Chapter Three: Job Search Aids

You may have noticed by this time that I am keeping my chapters very short. This is on purpose as I want to keep the information very bite sized so you may quickly get started. Please utilize these suggestions to your advantage, you may choose to do only a few or you may choose to do all of them. It is up to you and how you want to run your job search company.

Websites to aid you in your search

There are no rules when it comes to a job search. Therefore sign up for as many job board sites as you can and utilize them daily. There are several types of sites to use. My favorite sites are ones that allow you to set your search criteria and it goes out and looks at every available site to find something. I am listing three that I have used.

www.indeed.com
www.glassdoor.com
www.beyond.com

Job boards are the more commonly known places to post your resume. An issue I have run into with the job boards is you get a lot of what I call "bottom feeders" on those boards. The "bottom feeders" are sketchy headhunters who use call centers to contact you and insurance sales.

I don't have anything against insurance sales, if that is something you aspire to, I just know that it is not the career for me. Reason being is I was an insurance and investment broker. I have no interest in it any longer and because insurance is commission based the recruiters for these types of jobs tend to reach out to you a lot. If you have no interest, like me, these solicitations just clutter up the email box. Hence the reasons I call them "bottom feeders".

The job boards I use are:

www.careerbuilder.com
www.monster.com

A third category goes to the local job boards. You will have to check out your local area to see what is available. Also, don't forget to check government job postings and government job finding assistance.

Headhunters and Job Agencies

Headhunters and job agencies are a key component to any job search. Think of the agencies as your employees or additional voices out there to help you in your search. It is important to not only work with these agencies, but to also keep them informed on your activities.

Many of the job search agencies will ask you to submit to them the companies you are interested in. First, it is a good idea to have a list of companies of interest as they have contacts within many companies and this may open the door for you. Having the door opened is only a first step, and a small one at that. Later I will discuss what to do when the door is open. In other words, the interview process.

As you move through your search many of the job search agencies may ask you to let them know of what companies you want to apply to. Being a cautious person, I have very mixed feelings about handing over a list of companies I found in my search over to the agencies. My key reason for this is I do not know what they are going to do with the information. Remember that the agency is trying to get paid as well and if you give them this information there is nothing stopping them from creating a relationship with the company and sending anyone to an interview. This has the potential to blow up on you and you may find that a company you were really interested in slipped through your fingers.

Keep in mind that you still want to use them for your job search. Despite my warning you still may want to give the agencies a list of companies. I generally will give them a list of companies I already applied to and did not hear anything or was rejected. I have had a company that I was interested in resurrected because I gave the name to my recruiter and they were able to get me in to the hiring manager. This is a way to work around the Human Resources portion of a company. The recruiter at the agency may tell you that they would prefer companies that you have not applied to already. Remember the rule that there are no rules in your job search. The agency/recruiter is putting you into their rules.

I am not going to list agencies or recruiters here as the use of recruiters is fairly personal and depends on your job. I suggest using Google to find a list of recruiters that specialize in your particular career.

Keep track of what you do

As you reach out to headhunters, recruiters, job boards, etc. Make sure that you write down who you contact, when, and how you contact them. Several reason for this include; unemployment depends on your tracking contacts, you don't want to accidently duplicate your efforts, and it is a way to see your progress in a given day.

I have generally used a spreadsheet to keep my tracking. If you do not have Microsoft Office, you can obtain free versions of a spreadsheet and word documents through One Drive or Google Docs. Explore both and see which one would work best for you. The neat thing is both have phone apps that allow you to at least view your documents. As you interview it is nice to have that information on the go in case you need to remind yourself of the name of the person you are meeting.

In the next chapter I am going to discuss the resume. Particularly an easy way to put together what you can do to make your resume pop.