Continuing this series for a blue collar job search, the next step is to identify job titles you should be searching for.
Before I got laid off I didn’t really care about job titles… except my own job title. When I started a job search I searched for job titles I was familiar with. I had no idea that there were other job titles I should have been looking for.
Same with you – there are likely job titles that are posted online that you haven’t heard of. One reason is because companies might have proprietary titles that don’t make sense to anyone outside of the company.
Once again, head over to Indeed.com and do a simple search for titles you know you are looking for… and then sift through the postings to see what other job titles come up.
My buddy is a genius at building and maintaining… he can do a lot of different things. I tried the title facility maintenance, which is a generic term to describe the maintenance professionals who do a lot of different things in an existing building, and eventually found the following titles:
- facility maintenance tech
- facility operations
- facility manager
- operations supervisor
- operations technician
You can do searches on any of these other titles and see what other job titles come up… once again, this is a brainstorming exercise to help you broaden your search and find more opportunities.
Similar to what you get when you have a list of target companies, knowing some different job titles can help you as you network. For example, if someone asks you how the job search is going you can respond with “it’s going great – I’m looking for a job in facility operations or as an operation technician – do you know anyone at your company that can introduce me to the maintenance manager so I can talk to him/her?”
By now you have a better idea of what you want in a job (or work environment), what some of your target companies are and what some job titles you would apply for are…. next is… (well, come back tomorrow!)
