Showing posts with label Job Search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Job Search. Show all posts
Monday, May 25, 2009
6 months later...
Well, it finally happened. 6 months of looking and I finally landed a job. I am the new project engineer at Caprock Manufacturing in Lubbock, TX. I can't even tell you how excited I am to NOT be unemployed anymore. More details to follow.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
How NOT to get depressed during a job search...
They say that the job market is getting worse by the day. More and more people saturate the job pool and the odds for you landing that job are getting smaller. So you pound away furiously at your contacts, on the internet and other sources for leads...without much appreciable result. How do you avoid falling into a depressed state after some time passes?
It has been recommended to me several times, that the key to surviving a job search with your sanity intact is to search when it's time to search, but to not make that the only thing in your life. Family time is important as is personal development.
Personal development...
I have often heard that volunteering somewhere is a great outlet in times like these. Personally, I think you can substitute anything productive that you are passionate about.
Me? I love to learn. I have a wide variety of interests. I also have a secret dream.
I dreamed of going to MIT to study. For those of you that don't know, MIT stands for Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is (to this day, as far as I know) THE premier university in the US for engineering, math, and the physical sciences. And they just made my day.
http://lifehacker.com/software/education/free-classes-from-mit-155699.php
I think I might have to take some classes from MIT...for free.
They have over 1800 course offerings with more interesting topics than I can shake a stick at. The only down side is that the texts used for the course are more often than not, not included in the online course materials, so you have to access them elsewhere. If you're internet savvy like me, however, you ought to be able to use the 'net to get information on pretty much whatever subject they are talking about or that the "homework" requires.
There are some other universities doing the same thing (http://education-portal.com/articles/Universities_with_the_Best_Free_Online_Courses.html). I don't know about you, but I think this is probably one of the coolest things the academic community has ever done. It dovetails right along with the OpenSource software movement. That's a whole other post, however. Perhaps another time...
Note: As an aside, if you are looking for text material. A good place to start is Textbook Revolution.
It has been recommended to me several times, that the key to surviving a job search with your sanity intact is to search when it's time to search, but to not make that the only thing in your life. Family time is important as is personal development.
Personal development...
I have often heard that volunteering somewhere is a great outlet in times like these. Personally, I think you can substitute anything productive that you are passionate about.
Me? I love to learn. I have a wide variety of interests. I also have a secret dream.
I dreamed of going to MIT to study. For those of you that don't know, MIT stands for Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is (to this day, as far as I know) THE premier university in the US for engineering, math, and the physical sciences. And they just made my day.
http://lifehacker.com/software/education/free-classes-from-mit-155699.php
I think I might have to take some classes from MIT...for free.
They have over 1800 course offerings with more interesting topics than I can shake a stick at. The only down side is that the texts used for the course are more often than not, not included in the online course materials, so you have to access them elsewhere. If you're internet savvy like me, however, you ought to be able to use the 'net to get information on pretty much whatever subject they are talking about or that the "homework" requires.
There are some other universities doing the same thing (http://education-portal.com/articles/Universities_with_the_Best_Free_Online_Courses.html). I don't know about you, but I think this is probably one of the coolest things the academic community has ever done. It dovetails right along with the OpenSource software movement. That's a whole other post, however. Perhaps another time...
Note: As an aside, if you are looking for text material. A good place to start is Textbook Revolution.
Monday, March 30, 2009
5 Deadly Sins (Part 5)
The fifth most deadly sin that job seekers make:
Expecting others to conduct your job search for you.
I'm surprised by the amount of people who look to me to find their job for them. They have not contacted anyone else in their search for employment.
Successful job seekers have dozens of people enlisted in their job search army, not just one or two. Successful job seekers don't rely on any one individual to help them in their quest.
If you are to be successful in your search you will need to enlist an army. The more people who are helping you in your search - the faster you will find what you're looking for.
Expecting others to conduct your job search for you.
I'm surprised by the amount of people who look to me to find their job for them. They have not contacted anyone else in their search for employment.
