JOB SEARCH STRATEGIES
Clarifying what you want and what employers want
Deciding what jobs to look for
Most graduates don't feel they are able to pick and choose between jobs. However,
research shows that having a targeted approach to roles that you are passionate
about and well suited to can be far more effective than just applying for what's
advertised. Do you know the full range of jobs available to you and where you might
best fit? To begin, it’s helpful to clarify some things about yourself:

What types of job roles interest you?
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What skills do you have or would like to develop?
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What are your personal strengths?
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What things do you value in a job?

What type of work environment would suit you best?
It is easier to match yourself effectively with what employers are seeking once you
have a clearer idea of your personal attributes, work preferences, skills and
experience. At the Finding career direction link there are a range of resources to help
you reflect on these questions.
What employers look for in graduates
Here is a list of the top 10 criteria most often cited by employers as the main things
they look for when recruiting employees:
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Interpersonal and communication skills
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Critical reasoning, analytical and technical skills
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Teamwork skills
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Leadership skills
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Academic skills
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Work experience and industry knowledge
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Drive and commitment
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Cultural alignment and values
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Emotional intelligence
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Participation in activities in the world beyond work and study
Employers look for a mix of work-related abilities, attitude, personal qualities and
qualifications. When differentiating between applicants for a position, employers look
for the ‘balanced graduate’. Take some time to identify what you have to offer an
employer as you will need to articulate these in your resume and interviews.
“When recruiting graduates, employers are looking for the right attitude I think,
more than necessarily the right skill set. Skills can be learnt and if organisations
have got people with the right attitude then they can change direction, they can
be dynamic, without actually having to re-recruit or put people off. So it’s really
about an attitude of aligning themselves with the organisation’s vision and
actually committing to what the organisation wants to achieve.”
Paul Hodgson
Australian Federal Government
Senior Advisor to the Minister for Climate Change, Industry and Innovation
Job Search: The Traditional Approach
Where to find advertised vacancies
Looking for advertised vacancies is the most obvious strategy in searching for a job.
The primary source for finding these vacancies is the internet. There are
comprehensive job vacancy sites covering a wide range of industries and levels of
jobs. Other sites specialise in a particular field, such as health or environmental
vacancies. There are also specialist graduate vacancy websites, both Australian and
international. Many larger employers and professional associations also list vacancies
on their websites. Many study-related undergraduate and graduate opportunities can
be found on the university’s CareerBoard website as well. You can find links to a large
number of job vacancy websites relevant to your degree at the Find job vacancies link.
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Graduate Programs
In addition to regular one-off jobs with organisations, both the government and
corporate sectors advertise roles for students in Graduate Programs, which usually
involve structured on-the-job training over a period of one to two years. Companies
start recruiting final-year students in March/April, and make offers around the end of
the first semester for positions commencing early the following year.
Many students think that these are the only positions available to graduates,
but only a small percentage of graduates gain employment through these programs.
They are widely advertised and are competitive as large numbers of students apply.
Follow the Graduate opportunities link to find comprehensive information on
companies that offer Graduate Programs. The majority of graduates find employment
in small to medium sized businesses. Their recruitment activities tend to happen more
on an ‘as needed’ basis year-round.
Job Search: Creating your own opportunities
The Hidden Job Market
Can you guess what percentage of jobs is never advertised? You might find it hard to
believe but surveys show that the figure is somewhere between 75% and 80%.
Sending applications in response to job advertisements is not enough in today’s
complex and highly competitive job market. But how do you “get in” before jobs are
advertised?
Getting the job before it’s advertised
“Networking is important as a job strategy because, fundamentally, the majority
of jobs come through networking. Year after year, all the research done by the
big recruiters, the research done by organisations who look at graduate
outcomes, universities and what employers are looking for, consistently show
us that the majority of jobs come via our networks. In fact only about 20% to
30% of jobs come from an advertised position.
