What has experience taught you about job-hunting in general?

In My Humble Opinion
21

There is a distinction to be made between large businesses seeking professional positions and small businesses seeking low-wage labor. Low-wage labor jobs don’t usually require a resume – applicants are usually asked to show up in person and fill out a stock application.

It’s not uncommon to see a small business advertise employment opportunities all year round, regardless of whether or not a position is actually available at any one given time. It’s not always newspaper ads. We’ve all passed a cleaners, or pet store, or auto-parts shop, or whatever that always has a “Help Wanted” sign in the window. Or the sandwich shop that always has a “hiring smiling faces” sign on display.

Sometimes, though, even newspaper ads are run year round if the business has enough turnover. They want to keep their stream of applicants steady.

I don’t think this applies so much for professional-level jobs. However, I can see cases in which an employer negelects to lift an online ad even after the professional position has been filled. I’m assuming online job sites charge the employer a one-time fee to run the ad for X amount of time (1 year?), so it doesn’t cost the employer more to run the online ad for 2 weeks or 6 months. If it doesn’t cost anything to keep running, one would think it’s easy for an employer to forget to pull an online ad.

22

For interviews, I think the biggest key is that you go into the interview prepared to say in one or two sentences exactly why they should hire you. Even if they never ask you to sum up why you are a perfect candidate, just knowing that you would be able to succinctly answer this question helps center you and can give you a boost of confidence as you field the other interview questions. Give it serious thought well ahead of time and say it to yourself a few times as you go in.

23

IDBB, did you physically go to their office? I know from past experience (I worked at one of those places for a short while) that they get all the applicants they need from people who walk-in, and don’t necessarily have the time to do call-backs.

Go in, fill out an application and take any computer/typing tests they have for you. This will probably get you a face-to-face with one of their agents, which could lead to big opportunities. Every temp agency I’ve ever worked for has been desperate for people who have decent typing, computer, and phone skills who are reliable. Obviously you have the typing & computer stuff down, and if you can prove you’ll actually show up on time for the jobs they assign you, you’ll go to the top of their list of people to call when something comes available. Don’t be too picky at first. Take whatever they offer, and once you’ve established you won’t flake out on them, the cushy jobs will come your way.

I’ve found lots of good jobs through temp agencies (not that I’m a chronic job-hopper…I’m talking temp jobs during summers while I was in college.) In fact, I found my current (now permanent) job through a temp agency–this is the best job I’ve ever had. Absolutely love it…and it’s leading to bigger & better things.

If you’d like, feel free to email me your resume & cover letter and I’d be happy to look them over for you. I’ve had a couple of jobs where I was the person screening the resumes, so I know a lot of the dos and don’ts. Obviously, leave out any personal info you don’t want to share like your real name & address, etc.

24

Can somebody tell me why those job boards (like Monster, Brassring, etc.) often have THE SAME jobs showing up month aftermonth? Is this because they get the posting service for free?
I was interested in such a job…I applied forit, nothing happened (not even a phone call). Anyway,the same job gets posted every 3-4 months! Weird!

25

Oreo–I’ll do that. I have a crappy ass resume and no cover letter (since I don’t know how to write one), so it’ll be an easy fix, I’m guessing.

Thanks for the advice.

IDBB

26

Warning–Spoiler for OREO only!

Oreo–I must be an idiot, but when I tried to look up your user info, it said that the admins had disabled that function, so I can’t look up your email addy. Sorry…you can have mine though...DixiChikken24@aol.com Sorry for the inconvience of having to read this in a spoiler box.

IDBB

27

Probably just gathering resumes.

28

IDBB, check your email.

29

My general experience about job hunting is that it’s a total crapshoot with the odds against getting what you want. Employers have their own arbitrary reasons for picking who they do, and if there are enough applicants with the requisite skills, anything you do to stand out will as likely hurt you as help you.

As to online jobs: I found my current job at Flipdog.com. In my opinion thay have one service putting them way above most others. You can instruct the site to search new job postings for keywords you choose, and it will send you an email for each new listing containing your keywords. You don’t have to keep going there and scouring it.

If you have a job while searching for another, don’t allow them to contact the current employer for a resume. Use a previous employer, or individuals in the current job who know your skills and can be trusted not to let word get back that you’re looking elsewhere. You should give their home contact number, not a work number.

30

IDBB, I doubt that is the case. I worked with someone who hounded someone at Kelly so much that she got the woman to admit this: although they advertise having jobs, they don’t really. They primarily build up databases of people who are qualified * if and when* that sort of job opening comes their way. This was the Hampton NH office, but I wouldn’t be suprised if it’s a company-wide policy.

31

With the temp agencies, I think it depends where you are. Agencies in cities like L.A. or Houston move’em pretty quickly.

32

I’ll second this suggestion, IDBB. You say your resume leaves something to be desired. I also suspect, given the self-defeating attitude you show here so often, that you might not interview well. State employment offices have resources to help with this, to work with you to develop interview and work skills that will boost your self-confidence and make you employable at something better than a fast-food job.

33

Monster has exactly this feature, as well.

34

I’ve gotten three important jobs in my current career by having zero to minimal skills and demonstrating a lot of enthusiasm.

My first job the initial interview (at the job-seeking place in the college financial aid office) went pretty much like:

her: Do you know anything about computers?

me: No.

her: Are you afraid of computers?

me: No.

A couple days later I went up to the lab, did a couple of basic things on the computer, a couple of other interviews with the researchers, and was hired. This was back before Windows.

My jobs in clinical research generally had no associated course of study, so it’s not like I needed a degree in it. What I did need were some basic computer skills, a certain amount of curiosity and excitement, and a demonstrated ability to learn.

I moved from academia to industry knowing next to nothing about the “industry side” of clinical research data management. I answered an ad in the paper, did a phone interview, and got the job. The thing that impressed the woman that hired me was not what I knew (at least in the technical sense), but that I was teaching myself how to program in SAS (I’m not a SAS programmer). Also, I had been unemployed for the previous 5 months, so the “it’s better if you already have a job” rule didn’t apply in that case. The job I have now I was recruited for.

So, I guess the message is: The right attitude (which attitude is right depends on the job) can go a long way. Interviewers may be more interested in how capable you are of learning the necessary skills than in whether you already have them or not. They’re interested in your foundations, how well you work with others (for instance can you work successfully with someone else on the team who’s real pushy, or can you push a team with competing priorities to finish a project), and whether or not you’re going to stick around.

Also, it’s obviously OK to toot your own horn, but don’t LIE. Especially on your application. I’ve seen several people get shown the door automatically, no matter how good they were, because their application information didn’t check out.

35

Register with several different temp agencies. Once you get a reputation as a good temp with one agency–which is not hard to do-- they’ll do their best to keep you busy. If you’re efficient, reliable, and even vaguely competent around office equipment, you quickly become a contender for Best Temp Ever.