There are a number of different activities you can choose to include in your job search, each has advantage and disadvantages and some methods are much better suited to finding certain types of work than others. The most effective campaigns use several methods at once. The methods to choose are the ones most suited to the type of position you’re looking for, and take into account the amount of time you have available to conduct the search.
Here are some of the more popular methods; review each to determine which ones are suitable and how much time you will devote to it.
1. Target list of companies.
A very effective method of job hunting is to create a target list of companies who meet your criteria, and have the types of positions you want. Once you have your company criteria list, you’re going to need to do some research on the internet, the local library, your network etc. and come up with your target list of companies.
Once you have this list you aim is to make contact with individuals in each company who have the power to hire you into that dream position.
2. Internet Job Boards.
There are about 40,000 internet job boards in the US, ranging from the super-large national generalist sites, to smaller niche sites focusing on specific locations, job types or industries. When looking for which job-boards to use keep in mind the best boards are the ones that carry mostly the types of positions you’re looking for.
While not strictly a job board, vertical search engines are relatively new and they specialize in crawling all the other job boards harvesting the job listings. When a user enters a few keywords together with a location in the vertical search engines, it will return job listing results it has picked up from all the boards it tracks. Using the job boards and vertical search engines (or meta crawlers) may seem like getting a job will be easy, but the truth is very different and only around 20% – 25% of people find a job this way.
3. Company job-boards.
If you have a list of companies you’re targeting you will need to keep an eye on their web-site for any job postings that appear there but nowhere else. Some companies allow you to set up alerts in their system to let you know, usually by email, when the types of jobs your interested in are listed.
4. Networking – Who knows you know…?
You have probably heard of the phrase, “it’s not what you know, but who you know”, and while this may be partly true the more accurate phrase for describing the networking approach to job-hunting is “who knows you know…” The ending of that sentence describes the skills you have, and the types of employers who would be interested in your abilities.
However, don’t be misled into thinking networking is just broadcasting your availability and skills to as many people. Networking is really about making an initial connection with another person, establishing a shared or mutual interest, and maintaining that relationship over time. The more time and effort you put into developing and nurturing your network of contacts, the more they will be prepared to help you. A lot of emphasis is placed on networking to find a job and rightly so, between 60% and 70% of people find a job this way.
5. Recruiters, headhunters and placement agencies.
Headhunting refers to the proactive process where the recruiter is specifically targeting individuals with a particular skill set or list of achievements in a particular industry, market or group of companies. Headhunters’ searches are usually instigated by the hiring company looking for the very best – the top 1-5% in their field and the hiring company is prepared to pay a premium for the best of the best.
Placement agencies use a different approach by advertising a list of jobs to generate a ton of resumes in response. They pick out the good ones and call a list of companies to try to find an opening for the candidates, and arrange an interview. In this instance the job advertised may not actually exist and the placement agency is hoping one will materialize when they call a company.
Recruiters are paid by companies to take care of the initial stages of a hiring drive. Recruiter will advertise a list of positions and receive a ton of resumes in response. They will then sift through some of the resumes until they find enough suitable candidates to pass to the hiring company. This means they may not even check every resume they get, even if the perfect candidate is among them.
Most recruiters, headhunters and placement agencies focus on either certain industries or jobs (e.g. medical staff, or accountants, or bio-tech, catering), and have very good connections with these organizations and the people who work there.
Making contact with placement agencies and recruiters and staying in touch with them is a good way of finding positions that may not be advertised anywhere else.
The success rate using this method is considered to be between 3% – 5%.
6. Job Fair and career expo.
These are organized events, typically one day, where a number of companies, sometimes in the same industry, with open positions to fill, will be looking to meet and interview prospective candidates. The Organizers advertise the events listing the companies that will be attending and the list of positions to be filled. These are great places to make a connection with folks within your target organization even if the positions they are advertising that day aren’t suitable.
7. Walk-ins.
Depending on the type of work you’re looking for, this may be the best method for you. Not too dissimilar to responding to the help wanted signs posted in the front of shops etc., this method involves visiting the types of company you want to work for and approaching the Manager or HR department in person to introduce yourself and enquire if they have specific positions open.