“We’ve heard of the term ‘the hidden job market’ and the hidden job
market is our networks. The hidden job market suggests that a job goes through
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an entire process before it actually reaches that magic little advertisement that
a lot of students, and a lot of people who are looking for roles actually set out to
find. So a job really starts as an idea, it kind of starts as a thought or a glimmer
in someone’s eye. Something happens in an organisation – someone resigns, a
new project is signed up, some extra funding is achieved, an expansion
process has been announced. So someone has decided that at some point, in
the very near future usually, we’re going to need some extra talent, we’re going
to need an extra set of hands and we’re going to need some new expertise. So
that’s really where a job starts. Then there’s a whole process which a job will go
through before it gets advertised externally from an organisation, which for an
employer really is the last resort. You know, to recruit for a job through an
advertised means is really expensive. Those ads are expensive, the process is
expensive, it’s long and it takes up lots of time.
“As an employer, your staff are your trusted source of information.
Without your team you aren’t achieving your outcomes for your organisation at
the end of the day. So if you’re looking for new talent and you have your trusted
staff there happy to recommend friends or happy to forward the position to
people they think would be useful, that is where we’re getting the best people.
And that’s where we’re having the least impact on our time, money and our
resources. What we want to do through our networks is to actually find out
about the jobs as they’re going through that process, before they reach the end
result, which is where our CV sits amongst a pile of hundreds or – in some
cases – thousands of others.
“By being open with our networks and actually letting the people around
us know what we’re looking for – and that’s really fundamental – that’s how we
start to hear about positions as they’re a glimmer in someone’s eye or as
they’re being advertised internally, which a large majority of jobs are. The one
element of that is, a lot of the research suggests that while students have an
awareness and students have heard before that only 20% to 30% of jobs are
advertised (the rest come from networks), students continually put the majority
of their time and effort into using those traditional means. They still go on to
SEEK, still get the Saturday paper, still do those things where there’s a nice
little position description, that says the five things they’re looking for, that the
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resume can be written to and responded to. It’s seen as easy and low
threatening but business acumen or using our time in the best way is saying,
‘I’m going to put my resources, my limited resources of my time and energy,
where the biggest outcome is’. If building your networks is where 70% of the
jobs are, then that’s where I’d be putting my time and energy and that’s what I
think networking really is and why it’s important.”
Hayley Angell
hayleyangell.com
Public speaker and presenter - Networking
Research for Job Search
To begin networking to uncover job opportunities, first and foremost some detailed
research is required. The importance of research cannot be understated in the job
search process. It comes down to the difference between taking a targeted versus a
‘scattergun’ approach to job searching; between waiting for positions to be advertised
or working to uncover job leads ahead of other job seekers. The results of your
research will help you to both clarify your career options, and assist in identifying
which employers you could target in your search for a job.
When undertaking your research, identify and draw up a list of potential employers
and key people; build your knowledge of organisations and their needs. This will help
you make informed decisions about which companies you would like to work for.
Review job ads in your profession to get an idea of the skills and abilities the employer
is looking for. Investigate industries and sectors which meet your desired job
requirements and look for those with potential for growth. A good place to start is the
Career options with my degree link.
Use networking to uncover hidden job opportunities
Let’s look at some ways to best use the results of your research and begin networking.
Taking a proactive approach to your job search can give you much more control over
opportunities presented to you and it can actually be faster than relying on the right job
to be advertised. For those of you who shudder at the thought of networking – take
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heart – you do not have to be an extrovert with a huge number of contacts to network
successfully.
“Networking is really having curiosity about people and understanding that
people are a conduit to the information and resources that we’re looking for. I
think networking is about either connecting yourself with people and resources
or connecting people and resources together. It’s a way of finding information
through trusted sources, through reaching out, through asking questions of
people, to learn about the things that you want from your career, to learn about
the things you don’t want from your career, and ultimately to learn about and
find opportunities and jobs. Networking is definitely relationship based and it’s
absolutely about connections. That’s really what networking is for me.”
Hayley Angell
“Networking is building on your relationships and expanding your relationships
rather than simply socialising or attending events or parties and cocktail
functions. I guess a lot of people see networking that way, but it’s really
whatever suits you, whatever’s genuine to you in actually building those
relationships.”
Paul Hodgson
Networking is not about asking people to find you a job, or even selling yourself. It’s
about enlisting other people’s help in your job search by letting them know what you
are interested in, being curious about what they do and how that might connect with
what you want to achieve. Networking is about exchanging information and contacts.
