If you are thinking of changing your job or career, chances are you feel stuck, and one of the reasons you feel stuck is that you don't know what you would like to do instead. In fact, you don't even know what you might be qualified to do instead.
That's why you need to learn how to research. You need to research different jobs that sound interesting to you. You need to research different companies you think you might like to work for. And you need to research industries. You don't need to hook your wagon to an industry that may have peaked and will be obsolete in 10 years, after all.
Where do you do all this research? We are so lucky to live in a time when you have most of the answers to these kinds of questions quite literally at your fingertips. Start with Google--or your favorite search engine if Google doesn't do it for you. But start with a comprehensive Internet search and see what you learn.
Don't forget to make the most of your LinkedIn connections and others who might be in your inner circle of friends and acquaintances with whom you could set up an informational interview. In an informational interview, you ask questions about what it's like to work in a specific job, for a specific company, or in a specific industry. Make notes. Learn as much as you can. What you are striving for is to make a smart move into a job you will enjoy with a company you like working for in an industry that you are excited about and has a sunny future.
A resource I mentioned in this episode that can help you refine your resume and help you make yourself a better fit for a job description you may have an interest in was Jobscan.co. Check it out!
#jobsearch #careerchange #jobsearchtips #careertransition
If you are thinking of changing your job or career, chances are you feel stuck, and one of the reasons you feel stuck is that you don't know what you would like to do instead. In fact, you don't even know what you might be qualified to do instead.
That's why you need to learn how to research. You need to research different jobs that sound interesting to you. You need to research different companies you think you might like to work for. And you need to research industries. You don't need to hook your wagon to an industry that may have peaked and will be obsolete in 10 years, after all.
Where do you do all this research? We are so lucky to live in a time when you have most of the answers to these kinds of questions quite literally at your fingertips. Start with Google--or your favorite search engine if Google doesn't do it for you. But start with a comprehensive Internet search and see what you learn.
Don't forget to make the most of your LinkedIn connections and others who might be in your inner circle of friends and acquaintances with whom you could set up an informational interview. In an informational interview, you ask questions about what it's like to work in a specific job, for a specific company, or in a specific industry. Make notes. Learn as much as you can. What you are striving for is to make a smart move into a job you will enjoy with a company you like working for in an industry that you are excited about and has a sunny future.
A resource I mentioned in this episode that can help you refine your resume and help you make yourself a better fit for a job description you may have an interest in was Jobscan.co. Check it out!
#jobsearch #careerchange #jobsearchtips #careertransition
Are you a teacher who's feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? Do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing some other kind of job or perhaps pursuing a whole different career, but you don't know what else you're even qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search. You just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is Kitty Boitnott. I'm a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day-to-day job, but to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. Join me for"Teachers in Transition." In some episodes I'll be speaking to stress management techniques and how you can manage your stress on a day to day basis. In other episodes I'll be talking about career transition. What tools do you need to be successful in a job search when you're moving from one career into a totally different track? These are questions that you need answers to and I can help you find those answers. My name is Kitty Boitnott. Welcome to"Teachers in Transition." Welcome back. This is Episode 47 of"Teachers in Transition." My name's Kitty Boitnott, the owner of"Teachers in Transition" and Boitnott Coaching, and I am going to be talking today about the importance of doing research and asking for informational interviews when you are considering making a career change. Now, I coach teachers who are ready to make a career change, a pivot in their career away from education and into other lines of work. And one of the things that I cannot stress enough that they do and if you are in the midst of a career change or looking for a job, I'm going to suggest the same for you. I cannot under-emphasize enough--or overemphasize enough--the need for you to do research about the job, the company, the industry that you are thinking of transitioning into and finding first-person help in understanding exactly what the job entails, what the company is like to work for and or what the industry trends might be. So, how do you do research? Well, you start out by going to our ever present, best friend, Google or whatever search engine you happen to use and start there. You can do online research around different kinds of jobs that you might be interested in. Um, different companies that you might be interested in working for in different industries that you think you might be interested in pursuing. But you have to know how to do the research. Too many people, and this is, I don't think just teachers. People tend to scan job descriptions. I don't read them. They don't read for understanding, even. They just scan, they look for terms that jump out at them that they go, Oh yeah, I think I could do that. Oh yeah, I know how to do that. Oh, I could learn how to do that. And then they apply for the job and wonder why they never hear back. And one of the reasons that they never hear back is that they're not qualified for the job because it didn't bother to pay attention to the things that they can't do that are in that job description. The things that they might have trouble learning to do that are in that job description. So learning how to read a job description is probably a fundamental key to doing research when it comes to researching different kinds of jobs. The job description will outline to the nth degree the skills that a person needs to have in order to be able to do the job. The kind of background that is required, what kind of experience, what kind of education is required. And if you miss key components of those requirements, you're not going to be considered a viable candidate. Now, the requirements may be different from"preferred" requirements. So you need to distinguish between what is listed as a requirement as opposed to what may also be an addendum, preferences, preferred experience, preferred education. But if you don't at least meet 80% of the requirements, I would suggest that you save your time. And if you don't have to determine whether you're an 80% fit or not at 80% is high. You need to be at least a 60% match. So how do you determine that where you use a handy little tool called Jobscan where you can go to jobscan.co. I'm not an affiliate so I get nothing and commission from sending you to that site, but that is a terrific place for you to go to plug in your resume, plug in the job description and bing- bang-boom, within seconds. You know whether you are a fit for the job or whether you are key elements in your resume that are