On the sixth installment of Tristan's Tips, our special guest Tristan Layfield expands on why it's so important to narrow down your job search before setting off in search of new employment. He also offers valuable advice on how best to navigate the job search realm.

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TRANSCRIPT

Tristan: What's poppin', y'all? It's Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I've teamed up with Living Corporate to bring you all a weekly career tip. Today we're gonna talk about why it's essential to narrow down your job search. Have you ever decided you were going to search for a new job, so you take your laptop out, you look at your resume, and you think, "Eh, that's fine," and then you head over to your favorite job search site, like Indeed or Monster, to start searching... then 10 to 15 minutes in, you're completely overwhelmed? Well, that's because you didn't go into it with a plan. We often set ourselves up for failure by setting our sights too wide. We say we want to work in HR, but HR is an expansive industry. You can be a generalist, a recruiter, a trainer, a manager, a director, a VP - the list goes on. The name of the game in the job search realm right now is tailoring. Yes, you could adapt your resume to all of the various roles you would apply to on a whim, but you'd be spending an endless amount of time tweaking resumes and cover letters, and that's precisely why you feel exhausted before you've even really gotten started. While many roles inside of an industry require similar skillsets, they each have their own unique requirements. By thinking too large, you tend to miss what skills you can highlight and what skills you need to brush up on to make you the best candidate in the applicant pool. So take a step back and try to figure out one or two areas or jobs that you're interested in, then develop a targeted strategy for each of those areas. This strategy includes signing up on specific job search sites, highlighting different achievements in your documents, attending certain networking events, using certain social media platforms, or even reaching out to particular employment agencies. While this process varies wildly depending on the industry you're trying to break into, by being aware of what you want, you can better prepare yourself to attain it. Remember, it's a process. This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume, or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.