Setting Goals To Find a Job Faster: Amanda Temby’s Job Search Story

Setting goals in your job search is an essential step to find the best opportunities through your network. Amanda Temby decided to move to Portland from another state, but at first she wasn’t sure where to start her job search. Connecting with her network, conducting informational interviews and having clear job goals helped Amanda to find a job only one month after she started her job search. Read on for more of Amanda’s best advice for job seekers.

What do you do for a career? Who do you work for?

I am in an operations and administrative position on the sales team at NBC Sports Northwest.

How long did it take you to find this job?

I started looking for jobs in Portland in November 2017 and found this opportunity in early December 2017.

How did you find your job? What resources did you use? What tool or tactic helped the most?

I initially found another job posting for the same company after searching independently and applied for that role. I visited Portland in December to meet a few professionals for informational interviews. During one of my interviews, my connection referenced the same role I had found online and said that they knew someone on the sales team at NBC Sports Northwest. They forwarded my resume to their connection who then passed it to their Director of Sales. Because I had operations experience, the Director of Sales suggested I apply for the traffic role instead.

What was the most difficult part of your job search? How did you overcome this challenge?

It was tough searching for opportunities in another state. I was able to overcome this challenge by reaching out to connections I had made a few years ago while visiting Portland the first time and asking them for advice or to connect me with other professionals. I also made a trip in December to meet professionals for informational interviews. Having a clear intention and vocalizing this about the types of roles I was looking for also helped me to overcome the challenges of job searching.

What is the single best piece of advice you would offer other job-seekers?

Have a clear intention of what you are looking for and vocalize it to as many people as possible. By doing this, others will know exactly how to best help you.

Why do you love your job?

I enjoy the variety that comes with this role. Not only do I support the office through general administrative duties, I also support the operations and sales staff. I am able to work on many projects and interact with staff from other departments. I am also able to employ my creativity when working on projects!