Creating a Target Market for Your Job Search Program Recap

Thank you to Paul Cecala from Cecala Career Consultants for sharing his strategy for how to tailor your job search by creating a target market.  While finding a new job can feel like a full-time job, the effort you put in can make a big difference when trying to land your dream job.  At the foundation of any effort to find a new job is to structure your job search so that you are making the right connections and learning the right information that can help you throughout the employment process.  Let’s take a look at how creating a target market for your job search can offer positive returns down the line.

Targeted Job Search

You’ve probably heard the term “targeted job search” before, but what does that actually mean?  For many people, it means simply plugging in a specific job title into popular job boards like Indeed and applying for anything that matches.  This is actually a very ineffective way to find a job, especially one that meets all of your needs.

A targeted job search has 3 variables:

1. A defined location – think of your ideal geography (close to home, willing to move) and how you want to work (work from home, hybrid, or in office)
2. A specific industry – try to be as specific as possible.  For example, higher education is a very broad industry; do you want to work in 4-year private, 4-year public, community colleges, 2-year schools, or technical schools?  Knowing the compensation packages for specific sectors of an industry can help narrow this down.
3. A role or function – what job title(s) do you want?

Once you have defined these variables, you can move forward to identifying your target job market.

The Target Market

Your target market will depend on the variables of your targeted job search as well as your prioritization of the subsections of your variables.  A good way to visualize this is to create a Target Market Chart:You are going to fill out one of these for each iteration of the 3 variables you identified.  For example, if you have 3 different location types that you are willing to consider, you will need at least 3 of these charts; if you also have 3 different subsections of a general industry, you will need 9 charts.

We covered the first 3 options earlier so let’s take a look at the other 2.  The number of positions and organizations are tied together.  First, you want to identify the number of organizations based off of your answers to location, industry, and role/function.  You can use resources such as Reference Solutions, Dun & Bradstreet Hoovers, and the Securities and Exchanges Commission to help determine how many organizations fit those specific parameters.

With that information, research each organization and try to estimate how many positions each organization has for the specific role/function you are interested in.  The number of positions means the number of filled positions, not open ones.   Once you complete the information for each target job search, you will need to prioritize them into one of three categories:

1. Priority 1 – the most attractive jobs
2. Priority 2 – jobs you are interested in, but might not be your dream location or organization
3. Priority 3 – jobs that might be easier to get, but might pay less or not be as attractive

These priority groups will be crucial in the next steps of networking and job applications.

Researching the Organizations

Paul touched on some tips and questions to consider when researching organizations that will help when making your Target Market Chart and determining which organizations are the best fit.  There are 3 major ways you can research an organization:

1. Internet Searches – Google, Reference Solutions, Glassdoor, D&B Hoovers, etc.
2. Visit the Organization – Company website, SEC/investor analyst calls, company Annual Reports/marketing materials
3. Associations – professional, industry focused, alumni

Some questions to consider when researching your target industries/organizations include:

• Who are the competition?
• How does this role impact the bottom lines (monetarily, sustainability)?
• What are some recent news highlights of the organization?
• What is the organization’s standing in the industry?  How big is the organization within the industry?
• How many people do they hire for this role?  Who is the leadership team and reporting structure?

Regardless of how you conduct your research, you want to become an expert on the organization.  This can serve you very well in the future for networking purposes and potential interviews.

The 3-1-2 Priority Concept

Once you have your all of our targeted markets ranked by priority, you want to start acting on that information, starting with those in the lowest priority.  This may seem counterintuitive, but this will give you a chance to learn more about the job market you are trying to enter, how to navigate networking opportunities, and practice interviewing and conversing with those in that industry.

Start by reaching out to people you know in those organizations or who may have a connection to someone in the organizations through industry connections.  This can be a general contact person or a brief introduction to someone in Human Resources or the recruitment process.  Use this opportunity to foster a relationship with someone from the organization and highlight your interest in becoming part of the team should the opportunity arise.

As job openings become available, apply for them and take every opportunity to participate in offered interviews.  It is at this point where you will start the process over with your Priority 1 markets, making inroads and networking connections where possible.  Use you knowledge from your experiences with the Priority 3 markets to make more beneficial connections.

As you move through opportunities in your Priority 1 markets, start the process over again withy your Priority 2 markets.  If offers start coming in, you can use your experiences, interviews, and offers to negotiate between your Priority markets to get the best result for you.

More Information

If you want more information about the steps to creating a target market for your job search, including copies of the slides or charts, please contact Paul Cecala at pcecala@cecalacareer.com or 862-210-9562.  You can view a recording of the program at https://youtu.be/kIxCE4jpd7Y.