Job Search Tips

Few things are as discouraging as a long, seemingly futile search for a job. Nothing quite drags the self-esteem down than the long silence after you’ve sent out a resume.

In their new book, Unlock The Hidden Job Market: 6 Steps to a Successful Job Search When Times are Tough, Duncan Mathison, executive career consultant and former vice president of Drake Beam Morin, and Martha I. Finney, careers expert and employee engagement consultant, encourage job seekers to never give up.

Here they share five tips for job search survival:

1. Prepare for an extended search. When the job market shrinks, it takes longer to land a job. Adjust your finances and your expectations now to extend your staying power. Stopping the search until the economy improves is like the farmer who will go hungry at harvest because they didn’t plant seeds in the spring. Do not give up. Keep planting those seeds.

2. Don’t waste your time on long-shots. If you are only applying to posted jobs and those seem far and few between, your tendency is to cast a wider net by applying outside your geographic area or outside of your expertise (”I could do that job!”). This is a dead-end strategy and you will only face more painful rejection and depressing stories of 500 applicants to 1 job. When it comes to job postings: focus, focus, focus.

3. The right job for you is out there - it just won’t be advertised. Employers cut recruiting budgets when times are tight. Instead hiring managers use less expensive and informal word of mouth strategies. As a result a higher percentage of available positions are in the “hidden job market”. Job seekers must significantly expand the quality and quantity of their networking efforts to find unpublished jobs.

4. Leave the resume at home. The secret to good networking is to help your network help you. Instead of a resume, give people in your network (everyone you know) a list of 50-75 employers who you think would hire people with your type of skills. Do not ask if the companies are hiring. Instead ask if anyone knows people who work there - particularly managers who might hire and manage people with your skills.

5. Contact managers directly. Get their name, get an introduction and introduce yourself to them. Your introduction can be a simple, “I understand you have people with my kind of background and skills working for you. I don’t assume to know if you have job openings but I would like to meet you and learn more about the type of people you like to have on your team and share with you a bit about my background.” They may say “sure”, they may say “send a resume” or they may say “no”, but now they know about you. Remember the ONLY thing managers can do to assure their success is to meet and hire great people.

[The book is also available at amazon.com.]

by Toni Bowers, Head Blogs Editor

Use Glassdoor to find out information on Company prior to Interview

Glassdoor, the company and salary research site, is full of excellent information for job seekers including company reviews, ratings, salaries, CEO approval rating, competitors, and much more company information.

Job seekers can find and anonymously share company reviews, ratings and salary details, and now interviews, about specific jobs for specific employers. There are currently more than 270,000 company reviews and 13,000 interview reviews and questions with more being added every day.

Candidates are definitely interested in knowing this type of information as a resource to enhance their job search. A Glassdoor/Harris Interactive survey found 77% of job candidates would like details about compensation (e.g., salary, bonuses, stock options, 401(k) contributions) and 61% would like access to sample interview questions asked of previous applicants. That's because the more you know, the better equipped to job search you are.

Glassdoor Interviews

The Glassdoor Interview Questions and Reviews section has a goldmine of information for job seekers. You can find out what candidates for the positions you are interviewing for were asked and get advice on how tough the interview was.


The benefit, of course, to knowing the questions you might be asked in an interview is being able to take some time to compose responses ahead of time. Being prepared for what you might be asked will help you feel more comfortable and confident during the interview. Glassdoor.com CEO Robert Hohman explains "Job seekers are able to find information about what they are going to go through during the interview process and what questions other candidates were asked during the interview."

Glassdoor Company Interview Information

There is a variety of information on company and job specific interviews available on Glassdoor, including questions and answers, how the candidate got the interview - which is a good indicator of how to apply, interview ratings, and insight into the interview process.


•Interview Questions - The most difficult or unexpected questions asked during an interview and insights on the candidates response.

•How the Candidate Got the Interview - Shows details on how the candidate secured the interview e.g. employee referral, applying online, recruiter, etc. On average, 43% applied online, 14% were referred through an employee referral program, and 9% through a college recruiting program.

•Interview Ratings - This section rates whether the interview was easy or difficult, positive or negative.

•Interview Process - Details the length of the candidate's interview process from start to finish (days, weeks, months) and what was included as part of the interview process: (i.e. phone interviews, 1x1 or panel interviews, skills tests, background checks, etc.) The average duration of the process was 13 days.

•Interview Outcome - Was the candidate offered the job and if they accepted or declined, and if the latter, why? To date, 45% of candidates received an offer and 40% accepted it.

•Compensation and Benefits - Details on whether the candidate was able to negotiate the offer, and if so, what advice would they offer to others in the same situation.

How to Access Glassdoor Interview Information

To access interview information on Glassdoor, click on the Interviews tab. Job seekers can search for interviews by job title or company. Scroll down a little to see the most active interviews, the most popular interviews, and new interviews this week.

Rather than waiting until you get a call for an interview, it makes sense to visit Glassdoor when you apply for a job. You can research the company, review average salaries, and take a look at the interview questions, so you can be prepared if you get a call or email to schedule an interview.

The more information you have about a company, the better your interview will go - and the more likely you'll be to get a job offer, so spend some time looking through the Glassdoor and gleaning as much information as you can about the jobs are interested in.



Glassdoor - Company Interview Questions and Answers
Getting an Interview Edge with Glassdoor
By Alison Doyle, About.com

Market Yourself through Social Networking in addtion to your Resume.

Tough times may or may not be coming. For those IT pros currently in the job market or planning to enter it soon, it’s time to spit shine your resume. Oh, and you might consider recession proofing it as well.

It’s no longer enough to have the technologies you know supported on your resume. More and more companies are moving toward business outcome versus business processes, so showing your soft skills in addition to your technology skills is paramount, said Nina Buik, president of Encompass, HP’s largest enterprise technology user community and senior vice president of MindIQ Corp., a technical training company.

“I recommend going to sites like Dice.com, or anywhere there are technology jobs posted, and get an idea what people are looking for,” she said. “Build your resume to the opportunity versus just throwing out what technologies you support and hoping that people will find value in that.”
Buik also said it’s not enough to come to the interview armed with your document resume. Potential employers also should be able to see your presence online on social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

“You have to put yourself out there,” Buik explained. “Let people know you are looking for opportunities, and you’ll be found. On sites like CareerBuilder or Monster, you can find yourself with so much competition you’ll get lost. The key is to make yourself stand out in the crowd.”
Personalizing your resume using job descriptions, expanding your online presence and joining relevant associations may even help increase your salary.

“There was a recent article in USA Today based on a study by Smith Bucklin, and it said people who are members of associations make more money than those who are not,” Buik said. “Joining an association where you can network or receive education or go to conferences and enhance your skills is highly valuable in today’s market.”

There’s no getting around it. The days of techies being locked in the basement, plugged in to a computer are over. Today’s IT professionals have to have soft skills, as well as core technical competencies. They must be able to communicate with and pitch ideas or recommendations to upper management in a way they can understand. IT pros also must be business savvy, and little things such as resume presentation count.

Buik said: “One piece of advice that Michael Glen, who’s a technical recruiter for Turner, gave me, he said: Please, do not put an objective on your resume. As someone who looks at many resumes, I want to see what you’ve accomplished in the company. Show me you’re not just going to be an employee but an asset to our organization. People have a limited amount of time to peruse your qualifications. They’re used to seeing system administrator. Well, tell me what you accomplished as a system administrator. Make yourself a little more dimensional as far as your experiences.”


Recession Proof Your Resume
April 2008 - Kellye Whitney