1. Welcome to Virtual Job Coach 2. Plan your job search campaign.
2.1. What job do you want? 2.2. What company do you want to work for? 2.3. How much time will you devote to the search? 2.4. How are you going to divide your time? 2.5. Do you need a back-up plan? 2.6. How will people contact you? 2.7. What to have scripted? 2.8. Support network.
3. Managing your job search campaign.
3.1. Avoid activity clumping. 3.2. Always set a next action. 3.3. Balancing your activities with your availability. 3.4. Do something different, even totally self indulgent. 3.5. Maintain a hobby, or exercise.
4. Dealing with Procrastination.
4.1. Break tasks down to small enough steps. 4.2. Create little successes for yourself. 4.3. Just do it, it doesn’t have to be perfect. 4.4. Practice in a safe environment. 4.5. View each risk as an experiment. Have fun with it.
5. Networking.
5.1. What is networking? 5.2. The aim of Networking. 5.3. Types of relationships. 5.4. Start networking.
6. Generating list of target companies.
6.1. Researching companies. 6.2. Finding contacts at a company.
7. Informational interviews. 8. Interviewing.
8.1. Preparing for the interview. 8.2. Phone interviews. 8.3. Pre Interview. 8.4. The interview. 8.5. After the interview.
9. Prepare your references. 10. Constructing an elevator pitch.
10.1. Using the elevator pitch in an informal setting. 10.2. Using the elevator pitch when you’re networking by phone.
11. Resumes.
11.1. Types of resumes and their use, when and why.
12. The Chronological Resume.
12.1. The Traditional Chronological. 12.2. The Technical Chronological. 12.3. The Prior Experience Chronological. 12.4. The Education Focus Chronological.
13. The Functional Resume. 14. The Hybrid Resume. 15. Resume sections.
15.1. Contact details. (Required) 15.2. Summary statement (optional). 15.3. Objective statement (optional). 15.4. Selected Achievements. (Optional) 15.5. Key Skills. (Optional) 15.6. Technical skills (optional). 15.7. Employer Section. (Required) 15.8. Position Section. (Required) 15.9. Achievement Section. (Required) 15.10. Education and training. (Required) 15.11. Prior experience. (Optional) 15.12. Membership and affiliations. (Optional) 15.13. Volunteer. (Optional) 15.14. Certificates. (Optional) 15.15. Licenses. (Optional) 15.16. Publications. (Optional)
16. Cover Letter.
16.1. Contact Information and Addressee (Required) 16.2. The opening. (Required) 16.3. The first paragraphs. (Required) 16.4. T-style (Optional) 16.5. Bullets. (Optional) 16.6. Closing Paragraphs. (Required) 16.7. The Closing. (Required) 16.8. Enclosures (Optional)
17. Marketing Letter.
17.1. How to create a Marketing letter. 17.2. The target company section.
18. Reference Letter. 19. Thank you. 20. Acceptance Letter. 21. Rejection Reply Letter. 22. Action Verbs 23. Find Jobs Page
23.1. Search for Jobs using VirtualJobCoach 23.1. Adding an RSS feed from your favorite job board
24. Saved Jobs Page
24.1. Add jobs from the Find Jobs page 24.2. Save jobs manually 24.4. Track your progress through the selection process 24.3. Import positions from 'pipe' (|) delimted file
25. Companies page
25.1. Add companies manually 25.2. Import companies from 'pipe' (|) delimted file
26. Contacts page
26.1. Add contact information 26.2. Import contacts
. vCard format (.VCF) . CSV exported from Outlook or Outlook Express (.CSV) . CSV exported from ACT . CSV exported from Gmail . CSV exported from Yahoo . CSV from another source
26.3. Exporting Contacts
27. Calendar page
27.1. Adding a calendar event 27.2. Importing calendar events using iCalendar 27.3. Exporting events 27.4. Adding a To-Do
28. Documents page
28.1. Create a new Resume 28.2. Create a new Cover Letter 28.3. Import a document 28.4. Make a copy 28.5. Preview a document 28.6. Email a document 28.7. Print after download a document 28.8. Show Links 28.9. Delete a document
29. Quick add

2.2. What company do you want to work for?

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A good understanding of the type of job you want together with the type of company you want to work for, will help you to focus on the most promising opportunities. There are all sorts of organizations out there that may be able to use your skills and abilities, consider these questions to help narrow your search to the best fitting ones. Once you have your criteria defined create a target list of companies.

  • What size company do you prefer? Really small only a few people, small 10-50, medium 50-200, big 200-100, Larger 200-1000, corporate 1000+.
  • In which industry? Here is list of NAICS industry types: Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting; Mining; Utilities; Construction; Wholesale Trade; Information; Finance and Insurance; Real Estate and Rental and Leasing; Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services; Educational Services; Health Care and Social Assistance; Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; Accommodation and Food Services; Other Services; Public Administration;
    For full NAICS list see here
  • Where is the company located? Is the distance from your home important, or the route to work, the length or time of the commute, the means of commuting, how accessible to public transport, what is the location like after normal business hours, prices at local shops and food outlets etc., what if it were located on top of a hill, by a river, beach, middle of a town, in the outskirts, suburbs or urban areas?
  • How about the physical space? Is it a purpose built, conversion, windowless, old or new, open plan, cubicles, enclosed office spaces?
  • What is the company’s reputation? Is it a good or bad one, do they care, how are they perceived by the community, by the industry, by their suppliers or customers?
  • What stage of company? Start-up, early stage, growth, consolidation, struggling to survive?
  • Age of company, less than 2 years old, 2-5 years, 5-10 years etc..
  • What hours are you expected to work? Core hours, shifts, weekends, is travel required/possible and how much, do they offer overtime, flexible working time?
  • What type of company? Government, education, non-profit, commercial privately owned or publicly owned?
  • What culture suits you better? Structured and formal, entrepreneurial, collaborative, inclusive?
  • How stable are they? Do you want to help turn around a failing business, how are they versus competitors, what is happening to the industry or this type of work, is there any press about the company or the management, how is their share price doing, what are the analyst ratings?
  • Do they match your values? Do they work with someone or entity that you don’t agree with, alternatively do they also support causes you do.

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