Job Search Strategies, presented by UCF Career Services

Thanks for joining Career Services as we discuss job search strategies. This workshop supports the UCF wellness pillars of purpose, the process of deriving meaning, direction, and fulfillment as an individual, and resilience, the ability to develop and demonstrate skills to adapt to life experiences. Before we get started, let's review what Career Services can do for you. We offer numerous resources to help you explore your major, research careers, and develop an action plan to help you meet your career goals. Our career counselors can help you identify high-impact experiences on or off campus, such as internships, volunteerism, campus involvement, and work experience to help you build up your resume and prepare for the world of work. We also offer assistance with resume writing, job search strategies, interview practice, and networking skills. Thinking of graduate school? We can help you plan and prepare for furthering your education beyond the bachelor's degree as well. Visit our website or contact us for more information. Today we will review reflecting on and setting goals for your career, how to connect your experiences to your career goals, understanding the open versus hidden job markets, strategies to build and grow a network, using online job boards more effectively, how to market your skills, and methods to take action and persevere during your job search. A critical first step before you start looking for positions is to clarify your goals. Who are you and what are you looking for? Understanding how your career choices intersect with your personality and interests can give your job search focus as you target employers that offer opportunities to match your preferences and goals. Once you understand your goals, then you can compare how your preferences match up to the current job market. Are there job openings for those positions and where are they located? Do you need to make adjustments such as gain certain degrees or certifications or relocate to a more popular area for the job? Begin to research and create your list of targeted employers, which companies you want to work for and why. This will help you to target your search for jobs and people better. Reflect on your past experiences to connect them to your current goals. What have you learned that you can take with you to your next job? What do you need to learn to be competitive for your field? Understanding what you've done and how it has prepared you for what you want to do next can help you to identify employers and careers of interest as well as how to communicate to an employer your past accomplishments. Consider on-campus opportunities to continue to gain relevant experience. Here are just some of the places on campus to get you started. Experiential Learning, which manages internships, co-ops, and service learning. Undergraduate Research, engaging in innovative research on topics that interest you. UCF Abroad, study or intern abroad in another country with programs range from one week to year-long experiences. Office of Student Involvement, join clubs or campus organizations, or get involved with volunteer UCF campus activities board, or use other resources to build experience. Did you know that you can start a podcast with UCF's Black and Gold Studios? These and other resources on campus are your opportunity to graduate with academic success and being a competitive candidate for careers and or graduate school. Now let's talk about the hidden and open job markets. The decision maker is the person who is making the hiring decision. This person could be the owner of a company, a frontline manager, a divisional supervisor, the HR manager, etc. This person has a job to fill and wants to make sure the person to which the job will be offered is the right fit and best candidate. The decision maker, like all human beings, is more comfortable with the known versus the unknown. They will search for the best possible candidate in their circle of contacts known directly to them. Why? Because they have first-hand knowledge about those individuals known to them. Who is in their circle? People known directly to the decision maker, such as current or former employees, colleagues, professional contacts through school or professional associations, friends or classmates, etc. If the right candidate cannot be found in their inner circle, then the decision maker will go to the next level of contacts. The middle circle contains people who are known indirectly to the decision maker. These are people who are known directly by people in the inner circle. Direct contacts to the decision maker will refer people known to them. A friend of a friend, for example. The outer circle represents people who are completely unknown to the decision maker and therefore represents a risk. The open job market is a circle of the unknowns, the general public. This is anyone who applies for a job posting listed by public means. The hidden job market is the two inner circles, people known directly to the or indirectly to the decision maker. The hidden job market is a treasure trove of potential networking contacts. It contains who you know and who your contacts know. Professors, supervisors, family, friends, roommates, etc. Also includes professional network of alumni, student clubs or organizations or professional affiliations. Increasing your list of who you know and who knows you can open you up to all kinds of possible opportunities that don't make it to public job boards. When searching for a job, you will want to devote 70 to 80 percent of your time job hunting by networking within the hidden job market. Start by creating a list of who do you know and begin to ask them questions. Are you aware of any open positions with your company? Do you know anyone in your field who is hiring? Who do you recommend I speak with about getting my start as a job type? This will open you up to informational interviews. An informational interview is where you find a professional in a career that interests you and you