Effective Job Hunting

Mistakes Job Seekers Need to Avoid

Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal discuss potential mistakes job seekers might be making when looking for work online and potential situations that can place your name in the "do not call" list with employers.  

I also wrote on this topic in Color Magazine, about 5 mistakes job seekers make and how to prevent them.

Are you making of the mistakes mentioned in the article? It is never late to switch gears and make improvements.

Networking during the Holiday Season

Networking could be an activity dreaded by many who are looking for work.  Job seekers are pressured to be outgoing, self-starting conversationalist who can engage new acquaintances in energizing conversations. 

How to approach the holidays when many gather to celebrate the season while also hoping to find a warm job lead?

Here is the link to a recent article with suggestions on how to network during the holidays.  Drop me a link if you try any of the tips and let me know how it went.

Happy networking!

Resilience and Retraining

What can we learn from a group of factory workers?  Apparently a lot.  Last Friday's ABC News broadcast about a group of laid-off workers gave me goose bumps of pride and hope. 

Despite being unemployed for several months these group of men have decided to take their future into their own hands and go back to school.  All men profiled in the broadcast are changing careers. 

Their decision did not happen overnight.  It took guts, self-introspection, decisiveness and the right attitude to get there.

  

Not working? What are you doing in the meantime? Part 2 of 2

Let's recap part 1.  How would you answer the dreaded question:  What have you been doing since you became unemployed?    Your answer to this question could open or close doors during your job search.

Imagine for a moment that it is you asking the question to someone you might be considering to hire.  If this person answers "I've been looking for work," then the conversation may turn to something like, where, how many or what.  But if you answer this question by saying, "while I have been following several strong leads, I have also been taking classes, volunteering or mentoring."  Do you see the difference?  Which candidate sounds more interesting? Which person would you be interested in getting to know better and perhaps inviting in for an interview?

Now, in order to be able to provide an answer like the second person in our story, you need to be doing something along those lines.  I am not asking you to lie about how you spend your time.  If you are interested in learning a new subject or trends in your area of interest, there are many schools offering free online courses.  One I recommend is MIT's Open CourseWare.  There are many other colleges and universities offering you the opportunity to expand your horizons and strengthen your knowledge base.  Another option is to volunteer or become a mentor. 

The main idea is to use the time you have in between jobs to show potential employers--and yourself--that you are a proactive individual who knows how to make the best of a tough situation.  All you need is time and motivation.  We know you have the time.  But do you have the determination and self-discipine to improve your skills on your own?

Social Media: A Wild Card in Your Job Search Efforts

  Remember the old saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words?"  In the digital era, a blog entry, Facebook picture or a tweet could cost you a job offer.

You might be thinking who could be so careless as to not protect their professional reputation.  Well, according to an article from Careerbuilder.com --via CNN.com--there are many people who let their guard down in the digital world.

The potential pitfalls of engaging in social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace,or Twitter are many.  In the digital world, there is imminent risk to damage one's professional reputation by venting or complaining openly for anyone to read.  Or by posting pictures that might be perceived as inappropriate by potential employers.  Tread these waters lightly, please. 

Not working? What are you doing in the meantime? Part 1 of 2

Estimates published by the media and other career-related sources agree on one fact:  The job search process is bound to be a long, enduring exercise that could take between six months to a year.  What you do during this period--aside from looking for work and going on interviews--will determine the likelihood of being perceived as a strong candidate and how confident you remain during your job search.

Let me set up the scenario to make my point.  It has been three months since you started looking for work.  You have submitted resumes left and right and have been networking and asking friends and acquaintances for job leads.  So far, these efforts have yielded minimal results.  Perhaps you had a couple of interviews that did not go forward.  Or perhaps you received the dreaded, "thanks but no thanks" letter.  At this point you could be feeling frustrated, less confident or angry about the economy, the companies you are interested in or both.

How do you, then, find the strength to attend another networking event, career fair or informational interview while hiding all these ill feelings created by the job search process you are starting to hate?Imagine you are at a networking event and a colleague asks you (maybe not in these exact words), "what have you been doing since you became unemployed?."  

Think about your answer and write it down.  In part two, we will discuss suggested ways to address this simple yet critical issue.

Job Search Resources: How to Choose Them

Depending on how you start your job search, you could end up with hundreds of thousands of Google links when looking for career and job hunting advice.  How do you even begin to manage the information overload created by your job search online?  Let me offer three ways to narrow down and focus your efforts.

1. Develop a sequential plan of action.  Most job hunters spend most of their searching energy visiting recruiting sites like monster.com.  Others go directly to companies' web sites to submit their resumes.  The process becomes opportunistic and unfocused.  By having a checklist with an action plan of activities to accomplish per day or week, job seekers will have a better idea of the progress they are (or not) making.
2. Limit your time online.  Before you spend hours searching the internet, ask yourself:  Why am I on this site?  How much time am I going to spend here?  If you consciously want to spend a day surfing online, do it.  What I am warning you about is falling into the trap of spending most of your job hunting efforts wandering aimlessly in FaceBook or other sites and then complaining that no one is getting back to you.  If you know you are prone to wander around online, add a column to your plan of action to track time spent online and after a week or two see what results you are getting from your efforts. 
3. Consider offline job hunting resources.  Don't forget the library, community centers, alumni offices and professional associations.  Even churches are involved in helping their parishioners brush up in their interviewing skills.   An added bonus to using job hunting resources offline is the potential for face-to-face networking.