Find Jobs That Others Don’t

Mar 11th, 2009 | By Bill | Category: Employment News



Everyone looks at the common job boards such as Monster, Career Builder, Hot Jobs etc. But there lies part of the problem, EVERYONE else is looking on those same boards. With unemployment at 7.6%, highest in 16 years, you need to find other ways to search besides these old-standbys.

As a Human Resources Director I get the same question all the time, “How do I land a job?!” Here’s what I tell them.

- If you don’t have a salesperson’s personality or can’t deal with another cold call rejection hire someone or ask a friend who is a salesperson to cold call for you. Give them a list of companies to call into, and have them set appointments for you.

- Use social networking sites such as Linked-In. Put your resume on your profile. You’d be surprised of how many HR people sift through resumes this way.

- Use snail mail. Hiring managers can literally get hundreds of emails a day especially if they have run an ad. If you aren’t applying for a specific position your email will almost certainly get lost in the shuffle. Even if you are applying for a listed job send an email AND a snail mail. There would be times, when I was HR Director, I’d get 200 emails a day but only one or two snail mails a day. It’s a good way to get noticed.

- Get involved with business listservs, email groups, discussion groups or forums in your field. Offer your expertise and post often. It’s a good way to network.

- What about your alumni network? Check out their career sites and if they have a place to post your resume do it.

- Do some consulting or freelance work. It can make you a little cash if you are unemployed. If they like you, they may ask you to stay on as an employee. If not it’s another way to network.

- If you don’t already, volunteer in something related to your field. You’ll meet other like-minded people, keep your skills honed, and you will be working side by side with others in your field.

-Lastly look on job boards, newspapers and sites that others don’t! There are job sites out there for diversity candidates, non-profits, and smaller job boards that are less expensive than the big boys to advertise. Not all companies have the advertising budgets to list on the bigger sites.

Here’s my BEST tip of the day for you. There’s a website called www.snapjobsearch.com. It’s free to use and is a mighty little site. It scours over 300 newspapers, sites and boards (Big and small ones) and within seconds gives you a list of jobs in your area, that fit your criteria. It saves time like nobody’s business. It will find jobs in places that you’ve never heard of, which is what you want.

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