5 Tips to Make Your Job Search Fun and More Effective – PART 1
Are you stuck in the same old job search rut?
Miserable at your current job but can’t find the time to update your resume?
Is the thought of looking for new opportunities making you crazy?
Do you hate the searching through the following job boards:
- AVMA Job Boards
- Vin-Vetquest
Are you confused by the postings and what they really mean between the lines?
Does the idea of wanting for feedback really irritate you?
Are you not quite sure of what you are really looking for in your next job?
Want to Turn Your Job Search From Drudgery to Job?
1. You are not an employee!
One way to look at yourself is NOT as an employee but as a business owner of ONE. What you learn both personally and professionally advances you and makes you more valuable to a potential hospital owner. If you can do ultrasound well, you bring valuable resources to the hospital. As a business owner of ONE, you are looking for the ideal client with whom to form a partnership. What qualities are you looking for in this person? Financial stability, patience, kindness, generosity, etc. Create your list.
What NOT to do
Just this week a candidate called me with a terrible work history. Her last two jobs were each less than a year. In her own words, not thinking of herself as a business owner of ONE, she told me, “I took these jobs because they were down the street. I knew the practice has a bad reputation but I need a job!” On the front end, these may be easy decisions, but they may take years to correct.
2. What Makes You Happy?
Determine what qualities you need to be happy.
You can’t evaluate a company and assess their needs if you don’t know what your needs are. You can jump from job to job or do some work around what qualities you need to be happy. Once you know this, then you can find the hospital that you can support and who will support. I can help you develop your list!
3. Do Your Research
- Create a list of ten companies you want to interview with.
- Visit the hospital websites to read about their products, services, and staff.
- Check out glassdoor.com, AVMA, AAHA, Vetquest
- Subscribe to DVM News Magazine and read the business section of major newspapers.
- Talk to graduates, colleagues, professors, friends, family. Just yesterday a veterinary owner told me she hired her landscaper’s brother-in-law as an associate at her practice.
- Go to LinkedIn and search the name of the company to find out how many people in your network work there
- Contact hospital managers.
TIP: you can usually find their names on the hospital website. Many belong to VHMA. Once you find their names, see if you can pull them up line.
4. What Are Their Problems?
Checkout Facebook & Twitter to find out what patients are saying. Figure out how you might help them solve their problems.
5. Seek Referrals
80% of job openings are filled by referral. And some practices never advertise…unless they are desperate.
Use your personal network and LinkedIn to discover who you know inside the organization, or someone who can make introductions for you. Ask them about the hospital’s current activities and the hiring process.
[…] pursuing job opportunities — and, if you missed it, be sure to check out my job searching tips in Part 1 and Part […]