Job Search Team
Job searching is a lonely endeavor. It doesn’t need to be and it’s so much easier if you have a job search team to help you.
If you were starting a company, you would reach out to various people for advice. You would probably even have a core team of mentors or a board of directors or advisers. These are all people you can count on to help guide you. People you can call when you have a specific question, specialists in various areas where you know you may need some help or are feeling like you just need a sounding board.
Who is on Your Team
The same goes with a job search. Put together a team of friends, family members, career coaches, resume writers, recruiters, etc. As with a board of directors, some of these people will need to be paid. Many of them will be open to just being there for you and helping on an as-needed basis.
Other suggestions for members of your team could be former coworkers or supervisors, members of your church or other groups (e.g., Toastmasters, the Elks, the Rotary, and Masons). Every person you know has connections you don’t know about. Ask politely if they would be willing to “help” you and don’t expect someone to do it all for you.
As a recruiter, I often tell candidates, “Just think of me as part of your job search team. I may have an opening that I think is right for you and I’ll be in touch. If I post an opening and you see it and think it’s right for you, call me!” I have worked with candidates who have connected with me on LinkedIn and see that I know people at a company where they want to work. They call and we talk about whether or not my connections can help provide insight into the company or get them connected to someone who can help them get referred for a specific job. Yes, sometimes that means I get paid by the company for finding and placing a candidate. More often it just means I’ve connected people for free and that’s fine with me. That’s not always acceptable with all recruiters, but it works for me.
My advice is, don’t do this alone. Build your own job search team.