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Job Search Advice for Desperate Job SeekersAnother morning of job hunting lies ahead of you. You pour a cupof coffee and open the paper to the employment section. With amixture of anticipation and desperation you pick up a stub ofpencil and prepare to target and identify some possible jobopportunities. There are less ads to circle this morning and despite thepromising words and vague descriptions you have begun to believethat none of these potential employers will seriously consideryou. Perhaps they have family or friends or maybe you'll hearonce again "I'm afraid you're overqualified for this position". After making a few phone calls you try to get into a positiveframe of mind. You head out the door, a folder of resumes in onehand and a list of addresses at the next. You will drop off a fewresumes and have plans for an interview this afternoon. Maybe today will be different... Are you or a friend looking for work? Have you heard ofacquaintances laid off from long-term employment only to findfour or five months later that they are still unable to find ajob? If you think the only way to find a job is to have connections,you may be partly right. With such a demand for employment manyjobs never make it to the paper. How can you compete? NETWORKING "Leave no stone unturned". Tell friends, family and acquaintancesof your job search. These people can give you an 'IN' to theirbusinesses when positions come available. They may also hear of someone who is hiring and keep you updatedon opportunities you may not otherwise have heard about. Theirpersonal referral can also make an impression on the employer inyour behalf. NON-POSTED JOBS You don't have to wait for a job to be listed in the paper, oreven posted on the company board, to apply for work at a company. Go through the phone book and make a list of companies you'd liketo work for. Call and ask if there are any positions available.Ask for the name of the human resources manager or the individualin charge of hiring for the area you are applying to. Send a resume and direct it to the person in charge of hiring.Write a cover letter that expresses your interest in the companyand why you'd like to work for them. Follow up several days laterand ask for the individual. Tell them you're checking to see thatthey received your resume and ask if there are any positions thatmay become available. If they are not hiring suggest you'll check back at another time.Often positions are made available unexpectedly and by keeping incontact (without pestering) you may be the first person thatcomes to mind. This is not a secret. If you're not taking advantage, someoneelse will. You can't afford to miss out on making yourself knownto employers BEFORE the job posting is made public. Accessing this hidden job market may open up opportunities younever thought possible. By staying one step ahead of other jobsearchers you can be sure that your new job is just around thecorner! Roger Clark is senior editor at Top Career Resumes who provide free information to job seekers on all aspects of finding a new job and Medical Health News where you can find the most up-to-date advice and information on many medical, health and lifestyle topics. |  | | | RELATED ARTICLES What Your Guidance Counselor, Career Counselor, and Own Mother Probably Never Told You... The alarm clock jars you awake at some insanely early hour. As you hit the snooze button you think, "there's gotta be a better way to make a living." As someone who rolled out of bed this morning at 8:30, I'm here to deliver the good news: there is. A lot of people dream of escaping "Dilbert's world" and being their own boss. Perhaps the biggest reason these dreams get derailed is money. Or, more accurately, faulty thinking about what it means to "make a living." I'm no exception. For a long time I thought before I could take the leap to self-employment, I had to first figure out a venture that would generate the same amount of income as I was then earning. Develop Multiple Profit CentersNot so, says Barbara Winter, self-bosser and author of Making a Living Without a Job Winter is an enthusiastic advocate of what she calls "multiple profit centers." Instead of thinking in terms of a single income, i.e. a "job," Winter recommends aspiring entrepreneurs develop several income sources.  Outdoor enthusiast and neighbor Bob Sadowski is living proof that you can have your cake and eat it too. Bob lives on 80 acres in rural Plainfield, MA where he's parlayed his life passions into his livelihood. When not running New England Bob's Snowmobile Tours of Quebec snowmobiling tours throughout Quebec (one covers nearly 1,100 miles) this vintage car enthusiast specializes in buying and selling antique car and truck parts out of his barn.Today my income comes from five sources: 1) I publish eBooks and other resources for other people looking to take the leap from having a job to having a life.2) I do telephone consultations with people from literally all over world on how to turn what you love to do into income. 3) Drawing upon research I did in graduate school, I've established myself as an expert on the topic of women's self-limiting patterns and philosophies. Now I'm asked to deliver my How to Feel As Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are for such diverse organizations as American Women in Radio and Television, Bristol Myers Squibb, and MIT.4) I get paid to deliver other people's seminars. My biggest client for freelance training is my former employer, a company called Time/Design. Time/Design hires me to fly around the country to lead their one-day course called Time Management to Focus Management for such clients like Ruby Tuesdays, Georgio Armani, and the US Army.5) I seek out other productsKeep Your Day Job Maybe you aren't interested in quitting your job but you like the idea of not having all your eggs in one basket. When traveling to San Francisco, I stay in an apartment in a lovely hilltop home in the Ashbury Heights section of the city. The owner is a Bay area native who, in addition to teaching reading to grade schoolers (which she absolutely loves), has set up several additional sources of income.  