Methods of Job Seeking
Researchers are finding in this competitive market, even with the right qualifications, it’s harder and harder to get a job. People are increasingly qualified and hardworking and experienced, but sometimes you have to learn some new tricks. Here is a list of some of the most effective methods of job seeking to land your dream career.
One of the most effective modern methods of job seeking is networking site Linkedin. While at its conception, LinkedIn seemed like a trying-to-be-cool professional version of Facebook, the networking site has just been sold for 26.2 billion to Microsoft. Everyday people are now achieving jobs through their profiles and opportunities posted on other profiles. Unlike Facebook, people don’t generally post photos of their most recent wild weekend. While that would definitely garner your profile views, perhaps not the right kind. Make your profile worth reading. Make it interesting, engaging, and to the point, and check it regularly. Follow the people you want to be employed by and make your presence known.
Networking
Meet the important people. Go to events and functions, shell out a little cash to eat where you know they eat. Mention in passing you’re in the market for a job. You can even reach the point where it’s less than subtle. If a company is looking for a position to be filled quick smart and you’ve been looking, chances are they won’t look much further than you.
Seek
The website Seek, and other options like it, give you the opportunity to browse through hundreds of jobs going in your chosen field. You can even upload a prepared resume and cover letter, so applying is as easy as pushing a button. For better results, however, it would be advisable to personalise your cover letter, and resume, as much as you can for the position you’re applying for. This could be as simple as writing the company owner’s name instead of “Dear sir/madam.” While Seek is an easy way to get multiple resumes out to prospective employers, these employers also received far more than they can read, so it’s important your resume and cover letter stand out to a casual viewer.
Gumtree
Perhaps one of the more unexpected methods of job seeking is Gumtree. It is another site like Seek where job opportunities can arise. While it can also be used to dispose of the exercise bike you bought in a fit of motivation that quickly passed, if you search the right way on Gumtree, there are all kinds of jobs going, especially for skilled workers.
The Newspaper
The old fashioned technique of flipping through the paper and circling opportunities still holds up. The younger generation is turning increasingly to online platforms in their job searching. This is a valid method, however often the older generation are the ones hiring, and in their day, jobs were found in the newspaper. You may be able to find a position that others overlooked in their online quests.
Check the company website and social media
If you’re looking for a specific job in a specific field, look no further that the company website. Set a Google alert for news from that company, follow them on twitter and LinkedIn, bookmark their up and coming news page on the website. That way, as soon as a job is available, you will know.
Facebook friends and Facebook groups have a certain allure to them. Yes, it’s great for seeing what your ex from five years ago is doing in Bali. It’s also great for cringing at grandma’s attempts to use it. But beyond being the thing upon which you waste hours of your time, Facebook can be a tool for you to use.
Join the Facebook groups for your profession of choice. There’s always one out there. Whether it’s a caffeine appreciation society when you’d like to work in a café, a screenwriter’s guild for your dreams of making it big, or an engineering society at any university.
University society Facebook groups and pages are consistently posting links to job opportunities. Employers will often go to them first to spread the message far and wide and recruit eager job seekers.
What’s more, keep checking up on people you know who are in the business. You never know who knows someone who’s looking for someone.
If all else fails, post a status or your resume to the groups. It shows initiative.
Door to door attrition
If all else fails, there’s always one of the most tried and tested methods of job seeking – door to door. While there are many new and worthwhile ways to achieve that dream job, sometimes nothing beats walking the pavements, a folder of resumes under your arm, handing them out to every company you’d like to work for. It also helps infinitely if there is a semi-personalised cover letter attached.
Even if you hand out 50 and 42 end up in the recycling bin, that’s still 8 resumes physically printed out. The company has to DO something about it. It’s taking up space. It’s annoying and it just might work.
Whilst these methods of job seeking are varied and will take time to monitor, if you get up in the morning and search for a job in the same way you’d get up in the morning and check social media or read the paper, it’s a task that will soon become habit, and you’ll be well on your way to finding the perfect job.