Applying to every company that is hiring is not a very effective way to search for a job. To increase your chances of getting a job, it’s important to be very strategic about the companies you apply to.
The fact that a company is hiring is only a small piece of the puzzle. You want to apply to a company that matches your skills and personality and has similar values. Most importantly, you want the company’s mission to inspire you, and you want to play a role in that mission.
That’s why it’s important to create an interview bucket list of 10 to 20 companies you’d like to work at before you start looking for a job.
Here’s how to put together an interview bucket list.
Do a self-assessment
Which industry do you want to work for? What are your most important skills? What weaknesses do you need to improve?
These are just some of the self-assessment questions you should ask yourself before beginning your job search. From there, you also need to consider location. Do you want to stay where you live now, or do you want to move?
Once these important factors are taken into consideration, it becomes a lot easier to create the interview bucket list criteria and narrow down the search.
Research companies
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There are plenty of ways to find and research companies for your job interview bucket list. Chances are you already have some companies in mind, or good recommendations from your professional network.
Much of your search will likely be conducted over the Internet. You can find many great companies by searching industry websites, news and business websites, and trade publications.
Once you have a list of companies, that’s what you need to do delve deeper into each of them by visiting their individual websites and social media accounts and checking out any news stories about them.
It’s also helpful to check out sites like Glassdoor and Indeed to read employee reviews about working at the company.
Find your personal connection
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Company culture, perks and benefits, salary, and job openings are important factors to consider before adding companies to your application bucket list. But it’s also important to ask yourself whether you respect and admire the company. And if so, how do you do that? connect personally with the company?
When you respect and admire a company, you can connect with its purpose. Companies are solving a problem for their customers; How can you fit into the company’s plans to solve this problem? Is there a personal reason why you are so keen to solve this problem or why you identify with the company’s values?
The more passionate you are about a company’s mission, the more fulfilling your career with that company will be.
Build your network
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Creating an interview bucket list is one thing, but if you really want to increase your chances of getting an interview at one of these companies, you need to work your way into their job.
Identify five people at each company and find ways to connect with them. You can start by seeing if you have shared connections in your professional network. It is always easier to be introduced through a mutual connection.
If you don’t have a mutual connection, you’ll have to take initiative and reach out to some of these professionals on LinkedIn yourself.
The goal is to ask these professionals to connect with each other in the hopes that you can learn more about the company and what it takes to land a job there. Make sure you let them know that you are not looking for them to help you find a job, just some insight into what the process looks like.
These connections may start small with a few casual conversations, but the more similarities you find in these connections, the more opportunity you will have to build meaningful conversations, and trust and mutual respect will follow.
The more of these connections you build, the more likely you are to be referred to one of your bucket list companies or gain insight into other great companies that might be worth your time.
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This article originally appeared on an earlier date.
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