Jobhunting
Jobhunting is for your entire career lifetime, spanning three to four different careers.
It is not a single event that you perform when the need arises.
Why Jobhunting?
According to the standard definition of “job hunting” or “job-hunting”, it refers to the process of actively seeking employment. Typically, the actions include identifying opportunities, writing a CV, sending applications, preparing for interviews, and negotiating offers. All those are important actions. Many books have been written on those topics. You can get plenty of good input from ChatGPT or other AI tools.
In my book, I choose to combine the two words and coin the word “jobhunting.” This is similar to how the word “headhunting” is written. I expand the definition and process of jobhunting to include the entire career life. To me, jobhunting is not a single event or action you take when you need a job.
Instead, you need to always be in “jobhunting mode”. Everything you do in your current job and your daily life is part of jobhunting.
Jobhunting as One Word
In my book and this book site, I coin the words jobhunting and jobhunter. You will not find either word in the dictionary. Job hunt is written as two separate words. There are also versions of job-hunting and job-hunter.
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I dislike the hyphenated word. I think it is appropriate to combine the two words into one – like how we write headhunt, headhunter, and headhunting.
I hope that Oxford, Collins, and Merriam-Webster will include these words in their dictionaries one day.
The Four Ps of Jobhunting
In a Jobhunting setting, you are the Product. You need to sell and market yourself. I have adapted the Four Ps of Marketing model to Jobhunting. By applying the Four Ps of Jobhunting model, you can develop strategies to succeed in your jobhunting journey.
Product
As a jobhunter, you are the Product. Learn about your competition. Conduct a personal SWOT analysis to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Learn to develop your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to differentiate yourself from the competition at every career stage.
Place
You need to build a strong network. Identify the four categories in your network: internal, external, offline, and online. Learn how to build and nurture your network. Understand that most jobs are available in the hidden job market. Know what to do with headhunters.
Pricing
Every product has a price, including you, the jobhunter. Learn how pricing works in the job market. Gain an understanding of salary benchmarking. Develop a plan on how to raise your price.
Promotion
Like any product, you need to develop a strong personal brand in the company and toward the external world. Learn to use LinkedIn as part of your brand building process. Create elevator pitches and be ready to pitch for jobs.