The Kee to Coaching: Strategies for a Successful Job Search
Good Evening! Over the last three and half months, my life has been full of change and transition. After the basketball season, I added a second job working in Career Services at a Trade School in Norfolk. This was my first professional job out of collegiate athletics, and it has surely been an interesting change of careers. While balancing the full-time duties that go along with being a head college basketball coach, I also had close to 300 students seeking my help with job placement assistance on a daily basis. Throughout my time working as a Career Services Coordinator, I’ve assisted with updating and creating over 100 resumes, have planned and hosted a Career Fair, have headlined a number of professional development workshops, and have worked with students on job-search strategies.
During my professional career working in collegiate athletics, I’ve applied and interviewed for a number of different jobs. In the coaching profession, it’s a constant grind to seek out new opportunities to help elevate yourself in the business. Through my life-experience, I was able to naturally step into a new career field and positively impact students looking to make a career change. In this post, I will identify a few job search strategies that I find are successful for any profession.
Research Your Professional Field
My first piece of advice to all students I met with was to research the field that they were looking to gain employment in. Read job descriptions, identify top companies, come up with a short list of dream jobs, research starting salary, and speak with others who are already employed in your industry. When creating/updating a resume or cover letter, it’s smart to pull “buzz words” and language from the job description, and tailor your documents to what the company is looking for. You also want to be educated on the industry, because this will help you identify good companies to work for, and key points that you want to touch on during the interview process.
2. Build a Network
For my students, I encouraged each of them to build relationships with myself and their instructors. The instructors who teach them are all experienced in their field, and have friends and former co-workers who could help them with job placement. Some instructors even had their own businesses, and could employ them upon completion of program. For job-seekers who are out of school, you want to attend job fairs, and professional events where you can acquire new contacts. With this information, follow-up by email or LinkedIn, and build a professional relationship. Job seeking is many times not about what you know, it’s who you know. In addition, you also need 3 people who you can use as professional reference. Only way to know somebody is to be out and be social!
3. Apply to Open Positions and Provide All Information that is Asked For
This last point seems really self-explanatory and basic, but you’d be shocked at how many people are just too lazy to fill out applications completely. Depending on the company that you are applying for depends on how detailed the application is. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to just forward over a cover letter and resume or apply through Indeed. For government positions or bigger companies, you’ll most likely have to fill out a complete online application. Not many things are bigger red flags to employers than grammatical errors and blank spaces. Please answer every questions, even if the information is repeated on your resume!
Side Note: I will be speaking this Saturday, June 22nd at a FREE Coach's Clinic at Salisbury University! I look forward to sharing my experience with you all.