Successful job seekers have dozens of people enlisted in their job search army, not just one or two. Successful job seekers don't rely on any one individual to help them in their quest.
If you are to be successful in your search you will need to enlist an army. The more people who are helping you in your search - the faster you will find what you're looking for.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
5 Deadly Sins (Part 4)
The fourth most deadly sin that job seekers make:
Stopping your marketing efforts once you have one good lead.
Commonly job seekers stop all of their marketing as soon as they have one
good lead. This is detrimental and unwise.
This is frequently found among people with very technical skills, although this
is not a pre-requisite.
When you stop your marketing, you stop your forward progression. Like in life,
you are either moving forward or backward. Never stop your forward
progression on any job search until you are sitting at your new desk.
There are a million things that could go wrong. Never put all your eggs in one
(job) basket.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
5 Deadly Sins (Part 3)
The Third most deadly sin that job seekers make:
Not chasing each and every job lead until an offer is made.
I'm always surprised when someone I'm coaching withdraws from interviewing on a job they were chasing.
Often I am told that the job that they were interviewing was beneath them. It could be due to low advertised pay, or that the job title was beneath where they feel they belong.
This is wrong thinking. You should chase each and every job lead as if it is the only thing you have going. If an offer comes in, evaluate the offer for what it's worth.
Until an offer is made - you have nothing. Chase each and every lead until you have an offer. Wouldn't it be better if you had two or three opportunities to choose from three weeks from now?
Not chasing each and every job lead until an offer is made.
I'm always surprised when someone I'm coaching withdraws from interviewing on a job they were chasing.
Often I am told that the job that they were interviewing was beneath them. It could be due to low advertised pay, or that the job title was beneath where they feel they belong.
This is wrong thinking. You should chase each and every job lead as if it is the only thing you have going. If an offer comes in, evaluate the offer for what it's worth.
Until an offer is made - you have nothing. Chase each and every lead until you have an offer. Wouldn't it be better if you had two or three opportunities to choose from three weeks from now?
Friday, March 27, 2009
5 Deadly Sins (Part 2)
The Second most deadly sin that job seekers make:
Only working with one or two recruiters.
Often job seekers feel compelled to use just one or two recruiters. Whether it's some desire to be loyal to a previous recruiter, or it's a long time friend, you are not best served by working with such a small group of recruiters.
To understand the recruiting business you need to know that recruiters can only place you on a job when someone will pay them for you. If they are not currently being paid to find someone with your skills, they don't need you today.
Therefore, the more recruiters you are working with, the better your odds that one of them will need you and your skills sometime in the next month.
In addition, you need to sharpen your interviewing skills.
I know no better way practice than to meet two to three times a week with recruiters who make a living placing people on jobs.
Only working with one or two recruiters.
Often job seekers feel compelled to use just one or two recruiters. Whether it's some desire to be loyal to a previous recruiter, or it's a long time friend, you are not best served by working with such a small group of recruiters.
To understand the recruiting business you need to know that recruiters can only place you on a job when someone will pay them for you. If they are not currently being paid to find someone with your skills, they don't need you today.
Therefore, the more recruiters you are working with, the better your odds that one of them will need you and your skills sometime in the next month.
In addition, you need to sharpen your interviewing skills.
I know no better way practice than to meet two to three times a week with recruiters who make a living placing people on jobs.
5 Deadly Sins (Part 1)
These are from Michael Webb (the guy that did the webinar that I attended last night - see previous post).
The first most deadly sin that job seekers make:
Conducting the majority of your job search online.
If you are spending most of your day online responding to job postings, you are most likely depressed or quickly approaching a state of depression. I call this phenomenon Internet Depression. Internet Depression occurs when you apply to several jobs a day (possibly dozens) in which you know you are well qualified and you never hear back from anyone.
Of vital importance is the knowledge that there is nothing wrong with you other than the fact that you are conducting your job search wrong. You see, the internet is a wonderful tool for job searching. It is, however, important to remember that it is only a tool.
