Looking for a job is a full-time job. It takes discipline, commitment and organisation. It also takes knowledge and skill in how to do it effectively and efficiently so as to get fast, effective, positive results. Job hunting is about writing to, meeting with, speaking to people help who hold the key to opening the door to a job that you want and long for. How do you get to these people when we know that 6-8 out of 10 jobs are not advertised! There are six ways to look for a job, each way unique in its own way (in no particular order).
- Work with Recruitment Agencies
- Network
- Use The Internet
- Direct mail and Cold Call
- Answer Job Advertisements in Newspapers & Magazines
- Use LinkedIn
Working with Recruitment Agencies
- A key member of your job hunting skills campaign team
- More times than not they are approached by organisations searching for key employees to meet a specific job description
- These organisations do not pay any fee for a recruitment agency to give them their top 10 CV’s for a particular job description
- They only pay them if they choose to hire one of their candidates
- Call them up and ask to meet / speak to someone senior who specializes in your job / career field…
Networking
- They say up to 75% of jobs are not advertised
- Jobs are filled through people who know other people
- The people that you know – you don’t know the people that they know
- Develop an EYK List (Everyone You Know List)
- Put them on paper (Forenames Surnames)…
Using The Internet
- Probably the most common form of job hunting
- Both recruitment agencies and employers use it
- Follow the normal instructions and complete the fields required, choose search
- 100’s of jobs will flash in front of you
- Open job titles of interest to you…
Direct Mail and Cold Calling
- Many people ’drop-in’ there CV to many organisations (big and small) whether the organisation is advertising for jobs or not
- Can be frustrating for organisations as a lot prefer to receive CV’s if they ask for them i.e. if they have a job post open
- Develop an EPE list (Every Potential Employer List) i.e. who are the employers that you would love to work with, have people of your background, education, qualifications, experience working there
- Write them down
- Drive around in your car visiting all the business parks, who are the main employers in your locality or preferred area of residence and find out the job decision-makers…
Answering Job Advertisements in Newspapers & Magazines
- Identify local and national newspapers / magazines that have excellent business sections / pages and who have a reputation for containing job advertisements
- Set up a standing order with the newspaper producers so as to receive every day / week
- Can also use On-Line options, though can be difficult to read from a computer screen and you could miss some things
- Read the newspaper’s / magazine’s business section / pages three times with a pen in hand:
- Circle job adverts and indeed articles about organisations that are of interest to you
- Read a second time and do the same (you could be surprised what you missed the first time)
- Decide which organisations that have jobs opened or have news article about their expansion, positive results or a new product launch that you should write to about
- Remember read beyond the job advert, the job might not suit you, but the organisations may (it may have people of your background, qualifications, experience employed there)…
Using LinkedIn
- LinkedIn is the business Facebook of this world
- So many people are now on LinkedIn from all walks of life and every profession
- It is almost like your CV on line
- So too are organisations
- All outlining what they do
- Becoming THE Job-Hunt tool for everyone (employees and employees)