For one, she rents the in-law apartment to tourists through the local B&B association on per night basis earning considerably more than she would with a year-round tenant. For weekend and summer time income, she parlayed her knowledge and love of the city into a personal tour guide business with a steady stream of customers right in her own home. She even takes in a few extra bucks renting videos to her overnight guests. Maybe you don't really like your job but can't afford to just up and quit. Say your long-range goal is to make $50,000. You don't need to be a math whiz to know there are different ways you can slice and dice this. For simplicity sake, though, let's say you decide to set up five income streams, each generating $10,000. Since you'll be building your multiple income streams while you're still gainfully employed, starting two side businesses simultaneously is probably about your max time-wise.What you now have is a monthly goal for each business of just over $800. That's $200 a week. If making $20,000 a year seemed daunting, Winter says, psychologically earning $200 is more feasible: "Knowing what your financial goal is makes it easier to determine what action you'll need to take to accomplish it." So what are you waiting for? It's your life! Sawbones I was rushing through the white-tented terminal building at Denver International Airport when my attention was diverted ? as if often is -- by a storefront massage business. Checking my wristwatch, I calculated I had just enough time for a 20-minute chair massage. The Perfect Resume The perfect resume offers Logical Proofs:    Facts Quantifiable data Logical conclusions Achievement and success statements Relevant professional goals/accomplishments Limits the use of jargon Maximizes use of occupation/industry-specific key words Your capabilities and skills Clear, specific, measurable, and quantifiable words and phrases Sells you based on your achievements to date What to Do if You are Over 40 and Have Lost Your Job Unexpectedly loosing your job can be a very traumatic and distressing experience at the best of times. If you are over 40 and can't find the job you deserve, you will need great inner strength and self belief to come out on top. Writing A Great Resume, Part 2 TIP: Update your resume often. Be sure to add details of any training course, new interests and areas of responsibility. Love What You Do! "To love what you do and feel that it matters, how on earth could anything be more fun?" --Katherine Graham Writing A Resume That Gets You Noticed As the old saying goes, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression." In today's business world, of course, that first impression usually does not come from a face-to-face conversation, but from whatever you can tell your future boss about yourself on paper: your resume. Interview Presentation Skills: Dealing With Your Nerves Sooner or later, the interview invitation is going to say you are required to give a presentation as part of the selection process. And like most people you may dread having to do it. You may think that you cannot speak publicly because of nervousness but all good speakers are nervous, and you can overcome those nerves. Learn How To Network for HIDDEN Jobs I'll quickly cover the following: Power Resumes ? Writing Your Objectives A powerful resume starts with a good statement of objective. This is the headline of your advertisement promoting yourself. The headline has to be simple yet state with clarity that you are the perfect choice for the specific job or position. Get Inspired About Your Career Get Inspired about Your Career Goal Setting - Road Map To Achieving Your Career Goals Goal Setting & Research Fuzzy Headed Job Goals Lead to a Fuzzy Headed Life! May I clarify in this article what I believe to be "fuzzy headed" life and job decisions. I believe both are entwined: life and job. The Inevitable Job Interview Question: ?Why Did You Leave (Are Planning To Leave) Your Last Position This is a question that you can almost count on being asked at your next interview What the interviewer wants to know is, "Why are you available?" Take Charge of Your Job Search: 12 Steps to Success Despite what many people may say, a job search does not have to be an unpleasant experience. There are those people who choose to take charge of the process, who actually find the process to be very rewarding and stimulating. Conducting a job search is in many ways a self discovery process and an opportunity to put your true endurance and attitude skills to the test. The Five Most Common - And Most Avoidable - Résumé Errors Writing an effective résumé can certainly be challenging. There are numerous rules and none of them apply 100% of the time. It is often much easier for people to craft their document if they understand the boundaries within which they will need to operate 100% of the time - the mistakes that should never be made and will brand a job-seeker as unprofessional. Eliminating all of these errors from your résumé will go a long way in improving your chances of securing an interview. Online Resume Tips and Secrets I manage a website for corporate flight attendants that features resumes prominently listed on the first page of the site. Unlike some careers, corporate flight attendants must promote themselves overtly in order to find work especially if they are contractors. Since adding this feature two years ago, I have learned that an online copy must be arranged differently than that of a hard copy primarily for security reasons. Let's review some of the 'best practices' you need to accomplish in order to successfully and safely promote yourself online. What Is Your Greatest Weakness? The fastest way to make a good interview go bad is to avoid questions posed by the hiring manager. The one question candidates love to avoid is, "What is your greatest weakness?" Most candidates are quick to respond with superficial answers such as "I'm a workaholic" or "I'm a perfectionist." Not only are those responses boring, but they are also predictable answers interviewers are used to hearing. So much so that an interviewer's comeback line often is, "That doesn't sound like a weakness. Now why don't you tell me about a real weakness?" Update Your Resume Today A friend was just promoted to a position of vice-president of a company. I am happy for him and the first thing I told him after congratulations was "update your resume". He is now in a new league and if and when a headhunter should call or an opportunity to advance presents itself, he must be ready with his paperwork. Ready now, not tomorrow. A prospective employer's first impression of you should be one of preparedness. Workplace 911 I've watched a few episodes of Nanny 911 and with the chaos, out of control children and seemingly irreparable behavior, it strikes me as a precursor to Workplace 911. No, not a new reality TV show, but everyday workplace problems. |
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