For a long time the newspaper classifieds and word of mouth were the only two ways you could find a job without going door knocking. Note that word of mouth is still perhaps the best way to search for jobs, as over 60% of jobs are never publicly listed. As the saying goes, it’s not what you know but who you know (and how you manage to use your connections).
If you’re like most people, you need to eat. Eating requires money to buy food, unless you’re privy to some handy barter scheme, and unless you’ve won the inheritance lottery you’re going to need to work for you food money. Which means you need to find a job. Sure, you could make do walking door-to-door and looking for help wanted signs, but the most efficient way to search for jobs is going to be through the internet.
Ask relatives, past business associates, and friends if they know of anyone who’s hiring. This can be especially important if you’re looking for a job in a particular field. If you can’t score anything by word of mouth, the classifieds may still be worth a read, but many newspapers publish their classifieds online anyway, so an internet search will still make things easier while keeping your options open.
Two of the most-used and therefore most helpful job search sites are http:craigslist.com and http:monster.com. As with most forms of communication, the sites with the most traffic are often the most helpful (it doesn’t do you any good to own the only telephone). http:Monster.com and http:craigslist.com have thousands of job posts every day, and both are searchable by geographic locale, employment type, and salary. You can also post your resume and allow recruiters to come to you.
Many other smaller websites allow you to search for jobs in your immediate area or in your area of expertise, though the latter listings are often nationwide. It is important to note that not all internet job postings are what they seem; any recruiter who asks you to pay money before you start is probably running some sort of a scam, pyramid or otherwise.
Imagine if you were to apply for a job in your hometown and the business owner offered to hire you, but first wanted a £5 bill. These internet scams, often billed as “work at home” opportunities, are equally dubious.
However, if you stick to legitimate sites and present yourself as an attractive job candidate, the internet will allow you to search for jobs faster and easier than searching through the daily newspaper with a highlighter.
Tags: Barter, Business Associates, Employment Type, Food Money, Forms Of Communication, Geographic Locale, Inheritance, Internet Job Postings, Internet Search, Job Search, Long Time, Lottery, Monster, Recruiter, Relatives, Resume, Salary, Searching For Jobs, Two Ways, Word Of Mouth
Companies are taking a closer look at who they hire today. From heightened security concerns to an increase in negligent hiring lawsuits, companies understand that bad hiring decisions can cause them big problems.
That’s why over 90% of employers now run background checks on potential hires.
During a background check, a hiring company takes a good look at your personal and professional history. They verify your education and past employment, check to see if there is criminal activity in your past, and talk to your references. Some companies may even look at your driving record, credit history or previous drug testing results.
To run a thorough background check, a company needs some very specific information from you. For example, they need contact information for your former employers and the names of your previous supervisors.
This type of detailed information is typically not found on a resume, even one that is professionally prepared. So companies have candidates fill out a job application that is specifically designed to get the information that’s required to run a complete background check.
How you fill out a company’s job application is directly tied to whether or not you get the job. In fact, over 80% of companies say that discrepancies on a job application can take a candidate out of consideration.
When you fill out a job application, you want to make sure that your information is complete and easy to verify. However, there are lots of situations that can cause problems for an applicant. Here are a few:
What kind of contact information do you provide for a former employer that has gone out of business?
If you worked for a company through a temporary agency, who do you list as the employer?
If you were fired from your previous job, should you leave it off the application?
How you answer these and other questions can make the difference between a swift and successful background check and one that grinds to a halt because information can’t be verified. Human resources will usually caution against hiring someone whose information is hard to read, has gaps or inconsistencies, or is lacking important details.
A successful job search requires a professional-looking resume, strong interviewing skills, and a can-do attitude. These tools will get you in the door and help you make the final cut.
But if you don’t pass the background check, you won’t get the job.
Take the time to prepare the detailed information that will go on your job application. It’s one of the best things you can do in your job search.
