The 21st Century Job Hunt
Once upon a time, when the first place you'd look was the newspaper help wanted ads. Monday through Saturday you'd find a respectable selection of ads, but Sunday was the BIG job search starting point day.
Once you had found the ads you were interested in, you'd type up your cover letter and envelope, attach a copy of your resume, stuff those envelopes, put postage on, pop everything into the mail, and wait. And then wait some more.
Oh, how things have changed.
New Era, New Options
Traditional newspaper help wanted ads are still worth checking but don't stop there!
- Corporate web sites – If there is a company that you want to work for, keep an eye on their web site. Many companies post their open positions and let you submit your resume directly. You can also find these jobs using a standard search engine like Yahoo, Google, etc.
- Networking and Community Websites –Sites like LinkedIn, Friendster, Orkut., or any forums you participate in can be a good source for leads and/or contacts inside a company you want to work for. Keep in mind, most sites have rules about how you should (or shouldn't) engage in job hunt activities - make sure you follow the rules. You won't help your cause by upsetting the other members.
- Job Search Engines – These are THE place to look for a job today. And there are a ton of them out there. The big names you've probably already heard: Monster, Dice, HotJobs, CareerBuilder, and so on. But don't overlook smaller sites – often they have postings that aren't available on other sites. Start by going to your favorite search engine and enter "job search engines" or "help wanted." To narrow the list, try adding the job title(s) you are looking for.
- Online Employment Matching Services – Sites such as gettinghired.com are newer entries into the job search world. Generally, you complete an assessment that is then used to match your educational experience, job experience and personality traits to available positions.
Check around, find the resources with postings that interest you, and look to see if they have an RSS feed, or if you can set up an agent that will automatically email you new postings that match what you are looking for.
Help Your Job Find You
So far we've talked about ways for you to find companies looking for help. But you can also let companies know you are looking.
- Online resumes – Most job search engines not only accept job postings from companies, they also encourage you to post your resume. There's no cost to you, so take your carefully crafted resume to sites with interesting jobs and post it!
- Personal website – Have one? Make sure you add your resume to it! Don't have one? Go ahead and get one, even if all you post is your resume.
Got an Interview? Great! Now the Work Begins…
Whether your interviews are on the phone or in person, you need to be prepared. For example:
- Check out the corporate site to learn about what they do and how they position themselves.
- Search for general information online. Hit the search engines to see what others are saying about the company and if there have been any mentions in the news.
- For larger companies, a visit to the free content provided by company reporting resources like Hoovers and Forbes can give your further insight into your potential employer.
- Know the salary range for your position. Check out the information provided at the job search engines and specialty sites like Salary.com.
- Know what the interview will find when they "Google" you or check out your Facebook postings. Be prepared to answer questions they might have about what you've posted.
Sure, finding a new job is a lot of work, but when you find your job – it will all be worth it!