Fact: When you apply online to a posted job, you are competing with the entire world for that job. I call this the Electronic Cattle Call. Your resume is sitting in an electronic folder somewhere along with hundreds of other resumes - just waiting for some overworked, underpaid Human Resource generalist to review.
In order to get rid of your Internet Depression and jump start your job search, you need to find another way to reach the hiring managers that are looking for you.
The first most deadly sin that job seekers make:
Conducting the majority of your job search online.
If you are spending most of your day online responding to job postings, you are most likely depressed or quickly approaching a state of depression. I call this phenomenon Internet Depression. Internet Depression occurs when you apply to several jobs a day (possibly dozens) in which you know you are well qualified and you never hear back from anyone.
Of vital importance is the knowledge that there is nothing wrong with you other than the fact that you are conducting your job search wrong. You see, the internet is a wonderful tool for job searching. It is, however, important to remember that it is only a tool.
Fact: When you apply online to a posted job, you are competing with the entire world for that job. I call this the Electronic Cattle Call. Your resume is sitting in an electronic folder somewhere along with hundreds of other resumes - just waiting for some overworked, underpaid Human Resource generalist to review.
In order to get rid of your Internet Depression and jump start your job search, you need to find another way to reach the hiring managers that are looking for you.
Advanced Job Hunting Tricks
I attended a webinar last night given by a recruiter named Michael Webb (website). He talked about a few different things, but the one that really tickled my fancy was the wonders of Google Advanced Search. Two points:
1.) LinkedIn, a great networking tool does NOT necessarily give you a complete listing of matches to your search for people (and possibly jobs) when you use their search engine unless you are a paying customer. This is a marketing concept for them.
2.) Many small-to-medium size companies can not afford to post jobs to the "big hitter" jobsites like Career Builder, Monster, Hotjobs, Dice, etc... Where do these companies post their jobs? Craigslist. However, for all of you who have EVER used craigslist, you know that each geographical location listed off to the right has its OWN page including subregions. Sifting through all of this to find a job is a daunting, if not impossibly unproductive task.
Enter Google to the rescue.
In the Advanced Search page you can tell Google to search a specific website instead of the entire internet. For example: If you want to search for process engineering jobs on craigslist, you fill in the following:
this exact wording or phrase: process engineer
search within a site or domain: craigslist.org
Click on the Advanced Search button, and voila! You now have all of the jobs with the words "Process Engineer" in the title/body and without all of that messy clicking on every single region in every state/country that participates in craigslist.
Want to find a contact in a job target company on LinkedIn? You do the same thing:
all these words: (enter your search terms here)
this exact wording or phrase: (use if you know EXACTLY who/what you are looking for)
1.) LinkedIn, a great networking tool does NOT necessarily give you a complete listing of matches to your search for people (and possibly jobs) when you use their search engine unless you are a paying customer. This is a marketing concept for them.
2.) Many small-to-medium size companies can not afford to post jobs to the "big hitter" jobsites like Career Builder, Monster, Hotjobs, Dice, etc... Where do these companies post their jobs? Craigslist. However, for all of you who have EVER used craigslist, you know that each geographical location listed off to the right has its OWN page including subregions. Sifting through all of this to find a job is a daunting, if not impossibly unproductive task.
Enter Google to the rescue.
In the Advanced Search page you can tell Google to search a specific website instead of the entire internet. For example: If you want to search for process engineering jobs on craigslist, you fill in the following:
this exact wording or phrase: process engineer
search within a site or domain: craigslist.org
Click on the Advanced Search button, and voila! You now have all of the jobs with the words "Process Engineer" in the title/body and without all of that messy clicking on every single region in every state/country that participates in craigslist.
Want to find a contact in a job target company on LinkedIn? You do the same thing:
all these words: (enter your search terms here)
this exact wording or phrase: (use if you know EXACTLY who/what you are looking for)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)