In an effort to make this blog actually useful to you, I felt like I needed to do some research and pull together a few things that will increase your chance of landing a job. I was very particular in what I decided to put on this page. There are very few things that are going to be worth your time when looking for a job. These are a few of those things.
Building Your Network
LinkedIn
Go ahead and create a profile on this site if you haven’t already (Unless you job history is really spotty. In that case, don’t waist the time. You can’t tell your story on LinkedIn in the same way you can a resume.). Import your email contacts, and search for others. LinkedIn is helpful for when you find a job that you want to apply to, going onto LinkedIn to see if there is anyone in your network at the company that you could try and get a phone call with to tell them you are interested in the position. They might offer to pass your resume to the hiring manager.
Brazen Careerist
This just started not too long ago, so I don’t have much information. This is another networking site that will help you build out your network. Penelope Trunk, a well known and respected career advice blogger, started the site to help people build out their networks in an unconventional but effective way. Check it out.
Relationship Spreadsheet
I created a very simple spreadsheet that you can use to plug in people that you know. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to go. I recommend keeping this running list even if you have the LinkedIn and Brazen Careerist setup. It will help you feel like you are taking charge of your job search, and it will be a quick reference to go back to.
Creating Automatic Job Searches
The reason you want to create auto searches, is that you don't want to get sucked into "surfing" job search engines all day long. Create the searches, and walk away. You'll get the jobs in your email when there is a match.
Yes. Only pick two. More than that is a waste of time and job search overload. It will give you the impression that you are doing some productive, but instead you are wasting you time. There are only so many jobs in the world, by picking two job search engines you will grab most of them. See my page on the best job search engines for my thoughts on what is out there.
When setting up your searches, be sure to try a couple options and test them. Most new jobs are entered in on Thursdays. Don’t waste your time checking these every day. Set-it up to send it to you once a week. Trust me, a job won’t come and go in a week. And the process for landing a job is can be fairly lengthy (depending on what level you are at), so your time will be well spent if it is NOT spent look at only job search engines every day.
When you see a job that looks like a fit, go back to your network tools to see if you know anyone that works in the company or industry. If so, reach out to them.
MORE ITEMS TO COME!
