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Not easy to pigeon-hole

Our Career Doctor, Sophie Relf, receives hundreds of emails every day about work and jobseeking issues. Here she advises on how to look for work when it's difficult to narrow down your area of speciality.

Dear Career Doctor,

I am a highly qualified and experienced manager with a background in people and project management, sales, marketing, customer care, financial and business planning, system development, computing and training across many different industries.

As I'm not easy to pigeon-hole, my applications made in response to adverts seeking experience in a specific area usually amount to nothing. I have always done very well at interviews but currently cannot seem to get to that stage. I'm a very positive person and understand how to market myself, but have very few relevant contacts who could help me find a new role.

Can you help?
S.

Dear S,

Your first stage should be to clarify what you want to do. Which of your many skills would you most like to develop or build on? You need to take a hard look at your CV and re-focus it to specific objectives, selling yourself clearly on the skills that companies and recruitment agencies are looking for.

It's worth trying to approach people already doing the jobs you want and asking to see their CV. That way you'll be able to pick out which parts of your experience are best to focus on.

In addition to improving your CV, there are two sides to the job market you should be aware of; the visible and invisible.

It sounds as though you are only using the visible side at the moment, such as job advertisements and recruitment consultants. This means that you consistently deal with people who want to slot you into existing jobs and perhaps match your skills to those of the previous job-holders. If you are only going to concentrate on this aspect then it is imperative that you make clear what you want to do and how you are suited for it.

The second side is the invisible side, also known as the hidden job market. This uses contacts you already have, or are about to make. In your letter you say that you haven't got any contacts, but perhaps you are not thinking laterally.

Why not try former work colleagues? Do you have any family members in relevant jobs? If you are looking to develop contacts, the best way to use them to your advantage is to ask for advice. This is a good networking strategy, particularly if you get a referral.

You should also target a number of companies to research on the internet and contact them to find out if there are any unadvertised vacancies.

Good luck!
Sophie

If you have a question for Sophie, please email career.doctor@totaljobs.com or click here to see if your query has already been answered.

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