I need some job hunting advice...

[glaucomflecken]

Hey everyone, happy holidays!

Well I''m really struggling to find a job here in my new hometown. Ive searched for weeks/months on every job website, newspaper, hospital board, professional forum and job forum I know, and no luck. So my next step is to blindly send out my resume to every place in town in my field. I have never done this before, sent my resume/cover letter to a place that I dont even know is hiring for a position or not.

Are there any good resources out there on how to write a "blind" cover letter? Or does anyone have any good geneal job hunting advice for me? Wouldnt you know, no one I know has any connections here either.

Thank you!

 

[jcrow]

in my area & job field there weren''t lots of options. what i did was research each company a bit. find out what awards they won, what they are big on that sets them apart from the rest, and so on. then i did a standard cover letter. but, for each company i changed up the first paragrpah to make it unique and targeted using the info i learned.

i don''t know if it''s right or wrong- but that''s what i did. hope it helps.

GOOD LUCK!! it''s such a sucky position to be in= new in town isn''t any fun either.

 

[glaucomflecken]

Date: 12/22/2005 3:46:55 PM
Author: Virginia
I am just curious, what is your field? It might help with the responses!

Hi Virginia,
I''m an optometrist. I''m also very particular about the clinical setting I work in, so its even harder for me here (of course all the jobs I really want are either back home, or in states I am not licensed to work in)

 

[Hest88]

Have you been responding to job openings or have you put your resume up on Monster or Career Builders as well? When I was hunting a year ago I didn''t get many bites from me sending my resume, but since most headhunters and hiring managers make Monster their second stop now (after their corporate site) when seeking applicants, I got many calls from people who saw my resume up on Monster.

 

[perry]

I am not a proponant of mass mailing of resume''s. The chance of that working is slim.

I take it you are unemployed at the moment - or are you working another job for $$ now.

If I were you, I''d scrape up enough money to take people out for coffee (or a light meal) and approach some of the optomitrist that you admire and ask them if they would be willing to offer you some advice as a new person starting out. Take them out for coffee and listen to what they say and ask for references if they know of any opening. Dress professionally (but not all out). Be sure to end the coffee with an "do you mind if we stay in touch?" Write them a thank you letter on nice stationary.

This is old fashion networking. It works.

I suggest that you consider looking for other temp work even if not in your field; or even starting a side business (that you could potentially continue once hired).

I also suggest that you start volunteering somewhere.

Do not just sit at home; be ready to answer what you have done with your time while unemployed ( I once was able to tell people about my volunteer work with a national orgainzation - and could back it up with a reference letter from the national chairman).

Hope this helps.

Feel free to PM me for other ideas.

Perry

 

[Mara]

I agree with much of what Perry said.

In essence, especially in a small or tight field, you really have to be good at selling yourself and be creative in terms of how to get yourself noticed.

If there are no openings, it does not matter, you should start networking at a place you REALLY want to work at...make some friends there or similar and be persistent.

I don't consider myself an expert on getting a job but I have been able to stay employed in severe downturns around this area...and here are some tips from way back when I used to temp while in college even during bad years....temp office jobs were tight because everyone wanted the quick and easy way to make some $$..so I had to learn to befriend my temp agency contacts. I would call them DAILY to find out if there were any new jobs, every morning at 8am. I got alot of 'just came in' things that way. Also, I would bring them cookies and cards on birthdays, essentially just ways to get into the office and continue to meet people and make friends. When I'd go into the office, I noticed that my name was ALWAYS at the top of the board for 'available' people. As a result I stayed employed all through college with higher paying office jobs, even when other friends had problems getting jobs or temp gigs..I always worked. Back then it was great for me because I got to work for large companies such a Oracle, Adobe, Intuit etc and was able to make contacts for the future as well.

Anyway...you will have to start thinking outside the box. I don't think that the mass resume works super well, I worked in direct mail and email marketing and the open rate of direct mass mail is 1% and email can be up to 30% but depends on the audience and the piece...I usually target who I want to work for and ask around, someone knows someone who works where you want to work.

Also get quite good at selling yourself, why you want to be hired, why they should hire you over someone else, your strengths, how to play down weaknesses etc. Make sure you have stellar references for when you DO get interviewed and about to be hired etc. Oh and if you do email resumes or have your resumes up on Monster etc, start setting yourself apart that way too. aka when I had my resume up it was labeled something like 'Fabulous eMarketing Manager' or 'Creative Superstar' or really vivid terminology....people would call me just to ask me 'so what's so fabulous about you'...of course I had to be ready with an answer.

Hope some of that helps you! In the meantime, just give your puppy sweet kisses and maybe she will bring you some Westie luck!