1. Welcome to Isabont 2. Plan your job search campaign.
2.1. What job do you want? 2.2. What company do you want to work for? 2.3. How much time will you devote to the search? 2.4. How are you going to divide your time? 2.5. Do you need a back-up plan? 2.6. How will people contact you? 2.7. What to have scripted? 2.8. Support network.
3. Managing your job search campaign.
3.1. Avoid activity clumping. 3.2. Always set a next action. 3.3. Balancing your activities with your availability. 3.4. Do something different, even totally self indulgent. 3.5. Maintain a hobby, or exercise.
4. Dealing with Procrastination.
4.1. Break tasks down to small enough steps. 4.2. Create little successes for yourself. 4.3. Just do it, it doesn’t have to be perfect. 4.4. Practice in a safe environment. 4.5. View each risk as an experiment. Have fun with it.
5. Networking.
5.1. What is networking? 5.2. The aim of Networking. 5.3. Types of relationships. 5.4. Start networking.
6. Generating list of target companies.
6.1. Researching companies. 6.2. Finding contacts at a company.
7. Informational interviews. 8. Interviewing.
8.1. Preparing for the interview. 8.2. Phone interviews. 8.3. Pre Interview. 8.4. The interview. 8.5. After the interview.
9. Prepare your references. 10. Constructing an elevator pitch.
10.1. Using the elevator pitch in an informal setting. 10.2. Using the elevator pitch when you’re networking by phone.
11. Resumes.
11.1. Types of resumes and their use, when and why.
12. The Chronological Resume.
12.1. The Traditional Chronological. 12.2. The Technical Chronological. 12.3. The Prior Experience Chronological. 12.4. The Education Focus Chronological.
13. The Functional Resume. 14. The Hybrid Resume. 15. Resume sections.
15.1. My contact details. (Required) 15.2. Summary statement (optional). 15.3. Objective statement (optional). 15.4. Selected Achievements. (Optional) 15.5. Key Skills. (Optional) 15.6. Technical skills (optional). 15.7. Employer Section. (Required) 15.8. Position Section. (Required) 15.9. Achievement Section. (Required) 15.10. Education and training. (Required) 15.11. Prior experience. (Optional) 15.12. Membership and affiliations. (Optional) 15.13. Volunteer. (Optional) 15.14. Certificates. (Optional) 15.15. Licenses. (Optional) 15.16. Publications. (Optional)
16. Cover Letter.
16.1. Contact Information and Addressee (Required) 16.2. The opening. (Required) 16.3. The first paragraphs. (Required) 16.4. T-style (Optional) 16.5. Bullets. (Optional) 16.6. Closing Paragraphs. (Required) 16.7. The Closing. (Required) 16.8. Enclosures (Optional)
17. Marketing Letter.
17.1. How to create a Marketing letter. 17.2. The target company section.
18. Reference Letter. 19. Thank you. 20. Acceptance Letter. 21. Rejection Reply Letter. 22. Action Verbs

8.1. Preparing for the interview.

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Your resume will have provided some information to the prospective employer, and will be the basis for much of conversation in the interview. Your preparation should then elaborate on what has already been established in the resume, and bring in other details to portray you in the best light.

  • Review the job description again. You may also consider looking at similar job descriptions form other companies or other roles within the same department to understand the full breadth and depth of the position
  • Conduct research into the company to find out as much as you can about them, and the area/department you will be working in. Extend your company research to include the industry and the other companies in this space.
  • Reach out to contacts you have in the company to get insider information on the interviewers, the process and what you can expect.
  • Plan on which skills and achievements you will talk about and elaborate further. Put the achievement into context and make it more meaningful by telling it as a story; make sure to keep your stories short and concise.
  • Choose your responses to behavioral or situational questions that look to test your soft skills, such as negotiation, empathy, etc. You can use the job description and your research to gauge which questions you likely to be asked.
  • Create answers for some stock questions such as: tell me about your strengths or weaknesses; tell me about yourself; what do you see yourself doing in 5 years time? etc.
  • Prepare questions you want to ask the interviewers. Choose your questions to compliment the answers you’ve already given, make sure you do not ask questions that will derail you.
  • Establish how you will deal with awkward questions about the blemishes or negatives in your past. The worst you can do is to try and hide them, if you’re found out after you’re hired, you are likely to be dismissed. The best policy is to manage the issue up front and either provide a valid reason, or dilute them in the context of everything else you have to offer.

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