Career Tip: Job Search Essentials – Know What to Look For

Career Tip: Know What to Look For

The job search can be overwhelming, especially when you consider the steps you need to take before actually conducting a search. Once you have your identity established and your resume and cover letter written, the intimidating and time consuming work begins… looking for an actual job.

The best way to identify a position that meets your situation is to study job descriptions for multiple positions and start to analyze what appeals to you and what is realistic for your skill set and life style. If for example, you are applying for a medical assistant position, are you looking to work in a private practice? If so, what type? Where is the practice located? What are the hours? If you aren’t interested in working in a private practice environment, target your search for that preference. In terms of location, if you don’t own a car or prefer public transportation, make sure you check the hours that public transportation is available and take the cost into consideration. If driving, make sure to include bad weather in determining travel time and estimate mileage cost.

In addition, honesty is extremely important when looking for a position. When reading the job descriptions and reviewing the demands and responsibilities for the job, if you truly don’t have the required skill set and/or experience, you may be setting yourself up for unnecessary disappointment or rejection. Overall, you need to have a true sense of what you are looking for when you start your search. Otherwise, you’ll end up being all over the place and feeling the frustration which comes with not being focused.

Where to look for a job is a whole other story which will be featured in our next “tip”. Until then, take a look around… Spring is literally in the air.