WISE Tips for Job Hunters

Women in Sales Everywhere (WISE) began as a collaboration between Jordan Wan, the founder and CEO of CloserIQ, and Alexandra Adamson, former Director of Talent at Bowery Capital, with a focus on women in professional sales positions. Today, the organization provides both members and nonmembers with a depth of professional services and insight, including a recent discussion on job hunting.

The conversation, headed by the leader of global recruiting at Movable Ink, began by looking at how professionals can jump-start a job search after a layoff. According to Movable Ink’s Carly Laniado, you should first take the necessary time to decompress and reassess your resources and overall situation before diving into the search. You should also refrain from blaming yourself or otherwise taking a layoff personally; research conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the number of layoffs between March and April of 2020 was more than twice the number recorded in 2007–2009.

Losing a job can be a good opportunity to evaluate what exactly you enjoyed about your last position and, on the other hand, what you would prefer to avoid in a new job. These determinations can allow you to use resources such as Glassdoor and Built In to find appropriate job listings. Built In maintains listings and information for job seekers in a number of major cities. Candor.co, meanwhile, functions as a crowdsourced list of companies continuing to hire throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Once you feel fully prepared to pursue new employment, begin with the basics: review and update your resume and LinkedIn profile. The latter is particularly important for people who have maintained consistent employment in recent years and may not have paid close attention to online employment services. Be sure to set your LinkedIn status to “Open to New Opportunities,” which lets recruiters know they can contact you. You can also specify the types of employment opportunities you are interested in.

Ms. Laniado reminds individuals of the importance of a strong, warm introduction to stand out from the crowd. It is also important to inform potential employers of job experience applicable to the position being filled, whether through an efficient CV or the opening dialogue in an interview. In regard to optimizing your resume for efficiency and clarity, exact numbers and hard data are always at the top of an employer’s checklist: sales figures, territories, clients, and so on.

In today’s landscape, many job interviews are conducted virtually. This can be a strange experience for both the interviewer and the candidate. While preparing for an audio or video job interview, prioritize focusing on what you can control; make sure the meeting link is working, test your internet and audio connections, and show up on time. Honesty is the best policy in the case of distractions or disruptions: a quick “Sorry about the barking dog” should allow you to forge ahead with a productive interview.

Finally, remember that job interviews remain a two-way street. While interviewers are evaluating you as a prospective hire, you should continue to gather information about the company and its culture to determine whether the job is a good fit on your end.