Job Hunt Strategies

Tip #1

If you don’t have time to visit a job website everyday to search for work, try using a company’s virtual recruiter.  Select this option to have their virtual recruiter schedule a recurring search for job openings that meet your qualification.  The recruiter isn’t a real person but an automated response from their database that you have to set up.  In this way, you’ll receive “batches” of job listings each week that match your profile.  If the batches don’t match your skills, then this means you should edit your profile on their site.

Tip #2

Check out the local state employment offices online.  There’s no need to stand in line or view job postings on their office bulletin boards like in the past.  For example, through the federal Workforce Initiatives, each state has set up an employment Web site.  In Florida, it’s called www.employflorida.com.  This site provides listings of all jobs in the state of Florida, as well as job-related resources and training.  More specifically, if you’re an educator, you wouldn’t need to look at every website for each school district or university in your area.  Instead, the Workforce Board in your state has all the jobs listed on its site.  Locate a CareerOneStop center near you: http://www.servicelocator.org

Tip #3

Have you tried looking for work on Indeed.com? (Link at bottom of page) This website lists all the jobs posted on other job search engines.  Wikipedia describes it as, “Indeed.com is a metasearch engine for job listings, launched in November of 2004.  It is also an example of vertical search. The site aggregates job listings from thousands of websites including job boards, newspapers, associations, and company career pages.  Job seekers don’t apply for jobs on Indeed, instead they follow the link to the job posting.  Applicants can then decide which jobs are of interest and then go to the corresponding sites to apply.”

Tip #4

A simple and dynamic way to reconnect with your career is to join the professional organization associated with that type of job.  Generally, for less than 100 dollars, your membership provides you with access to the latest research findings in the field, free or low cost training opportunities, professional conferences, and job fairs.  Furthermore, you can interact with peers via the professional email listserve, by volunteering to serve on a committee, or by writing an article for their newsletter. Read the founder’s blog on this topic: http://blog.brokebutnotforlong.org/join-your-professional-org/

Tip #5

Phone and web-based interviews appear to be the latest time and money saving trend for companies hiring.  Don’t get caught off guard!  Many people have difficulty doing well on interviews over the phone.  The hyperlink provides advice on how to prepare for a phone interview.  Some of it’s fairly basic like, “Be up, enthusiastic,” while other strategies may surprise you.  For example, it states that you should be standing when you engage in a phone interview in order to sound more confident. Read more at about this topic: http://www.himjobs.com/interview_tips/phoneinterviews.htm

Tip #6

The Department of Labor produces the Occupational Outlook Handbook every two years.  Visit their website to view the latest data on careers and the necessary training associated with each career.  They list the following locations to look for a job:  1) Personal contacts, 2) school career planning and placement offices, 3) employers, 4) classified ads, 5) national and local newspapers, 6) professional journals, 7) trade magazines, Internet resources, 9) professional associations, 10) labor unions, 11) state employee service offices, 12) federal government, 13) community agencies, 14) private employment agencies and career consultants, and 15) internships.  Source: http://www.bls.gov/OCO/

Tip #7

Twitter.com has several companies and organizations involved in social media that post jobs via “tweets,” as text messages.  There’s no cost to join Twitter, and it’s a relatively simple platform to use for the job hunt.  Our organization has a Twitter account, @Broke4Jobs, that tweets job-related resources that we discover or “retweets” information from the organizations that we follow.  We’ve listed hundreds of US and international job boards on Twitter, so check it out.  In addition, we follow other job-related lists from reliable organization.  To learn more, read Marci Reynolds’ TweetSheet that she developed, as part of her eBook, How to Use Twitter for Your Job Search.  http://www.job-hunt.org/guides/Tweet-Sheet.pdf

Tip #8

Contact your former employers to see if they have any openings.  You should be in contact with them anyway, to ask for references and/or to send them thank-you notes.  Many employers aren’t able to advertise if a position is available for part-time during any full-time hiring freezes, so give them a call or send an email.  Let them know some of your accomplishments since you last worked for them, so they can be a good reference or find new employment for you.

Tip #9

Tell everyone you know that you’re looking for a job, even your preacher, because you never know where he leads will take you.  The founder shared her resume and past job leads in a blog series titled,  Diary of a Resume.
Tip # 10

Have you considered working part-time? How about taking on an internship?  These are great opportunities  to get your foot in the door and to demonstrate your skills.  The downside is having to juggle several part-time jobs to make all your payments.  Take a look at our Web page, Best Job Sites, as it lists a job site for telecommuting (See Flexjobs.com).

Best wishes on the job hunt!
Sandra Annette Rogers,

Founder of BrokeButNotForLong, Inc.

http://brokebutnotforlong.org/1.html

Look for jobs: http://www.indeed.com/p/index.php?pid=7080813311402333

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