total jobs On ExecCrossing

64,403

new jobs this week On EmploymentCrossing

694

total jobs on EmploymentCrossing network available to our members

1,476,615

job type count

On ExecCrossing

Personal Habits to Help You Hunt a Job

0 Views
What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.
Reread your resume every day - it's amazing how things come to light that you may have overlook? Obviously this is no time to overdo, but the expenses that most job hunters run up in their campaign are only a small fraction of their lost income. And expenses for such things as typing help, revisions on resumes, travel, and so on, may be the most important expenses you have during your campaign.

If your campaign continues for six months or more, you may want to do a small amount of consulting - so that you can say that you have been working. Keep it small, though - job hunting is your full-time job.

Regular exercise is important; it can work off a lot of emotion. And you can overcome the age barrier by looking fit and vigorous. Also get some diversion through recreation.



Checklist for a dragging campaign

If your campaign is not going satisfactorily, review this checklist at the end of each month. Attitude. Are you proud of what you've done? Do you have a clear idea of what you can and want to do? If not, work harder to develop your presentation of your own accomplishments.

Are you bad-mouthing your former employer?

This can only hurt you.

Work habits. Are you working as hard as possible?

Are you spending (virtually) all of the hours on your job search out of the house?

Are you physically set up to be effective (a good secretary, effective answering of the phone, etc.)?

Are you getting reasonable amounts of recreation and exercise?

Your answer to all of these should be yes.

If you had an opportunity to live your last week over again, what would you have done differently in your job-hunting efforts? If you're not using the failure analysis tool, use it.

Effectiveness of preparation. Have you carefully defined what your job requirements are and what type of job would be most suitable?

Are you sure you know what employers are probably looking for (not only in technical skills but also in personal characteristics and work habits)?

Do you feel interviewers are getting a favorable picture of your accomplishments? If not, is it because you haven't identified them adequately, or because you're not presenting them effectively, or both? Have you had several employers you've approached by blind prospecting contact you spontaneously for an interview? If so, your resume is probably reasonably effective.

If your answer to the above is no, review your resume. Perhaps you should consider getting a good counselor to evaluate it.

When a campaign drags on for a long time, a breakthrough in "getting your act together" often turns a campaign around. It makes it easier for you to get good interviews and increases your effectiveness in them.

Have you been getting a reasonable number of requests for interviews from answering ads? Five percent is a satisfactory rate.

Do you know if any of your references are hurting you?

Number of interviews. Of the time you've been spending, are at least 75 percent of your efforts directed toward the hidden job market?

Are you getting to see more than half the people you approach on the referral method? If not, try people further down in the organization.

Have you experimented with various techniques (broadcast letters, telephone referrals)?

Have you been spending much too much time on one or two job possibilities to the exclusion of prospecting?

Have you analyzed the time spent to get good interviews? Use the method or methods which are most effective in getting the most interviews in the least amount of time.

Effectiveness of interview. Are you converting one half of your first interviews for actual jobs into second interviews? If not, work on improving your interview techniques.

Are you coming out of interviews feeling you didn't get yourself across effectively? If not, were you well prepared? Did you have a reasonable understanding of the company and its problems before the interview? Did you have five or six questions prepared to get the employer to reveal his or her principal problems in your field of expertise (so you could show how your experience could help)? Or were you unable to control the interview to get your most favorable experience across? Did you have a clear understanding of what the interviewer was looking for perhaps a third of the way into the interview?

Are you doing most of the talking? You should be doing less than half of it.

Have you been able to get a good understanding of the interviewer ahead of time?

Are you losing out because of the unasked question (too old, too young, lacking certain experience, etc.)? Are you taking the offensive to combat it?

Are you getting a good reading on the interviewer's biases? Are you responding to them favorably?

Are you asking the third-stage questions ("Where do we have a fit? Where don't we have a fit?"). Have you been writing a carefully prepared sales letter after each interview, based on what you learned about the job?

Have you gotten feedback from any third parties on your interviews? (Your initial contact may be able to provide it.) This can be useful for you, because an employer may be quite candid with the person who referred you, whereas he or she wouldn't be with you.

If you have had quite a few interviews for actual jobs without an offer, try being less aggressive in seeking interviews for a while. Spend more time on interview preparation and interview techniques.

Have you practiced your interview skills - mock interviews with friends or volunteer counselors? If you do this, stress to them the importance of their being (constructively) critical.

Is your physical appearance in line with what most employers would feel is satisfactory (your dress, your hair, etc.)?

Sources of help. Have you been asking everyone you have seen (except on actual job interviews) for information on the most useful people and organizations for job hunters?

Have you contacted most of the people you know who have conducted a job campaign in the last few years?

Are you finding secretaries useful sources of information on follow-up?

Are you keeping in regular touch with the people you have found most useful?

When you have built and maintained constructive activity on your campaign, you will probably get one or more offers.
If this article has helped you in some way, will you say thanks by sharing it through a share, like, a link, or an email to someone you think would appreciate the reference.



I found a new job! Thanks for your help.
Thomas B - ,
  • All we do is research jobs.
  • Our team of researchers, programmers, and analysts find you jobs from over 1,000 career pages and other sources
  • Our members get more interviews and jobs than people who use "public job boards"
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars.
ExecCrossing - #1 Job Aggregation and Private Job-Opening Research Service — The Most Quality Jobs Anywhere
ExecCrossing is the first job consolidation service in the employment industry to seek to include every job that exists in the world.
Copyright © 2024 ExecCrossing - All rights reserved. 169