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Searching for Jobs Online?
Embedded Geek asks: "My wife, a VB/C/C++/SQL coder, was recently laid off from our mutual employer and is on the job hunt. I am also sending around feelers. We've posted both our resumes at our own site (here and here) and at Monster.Com. So far, we have gotten disappotinting results - several headhunters generating a lot of smoke but no heat. Some people have suggested dice.com and other techie oriented sites, but I wonder if we're going about this the wrong way. Are we better off using the Internet to directly find and reach companies (I really dislike headhunters)? Should we find a site affiliated with a major newspaper's want ads? Has anyone out there found other strategies to using the Internet in a job search?"
This related submission from kalanar asks a similar question, but questions whether exclusive online searches are the answer: "With the current economy state, and the increase in unemployment in the US, I'm curious if anyone has had luck with onlinejobsearchengines. I have applied to many job listing (80+) and have not received much of a reply. I'm curious if employers are worried about the relocation factor or if employers are more anxious to hire people that have applied in other ways. (Fax/Inperson)"
So if you are recently employed, especially in the US, what strategies did you use to land your current job?
Go thru your Rolodex and hit the phones. Past bosses and colleagues, regardless of how long ago they were, are prime sources for leads.
Don't forget your family and the people they know. Chat people up. Talk talk talk. The best jobs aren't going to be found in the want ads.
Last person I helped land a job was because I saw her reading Webmaster In a Nutshell on a commuter train, and I asked if she was lookin'. She was, and she was good, so we hired her.
Find a headhunter you like, if that's possible. If you're great, they'll do the work for you, and get you in the doors. Just make sure that the job is the right fit.
I'm not saying to ignore postings, whether online or in print, but they're nothing compared to talking to other humans.
Contacting, or better yet visiting, the CoC also has the advantage of letting you talk to a human and get those all-important contacts.
While you're at it, run out and get copies of The Brand You 50 by Tom Peters, and Ask The Headhunter by Nick Corcodilos. They're all about selling yourself as more than just a bunch of accomplishments and skills.
It took from May 15th to the last week of June (about) to land a position. In that time, I got about 1/2 dozen calls, two interviews, and two offers, both sent my way by headhunters. None of my personal applications panned out. So, my "saturation" technique didn't result in what I'd consider excessive interest -- you just never know who uses what job engine or site.
I ended up accepting a position near Dallas, TX, and moved from Chicago, IL. Employer payed a flat rate toward moving expenses and left me to deal with the logistics (the allowance was generous, but the headache of dealing with all the logistics was a pain -- apparently outsourcing that kind of stuff is expensive).
Now, my case might be atypical, because in addition to all the other problems related to the downturn in the economy, I required visa sponsorship. Still, I found and got a job I liked using only on-line resources.
You could've hired me.
It's gruesome right now - if you're in the wrong city you should be prepared for a *long* search because it's REVENGE OF THE INCOMPETENT HR MANAGER time. Don't have 10 years of Java experience? Then don't bother sending your resume... or pointing out that the language is less than 10 years old so anyone who claims this much experience is lying. Don't have 5+ years experience in both COBOL and the lastest EJB/J2EE technologies, then don't bother responding because the company insists on merging two (or more!) positions while cutting the salary by a third.
That said, networking is usually best but it's worthless when everyone you know is unemployed in a mass corporate panic. You probably aren't looking for the same jobs, of course, but the usual information net is severely pruned since there's no water cooler gossip, etc.
Second best is online sites, but you have to be very careful about sleazy body shops that will float your resume to everyone on the planet. They will *not* help you, and in fact will harm you since many companies will refuse to hire anyone with resumes from multiple sources to avoid any threat of confusion over "finder's fees" and the like.
What I've found practical are only replying to 1) recruiters and companies I've worked with in the past, 2) or recruiters who give local addresses and meaningful contact information, and 3) ads that have provide some details. I never put my resume up on a web site (and not just because it's a phone book after almost 20 years), and I never send it to someone who uses a generic drop box email address.
I've passed on some great ads... but I really can't take a one-line ad from a recruiter a thousand miles away from the job seriously. Yes, this can legitimately happen, but in those cases the recruiter has always willing to explain the circumstances in response to quick note. It's the ones who quietly ignore me and my hard-learned concerns that make me worry.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
Unfortunately I don't have much advice on where to go to find jobs, but one thing to avoid may be the consulting agencies especially in the current economic environment. Some employers may just ignore the consultants when they call (although they won't admit it) because they don't feel like paying the extra money to hire someone through them, especially now when money is tight and there seems to be a surplus of people to hire.
As said earlier, you'd be surprised how far networking can get you..Whether at a social gathering or through your friends, let everyone know that you are looking and keep contact information handy, you never know when something might come up. Get in contact with some previous co-workers who you go along with, alot of times they may know of an opening at their company or a past job. Hope that helps...
"Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
I know this will sound silly, but it works for some reason. If you are sending a resume to one of those "resumes@foo.com" or "jobs@bar.com", most likely you will see it filed away and never see a human response. A trick I learned (by accident) is to send an email to one of these addresses talking about your "attached" resume ("As you can see by my skills x and y in my resume blah blah..."), but *don't* actually attach it. 90% of the time you will get an email back from a *person* (i.e. not an autoresponder) asking if you could try and send it again. Now you have an actual email address of somone in H.R. that you can use to send polite emails concering the status of your application, etc.
I know many people will scoff at this idea saying "No self respecting tech company will hire you if you show you're too stupid to be able to attach a resume!" But this isn;t the case. Most of the people who work in HR are the types who find it perfectly resonable to make a mistake and forget to press the "attach" button, or else they are the types that believe whole-heartedly that attachements can get "lost in the mail" even if it's email.
Once you have an actual person (sometimes including a phone number!) you have the chance to add a little "human touch". As long as you are polite and don't make yourself look bad, this extra little boost can be what seperates you from the rest of teh stack of resumes.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
Also:
this means it's more likely your resume will actually be *looked at*
it saves them the time to read through the resume
same as above.
not all the people who filter job applications are good with computers, no matter what the industry.
I am fluent in the Phonetic Alphabet, and put it on my resume. I had a lot of companies and recruiters call me to ask what it was.
I received one from a company I had emailed my resume to. they offered me a job after I sent them an email detailing what virus they were infected with and how to remove it and prevent it in the future. I didn't accept their job offer, but I think they'll remember me if I contact them in the future.