What Job Seekers Want To Know About Job Search

Some job seekers are often told that searching for employment can sometimes be a full time job. I consider this to be one of the biggest lie of this century. The bottom line here is that getting yourself acquainted with the the creative approach to job-hunting or career-change can pay rich dividends. With a good job you can pay your bills, take care of your family, and  live happily ever after.

Here are some of the most common questions which job seekers asks, along with my typical answers.

Can I rely on the Internet to Get A job?

Generally speaking, the online job application process is not efficient. This is because of the fact that the online job postings has not only  destroyed the value of the resume but has also ruined the old-fashioned mail-and-wait strategy that was once popular for job hunting. Of course, the use of technology  has simplified the process of looking for jobs. However, that approach had also made it harder to get a job, for many reasons. First, even though many recruiters post job ads online, only a very few of them has the time to sift through the thousands of resumes they receive for the jobs posted. Second, because most of the employers believe that the  number of people applying makes it hard for individuals to stand out (and that the quality of online applicants may be diluted), they often rely on referrals from company employees and professional colleagues. The truth of the matter is that, when it comes to today’s job hunt, advocacy matters more than qualifications. In other words, to get their next job, serious job seekers will need to leverage the best of technology to find and recruit the best referrals. This way, they can receive or gain the greatest return on their job hunting efforts.

How Can I Focus My  Job Hunting Effort?

The best strategy is to compile a least of at least 15 employers. This list can be compiled from four main categories(1) Trending companies, which means, those companies that are involved in emerging or new industries; (2)Posting Companies: those companies who put ads on job search engines such asCareerBuilder.com, Yahoo.com, and Indeed.com; (3) Alumni organizations: those companies that have previously recruited professionals from your college or school; and (4) Dream employers: those places where you have always wanted to work. It is important that you prioritize your list according to internal referral potential, current hiring status, and personal appeal.

How Can I Contact Potential Referrals?

First, spend as much as one hour a day to identify and talk to potential referrals who work at the company of your interest. To find the potential referrals at your top target companies, I recommend that you look for them in alumni directories, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networking websites. Second, make a cold call to find several contacts for each company of your interest. You can also send emails(without mentioning a particular job) to these contacts. In your email, you can request for an opportunity for an informational interview. It is important that, after your initial email or contact, make just one follow-up attempt per contact. Do not bother to contact those who did not respond after the first follow up email.

How can I Recruit Referrals?

Spend up to  30-40 minutes in each informational interview with each contact who respond to your email. The goal of the informational interview is to solicit information, build rapport as well as obtain a referral for a job opportunity in the company where your interviewee work. To do this, you need to ask questions that are focused on the interviewee knowledge. Hence your questions should focus on the trends impacting on the contact’s business, what you can do to prepare yourself for a career in the business, and so on. With good questions, you can convert your contact to a mentor, and, with time, to a reliable

 referral.