Tips for Getting Your Dream Job

2008-09-10T02:57:00.000-07:00

Turn to the new breed of Meta Job Search Engines. Overwhelmed by the number of job boards to choose from and by the hundreds of corporate employment sites to keep track of? New sites like Jobster.com, Indeed.com, and Simplyhired.com take the hassle out of searching for your next job by providing one-stop-searching across most of the major job sites. Think of these sites as “Google for jobs.” Conduct one search and get results from many job sites and employers. Jobster and Indeed also search jobs directly from many employers, which is helpful as many leading employers are scaling back their job board budgets and shifting their focus instead towards promoting their own employment sites. Jobster now searches more than 5 times the number of jobs as the largest job board.

Make Use of Referrals and Social Networks to Get Noticed. Mark Mehler from CareerXroads points out that a referred candidate has a 35 to 1 chance of getting hired vs. 500 to 1 for the typical candidates. That’s because with so many resumes coming in to companies every day, most employers rely on referrals as a way to spot great candidates. New sites such as Jobster and LinkedIn include “social networking” technology which can help you identify which of your contacts may know people at the companies you want to work at. Jobster goes a step further and can help you request a referral directly into the hiring team at many employers. Jobster also has a feature called “My Jobster,” which enables you to keep tabs on jobs that you can get referred for via the people you know and the people they know.

Sign up for e-Mail Alerts and RSS Feeds. Tired of searching and searching and searching? e-Mail Alerts and RSS Feeds enable you to have jobs delivered to you instead. Leading job sites now enable you to receive daily email alerts about the latest jobs which meet your specific search criteria. The meta search engines, Jobster, Indeed, and Simplyhired, provide customizable alerts spanning millions of jobs from thousands of employers and job sites. Subscribe to RSS feeds and get live feeds of jobs as they are posted. Jobster also has a feature called, “insider alerts” which provides email alerts of jobs that you can get referred for.

Tips on how to get ready for an Interview

2008-09-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

So, you're a recent graduate? Looking for work? You and thousands of others. What can you offer that they can't? Well, hopefully you know that or will learn as you search. Your job search is a project in itself, with various stages. Here are some tips to get you to your goal of a great first job.
Skill Building
Robert Fulghum might have learned everything he needed to know in kindergarten, but you probably didn't. In fact, even college probably didn't teach you everything. Keep building your skills.
Practice your writing skills. In today's Internet-oriented world, good communication skills are crucial. Technical writing and documentation seems to be a weak point for many new grads.
Stay updated. Read and subscribe to relevant weblogs, magazines, and newspapers. Use web feed subscription tools like Bloglines or Newsgator Online Edition.
Take refresher courses. You may not get a job in your first interview round. Consider some refresher courses before you rewrite your resume.
Start a blog. Demonstrate your knowledge of a topic related to a field you'd like to be employed in by writing a blog and mentioning it in your resume.
Do some volunteer work. Find something you like doing and volunteer. It shows depth of character on your resume.
Learn networking skills. Finding the ideal job usually means knowing the right person at the right time.

Guide to Getting a Job through Interview

Tips for Getting Your Dream Job

Tips on how to get ready for an Interview