As one of our successful graduates observed:
“It’s not what you know, or even who you know – it’s who knows you!”
Building your professional network
“To begin building a professional network, the first thing you need to assess is
who is in my network? So what I’d encourage you to do is get out a big sheet of
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paper – depending on how big you think your network might be – start with a
really big piece or starting with an A4 is probably fine. Put yourself in the centre,
start to draw out lines and connect up all the areas of your life that make you
you – the sports team you’re part of, your family, university, your part-time job,
the extra-curricular activities you’re involved in – all of those little spheres that
come off the centre that is you. Work through each one and consider – what
does that thing or what does that area of your life, who does that connect you
to? So start with sport – who are the people on your sports team or who are the
people you are connected to through sport? Go to your part-time job – who are
the people you’re connected to through there? So work through all the areas of
your life and start to map out and create a relationship tree of who am I
connected to.
“Now don’t pressure yourself that you’ve got to list every single person
there but it’s really worthwhile to start thinking, now who do I already know.
Every student, regardless of how much professional experience you have
already has a strong network, whether you come from an environment where
you know people who work in the industry you want to work for, whether your
parents have, whether you’re completely starting out or the first in your family to
go to university or to enter into the particular industry that you’re pursuing.
That’s irrelevant, because your network is already powerful and there are
already people that are willing to help.
“A great example is a student that I was speaking to last night – in a
session that I was running about students who gain internships – was that he
gained a position at an architecture firm through his housemate who wasn’t
studying architecture. By simply mentioning, ‘I’m looking for an internship in this
area,’ she knew someone through her parents that was connected to them.
Finding out who we know and just literally seeing them in front of us and seeing
the fact that we already have a powerful network, and asking how do we make
that work for us?”
Hayley Angell
Be a job detective and start talking to people. Communicate with your contacts
through phone calls, chats over coffee or a short meeting at their workplace. Here are
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some other strategies for extending your professional network…
“In extending your network, first think about, ‘well where am I going and what is
it that I want to do?’ Have a look at the discipline that you are pursuing. Starting
with some online research is the best way to go. Most professions require their
professionals, as part of that job, to maintain things like professional
development. Most professions or disciplines have professional associations
that represent them. The first thing to do, I’d suggest, is to jump online and find
out what is that professional body, what is that professional association or
where are those people being trained? Where is it that the people who do the
things that I want to do, where do they congregate? Where do they meet?
Where are the places that they come together? Create yourself a little hit-list of
those places. Those can be physical spaces, or they can be online spaces –
what are those communities in which those people participate?
“Then set yourself some tasks. It can be really overwhelming, so set
yourself a plan and really commit to it on how you can actually start to connect
into those spaces. How are you going to contribute to those online forums?
There’s a great suggestion of always upload before you download. When you
find a community in an area that you want to be a part of and employers that
you want to connect with, what can you contribute? What can you say? What
can you offer? Or what really great, curious questions can you ask that can
draw people out?
“Make a plan for how you’re going to start to participate. Definitely try to
combine some online with face-to-face because that’s where we’re going to
make really powerful connections and really powerful networks and that’s how
people are going to learn more about you and put a face to the name. So you’re
getting out of that resume pile and into someone’s front of mind. Make a
commitment to do this on a regular basis.”
Hayley Angell
Getting the best results from your network
Organise short face-to-face meetings with people you have identified as possibly
being able to help you. These meetings are sometimes called ‘workplace’ or
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‘informational’ interviews and can provide you with valuable information about your
desired career, as well as being an effective way of extending your professional
network and tapping into the hidden job market at the same time.
An outline on how to go about conducting a Workplace Interview can be found
at the Workplace interviewing link. It’s vital to maintain contact with your networks for
them to be able to work for you. Following up with contacts you have met is a crucial
part of networking.
“I definitely think, to do networking, it’s a good idea to follow up. When we meet
someone for the first time, that is just where networking starts. Networking is
about that continuous connection. When you meet someone, exchange
business cards. If you’re at a networking event, you may not be able to do it
every time you meet someone but once you’ve met three or four people or
there’s a bit of a break in conversation, take yourself away and make a note on
the business card about that person. Make yourself some notes about how you
might remember them but also make a note of how you’re going to follow them
up. Was there a website they mentioned that you want to get access to? Was
there a person they said they could introduce you to? Was there a comment
they made about an interesting part of their role that you want to do some
research on? Make notes for yourself about actions if there are things you can
do independently and absolutely make a note of actions that you need to follow
up with them about.
