A very common problem that I’ve noticed for job seekers is that they don’t want to let people know that they are looking for work. What a mistake!
Sital Ruparelia recently wrote two great posts about this, that you should definitely read:
4 Reasons Why You Stop Yourself Getting Support After Redundancy
and
Success Story – The Value of Reaching Out to Your Network
Posted in Networking | Tagged Job Opportunities, Networking | Leave a Comment »
A couple of weeks ago I found an amazing tip in a great blog post by Amy E Andrews, titled “Keeping Momentum during the Holiday”. Here’s the tip:
“Check out the Inc 500 & 5000 index for small, private companies in your local area that are experiencing large growth. These companies have made these lists due to their great growth, which often translates to jobs. Many times they’ve grown so fast, they don’t have the sophisticated recruiting processes of large companies and are more open to accepting direct inquires for informational interviews.”
The Inc 500 & 5000 index is at http://www.inc.com/inc5000/
Oh, by the way – today’s my birthday! If you don’t want to send a gift, how about telling a friend about my blog?
Posted in Job Search | Tagged Job Opportunities | Leave a Comment »
New site to check out: Linda Gutin, a colleague of mine, just launched an online version of her venerable resume writing service. The resumes she’s put together are powerful and eye-catching. Check out the site here: www.EnjoyableResumes.com!
Posted in Resume/CV | Tagged Resume/CV | Leave a Comment »
It’s the fourth of July, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how freedom ties into job searching. In a lot of ways, being out of work can feel like a total lack of freedom. You feel constricted from every corner, and nothing feels like enough – there is always a burden to do a little more to change the situation.
You feel a little bit like Sisyphus, the character from Greek mythology that was cursed by the gods to spend all eternity rolling a giant boulder up a hill. The boulder would never reach the top, and he never achieved this goal.
These feelings occur most often because job search lacks structure. There is only one big goal, which is to find a job. Until that goal is met, you feel like progress isn’t being made. This isn’t a fair amount of pressure to put on yourself. Finding a job does take time, and the fact that you aren’t done with the process yet doesn’t mean you aren’t making good progress towards that goal.
My advice is to set for yourself shorter term goals. For example, imagine if Sisyphus could say, “I’ll roll the boulder up to that tree, and then lodge it against the tree for the night. Tomorrow I’ll roll it up to the next tree.”
The best goals are based around actions, as opposed to results – because you can control actions, and you can’t always control results.. So, for example, a daily goal might be to send ten resumes and cover letters out to prospective employers. This is completely within your control, and once you’ve done the ten for the day (or whatever goal you set), you can step away and feel like you’ve accomplished what you set out to accomplish – because you have!
Posted in Job Search | Tagged Goals, Job Search, Routine | Leave a Comment »
A friend asked me the other day what I thought of Craigslist as a job searching venue.
Actually, Craigslist can be a pretty good place to look. People who are comfortable with the site tend to use it when they want to meet a need right away, so the job postings there tend to be available on a fairly first-come first-served basis.
If you’re looking for work, it’s a good idea to go onto Craigslist and look through all of the job categories that are remotely related to the work that you’re looking for (postings are often filed under the not exactly right category).
Do this twice or three times per week – it only takes 10-20 minutes, and you can sometimes get lucky and find a real gem. I’ve personally found several interesting opportunities over the years on the site, and I’ve found good talent for my businesses there as well.
The only word of warning that I will offer is that since there is no quality control whatsoever, scams can often work their way onto the site. Don’t post your personal details publicly on the site, and watch out for network marketing and other “opportunities” that ask you to buy into their program, or work exclusively on commission.
Posted in Finding Opportunities | Tagged Job Boards | Leave a Comment »
That’s right. It’s a little-known fact that in the midst of the current economic crisis and rampant unemployment, there is a labor shortage. This paragraph is taken from an article titled “3 Million Unfilled Jobs in the US” on TimesUnion.com, by Wally Altes:
“One of the great under-reported/unreported stories about the economy is that American employers have 3 million jobs they can’t fill. What we are seeing in the midst of the weakest economy in several decades and a national unemployment rate approaching 10%, is that employers have huge numbers of jobs which can’t be filled.”
This raises some important questions: “Where are these jobs?” “What are these employers looking for?” “Why aren’t these jobs being filled?” And, most importantly: “What do I have to do to get one of those jobs?”
I wrote a free special report called “Where are the JOBS?” to answer those questions. Click here to get it!
Posted in HuntingToHired, Job Search, The Economy | Tagged eBook, Economy, HuntingToHired, Job Search, Job Search Paradigms | 1 Comment »
You may have noticed my slightly anemic posting schedule lately. The reason is that I’ve been very busy writing a new eBook, which will go live in the next couple of days, along with the closing of HuntingToHired to new members. Once that’s done, I’ll get back to a more regular posting schedule.
Posted in HuntingToHired | Tagged HuntingToHired | Leave a Comment »
A friend just sent me an email, which reads:
You have to check out this CV. This guy posted his resume as an animated musical on the net and he really got hired by Microsoft Graphics team.
He received job offers from 180 companies; and more than 1,000,000 people viewed this CV…
This is a great example of what you can do with a video resume. Have you thought of doing something like this?
My suggestion, by the way, would be to make it easier to tell your friends, for example by adding a Tell-A-Friend script to it. What do you think?
Posted in Resume/CV | Tagged Resume/CV | Leave a Comment »
Well, not really a secret, but still exciting. I’m going to be closing HuntingToHired to new members sometime during the next few weeks. Based on feedback of the users I have so far, I’m going to be making a lot of changes, and adding a lot of content.
I’m posting briefly now because when we do re-open, the cost is likely going to be higher, but all of my existing users will be grand-fathered in at the current price. If you need some help with your job search, you should check it out right now – it’s your last chance for the next little while.
Posted in HuntingToHired | Tagged HuntingToHired | Leave a Comment »
As promised in my last post about saving time with job search systems, here is a cover letter template that you can modify and use. Blue text needs to be customized, and red text is conditional and may need to be removed (of course, after you’re done modifying it for the position you’re applying to, make all the text the same color).
Dear [THE PERSON’S NAME, OR ”Sir or Madam”],
IF YOU WERE REFERRED BY A PERSON, START WITH: I recently met with [CONTACT’S NAME], and s/he explained
IF YOU FOUND THE JOB THROUGH A POSTING, START WITH: Browsing through [JOB BOARD], I was pleased to learn
THEN CONTINUE WITH: that [COMPANY NAME] is currently looking to add a [POSITION] to their team.Having [REFER TO RELEVANT EXPERIENCE, FOR EXAMPLE “extensive industry experience” OR “held a similar position at COMPANY, and excelled in my role”], I will be a good fit for the position. Particularly, my [“experience” OR “expertise” OR “training”, etc.] [“in” OR “with”] [LIST SPECIFIC RELEVANT EXPERIENCE OR EXPERTISE] will allow me to integrate into this role as a strong performer.
I really appreciate [SOMETHING ABOUT THE COMPANY, AND WHY IT IS A FIT FOR YOU] – this is precisely the working environment that I want to be in, and in which I feel I will be able to add the most value.
My [“resume” OR “CV”, depending on what is the norm in your region] is attached to this email, as well as a letter of reference from [YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE REFERENCE, for example “my past employer”].
I look forward to hearing from you to schedule an interview. In the meantime, have a great weekend!
Thank you,
[YOUR SIGNATURE AND CONTACT INFORMATION]
Posted in Job Search, Resume/CV | Tagged Resume/CV | Leave a Comment »
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