As you now know, a good way to expand your job targets is to change just one of the three elements. In one example, we expanded the industry target of the arts, keeping geography and function constant. In another example, we kept the industry target narrow and the geography constant, but we expanded the functions from fund-raising to fund-raising and PR to target within the industry and geography target.
You will know what works for you because you should expand based on your interests in different industries, functions, and geographies and how these possibilities match your personal decision criteria.
The more elements you add, the more combinations you must pursue and the more diluted your search efforts may become. If we added education as an industry choice and added PR as a function choice, we now have four combinations:
- Minneapolis + arts + PR
- Minneapolis + education + PR
- Minneapolis + arts + fund-raising
- Minneapolis + education + fund-raising
This adds to the research you need to do, the networking meetings and interviews you need to attend, and the complexity of your marketing.
If you add another geography to the mix, say Chicago, now you have eight combinations:
- Minneapolis + arts + PR
- Minneapolis + education + PR
- Minneapolis + arts + fund-raising
- Minneapolis + education + fund-raising
- Chicago + arts + PR
- Chicago + education + PR
- Chicago + arts + fund-raising
- Chicago + education + fund-raising
At some point, the benefit of having more companies and organizations to target is lost by the complexity of having to cover too many disparate targets.
A special consideration before adding geographies or broadening your geography target is that there is a financial cost and physical time for travel that you must factor into your search efforts. It is far easier to contain your search to one geography and expand to multiple industries and functions.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Yes, targets need to be specific as you define each one, but you do not need to have only one target overall.
- There are significant advantages to having multiple targets, including increasing the size of your overall job market, increasing your flexibility to react to slowdowns in any one job market, and increasing your options should one target prove elusive.
- It is best to change just one element—either industry or function or geography—but not all three, to prevent search efforts from getting too confusing and diluted.
- Expanding geography targets is more difficult than expanding industry or function because of the financial and time requirements for travel.
EXERCISE
- How might you expand the target you currently have? Make a list of industry, function, and geography interests. Rank your top combinations. Are you changing too many elements and possibly diluting your search? Or are your targets still too narrow?
- If you are having trouble deciding how to expand your search, look at industries and functions related to the one you have selected. Look at the core skills you are using in the function you want and think about what other roles within the same industry might use those skills. Look at the industry you’ve selected and see if there are organizations from the different sectors (private, nonprofit, government) that you can add. Or see if the companies you want collaborate with other companies—these partners might be added to your target list.
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