“After the networking event, follow up. This can be the evening when you
get back, or the day you met them, or it can be the next day and if you’re sitting
there on a contact that you met, freaking out because you met them a week ago
and you’ve convinced yourself that it’s too late to make contact, it isn’t. It’s
never too late.
“The best way to follow up is via an email. When we’re writing an email,
four sentences are all you need for a great follow up. The first sentence is
rapport building – where in the world do you know this person from? What was
the name of the event or who was the speaker, or where were you – what’s the
context of your meeting? The second line is focus. What is it that you actually
want to talk to them about? Again – was it a website, was it a contact, what was
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it that you need to follow up with them about? Third is a call to action. What do
you want them to do? Do they need to meet you for coffee? Do they need to
send you something? Do they need to send you contact details? What do they
need to do?
“A handy hint – if you want to make a meeting with them – is to propose
an actual time to meet. If you’re meeting the employer of your dreams, chances
are you’d cancel anything to be there, to fit with their schedule. But if you just
simply say let’s meet for coffee, it’s really difficult for that person to come back
to you and say if they’re available or not. You’re making it really hard to
respond. If you say, ‘let’s meet for a coffee next Tuesday or Wednesday
morning before midday,’ that lets them open up their diary, see if they’re free
and come straight back to you, so always propose a time.
“The third line is the call to action – what do you want them to do? The
fourth line – and this is a bit of an advanced class – is what can you offer them?
Did they mention something that was a shared interest? Did they make a
comment or was there something that you think they might be interested in? Is
there a great article you’ve read? Is there a great YouTube video? Is there
something that you have access to that you can send through to them?
The really easy four step follow up email is:
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build rapport
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focus on what it is that you want to talk about
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offer a call to action
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and add something of value
“That’s a really fundamental way to follow up, really easy and make a
commitment to do it after every networking event that you attend. Another top
tip for networking is to get yourself a business card. Don’t worry, it’s just your
contact details. If you have a name, if you have an email address, if you have a
phone number and you think someone in the world may want to contact you,
then you need to have a business card. There’s no point in sort of scribbling
your number on the corner of a uni book and tearing it out and handing it to
someone. That’s not going to make the best impression. Don’t worry about
what you think. Jump online, find a cheap place or get your best design tools,
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print something up and get yourself a business card, no questions asked. Do it
right now!”
Hayley Angell
E-Networking - Managing your Personal Brand
Many employers admit to checking out candidate’s online presence, so what would
they find out about you?
“An important thing to consider is your online brand. How are you being
represented online? Is what people are seeing about you online matching what
people see, or the way you are presenting yourself offline? When people
Google you, what are they going to find? Have you Googled yourself? Have you
Googled yourself before to see what are the top ranking things that come up
under your name? Things that are going to come up are those really high
ranking places that you’re listed in, like Facebook. What’s on your Facebook
page and are the privacy settings set at the level that you’re comfortable with?
“It’s fine to keep Facebook for your friends. It’s fine to keep Facebook as
the social component of your life, that’s great. Set your privacy settings
accordingly. If you’re happy to use Facebook as a space where employers are
going to be able to see you as a well-rounded individual – you have friends, you
have social activities – that is more than the brand they see in a CV. It’s more
about who you are as a person. If you’re happy for employers to see that and
you want to use that to showcase other elements that make you more
employable, then make sure you clean up that Facebook page.
“A great way to have more control over your online presence is to think
about creating profiles that will be really highly ranked, that when an employer
Googles you will come up first. A great one for that is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the
most powerful professional networking tool that exists in the world right now.
More than fifty million members make it a place where you want to connect.
Jump on to linkedin.com and create yourself a profile.
“LinkedIn is almost like a professional Facebook. If you have a really
complete profile that lists your work experience, your education, that lists other
interests or awards, let’s you showcase all the great things about you – it’s
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almost like an online CV. If you’ve got that complete and you’ve reached out to
connections, then that is going to rank really high on Google and employers are
going to click straight on that when they look up your name. LinkedIn is such a
great networking tool and it’s something that you can use over and beyond an
online CV.
