Post Courtesy of JRW Resources, one of our NPAWorldwide Partners

There is no doubt that we are currently in the midst of a candidates’ market. We’ve discussed that fact previously in this blog.

Of course, as the name implies, a candidates’ market favors the candidates. That’s because job openings and employment opportunities are plentiful. (This is in stark contrast to a recessionary economy and corresponding market.)

While this is good news for candidates and job seekers like yourself, there are sensible limits and boundaries involved. You might be asking yourself right now, “But whatever do you mean?” What I mean is that candidates are unfortunately prone to unsavory behavior in market conditions such as these. Below are a few examples of such behavior:

• Scheduling interviews with multiple companies and not showing up for one (or more) of them

• Accepting an offer of employment from an organization, but then changing your mind when you receive a better offer from another organization

• Not showing up for your first day of work (and to add insult to injury, not telling anybody why)

Yes, there is plenty of opportunity in the current market for job seekers. Yes, this is a good reason to be aggressive in your pursuit of career advancement. However, you can’t act recklessly in this pursuit. In other words, you can’t “burn bridges.” It’s okay to be aggressive, but you must be strategically aggressive.

WHY to be Strategically Aggressive

We’ve already covered this, at least in part. The bottom line is that you should act with integrity all the way through the hiring process. That means during every interaction that you have with every person and during every situation... no exceptions.

That’s because if you don’t act with integrity all the time, it could come “back to bite you” in the future. You never know what’s going to happen or who you might encounter again. If you engage in unsavory behavior, somebody is going to remember that behavior. And that somebody might be standing between you and a premium employment opportunity down the road.

HOW to be Strategically Aggressive

Let’s start with the aggressive part of this equation. In this case, being aggressive means being proactive. It means not sitting back and waiting for life to give you what you want. (You should know by now that’s not going to happen.)

How can you be proactive? For starters, by not waiting until you’re unemployed to look for a new job. It might seem counter-intuitive, but you should look to grow your career while you already have a good job. If you wait until you’re unemployed, then it’s already too late.

Second, network as much as you can within your chosen field. This means networking both online and face-to-face. (If your networking efforts only consist of LinkedIn, then you’re going to get limited results on your investment of time and energy.) It’s not just what you know, but it’s also who you know. When you network with other people, they might have knowledge of situations or circumstances that you do not. And they can refer you to those situations, which might involve a new employment opportunity.

One of the ways you can expand your networking efforts is to reach out to a recruiter in your chosen field. Recruiters have relationships with the top organizations in the marketplace and they work with hiring managers on a daily basis.

But remember: it’s not enough to be aggressive. You also have to be strategic. If not, you could make costly mistakes that will come back to haunt you.

Article Link - http://www.jrwalters.com/single-post/2018/05/01/Why-and-How-to-be-Strategically-Aggressive-During-the-Hiring-Process