Tags: Background Checks, Complete Background Check, Contact Information, Credit History, Decisions, Discrepancies, Drug Testing Results, Education, Employment Check, Hiring Company, Job Application, Lawsuits, Looking For A New Job, Names, Professional History, Resume, Security Concerns, Swift, Taking A Closer Look, Temporary Agency
When applying for a job, it is ideal that you identify your strengths and weaknesses and get prepared to address them.
By knowing your advantage, the chances of getting the job that you want will surely get easier. But you should not get too confident since this is one of the common mistakes that plague job applicants. Appearing too confident or as somewhat of a know it all person will only get you labeled by your interviewer as unfit for the job.
Identifying your skills
First thing’s first. You should identify your skills. This is your ticket to get that job and you should be able to articulate your abilities and expertise as best as you can. Many people have a hard time telling their skills and abilities as this may seem to be bragging. But you should not be shy or afraid to discuss your skills.
In fact, it is important that you convey to your potential employer what your talents are. You should be able to sell your abilities to your employer. That is how you will get the job that you want.
It is important that you don’t appear arrogant or condescending but you should also avoid selling yourself short. If the interviewer asks you about your strengths or what separates you from the other applicants, you should be able to readily give a good answer. But before you even go to the interview, your resume should highlight your skills and talents for your prospective employer to see.
Tags: Address, Applying For A Job, Failure, Good Answer, Hard Time, Interviewer, Job Applicants, Job Skills, Prospective Employer, Resume, Showcase, Skills And Abilities, Strengths And Weaknesses, Talents
Nowadays getting hired is very difficult. It is more than just passing a resume, applying and forever hoping to get hired. Well it is time to stop hoping and start really getting hired.
Here are the steps on how to get pass job searching and start working.
Self Analysis
To start job searching you must first analyze yourself on what you want to be. You can be a Bum, an Entrepreneur, a Young Professional, or a Student Seeking Higher Studies. If you choose to be a Bum, Entrepreneur or a Student then you should stop reading this article and continue to pursue the career path that you chose. However, if you choose to become a Young Professional continue reading because all the information you need to get hired is in this article.
Preparation
Why do we need to prepare before job searching? Because Companies/Employers are very selective and among the numerous number of applicants they have they will choose the most deserving and who will make their company more productive. They are not looking to teach you, they are looking to get instant results from you. The other reason is competition, if you had an experience in working you may have a distinct advantage but nevertheless it is still the Companies/Employers that will have the decision when hiring an applicant.
Looking For a Company
Where do we look for a company that are hiring? A lot of companies post their job vacancy in, for example, newspaper ads, radio, TV, job fair, employment agencies, Internet, and if your University has College Placement Office they can provide you a job vacancy listing also. Another way of looking for a company is through Networking, when looking for a company you must always be resourceful; ask the people you know that is working for a company if they have an opening. When you find a company then you must prepare for the next step.
Resume
Books, magazines and the internet are the example of the resources you can get on how to make a presentable resume but the only point is be true to on what you will write. Dont put on your resume what you do not know.
Cover Letter
Just like in making a resume there are a lot of resources in how to make a cover letter. Before you make a letter make sure that you know where to send the cover letter that you will make. It should be either on the Human Resource Supervisor or the Employer.
Interview
If the Company/Employer called your for an interview, you must also prepare for it. Again, why do we need to prepare? As I have written earlier companies are very selective. So what do we need to prepare?
Check Company
Why do we need to check the company? If you where ask by the interviewer what do you know about the company? What do you think your answer will be? It is much better if you know the history of the company as well as the product or services that they offer to their clients. You dont exactly need to know all the information of the company, just a bit of knowledge about them is well enough.
What is the Job About?
You dont apply for a job not knowing what the job is all about. It is foolishness in your part to apply for it. Before applying for the job position make sure you qualify for the requirements the company is asking for.
During the interview, the interviewer may it be the Human Resource Supervisor or the Employer will not just look at your credentials in your resume but also your personality as well. You must show the interviewer maturity, right attitude, and presentable appearance. It is important to make yourself presentable because you are offering your services to them and if they see you not well dressed they may think that you take their company for granted.
