Job search as a process
Jobseekers often get lost in their activities because they do not proceed in a structured way. This starts with the fact that they intend to apply for a job. But before the application comes the job search. This sounds banal, but it is actually quite tricky. Before you start looking for a job, you need to know what interests you. Now it gets complicated. Right from the start: The beginning is a personal and professional assessment. Find out what you would like to do professionally and what kind of working environment suits you. So, you define a profile of requirements for a job and a company. On the basis of the profile, you have worked out, define in which jobs or under which job titles you will find these requirements fulfilled. Perhaps you have defined a job that is new to you; it is therefore a lateral move. What would be the next step in this case? Job search and then application? That would give us the last two steps of the whole process. But there is one step missing in between!
Separation of research and application
The whole process is: personal and professional assessment, market research, job search, application. Job seekers often neglect the market reserach when making lateral moves. Imagine you are interested in a job you have never done before. Can you be sure that this job really suits you? Probably not. Only when we do a job ourselves do we know for sure whether we like it. But you can reduce the uncertainty. If you apply for such a job, you have to find out in the interview whether the job itself appeals to you and whether you want to do it in this company. And at the same time, you have to present yourself in the best possible way. That doesn’t work all at once. So, take an intermediate step: a market reseach or, more concretely, job research. Talk to people who do exactly the job you want to get to know better. This will help you find out if you are really interested. Then you are ready to look for a suitable job and apply. Never skip a step in the process!