Your ultimate goal is your new job. Yet there will be several steps of completion required along the path to this goal. Following are the basic steps in the job search process:
Establish your career objective
o Self-assessment
Personality
Aptitude
Interests
Values
Identify personal skills and abilities
o Career exploration
Researching career types
Researching industries
Researching geographic locations
Understanding the career requirements
o Career preparation
Academic - major, classes, projects
Extracurricular - activities, clubs, leadership, sports
Experience - work, internships, volunteering
• Prepare job search tools
o Resume
o Cover letter
o References, letters of recommendation
• Find hiring companies
o Identify on-campus employers
On-campus interviews
On-campus job fairs
o Identify off-campus employers
Building and activating a career network
Utilizing employer research materials
Off-campus job fairs
Prospecting and following up on referral leads
• Secure the interview
o Make contact
o Request and confirm interview
• Interview
o Prepare for the interview
o On-campus interviewing
o Phone interviewing
o Company-site interviewing
• Offer
o Post-interview follow-up
o Job offer negotiation
o Accept and begin new job!
Overall, you should seek to master each step of the process so that each employer interview eventually results in a job offer, so that you can choose where you want to work, instead of the other way around. Mastering the job search process will result not only in a job offer, but will also result in the right job for you. This Web site is not just about getting a job. It is about getting the right job.