Career strategy
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The document discusses career planning strategies from Richard Nelson Bolles' book What Color is Your Parachute?. It provides summaries of Bolles' recommendations for both bad and good career planning approaches. For bad planning, Bolles advises against narrowing options with personality/aptitude tests. For good planning, he recommends broadening options before narrowing down. The document also lists the five worst and best job search strategies according to success rates. The best strategies include extensive self-research, networking through job hunter groups, and informational interviews. Finally, it contrasts the traditional versus Bolles' "creative" approaches to job hunting, interviews, and finding the right job fit.
Career strategy
- 1. Career Strategy Planning and reaching your career
- 2. Bad Planning Most online personality and aptitude tests immediately narrow your range of options. Bolles, Richard Nelson. What Color is Your Parachute? Ten Speed Press. New York. 2013. p.172.
- 3. Good Planning First broaden and clarify your potential horizons and range of options. Then, and only then, narrow options down to two or three of interest. Source: Bolles, op. cit.
- 4. Five WORST job-search strategies # Strategy Success rate 1 Responding to internet job board positions vacant ads 4 to 10% 2 Posting your resume, unsolicited, to employers 7% 3 Responding to job ads in trade and field journals 7% 4 Answering local newspaper job ads 5 to 24% 5 Approaching private search and employment firms, including volunteering and public service entries 5 to 28% See Bolles (2013:25-31) for the detail and his cited evidence.
- 5. Five BEST job-search strategies # Strategy Success rate 1 Extensive homework to better understand yourself, your skills, what jobs suit you and your life direction 86% 2 With support from a job hunter group, identifying fields of interest, then calling or visiting relevant local organisations, to ask how they hire 70% 3 As (2) above, but without support from a group 65% 4 Cold-call door-knocking to smaller employers 47% 5 Asking friends, family, acquaintances for job leads 33% See Bolles (2013:32-37) for the detail and his cited evidence.
- 6. More on Bolles’ “Creative Approach”
- 7. First, the traditional way Your approach 1 What you want A job. 2 How you see yourself As a job beggar. You’ll be lucky to get them. 3 Your clever plan Work out how to sell yourself. Then hunt. 4 Your preparation Research what the market wants and fit in. 5 Which employers to approach Ones that advertise positions vacant. 6 How you contact employers Send your resume. 7 The purpose of your resume To sell you. 8 Your main interview goal To sell you. 9 What you talk about in interview You. Your skills and experience. 10 What you want to find out Will they hire me? 11 How you end the final interview Hanging: “When will I hear from you?” 12 What you do after getting the job. Rest Adapted from Bolles (2013:41-2). Also at www.jobhuntersbible.com/for-job-hunters/category/job-hunter-intro.
- 8. Now, the creative way Your approach 1 What you want A dream job: favourite skills, knowledge and field. 2 How you see yourself As a resource. They’ll be lucky to get you. 3 Your clever plan Work out what job you want, then hunt. 4 Your preparation Identify your personal qualities and job desires. 5 Which employers to approach Ones that interest you: informational interviews. 6 How you contact employers Through someone who knows you and them. 7 The purpose of your resume To get an interview. 8 Your main interview goal Like a first date. Aim: get another interview. 9 What you talk about in interview 50% let them ask questions, 50% you ask. 10 What you want to find out Might we want each other? 11 How you end the final interview Closure: If you agree: organise the job together. 12 What you do after getting the job. Keep hunting, until you are actually in the role. Adapted from Bolles (2013:41-2). Also at www.jobhuntersbible.com/for-job-hunters/category/job-hunter-intro.
- 9. Ten questions to (stop you bogging down trying to) identify your preferred field 1. What sort of problems do you like to solve? 2. What questions do you like to help people find answers to? 3. What knowledge of yours do you enjoy sharing with others? 4. What are your hobbies? 5. What kind of words do you most like hearing and saying? 6. What’s your definition of a fascinating stranger? 7. What blogs, posts, newspaper or articles, do you most enjoy? 8. Which internet sites do you gravitate to? 9. On TV, what categories do you hope game show contestants pick? What educational channels-subjects do you prefer? 10.If you were to write a book, not about any person, what would it be about? Adapted from www.jobhuntersbible.com/for-job-hunters/category/job-hunter-where
- 10. More? Here’s another clear and simple career planning presentation you may find useful. At the end, you’ll see links to more presentations on the same and similar topics.