Looking for a job – not to mention one you might even really like – is a daunting prospect. Whatever you had been doing – studying for a degree or working professionally – probably didn’t include looking for a job. So how are you going to your job transition journey off to a good start?

I have a 5-step framework that will help!

One. Get Specific

Before you update your resume or LinkedIn profile, and before you start connecting with people about your intention to find a job, you need to figure out what it is you really want to do. Being too general will make it difficult to both spot a role that’s a good fit for you and to have people to want to help you.

For example, I just went to a popular job hunting website and did a search for ‘engineer’ for the entire United States. The results returned 99,100 jobs.

Better set some time aside to look through that list.

If you can whittle down what you really want to do, if you can be more specific, you are going to have a much better chance of finding a role that’s right for you. Refining the search to ‘mechanical engineer turbines’ for the United States returned 907 jobs. Still quite a few, but starting to become more manageable.

Refining what you really want to do can also include a geographical location, company benefits, and culture. And this will help you narrow down what roles are available and which are right for you.

Once you know what you really want to do, you’ll be excited when you tell others. The energy you display will energize the person you are talking to. They will “catch” your excitement and will want to help you. Maybe they know a hiring manager, and maybe they know someone who knows someone who might know a hiring manager.

In any case, you’ll get a lot more help when you can say “I’m excited about finding a role where I can design turbines using my mechanical engineering knowledge” than if you say, “I’m an engineer.”

Two. Update Your Resume

The resume serves a couple of purposes. The first purpose is to introduce yourself when you can’t do it in person. This happens when you apply to a job online. The second purpose is to remind a hiring manager who you are. This happens either when you’ve had a conversation with a hiring manager and they ask for your resume, or you’ve had a phone screen or interview after applying.

For both purposes, you want to make sure your resume is clear about what role you feel is a great fit for you. Try this exercise. Fold your resume in half (so the top and bottom meet, not side-to side). If you only read the information “above the fold,” would you know how you can add value to the role you really want?

Make it easy for the hiring managers to know why you would be a great fit – or, not a great fit. A hiring manager is likely reviewing a lot of resumes. Putting projects and skills that are directly relevant to the type of work you want towards the top of the resume is helpful. Don’t make a manager guess why they should hire you.

Three. Update Your LinkedIn Profile

These days hiring managers and people you will interview with are likely going to check out your LinkedIn profile. You can write more in your profile than you can in your resume, so take advantage of that.

In your About section, consider stating why you are excited about the type of work you do or want to do. In your Headline, add skills and roles you’d like to have (if that makes you uncomfortable, go with something like ‘aspiring xyz engineer’). Use the Featured section to add links to projects, papers, or relevant LinkedIn posts.

In your Experience section, you can add skills next to your title. Your title may be “Engineer II”, but you can say “Engineer II (design engineer, team lead).” By doing this you make it easy for a hiring manager or someone trying to help you network to understand your skillset.

Four. Connect with People

So many people have told me they have been hired because they were referred to the hiring manager. I’m not thinking of recruiters here, but rather people we know or people who know people we know. In my career I have taken three jobs because I knew someone. The first was when I was an intern and got hired full-time by the company via a referral from one manager to another. The second I asked for an informational interview and ended up meeting a manager who hired me. The third I had worked with my future manager at a previous company. He remembered me and wanted to bring me on board to his team.

Yes, you can get a job by applying online. If you’ve ever applied online, you know it can be a black hole – your application and resume go in and nothing ever comes back out. You should still apply online because people do get hired that way. But a lot of people get hired via referrals too.

Talk to people without any expectation that they can give you a job or that they know a hiring manager. Build a connection with them. Tell your story with enthusiasm. If they do know of an opportunity or of someone who might be able to help you further, they will likely offer without you asking. People like to help people who are excited about their future!

Five. Practice for the Interview

Being asked, “what was your greatest challenge and how did you handle it” likely doesn’t come up in everyday conversation. But it’s likely to be asked in an interview. Sure, there will be questions in an interview that you could not have anticipated. On the other hand, there are a lot of questions you can prepare for.

At a minimum, have something to say about every sentence on your resume. Be able to describe the project or situation. If you can’t remember exactly what is relevant about that part of your resume, you may want to rethink including it on your resume altogether.

If you haven’t interviewed ever or it has been some time, find someone you trust that has interviewed people to help you prepare. Give them an example of a role you’d like (can be an expired job description or one from far away that you wouldn’t have actually considered – just looking for something to work with). Ask your friend to interview you using that job description. Even if they are not intimately familiar with all the jargon, they will be able to get close enough and your will get invaluable practice.

And that’s it! Putting effort into these five steps is going to get your job transition journey off to a successful start.