Be Creatrive: consider how your skills can fit into the most unlikely places

We all tend to allow ourselves to get stuck in "boxes". We get ideas about where our skills fit and don't realize that there are a great many other places and businesses out there where these same skills might be useful.

A client who had been working in manufacturing for years, moved to the island here where I live to be with his new fiancee, where basically there is no manufacturing. He couldn't think what on earth he could do here. However, this is a retirement location, so health care is huge. He eventually found work cleaning and sterilizing surgical instruments, working for the local Health Authority. Wasn't an obvious move from manufacturing, but it turned out to use the same mechanical skills and attention to detail he has used before.

That is just one example of a creative job search.

Don't allow yourself to be boxed in by where you expect to find work. Instead, look to see what is out there. What companies, what types of work are hiring, then think out which of your skills fit in, and how.

Don't expect the employer to do this when you send in your resume. S/he won't.

Instead, make sure you point out clearly that you have these specific skills that are relevant to the job for which you are applying, even if it's a totally different job than you've had before. It's the skills that matter, not the job title.

But you have to sell the skills Your resume has to be targetted to the job you are applying for, and the relevant skills you have to offer. And when you go to the interview, make sure you are ready to back that up with strong examples of when you used these skills in ways that make sense to this employer and this job.

The limit of this is your creativity. Notice I say creativity ... I am not suggesting any deception. I am however suggesting looking at your skills from a different angle and finding out where else they could fit.
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Informational Interviews: question for the job seeker to ask.

Informational Interviews: questions for the job seeker to ask.

So you're looking for a job, and you've bought into the idea (the GOOD idea) to do informational interviews. You've phoned the appropriate person and arranged a 10 - 15 minute meeting.

What are you going to ask when you get there?

Before you go, write down everything you really want to know from this person.

• How did you get your job?
• What are ways, other than the formal way, to get into this job?
• Have you any tips that might help me get into this type of work?
• What do you like most?
• What is most challenging?
• What do you like least?
• What advice would you give someone getting into this work?
• Any job specific questions, such as what accounting software do you use/ is most widely used in this work?
• What is the salary range? Or, what is a good starting salary?
• Are there any short courses I could take that would make me more employable?
• Is there anything else you think it would be helpful for me to know?
• Do you know of anyone who is hiring at the moment for this work?
  

And the last questions, never to be missed:

• Can you tell me two other people I can talk to about this type of work? and
• Can I mention your name?

Leave when you're time is up, even though you haven't finished your questions ... just jump to the last two ask them, thank the person for their time and their help and leave.

Send a thank you letter within 24 hours, and if you end up through one of the people they recommended, send them another note then to let them know you appreciated the referral.

Remember that you are talking to someone in the same position as you want, or their immediate supervisor. Unless the work you want is in Human Resources, so the people you are interviewing are also in human resources, the person to whom you are talking cannot hire you.

If they say their company is hiring, ask if you may mention you spoke to them when you apply officially to HR for a job.

Keep going. Ask everyone you speak to for 2 other names, and then ask these 2 for 2 other names, etc. This not only has the best chance of landing you a job, it also builds you a network, that properly nurtured can last you a lifetime.

Informational interviews work. Yes, you may get a few rejections, but so what. Keep on going till you find the job you want.

More help finding work.

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