Job in Jeopardy? 15 Tips To Help You Land A New Job
November 20th, 2008With over 10 million Americans now out of work and the national average for unemployment hovering around 6.5%, finding a job is no easy task. I spend Tuesday afternoons working at a local Starbucks coffee shop and week after week I would see the same man reading and occasionally talking on the phone. I eventually introduced myself and found out his name was Chris. Chris was in his early forties, college educated, with 15+ years experience as an IT manager- he also happened to be unemployed, thus the reason he hung out at coffee shops at two in the afternoon. He said his job search started off optimistically, he had a handful of leads and even the potential that he might be hired by a different division in his old company. However, within weeks his leads had dried up and his old company said it would be at least 6 months until they could even think about hiring him back. Chris said he started coming to this coffee shop to get around some other people and help fight off the slow creep of depression that was beginning to overtake him. Week after week I’d see him there. Sipping coffee and scouring the newspaper for job leads. Although I genuinely enjoyed chatting with him it got to the point where I looked forward to the day, for his sake, when I showed up and he wasn’t there. After four agonizing months it happened! Chris was finally picked up by an IT department at a midsize company.
The reason I share Chris’ story is because there are millions more like him in the U.S. and around the world. These are tough times and with so many people unemployed job competition can be fierce. Here are a few tips at every stage of the job search process to help you rise above the fray and land the job you’ve been wanting.
Sending out Resumes
- Notify your personal networks. The more people that know you and realize your looking for a job the better. Know any entrepreneurs, VP’s, or CEO’s? Let them know your available.
- Clean up the resume. Be sure to include a cover letter and check out these two resources for help with writing a fantastic resume. Resume Resource 1 Resume Resource 2
- Contact a recruiter. A quick google search for recruiters in your area should suffice. Contrary to what some have been told recruiters are free of charge to you, employers hire them to find good people so why not get in touch with them.
- After a resume has been sent follow up a few days later with a phone call to inquire about the position. This is an action that is somewhat debated within HR circles- with some saying it’s extremely important while other flatly denounce it. I think anything you can do to be proactive is best, of course if you feel a bit brushed off don’t force the issue.
- Check out this resource for some tips to effective following up with a phone call.
- Dress appropriately. Unless your wearing a tux or an evening gown you’re probably not overdressed. Avoid flip flops, shorts, and other relaxed attire.
- Arrive 10 minutes early.
- Skip the cologne and perfume- some people are extremely sensitive.
- Stay calm no matter what questions are thrown at you. Some company’s are pretty brutal with their line of questioning, remember that they’re more interested in how you handle the process than how perfectly you answer each question.
- Greet every person you meet with a firm handshake. If multiple people are involved in the interview process then be sure to greet each of them.
- Be a good listener. Although you’ll be doing most of the talking, when your interviewer is speaking keep good eye contact, nod your head affirmatively, and ask questions when appropriate. Some give and take is a good thing.
- Keep your answer’s short and sweet. This isn’t the time to verbally process.
- Before you leave be sure to ask when they’ll be making a decision- then ask “Would you mind if I followed up with you that day?”
- Write a follow up letter to every person you met at the interview. A hand written note can be a very nice touch. For some great tips on this click here.
- Be sure to make the follow up phone call on the appropriate day. If your calls go unanswered be persistent but not annoying. One good tip mentioned in the resource I just mentioned above is to keep your persistence equivalent to the position your pursuing. In other words if your applying for a sales job, be very persistent, however if your applying for an accounting position then drop it down a notch or two.
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April 9th, 2009
Brett – great post about some starting ideas. I’m a big believer that some web presence needs to part of your job hunt, regardless of profession. For some it’s linkedin or a personal blog and for others it’s a personal domain that they rock.
Also, I wanted to share a resource that I found helpful to keep in my personal branding quiver. It’s the http://www.personalbrandingsummit.com/ which was a day of all types of sucessful people sharing about personal branding. I’ve yet to listen to every single person, but the tip I’ve used in my resume most is to make sure you talk about what you did e.g. “Developed XYZ project for…” but the piece most people don’t include is what happened after wards. Did it double sales? Did it reduce customer complaints? and then how does that affect the company? Shows the value you’ve created not just what you can do.