set yourself up for september

NetworkingResume and application
Written By Jaclyn Jones

We sent out a survey in our last newsletter asking why you don’t apply for jobs. One key theme in the survey responses: people have had the most success applying for jobs when they know someone at the organization. As a result, they are reluctant to apply to jobs where they don’t know anyone.

There will be more about our overall survey results on the NRG LinkedIn page. Follow us there for more insights. 

Why this matters: Summer can be a little slow for job opportunities. However, September is going to be busy. People are back from vacation and political organizers will be hiring in September for senior roles. Also, there will be another big push in January for people who want to hire people right off of the election. 

 
 
 

how to set yourself up for september

1) Focus on reaching out to your current network.

  • I talked about this at the beginning of the summer. Summer is a great time to focus on having conversations. 

  • Make sure that your network knows that you are looking.

  • We see it time and time again, people are hired because someone we reached out to about a role thought of a colleague and recommended them.

 
 
 

2) Focus on building your network.

  • I get about 50 pings a day on LinkedIn and some are memorable. Think about who you are reaching out to and try to target your message.

  • Make a list of people you’d like to know and reach out. These can be people who work at orgs you love or maybe they used to work at an org you love and now are consulting and doing important work. 

  • If you are a little nervous to reach out to that person you admire, comment on their posts and research the people they follow. Find a touchpoint that will make it easier for you to jump in and introduce yourself.

  • Ask for a meeting 6 weeks in advance. Get on their calendars now. 

  • Set a schedule and follow-up. You can check-in with the person after the call every few months.

  • Be sure to let them know when you land your next role! I do about 20 info calls a month but I only hear back from about 5 of those people about where they landed. It’s always special when people circle back. 

 
 
 

3) Focus on getting your foot in the door with refining your resume

  • Networking is important but so is figuring out your story and preparing how you will present your career come September. 

  • Cater your resume to the job. For example, I recently spoke to a candidate who had a lot of communications and development experience. However, her resume was way more appropriate for communications roles. She ended up creating a different resume for development focused roles. As a result of that new resume, she got invited to more interviews.

  • If you have a varied career, this can be a little tricky. If you are planning to apply for some development jobs and some communications jobs, it’s possible that you need more than one resume.

  • Find job descriptions you are most interested in and craft your resume (or resumes) to meet that moment. Show the organization that you have everything they are looking for. 

  • A close reading of a job description will help you figure out what to highlight.

4) Focus on setting up a system to keep track of your networking progress

  • When I did my big job search, it took me 87 networking meetings before I landed my dream offer. I kept track and I knew that the more people I met, the closer I was getting. Plus, I’m glad I know that number and can share it with you.

  • Speaking of tracking your networking progress, NRG wants to help you with this! 

  • What would help you with networking? Where are you getting stuck?

 
 
 
 

We’ll use your comments to create a free tool to help you with networking. 

P.S. I recently was featured on a podcast and part of the conversation was about how networking was key to my career.

 

AUGUST 7 | 1PM-1:45PM ET 
FREE!
LOCATION: Online. We’ll send you a link 24 hours before the event. 

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS: Monday, August 5 at 9am ET

Why you should attend: Kristin Saybe, NRG’s Coach, will give you practical guidance and resources to help you look at your job search from a fresh angle. 

Here are some questions we answered at the previous Ask the NRG Coach session on May 21:

  • How can I get hired as quickly as possible and why is it taking so long?

  • Thoughts on how to present a varied job history?

  • In the nonprofit sector, I see job hoppers’ applications being passed up in favor of a worker who is more “loyal.” As someone who has job hopped in the past, how can I best combat this trend in my applications?

On to the jobs! Check out all of NRG’s searches. Seventeen of those positions are remote. 

Opportunities NRG is hiring for in education:

 Follow NRG on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on all of the roles we are hiring for.

If you aren’t currently a member of the NRG Talent Network, consider joining. The survey takes 3 minutes to complete and then we’ll send you job announcements when your criteria (salary, location, etc.) matches the position.

Let’s move,
Naomi


P.S.  If you’d like a thought partner to think through the best networking strategy for your search, sign up right now for 15 minutes with Kristin to learn how NRG’s coaching programs can help you. 

If you find this newsletter helpful, forward it to your friends and help us build our network! If you received this from a friend, sign up here to receive future “Get Hired'' newsletters. 

Jaclyn Jones
Previous

Tips after 1000+ interviews
Next

Why people don't apply