The old adage, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” certainly applies to the job search process. Amy Landry discusses how to plan for a successful job search.
Someone shared this post with me recently. In it, Jenny Foss outlines her eight steps to a successful career change, but I feel you can leverage these steps to find a new job just as well. They are:
- Start with the Why
- Get Clear on the What
- Figure Out the What’s it Gonna Take
- Make an Action Plan
- Track the Effort
- Shift Your Brand
- Mobilize Your Posse
- Get in Cahoots with the Right People
As I started to read through the post, I found myself saying, yep, I did that, and that, and that and that. Maybe it was all my years managing projects, but one of the very first things I did after being laid off was sit down and plan out my course of action. Before I searched for and applied to a single job posting, I thought about what I wanted to do, why I wanted to do it, how I could make it happen and what I needed to do first, second, etc.
Why make a plan first? Well, why do so many projects fail? They suffer from inadequate or poor planning. I did not want to suffer the same fate. I wanted to succeed in landing a job; for me, that meant I needed to understand both what I wanted to do in my next role and why. By knowing this valuable information, it would help me to know what knowledge to gain, who to connect with, how to promote what I was looking for and what jobs to apply to.
Before you can find something, you have to know what you are looking for (and why).
If you think about it, finding a job is a little bit of luck and strategy, so don’t forget to develop your plan. And of course, don’t forget to track how your plan is going and make adjustments as needed!
Amy Landry is a Senior Compliance and Privacy Specialist at Cardinal Innovations Healthcare, a provider of managed care services for members an their families in North Carolina. Prior to joining Cardinal Innovations, Amy spent 12 years working for multiple ethics and compliance vendors.
She is the author of a Data Privacy and Security compliance eLearning course with Peak Compliance Training, and now blogs about her decision to make a career shift from working for a vendor to an in-house compliance post.
Amy says she is a firm believer in continuous learning, evidenced by her active CCEP and CIPP/US certifications. She earned her M.A. in International Commerce and Policy at George Mason University and a double B.A. in International Studies and Russian at The University of Alabama. Connect with her on 
