How to Target Job Opportunities

Video Transcript

"Hi. My name is Pat Goodwin with patgoodwinassociates.com, and today we're going to talk about how to target job opportunities. And when I think of the word target, that means that you are aiming for a specific type of job. So if you are targeting for a specific area, or a specific type of job, then your focus is going to be targeted towards that particular area. So, I would encourage you to do that, and not get dissuaded or get discouraged by not finding a job in that targeted area, but focus on that target for awhile and see if things will come around for you to have opportunities and job interviews. So how to target a job would be very specific to an area. It could be in the field of manufacturing, it could be in the field of high technology, it could be in the all field services industry, or legal, law, medical, medical documentation, office work. When you're targeting a particular job, you're going to be narrowing your focus to that particular area. You would then look at companies that might have those types of jobs by doing research on those companies. Look at the jobs that are in your area and the jobs that you want to, or the companies that you might want to apply for. If it's an architectural firm, then focus on architectural organizations. If it's a company that is in a specific manufacturing, if it's a specific product, then you can do some search on the Internet about companies in your area that actually manufacture or make or have that particular product. So targeting for a job is a very focused search. It's one that you want to be disciplined about. In your targeting of a job, you want to make sure that you are including in that target networking opportunities. There are people that know somebody that know somebody, and so as you begin to target a company make sure that you're asking friends and asking individuals in your community if they know someone, or they could offer a referral to you for someone in that specific industry. Treat that opportunity as an informational interview, asking for advice: how would you find a job in that particular field of work? Do they know anyone that you could actually sit down with and have an informational interview? Your targeting that area by getting more and more information based on the people that you speak with. So focus on your target, get information based on that particular industry, do your research, get people to help you by providing advice, counsel and referral so you can actually sit down and explore that type of industry. So I wish you well and that's how you target a job."