

Third-party agencies:

Third parties are businesses that match the employment needs of an organization with prospective employees. The most popular of these, at least among college students and recent graduates, are temporary employment agencies. The reason for their popularity is simple - they do much of the job search connecting work for both the candidate and the employer. Although initial assignments are sometimes clerical in nature, temporary or temp employees can experience a variety of work environments, assess different types of jobs, and eventually determine which types of employers might be a good match for their talents and personality.

Your strategy:

• Interview several agencies to determine which seem most interested in helping you achieve your career-related needs.
• If you have a bad experience at one work site, continue to do good work, but let the agency know you are not satisfied.
• When you find the right match in an employer, volunteer to assume more responsibility, network within the organization, and make your interests known.

MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT'S AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Computers - and in particular the Internet - offer the means to review job descriptions, transmit your cover letter and resume, complete company application forms, submit writing samples, take a battery of aptitude or psychological tests, provide written responses to interview questions, and even receive and accept job offers via e-mail. However, there are some genuine concerns about the security and confidentiality of the personal information you transmit electronically. Discuss these issues with your career counselor so that you can make an informed decision about sending your information electronically.

Jobs on the Internet:

The number of job listings on the Internet is increasing at an astronomical rate. In additional to national databases, there are now regional, state, even city job listing systems. Today, many newspapers include their employment classified ads online, and employers of all types are posting current vacant positions on their company web sites. Many of these sites provide search engines to help you narrow your selections; often such sites include instructions about how to apply - sometimes by mail, but increasingly directly online.

Your strategy:

• For all resumes you post or transmit on the Internet, be sure to use key words to describe your academic, employment, and extracurricular experiences.
• Follow the rules for scannable resumes so your information is readable.
• Whenever feasible, customize your resume and include a cover letter that tells the employer how you are qualified to do the job.
• Read the application instructions and be careful about routinely giving permission for anything and everything to be done with your information. (When in doubt, print the instructions and discuss them with a career adviser.)

Alumni career networks:

Many schools have a group of alumni who have volunteered to provide career-related information to currently enrolled students or fellow alumni. Often, these networks can help you explore and clarify your career options, conduct informational interviews, seek internship and externship opportunities, make valuable connections for employment, even consider graduate and professional schools. Increasingly, these networks are computerized, allowing you to query the databases for information such as academic majors, occupational interests, geographic locations, and/or other key job search criteria. In some alumni networks, the volunteers are able to specify the level of their involvement (for example, some may only feel comfortable providing advice over the telephone while others indicate a willingness to take a more active role in helping you).

Your strategy:

• Be courteous and gracious - volunteers are the most precious of resources.
• Contact the alumni in the manner they prefer and follow the procedures established by your career services and/or alumni offices.
• Use the alumni network as a springboard to develop an even larger job search network by soliciting the names of additional contacts.
• Send your resume, accompanied by a cover letter, anytime you think it might be helpful.
• Send a letter of appreciation after every contact.
• When you graduate, be sure to sign up as an alumni career network volunteer.

Professional associations:

Most, if not all, academic programs of study have national or regional professional associations or societies that provide a variety of services to members (e.g., newsletters and job listings). Some have services to help members network with other members.

Your strategy:

• Be courteous and gracious and follow the procedures established by the professional association.
• If applicable, contact the members in the manner they prefer.
• Use the network as a springboard to develop an even larger job search network by soliciting the names of additional contacts.
• Send your resume, accompanied by a cover letter, anytime you think it might be helpful.
• Send a letter of appreciation after every contact.
• When you graduate, be sure to join your regional or national professional association.

Telephone interviews:

Your ability to distinguish between an employer's telephone call and a telephone interview can make a big difference in whether you get a particular job. Telephone calls from employers might include invitations to attend an information session, participate in an on-campus interview, or make arrangements for an on-site interview. Telephone interviews, however, are just that - they are efficient and relatively inexpensive ways for employers to conduct initial screening interviews, even follow-up interviews. Sometimes, calls are hard to distinguish from interviews, and in a rather casual, unannounced manner you find yourself responding to a set of questions that require as much thought and preparation as would be necessary if you had traveled to the employer's office dressed in your best interviewing attire.

Your strategy:

• Determine whether it is a call or an interview - calls are primarily informational - interviews include job-related questions.
• If it is an interview, decide quickly if this is a good time to talk.
• If not, simply ask if you can arrange a mutually convenient time to conduct the interview.
• Apply your best interviewing skills (even if you are dressed to play tennis).
• Follow-up as you would for any interview.

Electronic mail:

E-mail is widely used in the job search process as a means of communication, and its applications continue to grow. For example, after interviewing on campus, one employer realized that she had selected too many students for on-site interviews. Upon returning to her organization, she contacted some of her hiring managers to develop a list of follow-up questions that might help her further screen the candidate pool. She then e-mailed the list of questions to each student. All of the students responded, and after she and the hiring managers reviewed their answers, they realized that some of the students had much better writing skills than others. Because strong communication skills was listed in the position description as an important and job-related qualification, those students who demonstrated the best writing skills were the ones invited for on-site interviews.

Your strategy:

• Access and read your e-mail at least once daily.
• Take your time replying to official, job-related e-mails.
• If you need assistance, have a draft of your note proofed by someone before cutting and pasting it into your e-mail reply.

Personal URLs:

Personal web pages or URLs share a characteristic with telephone answering machine or voice mail messages--they can leave a great, first impression or a first, last impression. Career counselors hear numerous stories from employers who, after hearing a candidate's "unprofessional" answering message, simply never call again. The same care and cautions can be applied to personal URLs.

Your strategy:

• Regularly review and screen the information on your personal URL.
• Include site information in your resume and/or cover letter especially when it points to some professional work experiences or hobbies.
• Periodically update the information, especially if you include such items as your resume or personal calendar/class schedule.
• Maintain some level of security for your site.

SUMMING UP

According to experts, you can expect to change your job five or more times over the course of your lifetime, so learning how to conduct a job search is something of a continuous improvement process. The more you learn about the process this time, the faster you can get started the next time. And, the more skills you master with this job search, the better able you'll be to integrate and use effectively new strategies in the future.

Dr. James L. McBride, Jr.
University Director, University Career Services
University of Virginia