Why Are You Looking for a New Job?

Before diving into any and all job boards with your most up-to-date resume, there are a questions you must face before you talk to any recruiter and submit any application. These answers will help mold how you are going to tackle your job search, and even improve your ability to ace any interview.

Why?

This may seem obvious, but fully articulate to yourself why you are looking for a new job. Are you currently working, but unhappy with your current situation or pay? Is the organization you are working for looking to downsize? Were you terminated due to a disagreement, poor performance, or a reduction in force? You have to fully accept the terms of your departure as unpleasant as they may be.

If you are currently employed, you will not be able to openly promote your availability. This may lead to your departure much sooner than you expected or were prepared for. When applying online, you may want to keep your posted resume set to confidential on sites like Indeed and CareerBuilder. Otherwise, recruiters from your current organization may stumble across your resume on these platforms and notify management. With new features on LinkedIn, you are able to notify recruiters from other organizations that you are currently looking for new opportunities. While networking, I would encourage you build a rapport with your contacts before openly discussing your intention to leave your organization. You never know who they know.

Let’s say you have been terminated for one of many reasons. This situation is clearly unpleasant, but necessary to verbalize. You will eventually go on an interview, and 99% of recruiters/hiring managers will ask why you left your last job. This is your opportunity to prepare for that eventuality. It is critical that your answer does not degrade or criticize your previous employer. Talking bad about your previous employer is a major red flag for hiring managers. Talk about the situation or circumstances that may have occurred. Less is more in this situation.

The positive spin on being let go, is that you can promote yourself like crazy. Post your availability in LinkedIn. Post your resume on job boards. Let your networks know that you are looking for your next conquest!

Now that you have accepted why you are looking for a new role, join me next week to further define that next role.

This post was sponsored by Stallion Consulting Group, LLC.

Stallion Consulting Group provides one-on-one career coaching and training and partners with companies to improve their recruiting processes. Use code HappyHour20 to get 20% off of any career coaching solution. (Code expires 2/28/17)

#JobSearching #CareerBuilder #Indeed #Glassdoor #LinkedIn #networking