“A great way to use LinkedIn, of course, is to catalogue all the people in
your network and to showcase who you are professionally. But we can use it as
a more powerful tool than that. Look at things like LinkedIn groups. I can
suggest that there’s a group to do with just about any professional interest you
might have. Have you searched LinkedIn groups to see if there’s a group that’s
relevant to you? Have you read the posts? Have you connected with the people
that are also interested? And have you offered something to those
communities? So take a look at LinkedIn groups. It’s a really great place to start
your networking.
“LinkedIn is also fantastic for showcasing recommendations. Have you
worked in a great uni group with someone who’s willing to recommend you on
LinkedIn? Have you done some work experience? Have you done an
internship? Do you have professional people in your life who you’ve been
involved with who can write you a recommendation? A great way to get
recommendations is to recommend others. When you’re connecting on
LinkedIn and you’re bringing all those connections around you, if you have a
mentor that you really respect, write them a recommendation on LinkedIn and
see if you get one back. If you’ve worked with a really great employer, write that
employer a really great recommendation on LinkedIn and see what comes
back. LinkedIn is a powerful tool for networking and it’s a great way to really
establish who you are as a professional brand. What do you want employers to
see when they type in your name on Google?
“A really great way to also think about your online brand is sometimes
simple things like your email address. Is your email address
surferchick69@hotmail.com? Or is it sally.james@gmail.com? Another
element of your personal brand to think about, are things like your phone
message. If you’re sending out a resume with your phone number on it,
presumably you want an employer to call you to offer you a job. What’s the
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message that they’re going to hear if they don’t catch you the first time around?
I would urge you to phone your own mobile – if you can’t remember what your
message is of course – and have a listen. Put yourself in the shoes of an
employer and think would I be really happy with what I’m hearing? Is that the
most ‘professional you’ that you can show off for those times that employers are
going to be calling you back? If you’ve got one of those fun little tones of Austin
Powers saying that you can’t come to the phone, get rid of it, record your own
message and let employers see you for the real professional that you are.’
Hayley Angell
Using a Direct Approach – with Marketing Letters
You can also uncover opportunities by applying directly to organisations even if they
have not advertised a position. It is a common misconception that this strategy
involves sending out mass copies of your resume. A quantity versus quality approach
usually leads to high rates of rejection or no response. To improve your success rate:

Do your research and target and tailor your application to organisations in
which you have a good fit.

Highlight what you can offer the organisation.

Follow them up every few months to restate your interest and ambition to work
for them.
Many organisations keep resumes on file to cut down time spent on recruiting
someone should a vacancy arise. This strategy is more effective if you have already
had some introduction to the organisation through a networking contact.
Using work experience to open doors
Whilst doing your research, conducting workplace interviews and networking – look for
opportunities to gain work experience. Employers really value work experience – it
shows that you can apply what you have learnt to the workforce.
There are many ways to engage in work experience: through practicums in
your program, by applying for internships or cadetships, or by organising to do
voluntary work with an organisation. Work experience can be the best way to test out if
an occupation is right for you. It also gives you references and industry contacts to
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assist your job search.
Resources for your job search
Check your job search readiness
Check what you need to do to be ready to land a good graduate job….try the job
search readiness checklist at the Checklist: Are you ready link.
Resources and services to assist your job search
There are many resources to assist you with developing an excellent resume, writing
your application letters and selection criteria, preparing for interviews, and many other
job search tips on the Careers & Employment website.
Find out when we run more in depth, practical seminars on these topics, when
career appointment session times are, and view our job search articles. We also
co-ordinate a number of events and programs to help you with your job search.
Motivation and persistence
It generally takes longer to get results than you would like. Think of it like this: A job
seeker may need to make up to fifty attempts, with the average being thirty and most
people giving up at twenty.
Lack of success does not mean you are not offering something valuable to the
work force, it just means that you haven't found your right fit yet. So it’s not just you…
we all confront rejection in our job search. The key is to keep going!
It is important to back up your job search strategies with a really good marketing tool –
your resume. And make sure you are prepared when you are called for an interview.
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