If you comply with what the company needs and they believe that you will be an asset to them in terms of productivity of their company. Automatically you will get hired and the very next day you can see yourself working in the company.
But if you see yourself not get hired, the answer lies in you; The Company doesnt necessarily want you but you just dont want to get hired, just as plain as simple as that.
Tags: Bum, Career Path, College Placement Office, Distinct Advantage, Eight Steps, Employment Agencies, Entrepreneur, Fair Employment, Job Searching, Job Vacancy, Magazines, Networking, Radio Tv, Resume, Self Analysis, Tv Job
All of us know one or two people who aren’t particularly good at what they do, and yet they always seem to be the ones who get ahead in life. They advance, while everyone else has to sit and watch.
It wouldn’t be so infuriating if they were the most deserving - the most intelligent, the most skilled, or the most hard-working. But it never seems to work out that way.
The simple fact of the matter is that it takes two types of skills to get ahead in the world today: the ability to do a good job and - what is becoming increasingly important - the ability to land a good opportunity in the first place. Unfortunately for most of us, our teachers only taught us how to perform well; they didn’t spend a whole lot of time showing us how to stake our claims - how to make sure we get the credit, rewards, and opportunities we deserve. That was supposed to be automatic.
Well, it’s not!
It’s a jungle everywhere! Throughout your life, you can expect that you will be out there too - over and over again - fighting for your place in the world. It’s not enough to be another good also-ran; successful candidates know they must stand out in a crowded field. They must get noticed before they can ever hope to get offers.
That’s why letters of recommendation are more important now in the job search process than ever before - often more important than your resume. If you’ve ever been involved in hiring, then you know it doesn’t take long before all those resumes start sounding alike. Resume after resume - the whole pile starts to become a blur.
Letters of recommendation are different. Hard-hitting, objective opinions from real-life professionals that have actually worked with you can communicate more about what you offer than you could ever get across in a resume… that is, if you can get the right letter.
PROBLEM: Getting good recommendation letters isn’t easy - even when you deserve them!
People are often reluctant to write letters of recommendation - even when you are more than deserving. Why? Well, a typical excuse is that they are too busy. After all, doing a letter of recommendation can take some time - especially if you don’t do them often.
Even so, often lack of time is just an excuse; it isn’t the real reason why most people don’t like writing recommendation letters. A more common - and more embarrassing - reason managers are reluctant to write reference letters is that they don’t think they can do a good job. In fact, they fear that a letter they write will be so bad that it will make them look unprofessional, and you and the person receiving your letter will lose respect for them and the organizations they represent.
Of course, they won’t tell you that; you just won’t ever get your letter.
Clearly, though, some people have figured this out. They are able to secure the kinds of letters that opportunities the rest can only dream of.
How do they do it?
- Are they just better than everyone else?
- Do they work harder?
- Are they smarter or better educated?
In the vast majority of cases, the answers to these questions are no, no, and no!
They’re not better or smarter; they just know the secret.
Their approach is as simple as it is effective: They write their letters of recommendation themselves!
You’ve probably seen glowing letters of recommendation that…
- get people to stand up and take notice
- impress recruiters and colleagues
- provide the most effective competitive edge available in the war for fast-track opportunities!
Am I saying that these letters are essentially just advertising - as biased as anything else - written by the candidates themselves?
Yes! That’s exactly what I am saying, and for a very good reason… it’s absolutely true! It’s the dirty little secret that all the most successful candidates already know.
Now think about this: How can you possibly compete without doing the same thing yourself?
The answer is: you can’t!
If you are serious about landing the kind of opportunities you really deserve in today’s competitive environment, then you have no option… you must take the initiative. It takes real nerve to write your own letter of recommendation for someone else to sign, but it’s the way the real movers and shakers make things happen.
Tags: Ahead, Blur, Fact Of The Matter, Good Job, Job Search, Jungle, Knock Out, Letter Recommendation, Letters Of Recommendation, Recommendation Letters, Resume, Resumes, Rewards, Search Process, Simple Fact, Whole Lot, World Today, Write Letters
