In the spreadsheet that I discussed in my last post, “Job Search: The Nuts and Bolts”, make sure to track the sources of your leads. Overtime, the sheet will help you to ascertain what source works best for you. Stay balanced and diverse. If all of your leads come from one source alone, it might be advisable to focus on a new source.
The majority of my job leads come from my university career services website. I would recommend pursuing this source first as it might also help you to discover services offered by the university for alumni. Jobs posted in this database target people with my educational background. In my experience, this database has postings for undergraduates and experienced alumni alike. Furthermore, employers that post on university websites might have a relationship with your alma mater based on previous hires. Thus far, I have met with a career counselor, gained access to the career services library on campus, attended on-line conferences, and spoken with alumni about their careers. The university services facilitated them all. These items have aided me in figuring out what my next career move will be. They are available for all alumni.
Make sure to alert your personal and professional networks to your search. In the event that you are unemployed, you can alert these people to a job search without advertising to all of them that you are out of work. You will find that people are receptive to helping in your search. Some friends might even work for companies that offer them a bonus for recommending a new hire which will invest them in getting you a job. At the very least, this should also produce a crop of people who can forward a job offering them come across your way.
While a contact might encourage you to research a company's website and any potential job openings, do not hesitate to pursue companies directly. Many companies post openings on their websites. In the event that you have a set list of companies for which you would like to work, scour their websites for openings. To find companies you might like to work for, research trade journals, websites, and magazines that can point you towards fun places to work, growing companies, and industry leaders.
I discovered LinkedIn.com shortly before beginning my search. This is a professional networking site that allows members to establish a user profile that amounts to an on-line resume. It also allows you to connect to friends and contacts as you would on Facebook. The site guides you to create a rounded profile by tracking progress on resume items, educational background, contacts, recommendations, and groups. This website also has a database of jobs. Membership at this website allows one to track what contacts are doing, industry trends, and alumni networks. It is a good resource for finding professional events. LinkedIn will also help for you to discover the professional accomplishments of people you had only known in a personal capacity. It will also get your information out on the web in the event that you are Google'd by a prospective employer.
Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, and similar websites allow you to post your resume and actively search job postings. I know that my last employer looked for prospective employees based on such sources. Personally, I have received a fair amount of spam in my inbox after posting on these sites. Neither site has a good mechanism for uploading an existing resume. The format of my resume was skewed during upload by both platforms and required extensive editing for it to look presentable. Remember that your objective is to develop promising job leads. Spending a massive amount of time on formatting and some of the other peripheral functions of these sites can be a waste of time. LinkedIn, Monster, and CareerBuilder alike can distract from your main objective of finding jobs to apply to. Make sure you catch yourself and readjust if you find yourself spending hours on these sites developing profiles, contacts, and pursing the clusters of links and advertisements that appear on each page. Remember, your on the site to find jobs.
I have established relationships with multiple recruiters. In my experience, recruiters are good at finding a job based on your previous employment. I do not necessarily want a job similar to my last position and this course of action does not seem conducive to facilitating a career change. I have felt pigeonholed when dealing with recruiters and am not fully confident that they will ultimately produce a job lead that I would be excited about. Thus far, this avenue has not produced many promising leads for me.
These are the sources that I am using for leads. While I have looked through newspapers and other mediums, they have not been a major source in my search. That isn't to say that they might not prove useful. With the sources above, I have not had a shortage of jobs to apply to for some time now. I would suggest starting the search with at least one recruiter and establishing a profile on one of the job hunt websites—LinkedIn.com, Monster, CareerBuilder, or similar—as these should run independently of you in finding you a job lead while you pursue your own manual search.
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