Planning & Strategy III – The Coalface

So we’re all set now in our direction, and it’s time to start the actual process of job-hunting, interviewing, and securing your new position. The following is a compressed, ‘lite’ version of our process that we’ve built and refined over the years, and should provide a good basis for your search. Of course, should you wish further council or services, we are happy to assist.

From our previous articles on the matter, we know ‘where’, ‘what’ and ‘why’, now it’s just ‘how’.

It’s very easy with competition such that it is, to be attracted to every platform available to search for possible roles. We, however, will avoid such traps and distil our choice to several channels only, and focus on them explicitly. Our mantra as always ‘Better the rifle than the shotgun.’.

Your choices will vary considerably depending on industry, and navigating and evaluating your options will be our first step;

1. Ask! Whether colleagues, us, or a humble bit of web-based research, put together a list of likely suspects. Typically, it’ll be a mix of job boards, LinkedIn, industry body sites, and the sites of prospective employers that will provide initial traction and direction.
2. Map your industry. You will wish to understand the scope of opportunity and possibility with contemporary organisations. By all means exclude any company that doesn’t interest you, but you should have a reasonably populous list by process’ end.
3. Build-out the above into your spreadsheet (Lite Version link at bottom of this article)

We can’t give away all our secrets, but this document will absolutely set you on the right path.

You should have by now earmarked several recruitment consultancies as per ‘PLANNING & STRATEGY II’ that you wish to initially engage. Again, do not overpopulate this list. Perhaps somewhat counterintuitively, less is more in this instance. You’ll want to supply them not just with a resume, but a snapshot of key points typically not enumerated in a CV or resume; your ideal next role, type of company, management styles where you excel, core functions, locations you’ll entertain, remuneration, etcetera. How this information is delivered will differ – initial phone conversation, follow-up email, face-to-face meeting, smoke signal – regardless, it needs to be communicated at some point, and it shouldn’t be provided merely reactively, but in a uniform manner.

Lastly, it’s wise to have goals set out explicitly for this phase, along with commensurate timelines (that will shift), for example;

1. Have your complete profile ready (phase one)
2. Footprint industry, advertised roles, and identify possible opportunities (phase two)
3. Identify networking possibilities within said organisations and apply or send through your profile directly (phase three)
4. Hold conversations and prepare for interviews as necessary (phase four)
5. Attend meetings as required.

You should be now in a position that you’ve sufficient intelligence to pursue suitable roles. As for securing such positions, stay tuned for our next series on Interviewing process.