Here’s the EXACT plan I wrote that secured my job at Apple - and the process I took to write it

Read to the end to see my EXACT strategy from 2014.

Back in 2014, I was fired from the job I thought was my Dream Job.

Job hunting in the depths of a UK winter and struggling to get my confidence back, I found that there was no focus to my job hunt. 

I’d totally lost my confidence, which meant I wasn’t even sure I wanted to work in Marketing anymore.

I’d gone from Brand Director to unemployed in the space of 3 months.

In the cold of early 2014, I was considering EVERYTHING:

• Going Travelling
• An MBA (to then become a management consultant)
• Going agency side
• Working as Marketing Director for small start ups
• Leaving London and going back to New Zealand
• Re-training in anything that wasn’t Marketing and Comms

After a month driving myself crazy and constantly changing my mind, I realised I needed a plan. One that was decisive in my direction and created focus in my job hunt.

Here’s the process that I took to write the plan that resulted in my job at Apple:

Step 1: Talking to People

Before I could decide what was a good idea and what wasn’t, I needed to talk to people and get some direct answers.

Would I actually like Management Consulting?

Was travelling going to be as fun at 32 as it was at 25?

Could start-up life be right for me after 12 years working in global corporations?

The quickest way to get these answers was to speak directly to people who I knew could answer them. 

So I did this. I booked coffee dates in the diary with everyone I knew could help me work through my options. It was as quickest way to get the answers I needed.

Step 2: Online Research

Once I’d heard directly from people who knew something about something, I got online to see what else I could find. Online research allowed me to validate and narrow down the information I had got from talking to people.

Were these companies good places to work?

Was there room for growth?

Is this industry as exciting as people make it sound?

What are salaries like?

Step 3: Create a strategy

Once I felt I had enough information in my hands, I set about writing a strategic plan to help me focus my job hunt and secure my next perfect role.

What I realised is that job-hunting without a plan is ineffective and inefficient. Most people are sitting on LinkedIn ‘easy-applying’ for roles they don’t even want - and then being surprised when they get a job they don’t like.

My idea was to write a plan that had up to 3 strategies in it, that would be the focus of my job hunt.

Plus I was going to be clear on the roles, the industries and even how much time I would spent on each strategy. 

Here is the EXACT strategy I wrote that was the focus of my 2014 job hunt.

What I learnt from talking to people was that I still loved Marketing. 

But I loved it as part of big global organisations - not smaller companies. I needed to go back to bigger companies, but to be in a new industry that excited me and where there was room for growth.

My Creative Career Plan - with my 3 strategies - made my job hunt more efficient and effective. And as it was so focused, I applied for fewer jobs but with higher quality applications.

And this secured my role at Apple where I tripled my salary.

If you are job hunting right now, I suggest you get working on your own Creative Career Plan. Or watch out for our mini-course launching in the next week which will focus how ‘How to build your Strategy’.

Good luck!