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

5.4. Start networking.

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If the prospect of networking is new to you or you’re intimidated by the prospect of starting, these steps will help you plan, organize and conduct your networking, all the while becoming more comfortable with using it on-going.

1. Create a list.

Start by creating a list of people you know, include your family and friends and then think wider to include others such as, friends of friends, neighbors, current work colleagues, old work colleagues, current or old bosses, customers, suppliers. Keep looking wider to people you wouldn’t normally consider, such as your bank manager, accountant, financial advisor, parents of your children’s friends, teachers, barbers or hairdressers.
The aim here is to get an initial list together to start the next stage; you can always add more names later.

2. Prioritize the list.

Take the list of names and make 3 lists out of them:

  1. Those names you have a good relationship with, speak to frequently and can approach first.
  2. Those names you know reasonably well, speak to less frequently and you will approach after the first list of names.
  3. And the final list of those people you have infrequent contact with and can leave till later.

Next sort the names in the first list by order of who you’ll contact first and so on. It’s a good idea to start your networking with people you’re very familiar with and who will let you practice your networking on them.

3. Plan the initial contact.

The way you’ll approach each person will be different based on your relationship with them. Some you’ll feel comfortable to just pick up the phone and call them, others you may prefer to send an email or letter to make the initial contact.

If you’ve been given the name of a new person to connect with, it’s a good idea to have the person who referred you to “warm” the contact first. “Warming” the contact lets the contact know that their name has been shared with someone, and that person – you, will be contacting them. This way when you reach out to a new contact, they will be prepared for your call or email and are more likely to accept it or respond to it.

Making an initial contact by phone will go smoothly if you plan out what you want to achieve and have a prepared script for three possible situations.

  1. Have a script ready if the other person does not answer and you get their voicemail.
  2. If they answer but can’t take the call there and then and you need to set up a time to speak.
  3. Finally have your call plan if they answer and are happy to take the call there and then.

For emails and letters, take the same approach and plan out:

  1. What you want to say.
  2. Mention the name of the person who referred you, and
  3. End with you taking an action to follow-up by phone.

4. Plan the meeting.

If you’re meeting in person or talking over the phone, plan that interaction as well. Make sure you stick to what you said you were going to talk about, and don’t take more of the other persons time than you requested.
  • Use the HAIR approach; think about how you can Help each other, share Advice and Information, and share at least two Referrals.
  • Have some ice-breakers ready to start the conversation; you may be nervous about the meeting, and so may the other person, since you called the meeting it’s up to you to take control of the meeting and get it started, keeping it on track, and wrapping it up.
  • Be punctual; plan your trip there to ensure you arrive with time to spare. If this is somewhere you have not been to before, try going there the day or night before to check out the route.
  • Have your elevator pitch memorized and be ready to us it.

5. The meeting.

The meeting is something you requested and as such you’re in charge of what happens.

  • Have your plan or agenda with you, and keep the meeting length to the time you agreed.
  • Take any documents you want to share with you, and unless specifically asked for, don’t take your resume; instead use the Marketing Letter.
  • Make sure you dress appropriately; for some positions and industries it make sense to match how you dress with that environment; if you’re not sure what that is or are have any doubts always dress-up. Even if the other person is in T shirt and shorts they are likely to appreciate that fact you took the effort, and are treating the meeting in a professional interaction.
  • Switch off your cell phone, unless you absolutely have to have it switched on. If follows that you shouldn’t answer any calls, unless they are really important.
  • Watch your mood; stay upbeat and happy this is not a chance for you to moan or complain about others or your situation, and don’t talk disparagingly about other people or companies, you never know how the other person feels about that company or person.
  • Pay attention for any common ground you both have to build on and make this interaction the first of many. Be attentive and pick up on the little things the other person says and that mean a lot to them.
  • At the end of the meeting, thank them for their time and advice, confirm the next actions you will take and be sure you have exchanged your contact information with each other.

6. Follow-up.

As soon after the meeting as possible:

  • Send a thank you. Don’t send a generic thank you, make it personal to the other person and reference what you talked about. Make sure you send a letter or email that day or the next day at the very latest.
  • Fulfill all the commitments you made. Building relationships is about building trust, and delivering on promises you’ve made, is very important in building that trust.
  • Plan when your next contact will be and what you want to achieve from it. If you haven’t already agreed when you will meet next, make a note to get in touch in a week or two to set the next meeting.

7. Keep in contact.

Good relationships take a while to cultivate; you’re in there for the long-haul. Keep in mind some relationships will develop more than others and even those that you speak with only once or twice a year can be just as important as those you speak with several times a week.

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