interview them about their career journey and what a typical day on the job looks like. Ask for referrals from people who you know and then reach out to those referrals for informational interviews to ask them questions like how did you get started in this kind of work? How are you able to advance to your current position? What advice do you have for someone like me who is about to graduate and trying to get their foot in the door? How do you start this conversation? Here is an example of how to reach out to a new contact. Hi Mrs. Jones, my name is Emily and I am currently a student at the University of Central Florida majoring in biology. After researching the industry, I felt I could gain firsthand information about the field by talking to a professional. I found your contact information from LinkedIn's alumni search and think that you would be a significant help due to your experience in the field of biomedical research. Would it be possible for me to conduct an informational interview with you? I have a flexible schedule and I can meet you at your convenience. Conclude this with a thank you note and a way for them to contact you. Also be ready to speak about yourself. You will likely be asked about your past experience, your current postgraduate plans, the fields you want to enter, and why. These informational conversations can easily lead to other opportunities such as job shadowing and internships as you now become someone they know and could therefore potentially refer you to the decision maker. Begin your job search with Handshake. Handshake is a job board but it's only visible to UCF students and alumni which makes it an ideal place to search for jobs that employers post because they seek UCF talent specifically. Along with searching and applying for jobs, you can find upcoming career fairs and workshops that may be of interest to you, particularly any workshops or information sessions led by employers. Plan to attend these and meet the recruiters in person to increase your network. This is extra face time with a recruiter that you wouldn't have otherwise if you'd simply apply to a job posting. Also complete your career interest survey in Handshake so that you can receive more tailored notifications about companies, jobs, or events of interest to you. While we encourage you to spend a great deal more time and effort to the hidden job market, there are some useful strategies to help you navigate the open job market more successfully. Typically the open job market are the online job boards like LinkedIn, CareerBuilder, Monster, Dice, Indeed, HCareers, etc. Spend 20 to 30 percent of the time you devote to job searching to the open job market. Private job boards are like a secret hidden job market within the open job market, so you can find more success if you focus on tailored job searching through company websites, industry-specific listservs, or professional associations and also tools that Career Services provides like Handshake and CareerShift. When using online job boards, be sure to display an updated and complete profile. Upload your most recent resume. Use keywords and filters and then save your searches. Set up email alerts for new job postings. Follow your favorite companies and send tailored notes to recruiters. Do not use default pre-built messages within the system. Handshake should be the first place to look for jobs since these are postings only visible to UCF students and alumni, which means employers use it to recruit UCF talent specifically. Use broad or specific key terms depending on your search. Set your location by city and state or zip code radius and open up all filters to view options like paid roles only, employer open to messaging, accepts OPT, CPT, or will sponsor international applicants, and select job roles or industry types. Don't forget to save your searches and bookmark jobs that interest you. This helps Handshake to learn about your interests and make stronger recommendations for you. LinkedIn is another effective tool for job searching since it pairs your search with networking recommendations. Just like with Handshake, you want to use broad or specific key terms depending on your search. Again, you can set your location by city or state or zip code radius. Open up all filters to view all options like experience level or job type, job function or titles, narrow down by industry type, salary and benefits, or fair chance employer filter for those with criminal backgrounds. Bonus, LinkedIn will show you how many applicants so far and who is in your network that works for the company. Don't forget to save your searches by turning on the job alert. This will help LinkedIn to help learn about your interests and to make stronger recommendations for you. Another tool that Career Services provides is CareerShift. It is not a job board, but rather a job search engine. Kind of like Google Flights or Kayak in that it displays your search results from multiple websites in one place for you to easily find what you need. Using broad or specific key terms depending on your search, you can enter them in the search bar. You can also set your location, search by area, to city, state, metro, region, or zip code radius. You can also open up advanced search to view options such as experience level or job type, job function or titles, narrow down by industry types, salary, or accepting OPT, CPT, or sponsoring international applicants. Don't forget to save your search and bookmark jobs that interest you. You can also set up email alerts to get updates of new openings that match your search criteria. When you are searching for jobs, it is important to use job descriptions as a guide for what you like and don't like about certain positions, but also to update your resume and online profiles. Look for keywords, terms, verbs, skills, qualities, characteristics, anything listed in the job description. If you possess these abilities, then ensure that they are on your resume and online profiles through your summary, your bullet statements, or skill sections. Or research your options