Monday, January 25, 2010

Job Search - Expand the pie

Always expand your job search strategy and try from various angles which will increase your chances of finding your dream job or even the job which will make you happy.

This should be the order in which you should search for jobs
1. Past Employers - Talk to all of your past employers and express a strong interest in them.

2. Friends network - Tap into your current set of friends who can refer you to the companies they work for - Try reaching out to weak connections as well since we are all here to help each other during times where we need the most

3. Company websites - Pick the top 20 companies you would like to work for, and directly apply for the positions you would like to be considered for. Write strong cover letters, find out more about the hiring teams, and try and reach out through email to let them know that you applied there.

4. Recruiters/Agencies - Beware they might mislead you - there are 100's of companies in this and do your research and find out which company is engaged with what staffing firm and reach out to them to get your foot in.

4. Networking - this is the time to network and make new relationships, since you are applying to new companies, you need to make your presence felt before they consider your resume, so start reaching out to new people, make new connection, attend new conferences, and get connected. and follow step 2.

5. Job Boards - Its easy to get lost into job boards. Pick two of the following sites and stick to it for a while. Every website speaks a language - understand how to extract maximum benefit out of each site.

a. LinkedIn
b. Indeed.com(all jobs)
c. Simplyhired.com(all jobs)
d. Monster.com
e. Career Builder

6. Cold calls / Cold emails - This is the time to try your luck Pick some companies and start calling them, and see if they would let you talk to the HR managers / some decision makers (know their name before you call) and connect with them, 90% will say no and hang up on you, but you need that 10% - If you call 10 people, there is some chance that one person will be kind enough to guide you to enlightenment and show you the right directions.

7. Be prepared for volunteer work, short term contract work or temporary assignments, remember companies like to offer candidates who they know very well - So this is the first step in the right direction.

Increase your skill-sets, adapt to different things, learn to love new industries, introspect and gain insights into different jobs, and see if you can expand on your interest. See job descriptions of atleast 10 different job title and see if you are capable of handling those(most of us are) and if you think you might like it, start approaching those industries as well

Expand your pie.

2 steps to summarize.

1. Define your space
2. Hunt for your space.

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