Changing Careers? How Can You Get An Interview?

Changing career fields can be daunting, especially in this economy when so many experienced candidates are competing for the same jobs. It can be hard to even land an interview—much less get an offer. However, with the right strategy, it’s possible for you to land the interviews you need and experience success in your job search. How? Leverage your networks. If you’ve maintained a good network of contacts throughout your career, you have a rich source of job leads. You can make some phone calls, but emails are great. Most people are glad to help someone else out. Don’t forget to send along information that could help them, too. Leverage your online social networks. Twitter and Facebook are great sources for job leads. Use Twitter to follow people relevant to your new career: hiring managers, recruiters, top executives, etc. You can Tweet about your own activities in your job search, too. (How else will people know you’re looking?) Facebook is a little less effective, but still worthwhile for contacting your friends who are likely to have friends of their own to introduce you to. Use LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the most effective social network of all. A properly-done profile will highlight your skills and draw hiring managers and recruiters to you. Joining relevant groups and participating carefully in discussions helps you to make connections and become known. This is a fantastic way to contact hiring managers directly, and land interviews faster. Consider ride-alongs. A job shadowing experience is like a mini internship. You can get a real feel for a typical day on the job, and if you have prepared thoughtful questions, you can get some significant insight into what it takes to be successful. They provide you with critical keywords for your resume (and your LinkedIn profile) that will get you noticed by those looking to fill a position. Today’s job search is a numbers game. Keep working the numbers, be creative in your approach, and stay motivated—and you’ll land the job you want.