specifically listed in the job description. Jobscan.co. I'll mention it in the show notes. You need to take a look. The other thing that you need to do besides learning how to read the job description is to pursue setting up some informational interviews with people who are already working in the job that you're interested in who are already working for the company that you're interested in, or at least people who are involved in the industry that you're interested in so that you can learn more about what the job entails, what the, what the culture in the company is like, and what the industry trend is doing. Is it on an upward trajectory for the next 10 to 15 years or is it already peaked and perhaps going down? You need to know these things as you plan for your short and long-term future, regardless of the specific job that you're looking for. You need to pay attention as well to the industry that you are looking to enter. So how do you set up informational interviews? Especially if you don't know anybody right off the top of your head who has the job that you think you're interested in or works in that company or is in that industry or you go to LinkedIn, LinkedIn as a always your friend when you are looking for a new career or a job change. So you start creating connections on LinkedIn. You look for people who have as their, their, uh, job title, the kind of job you're looking for or who worked for the company that you're interested in or work in the industry that you're interested in. So you can do a search for people in your area who have those criteria. You want to send a custom message to them, asking them to connect. And if they do connect with you before you hit them up for a favor as far as getting an informational interview with them, establish a little bit of rapport, um, and send them an article that you think they might be interested in or um, you know, ask them in an email through LinkedIn. You know, what's it like to work for your company? And if they respond, then that can lead to other kinds of interactions. What you ultimately want to go for in an informational interview is to invite someone for coffee and ask them about what is it like to work in that company? What are your specifics of duties and responsibilities? What, what kinds of activities do you do on a day to day basis in that job and what do they think the industry's outlook might be? Are they happy doing what they're doing or are they also looking to make a change? If someone tells you, you know, I've been doing such and such a job for the last 10 years and I'm looking for a change to, maybe that's not a red flag, maybe it is. You need to ask more more questions. Find out more about what it is that that person is not liking, that they're ready to make a change. So, do use LinkedIn to help you to connect with people and then do invite them to ask them for information. Now remember, this is an informational interview. It's a little bit of a misnomer because you are interviewing the other person for information. You are not interviewing yourself for a job and if you're engaged in an informational interview, I recommend that you not hand the person your resume right off the bat. That's not what they're there for. They're there at your request to offer information. They're doing you a favor, so please don't take advantage of that by shoving your resume at them first thing. In fact, I wouldn't take the resume in with you at all if you want to have a copy in your car so that if they ask you for your resume, Oh yeah, I've got it was out in the car then, then you are not being presumptuous. You can go get it, hand it to them at their request, but only at their request. The informational interview is about you as a job seeker, career changer person looking for new direction in your professional life. Seeking information from someone who is already in the job that you think you're interested in already working for the company that you've considered you might like to work for and already it knows information about the industry that you have an interest in pursuing. You are not there to answer their questions about you unless they think to ask them and at the end of the informational interview, if they don't ask you for your resume, don't offer it. Don't ask them for a recommendation or a referral. Just thank them for their time. Be sure you don't abuse their time. If you've asked them for 20 minutes of their time, don't go over 20 minutes unless they indicate that they're having a good time. They don't mind answering your questions and you've developed a decent rapport and you can tell. Usually most people can tell if they're engaged in a conversation that feels like a natural back and forth. You hit it off or you don't. If the first thing asks for questions and if the PR, sorry about the phone. If the person asks questions and you sort of get the ball rolling and suddenly 30 minutes have gone by and they haven't looked at their watch or indicated that they're ready to move on, then keep the conversation going. If you feel like it. But don't abuse their time, their good will, their willingness to meet with you and to talk with you now, if they can't meet you for coffee, ask them if they'd be willing to talk to you for 10 minutes on the phone. Because what you're looking for is information. Is this really a direction that you want to go in? Is the job what you think it is? Because sometimes job titles don't actually describe what the job entails. It's part of your research. When you're starting out fresh as a job seeker or a career changer, you need to know what you're looking for. So jobs, job descriptions may not do it for you. Job titles may not tell you anything. You need to talk to somebody who has firsthand knowledge and and has information that they might be willing to share with you about what that job entails or what it's like to work for that company or what the trend for that industry is. So that's it for do your research. When you are looking for a new career, new job, a new job direction, when you are in the midst of a job search, don't overlook the important step of creating a research plan that will help you to refine your search in such a way that at the end of the day it will save you all kinds of time and money because it will shorten your search. If you are flailing about and applying here and there and everywhere for every kind of job, whether you really understand what it entails or not, you're in for a lot of disappointment, a lot of heartbreak and a lot of wasted time and effort. So create a more direction-focused search by learning upfront what the job entails you made aside. That's not what I thought it was and it's not what I want to do and be done with that particular direction. Instead of going down one rabbit hole after another. And informational interviews can help you to become more laser focused on what it is that you wanna can help you to eliminate options as well as to consider adding other options. So that's it for today. I'll be back next week. In the meantime, if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, please email me and let me know what is on your mind with related to your career change or job search. I'm here at@kittyboitnottatgmail.com. I'd love to hear from them. So there you have it, an episode of"Teachers in Transition." I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope you'll plan to come back. Please subscribe to"Teachers in Transition" so that you can be alerted of future episodes. And let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to specifically cover in a future episode. I'm more than happy to help with individual questions as well. So email me at KittyBoitnott@BoitnottCoaching.com. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. Hi, I'm Kitty Boitnott and this is"Teachers in Transition."