Winning Strategies for a Successful Job Search

Use these three key steps to ensure a focused and successful job search.

At some point in your career, you will need to embark on a job search. Perhaps you’ve just graduated from college or you’ve been recently laid off; part of your job search will entail identifying, pursuing, and securing a position that fulfills your goals and priorities. Three steps that are critical in the preparation and planning for a successful job search include: defining your career goals, identifying priority companies or organizations for pursuit, and developing key references. This article presents some best practices and strategies for tackling each of these three steps.

Introduction

An effective job search strategy is essential for both newly graduated and experienced engineers when seeking a new employment opportunity. Without an effective strategy, only a few credible leads will likely be identified and, as a result, significant time and effort can be wasted.

The current job search environment is far different than what it was prior to the pandemic. New positions may encompass a full- or part-time work-from-home approach depending on the company’s or organization’s employment policies. Furthermore, interviews and the job hiring process may be done completely online depending on the policies and procedures of the prospective employer. As such, an effective search strategy must consider this new environment.

An individual is likely to change jobs many times during their career (1). “During the world’s transformation from analog to digital, the tenure of an individual’s career went from one person, one company, to one person, many companies,” writes Daphne Schechter (Schechter Consulting, LLC) (1). Given the novel and fast-changing job environment, this article discusses three key aspects of establishing a winning strategy for securing a new position that meets or exceeds the expectations of both the new graduate or the established engineer. Along with the three steps outlined in this article, other factors not discussed that are also instrumental to a winning strategy include developing an excellent résumé, conducting effective interview preparation, and honing salary negotiation skills...