for where to learn these skills such as LinkedIn learning. For example, in this sample job posting for a marketing position, highlighted terms include design marketing materials, design social media graphics, maintain brand consistency, meet with marketing director and design team, and other specific tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Canva, Google Slides, problem solving. Things like this should be featured prominently in your resume and online profile. Or if there is something the employer desires that you haven't learned yet, find ways to develop that skill. Let's push a little further. Do you have these skills? If so, make sure to communicate them on your resume and online profiles, as well as during your interviews. These are the top eight career competencies that employers look for most in potential hires. These are from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Many of your classes and assignments already teach these skills. Pro tip, you can use coursework, projects, and assignments as examples of your developing these competencies. For example, communication skills can be learned in class through essays, research paper, reflections, lab reports, and presentations, classroom discussions, and online forums and chats. Equity and inclusion can be developed through projects with or about diverse groups, research on cultures and countries, joining or attending cultural groups or activities. Critical thinking in class may look like research papers, case studies, lab work, or composing lab reports. Teamwork is experienced in class with group projects, joining clubs and organizations, lab groups, class discussions, papers, and activities. Leadership can be developed through becoming a team or project leader for a group assignment, a club or an organization, or a volunteer project. Leaders support classmates, delegates tasks, and lead projects to completion. Technology can be learned and developed by using or learning computer programs, softwares, platforms, servers, etc., using hardware, lab tools, or various technologies with related projects. Career and self-development occurs in the classroom through projects or assignments to learn and understand your career goals. To be a self-advocate, asking for help or clarification or taking on challenges. Independent learning, self-teaching skills needed to be successful in the course or in the job. Professionalism is displayed in class by attending class regularly and on time, participating in class discussions and activities, displaying professional behavior with professors, TAs, classmates, etc., and exuding a collaborative spirit, someone who is always ready to help. While job searching, you will need to market yourself consistently and prominently. Be sure to maintain your online professional presence, including consistency across multiple platform profiles. Develop a strong resume and cover letter and practice your interview skills. Career services is here to help. We have drop-in hours and appointments available for resume critiques and practice interviews. Workshops and career labs are available online and in-house to review job search strategies and employability skills. Remember we talked earlier about developing your list of targeted companies for which you want to work. With Handshake, CareerShift, and LinkedIn, along with other online platforms you may be using, be sure to follow companies of interest to you. These systems will then keep you notified of any new job postings, events, updates, anything regarding those employers. Keep track of your top employers, which is key to identifying new opportunities to connect with them. These tools also allow you to search for alumni, recruiters, or people who are in roles that interest you, and through these searches you can reach out for informational interviews, potential job shadowing, or job openings if they're recruiters. With regard to job searching, more success is found when focusing on searching for who and where rather than the what or the job postings. Take action with your job search by trying multiple strategies. The more diverse your strategies, the more effective your search will be. Use as many resources available to you as possible. Be realistic about timelines. The average job search can take three to six months, so plan accordingly. Networking will significantly reduce this timeline. Stay organized by keeping a document, spreadsheet, or notebook of your list of contacts and notes on when you've contacted them, what jobs you've applied to, and other findings from your employer research. You've got this! The job search process can be tedious and stressful. Remember to give your search daily attention and be persistent. As rejections are likely to occur, learn from them and continue to pursue your goals. If you are circling, circulating your resume and not getting responses, consider having your resume and cover letter critiqued by one of our staff at Career Services. We also offer interview preparation to help you land the job once you've been contacted for an interview. Remember to use all of the resources provided to you and stay connected to your support system. Visit Career Services on a regular basis to keep abreast of upcoming activities and employers that may be visiting campus. Your hard work will eventually pay off. It all begins with a handshake. Handshake is our one-stop shop for virtual career services. All UCF students have a handshake profile. You just need to activate it with your NID and NID password. Use it to search for jobs and internships, view upcoming events and career fairs, follow and contact employers of interest, and to schedule an appointment with Career Services and or Experiential Learning. Thanks again for joining us. We hope you found this presentation helpful in building your online brand and improving your professional online presence. Please reach out to Career Services with any questions at career.ucf.edu or 407-823-2361. You can also find us on social media and follow us for updates and shared resources. Go Knights!