How to Hunt for Job [Infographic]

Matthew Gates http://notetoservices.com 5m 1,350 #jobhunting

The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.

There comes that time when you suddenly realize, you are jobless. No paycheck. No money. Your wife is pissed off. You’re both stressed out and worrying about the bills. You are depressed and feeling rejected. You think of reasons why or how your company could let you go after you gave them all your loyalty, devotion, and passion. You spent countless nights staying at the office, showing that you are a very valuable asset. But they still let you go for reasons unknown to you.

You may have been fired because of something you did. You may have been laid off because the company is trying to save money and downsizing or sending the jobs overseas. You may have even been laid off because the company knows they can let you go and pay two college students your salary.

You now understand the reality that there is no job security anymore. Regardless of whether you got laid off, fired, or quit, you need to get a job. Before you can get a job, there are several things you need to do.

Resume

If you don’t already have one, you need to create a resume. If you already have one, you need to update it by adding your latest skills that you acquired while working at your former job. Think about the newly acquired skills that make you a marketable aspect that any company would be lucky to have. After you’ve updated it, get a friend or family member to review it to ensure it looks great. Don’t forget to update that you are no longer working at your former company. Make sure there are no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors.   Your resume is a professional representation of yourself written down on paper which gives a very quick glimpse of who you are to any potential employer.

Networking

There are two parts of networking: online and offline. Utilize both of these areas. If you have any friends who had talked about work or jobs they were doing, let them know you are looking for a job. It is very hard to find a new job right off the bat, so any friends that know you are looking will likely keep you in mind and mention any jobs they find to you, especially if they’ve already got a job themselves.

It is really important that they know what you did, who you are, and what your skills are. If they don’t already know what you did, provide to them any information you can about yourself pertaining to work.

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are common platforms that people are beginning to turn to in order to look for work. Facebook is great to ask friends and find out more information about companies. Twitter is also very business-oriented and you may find up to date information about companies and whether they are hiring or not. You can always send a private tweet to see if they are hiring. As for LinkedIn, an amazing social business networking platform, you will find an assortment of professionals, as well as information about companies, and if you keep your LinkedIn profile as up to date as you do your resume, it is inevitable that you should receive private messages from recruiters looking for people like you with your skill set, especially if your skills pertain to IT, computers, programming, or web.

Make sure all your social networking profiles are professional, including Facebook. If you have any photos to hide, than do so, or make your profile private. The last thing you need is a photo of you having a beer, yet the world thinks you are an alcoholic because of it. So please ensure your professional image is more prominent than your personal image. This includes a professional email address.

Make sure you know what you want

If you loved your last job, you may want to find something in a similar field. If you are adaptable to multiple jobs, you may want to apply to many different job types. Ultimately, you’d love to find your career, but if you have to settle for a job in order to make a paycheck, than settle for now. It will give you some work experience, earn you some money, and help you build up for a better job. People with jobs are more likely to get a new job than someone who has been out of work for months or years. It’s unfortunate, but most companies feel more secure in hiring someone who has already been working than someone who is more likely desperate.

Persistence in your Job Search

If you are looking for a job, you will want to search job sites like careerbuilder.com, monster.com, and even craigslist.com. Send out mass amounts of emails a day if there are plenty of listing in your field. Better to send out one hundred emails and get one reply than to send out ten and get none. However, if you do send out one hundred emails and only get one reply, you may need to have a serious look at your resume to see why companies are not replying to you.

Ensure that your cover letter or email is professional, with no spelling mistakes. It is best to find a common template or two of your information and resume to send out in just a few seconds that sells you for any job you apply for.

Make sure you update subject lines and always include a reference with the URL to the page you found the job on at the end of your email. There is nothing more embarrassing than applying to too many jobs and saying to the person interested in you, “Which one were you again?” Be able to identify who is contacting you as soon as they say their company name and know the position you applied for.

If you still want to do things the old fashioned way, and there are still plenty of opportunities in doing that: Drive around your local area and see who is is hiring. There are still many businesses that do not use any online forms or email. Make sure you are dressed in an appropriate business casual fashion, as the manager is often the one who makes the decision to even hand you over an application and make immediate judgements based on how you are dressed.

Here is an infographic with more advice on job hunting.

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Text-Friendly Version

How to Hunt for Job

1. Make a Visual Resume
Text Resumes is passé. Explore tools like power points and upload on management paradise, slideshare, or scribe.

2. Network Online
Platforms like managemnetparadise.com, LinkedIn, or even Facebook provide huge networking opportunities. And as they say Network is net worth.

3. Network, Don’t Broadcast
Don’t announce your job search on MP, Twitter, your blog, your Facebook, or LinkedIn accounts.

4. Read Up
Staying updates is the best thing to do when looking for a job.

5. List Yourself
List yourself on job portals. If you steer your way through spam, you might find a good one.

6. Send mails
Drop in a “hi” to your first circle of network. Be specific so they can lead you toward the right profile.

7. Follow companies
Follow companies from your industry. Knowing what they are up to always helps.

8. Do it at home
You don’t want to get caught looking up for jobs in your current office now do you?

9. Find your niche
This will gel you decide which companies you should apply for.

10. Google yourself
Make sure your best shows up. If not, clean the direct track.

11. Run a Spell Check
Spelling or grammar errors in your resume or cover letter won’t go well with your prospective employer.

12. Don’t be a miser, pay a little
Pay a consultant or a niche job portal to blast your resume to relevant HR companies. Let the pros handle it.

Brought to you by ManagementParadise.com

About the Author

Matthew Gates is a freelance web designer and currently runs Confessions of the Professions.

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