By Kristin Boza
As the country faces an economic downturn for an unknown period of time, finding the perfect job becomes even more competitive. Beverly/Morgan Park resident Megan Connolly, Principal and Senior Consultant with Mercer, LLC in their employee listening practice, recently conducted a webinar, “The Psychology of Finding a New Job,” in partnership with BAPA to help job seekers refine their pitch and strengthen their ability to sell themselves.
The art of business psychology is to think about the human challenges of the workplace and how to solve them through the science of people, according to Connolly. These tips are at the heart of her philosophy to ensure job searchers are presenting their strengths so hiring managers are seeing their potential in a role.
Megan Connolly’s Tips for a Productive Job Search
- Put Yourself in the Hiring Manger’s Mindset. Hiring managers are thinking about what skill set and strengths they need, and job searchersmust actively promote how they will fulfill those needs. Apply for roles where you know you can demonstrate the skills and strengths needed to solve the hiring manager’s challenges.
- Show You Will be a Success on Day One.Ahiring manager is creating a role to help their business solve a problem or challenge. Be the solution! Consider the challenges the business is facing and demonstrate how the role you want will solve it.
- Create a Strong Elevator Pitch. Develop a three-to-four sentence summary of who you are, what strengths and skills you are bringing to the role, and how you have been successful in the past. Place this summary at the top of your resume and LinkedIn profile. Hiring managerswill instantly understand how you can help them solve their business challenges. Don’t wait for a hiring manager to read your entire resume; instead, be upfront so you don’t end up in the “no” pile.
- Focus Your Search. Without focus, you risk applying for lots of opportunities without putting in the effort to demonstrate you thought about this business’s specific challenges and how you can solve them. If you don’t do this work for the hiring manager, it’s guaranteed that someone else will.
- Be Social and Vocal. Tell everyone you know about your job search and practice giving your elevator pitch. You never know where the next opportunity will come from.
- Improve Your Mindset. There is nothing about a job search to be embarrassed about. You are doing everything you can to improve yourself and advance your goals, and that’s something to be proud of!
- Be Polished.Make sure your resume is free from typos or grammatical errors, and be very aware of what you put on social media. When being interviewed virtually, be sure your background is tidy and orderly. These cues show the world that you are a conscientious candidate.
- Make the Job Hunt Your Job. Set goals each day to improve your knowledge about your field. Read articles, participate in conversations, write a blog, and demonstrate that you’regrowingas a professional while job searching. Take some sort of job search-related action every day and be disciplined. Achieving these goals are a little victory each day to keep you resilient and confident.
