Personal Strategies for Ex-Service Personnel
Approaching the Market
Once you have completed your Career Assessment exercises and prepared a winning CV you are ready to go ‘to market’. You will already have completed your initial PRP and will be updating it as you move through your resettlement so you have the tools at your disposal for a planned approach. This section will start to explore the different ways of finding jobs, self marketing correspondence and help you plan your job search.
Success in job search results from having a well thought-out strategy and a solid plan of action. While luck sometimes plays a part in landing a job, do you really want to leave something so important to chance? Instead, seize control of your career by taking the next step proactively. With this approach, you can bring the luck, and the jobs, to you!
p>The job market is dynamic and constantly changing, but it has a number of components that basically can be grouped under two headings:
• Visible job market – adverts and recruiters
• Hidden job market – networking and direct approaches.
To access these routes you need to adopt both reactive and proactive job search strategies and do so in a planned and systematic way – think of this as your ‘personal search strategy’.
Three Steps of a Successful Personal Search Strategy
Developing a search strategy involves three important steps, Following these steps will help simplify what is required to create and implement a successful search strategy.
1. Prepare & Research - research the market, you may need to update your PRP in light of knowledge gained
2. Refine & Network - refine your search strategy and maximise networking opportunities
3. Launch & Track - Implement Your Search and Track Progress on a regular basis using your Resettlement Tracker
A personal search strategy might sound rather grandiose but it’s really like any other project you’ve ever tackled. Set a goal, develop a strategy or action plan to achieve your goal, and take it one step at a time, through each of your milestones. Landing a new position will soon seem like a very achievable goal!