Job search canvas: a framework to guide your job search
by Gabriela De Luca :)
When I posted about the Resource Library for candidates, one of the comments was a compliment calling it a scorecard. That comment sparked my inspiration because I love the concept of having one board on which you grasp your strategy at a glance.
What could be a job seeker's scorecard?
I haven't come up with a solution — yet — but it led me to a second thought: what IF we had a job search CANVAS?
Business model canvas: our blueprint
We need to start from the premise that we all know what the business model canvas is. If you don't, watch this video:
A pretty genius framework created by Alexander Osterwalder. Since its release, it’s been used worldwide and it has influenced dozens of canvases focused on different niches. In case you wanna learn more about the business canvas, you can go to the official website.
The business model canvas is amazing because you can see the whole business strategy at once. It summarizes the key aspects of a business model AND its structure also represents the context. For instance, on the bottom are the two base pillars for business sustainability: costs and revenue. On the right, the most internal aspects, going to the most external aspects to the left. To understand its beauty fully, I recommend this article.
I was always inspired by it and I even created an HR Canvas when I started my research about tech and remote work with Round Pegs, in 2017 — will write about it some other day. Now that I'm helping the other side of the journey, it's time to try a model for job seekers.
Let's do this!!
Job search canvas
The Job Search Canvas (JSC) is a tool to quickly see your job search strategy and take action on what matters — and OF COURSE, I created a template!. It compiles all information you need to remember applying, interviewing and negotiating.
The left side focuses on YOU. It's about your skills and your past experiences, no matter how subjective or objective they are. This is the place to list the most important things to remember during a job interview, as well as to guide you when deciding your dream job.
The right side focuses on external aspects that represent where you want to go and how you can get there. It compiles all things that you don't have control of, but you can choose to get closer and leverage them.
In the centre is your value proposition. I'm always hesitant to use such management concepts for individuals: we're not machines or businesses. BUT. Try to think about this centre as YOUR centre. The core aspects of your personality as a professional.
The value proposition
The first, most important, and probably most difficult building block to answer. Think about the things that make you unique and can answer the question: why would XYZ hire me? I know, it's a difficult one and you can definitely come back to it.
Things you can do to help you out:
- Remember about the positive feedback you've received from teammates.
- Try a few personality tests, like 16personalities or Enneagram.
- Try to build your own elevator pitch
- Try to build your own Ikigai
- Think about your culture, your ancestors, your uniqueness
Soft Skills
These are the behaviours and attitudes that you have developed along the way to deliver your value proposition. This is not the place to write "Javascript" (save that for Hard Skills). This is the place for things like "a great listener" or "collaboration".
If you're having a hard time thinking about it, just google "list of soft skills" and you'll find A LOT of resources to inspire you. The most important thing is to list what you already have!
Hard Skills
These are objective skills that you have developed along the way, such as tools and languages (aka the place for "Javascript"). It's easier than thinking about soft skills, so a good place to start.
If you’re having a hard time to think about it, google “list of hard skills for [WRITE YOUR ROLE/INDUSTRY]” and you’ll find A LOT of resources to inspire you. The most important thing is to list what you already have!
Key Experiences
This is gonna be a memory exercise! List your main achievements along the way: the more objective, the better. What I mean by this is:
- Make clear the number of projects you've led
- Number of users that your past work have impacted
- The size or distribution of your teams.
- Etc, etc.
This one is the equivalent of the bullet points on your resumé, but really focused on the main ones. Those examples of achievements summarize your soft and hard skills in a great way.
Key resources
These are the base of your "internal" aspects. These are the things that you can literally prove and show to a potential employer. Things like:
- Certifications
- Diplomas
- Past job titles and/or companies
- Volunteer experiences (jobs and institutions)
- Spoken languages
Revenue
Starting to talk about the external side of our canvas, let's talk about income. In this building block, you can add your the prospective revenue streams you have in mind. These streams can be:
- Base salary
- Benefits and equity
- Side projects
Segment
This could be "dream job", but I didn't want to go too specific. As your canvas, this can last longer than ONE job search. You might be looking for different types of job titles or industries. And so on.
In this building block, add the aspects of the horizon you're walking towards to. Things that you should contemplate:
- Job titles
- Areas/Teams
- Companies
- Industries
- Work model (remote, hybrid, etc)
Relationships
Who are the people you've been networking with? Who are the people that you've known and that can support you? Who are the people you _should_ make connections with?
You can add a few names, as well as events or habits you should implement to better develop these relationships. Things like:
- Go to Meetups
- Go to in person events
- Find and be part of communities
Channels
Last, but not least. Channels are the bridges that you build with and through your network, as well those bridges that will take you to your envisioned segment. In our job search canvas, they can include:
- Jobs boards, such as Indeed
- Jobs platforms, such as WeWorkRemotely
- Jobs networks, such as LinkedIn
- Jobs Communities, such as StackOverFlow
Tools you can use
These canvases are more or less brainstorming methods. You'll get to a conclusion at some point, but it'll come from a lot of ideas. Even after you're "done", you'll still come back to it and tweak it a little bit. With that in mind, there are three free tools that I recommend:
- Miró or Mural are great whiteboard tools. You can play with the post-its there and use different colours for each different building block.
- Jamboard, on Google Drive, is still a hidden type of document, for some reason, and it does the basics we need for this.
- Spreadsheet, on Google Drive. OF COURSE I was going to suggest a spreadsheet, and that's the one I used for the template ❤
Last thing
Keep in mind that this canvas isn’t built for career transitions. You’ll notice that there is nothing related to things you have to do to get a job you’re not ready yet for. I definitely have that in mind and the potential scorecard I mentioned at beginning of this article will be the best place for it :)
Do you like this canvas? Let me know! If you're a job seeker, I'd love to hear your feedback about how helpful it is — or not.
If you're a company or individual that wants to use it with your teams and clients, let's collaborate! We all put things out there and collaborating is much more engaging and impactful!
