- Getting Ready: Get Organized and Develop a Plan of Action
- Develop Your Job Hunting Tactics: Timesaving Tips and Tools to Be a Smarter Searcher
- Fire Hose Technique
- Selective, but Out There
- Come and Get Me
- Go for the Kill
- Time to Decide: Are You an Active or Passive Job Seeker?
- The Plan Is in Place...Now Get Organized Before You Make a Move!
- Create a Tracking Sheet and Job-Hunt File
- Complete a Job History and Accomplishments Worksheet
- Define Your Transferable Skills
- Have a Basic Résumé and Cover Letter Ready
- Develop a List of Keywords
- Set Up a Special Email Account
Fire Hose Technique
Maybe for you, getting any job at all is what your dreams are made of. Recently downsized? Walked off the job out of disgust? Laid off? Fired? Can't get out of bed to go to the job you hate? Getting ready to graduate and can't face another day without at least some hope that there's a job out there for you? Unemployed for whatever reason? If you fit any of these descriptions, the "Fire Hose" technique is a good way to start.
The Fire Hose theory is if you spray enough water at enough cups, eventually you'll have a cup of tea. The downside to the Fire Hose technique is that it requires you to blast your résumé all over the Web for everyone and anyone to see—in turn, your privacy is compromised. You might also get so many responses (good or bad) that you can't handle the deluge. Or even worse, you might not get a single nibble, and what's that going to do to your self-esteem?
Either way, here's the plan of attack for you desperately-seeking-job-types. Try these techniques in any order:
Post your résumé at the major résumé databases and mega job sites that accept résumés.
Visit numerous mega job-posting sites such as Monster.com and CareerPath.com and search for jobs that interest you (and that you're qualified for). Send your résumé to as many job-posting contacts as you have time to research the company and customize your résumé for.
Locate as many industry-specific job sites as you can find, and post your résumé to those that have résumé databases. Again, search for job listings you're qualified for, and research as many companies as you can, customize your résumé, and email to the contacts listed in the postings.
Post your résumé in newsgroups related to jobs or specifically to your field.
-
Blast your résumé to as many recruiters as you can find (see Figure 3.1).
Let everyone you ever met know that you're looking for a job, and that includes your nagging aunt who can't understand why you're out of a job in the first place.
){kind=link}
Figure 3.1 ResumeZapper (www.resumezapper.com) zaps your résumé to thousands of recruiters, placement firms, and search companies for about $40.
){kind=link}