Friday, March 10, 2006
The Smart Way to Approach Your Job Search
The writing's on the wall...your current job just isn't challenging anymore; it doesn't pay enough; your commute to the office is too long...the list of reasons to leave gets longer everyday. And while it's great to fantasize about finding your dream job, the process of landing it is tedious and daunting. Finding your next job is a job itself and you need to treat it that way-take a smart approach to your job search to minimize the time you spend looking, applying, interviewing and following up.
Pool your resources. The first step you should take to find a new job is to pull together all your resources so you can reference them easily and quickly throughout your search. Make a list of all the job boards you intend to use, papers you plan to scour and contacts you plan to contact. Go down the list and exhaust each resource until you need to add new ones. Not only will this help to ensure that you "cover all the bases", it will also make you feel good about the progress you make in your quest for a fun, new job!
Post your resume and set up a job alert (or agent). Looking for jobs on career Web sites everyday is a waste of time! Post your resume and allow your experience to be viewed by recruiters and potential employers...many job seekers don't realize that recruiters often find candidates by conducting a key word search of a specific skill (i.e. "PeopleSoft") and contacting qualified candidates from the resumes returned in the search results. Additionally, set up a job alert or agent with the criteria for your job search (i.e. desired location, career field, experience level, etc.) and let the web sites email you applicable jobs however often you wish (daily, weekly, etc.).
Prepare and follow up. Many job seekers spend a great deal of time looking for jobs and applying to them, but when they get interviews, they fail to follow-through on two crucial steps in the job search: interview preparation and follow up. If you're going to go to the trouble of putting your resume together and creating a convincing cover letter, why not prepare for the interview and follow up afterward? Every interview requires you to learn about the company, prepare examples of how your experience qualifies you for the job (according to the job description), compile a list of questions to ask the interviewer/recruiter and follow up with a brief thank you letter or e-mail.