BALANCING
OUT
YOUR JOB SEARCH
Spending your time wisely is critical during your job
search. As they say, dont put all of
your eggs in one basket. There are
reams of data about where to put your time when looking for a job. We do know that about 61% of all jobs are
acquired from networking and that only about 4 or 5 percent come through web
site leads. I suggest the following
strategy for a balanced approach.
PERSONAL NETWORKING Get your resume in the hands of the
ten people most likely to have job lead information for you. Mail, e-mail or personally deliver a resume
to these people and stay in touch with them as your job search and resume changes. Who are these people? Former co-workers,
family members, neighbors, references you use.
WEB SEARCHES I am seeing an increased number of people
get job leads from company websites, and career webs such as career builder,
monster.com etc. Do not forget websites
unique to your line of work. They exist
and many of you are not aware of them or do not use them if you have knowledge
of them. Search for web sites in your line
of work if you do not have information on any web sites in your occupation.
TARGET A COMPANY Pick out a couple of firms you would
like to work for and find out if there are job openings or if there will be any
coming up. We have given you info on
how to target firms and you need to go after the ones that interest you. You can also ask about what companies are
handling contract employees and call them for job openings
COLD CALLING Why not drop by several companies this week
and leave a resume. Who knows, you
might get lucky.
VISIT A COFFEE SHOP DAILY Take plenty of resumes and hit
local coffee shops as well as some near a firm you would like to work for
looking for employees of that company.
COLORADO DEPT. OF LABOR We have had some individuals get
job leads from them. Drop by and see
what they might have and access their job board.
HEADHUNTERS Many people are successful with them. I am an advocate of headhunters.
TEMPORARY AGENCIES I cannot count the number of persons
from our group who have received employment from them. It gets you into firms where that temp job
could be permanent.
Bob Raikes, NCCC
Coordinator of Christian Career Circle