PLANNING YOUR
JOB SEARCH STRATEGY
Prepared by Barbara Rau for
UW Oshkosh Student Chapter of SHRM
Professional Development Day
©Copyright 2004
PREPLANNING
The best time to start looking for a job after graduation is no later than your sophomore year! Position
yourself for a successful job search by doing some preplanning. Use your time in college to:
 BUILD YOUR RESUME with strategic choices about how you will spend your time. Resume
“boosters” include internships, community service activities, student and professional
organizations, holding a leadership position in a student club, maintaining a solid grade point
average.
 MAKE CONTACTS joining the professional association or student chapter in your major. Get to
know your professors and nurture relationships with any that you feel a connection with. Get to
know other students—widen your circle of friends.
 LISTEN for information about companies and/or industries in the area and make notes about
those you would like to work for (and those you would not like to work for). Also make notes
about why you think it sounds like a good company. Notice any commonalities among the
companies—this will help you to understand what things you value about employers (e.g., their
work/life balance? Their drive to succeed? Their five-week vacation plan?)
 NOTICE the people in your life who seem happy with their work. What makes them that way?
What advice can you get from them about finding a job that will be satisfying to you when you
graduate?
 CONNECT with guest speakers who come to campus. Send them a note of thank you and/or
keep track of who they were and when they spoke so that you can count them in your list of
potential contacts.
 RESEARCH the campus career services that are available to you so you are in a position to use
them when you are ready to begin your search.
 STAY TUNED to the job opportunities posted on campus, look at salaries offered, skills required,
and use that information to form your expectations about your first job out of college.
 PRACTICE your interview skills through mock interviews and interviewing with companies that
come to campus looking for talent. Interviewing gives you an opportunity to learn about other
companies, practice your interview skills, and develop an understanding of the job opportunities
available.
 POLISH your resume. Use campus services to help you write the best resume possible and
identify areas of deficiency while you still have time to address them.
 POLISH yourself. Challenge yourself to develop a more professional demeanor while in college.
Be kindly critical of the way you speak and act and work on addressing areas that might be
problematic. Have a professional phone message and email address.
PLANNING
Approach your job search as you would a class project and have a systematic strategy in place that
lays out the steps you will take for implementation. A little planning now can keep you from feeling like
your search is disorganized and that the final job match is outside of your control. The goal is to generate
many options and to know which options are the best choice for you!
 HONESTLY ASSESS your skills. What do you have to offer an organization?
 HONESTLY ASSESS your criteria for hire. Learn what you value and then prioritize them so you
know what information to get from employers and how to assess it? (e.g., If salary is important to
you, do some salary investigation to have a realistic idea of what your skills are worth.)
 LEARN HOW TO ASSESS company culture. What kind of company do you want to work for?
(See notes from Robbins, 2001.)
 ACTIVELY SEEK out companies that “fit” your ideal. Use the Internet and career services to
research the stability and growth trends of those that interest you.
 CREATE A TIMELINE for the search. Be systematic about the search by itemizing what you will
do and when you will do it. For example, who will you send letters and resumes to? When will
you send them?
 LEARN ABOUT and utilize all the free resources available to you for getting the word out
(e.g., Campus Services)
 MAKE A LIST OF CONTACTS who can be of value in finding work: family, friends, professors,
fellow students, career services, speakers from campus, professionals you have met in
the area. If you did your preplanning well, you should have a list you’ve been maintaining.
 UTILIZE CONTACTS to send resumes and cover letters indicating your interest in employment.
 USE MULTIPLE SOURCES of job information and decide how you will use each: family and
friends, newspaper ads, Internet sites, Career Services, private employment agencies,
government employment agencies, radio/TV ads and cold calls (i.e., places you are interested but
do not have a job advertised).
 BE PREPARED for a long search—the average job search for professional positions takes
seven months and increases with your salary demands. Higher paying jobs take longer to find.
OR
YOU COULD JUST WAIT TO IF A
JOB FALLS IN YOUR LAP!