Because you are selling a unique “product” (yourself) in your job search, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula to guarantee a job offer. There are, however, common themes to successful job-hunting strategies.
What follows are some general job-hunting tips. Some will resonate with you and some will not. Choose the strategies that make sense for you.
Preparing to Present Yourself
To stimulate your memory of what you’ve accomplished that might be relevant to your job search, try writing out answers to questions like the following before creating your resume or going for an interview.
- What are your strengths? Consider college admission knowledge and experience and special accomplishments. How would these strengths be helpful to a potential employer?
- What accomplishments or responsibilities have spanned your previous positions—managing programs, developing and overseeing processes, implementing new programs, etc.?
Think about the tangible benefits you have achieved for your employer, such as the following:
- Did you complete a major project ahead of schedule and/or keep it under budget? How did you do it, and how did it benefit your organization?
- Did you suggest and/or help launch a new program? How successful was the effort?
- Did you suggest and implement a new way to increase revenue? Do you have numbers to demonstrate your success?
- Did you introduce any new or more effective techniques for increasing productivity? Is your approach being used?
- Did you improve communication—either within the organization or to target audiences? What was the result?
- Did you participate in the recruitment or training of other employees? What did you contribute to the process?
- What are suggestions or recommendations you have made which have been accepted or implemented?
- What professional awards have you won?
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Job Openings and Networking
Sometimes it’s who you know as much as what you know that identifies a job opening. Networking with your colleagues, friends, friends of friends, and family is a good way to get a referral to a potential job opening—sometimes before it’s even advertised.
For jobs in admission, NACAC’s Career site is a great place to begin your search. You can browse openings in high schools, colleges and universities and admission-related organizations around the country.
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Resumes
Resumes are an opportunity to catch the interest of readers—an “advertisement” of your skills enticing potential employers to want to learn more about you and by scheduling an interview.
Resumes may be presented in many different formats, such as chronological—organized by previous positions and experience—and functional—organized around specific skills, knowledge and accomplishments, not positions.
You can combine the chronological and functional methods. For example, you might use a chronological resume to list your job title, your employer and dates of employment, then describe you job and provide bullet-point examples of your accomplishments in that job.
In any case, resumes should:
- Be visually appealing. If resumes are sent electronically through a Web site, layout may be out of your control. However, when you prepare the printed format, the resume should have an attractive, consistent look. If you don’t have a talent for layout, you might want to get a little help from your friends. Consider the use white space, margins, consistent use of font, bolding, underlining, lining up tabs, etc.
- Be easy to read quickly. Most potential employers are skimming resumes quickly. You need to catch the eye of the reader so he/she will want to slow down and read more. Use bolded headings to bring attention to important categories. In a chronological resume, you might want to bold the position title and organization’s name. In a functional resume, the skill categories should stand out.
- Be free of errors. Read it, read it again, then ask a friend to read it.
- Use concise language (not full sentences) to describe your experience or accomplishments. For example, “Established new system for...” Strong descriptive verbs—“marketed, slashed, established”—have a more powerful impact than general or vague verbs, such as, “worked, helped, assisted.”
- Be truthful. Although you should emphasize the positive accomplishments, remember that you will have to explain your resume when you are interviewed. A gross exaggeration could get you in trouble at the interview stage.
- Use language that quantifies your achievements if possible, i.e. tangible bottom-line benefits for an employer. Consider citing budget size, staff size, percentage of increase, number of new clients, number of students served.
- Be different for different fields of work. You want your resume to support your qualifications for the position you are seeking. If you are considering going in a few different directions, you will need different resumes emphasizing different skills or accomplishments.
- Not exceed two pages, unless the resume is really curriculum vitae for an academic position.
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The Cover Letter
The cover letter is where you really focus on the connection between your resume and the specific position (and employer) for which you are applying. Because the cover letter is tailored to the specific job and organization, you should write a new letter for each position.
To begin, read the position description carefully, and then describe what you have to offer that matches the needs of the position and the goals of the organization. Emphasize how you can benefit the employer, not what you want from the position. Consider using bullets to highlight—and make for quick read—of these relevant experiences that are elaborated on your resume. Just like the resume, the letter should be concise, appealing, easy-to-read, and free of errors.
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The Interview
Prepare, prepare, prepare. Although you should not memorize the answers to anticipated questions (you don’t want to sound like you’re giving a speech), you should consider answers to some of the most common interview questions.
Learn as much as you can about the organization and the position. If you have prepared by answering the questions above, you have a good foundation for a successful interview. During an interview, you will want to accentuate the positive and be specific about the strengths, experience, and interest you would bring to this position or this employer.
Common interview questions you should be prepared to answer:
- Why are you interested in this job?
Demonstrate some knowledge of the organization and explain why your background and strengths are compatible with the needs of the position.
- Why did you leave your last job or why do you want to leave your job?
Be brief, truthful and as positive as possible about why you left or why you want to leave. Negative statements about your former boss or employer can hurt you.
- What do you consider to be your greatest strengths?
Discuss strengths that you think will match the jobs—skills that you enjoy using. Be prepared with several examples to demonstrate each strength you want to emphasize. You can also choose examples in non-work settings as long as they support a skill or knowledge area that relates to a work function required for this job. Remember that personal qualities as well as knowledge and skills can be strengths.
- What do you consider your greatest weakness?
This is a tough one. You might answer that you cannot think of any weaknesses in terms of the job. You could describe an example of a work function that you do well enough, but that isn’t your favorite (as long as it’s not required for this job). You could also be prepared with a “weakness” that is can also be seen as a positive attribute.
- What do you consider your greatest accomplishment in the work place?
Be specific about the outcome and what you did to make it happen. If you are an entry level candidate, you can also talk about accomplishments in other settings, extra-curricular, community service, etc.
- Can you give me an example of a crisis or mistake you made and how you dealt with it?
Be prepared with a good example and be sure to explain what measures you have taken to be sure it won’t happen again. Mistakes are humbling but you want to demonstrate that you learn from them.
This is a broad open-ended question. You will want to focus your answer. Emphasize information relevant to the strengths, experience, skills, and knowledge and interests you would bring to this job and this employer. You may wish to rehearse this answer to make sure you are concise and focused. The interviewer will likely pick up on something you say and go on from there.
Asking the right questions can also reveal your interests and knowledge. You’ll want to ask questions that will help you understand the requirements of the job and help you decide whether or not to accept this position if it is offered. It is in your interest—as well as the employers—to find a good match.
Possible questions you might consider asking:
- Can you give me for detail about the position’s responsibilities? What skills are you looking for, ideally?
- Can you describe a typical day’s work or long-term projects that might be assigned to the position?
- Within the areas of responsibility, what are the two or three most significant things you would want me to accomplish?
- What are the biggest challenges associated with this position?
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Follow-up
Thank-you Notes
Thank you notes—either handwritten notes or emails—are not only a courtesy, they’re a great way to remind employers of your interest in the position. The message should be brief but should include a statement about why you are interested and what you could bring to the job. Be sure to send the thank you within 24 hours of your interview.
References
If you have not been asked to send references in advance, be prepared with a typed list of professional references and complete contact information that you can hand to the interviewer if you are asked. Be sure to contact your references to get their permission and tell them about the job so that they are prepared to speak about your strengths in relationship to that position. You don’t want your reference to be surprised. References are strongest if they are professional, not personal, so that the person has some knowledge of the strengths you would bring to the potential position.
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