How Do You Work at Getting a Job?

If working at getting a job is your job right now, then you need to know what to do in order to begin. Otherwise you will spin your wheels and get nowhere. Since the idea is to get a job, let's put some traction to work and speed it up. Here are the top six ways to find a job - networking, direct targeted inquiries, news event, recruiters, ads and job boards.

You will be concentrating on two types of job markets - published and unpublished. Published job markets are less likely to be successful sources for two reasons. First, because they are published there is greater access and therefore higher volumes of response, and greater odds against getting the job. Second, because employers with 50 or more employees are required to post jobs in order to assure and "open" selection process, many jobs are posted to satisfy regulations.

Unpublished markets are your best bet because people buy from people they "know, like and trust." That includes "buying" employee services from someone who has a connection to the company that gives them the "know, like, trust" factor. We will spend more time working the unpublished market because of the likelihood of success.

Unpublished Job Market

Networking

Networking is the broadest, and most effective, element of the job search. Between 80% and 90% of all new positions are located through networking. People buy from people the "know, like and trust" and an employer is buying your services. It makes sense to hire someone who has connections to the company through another employee or previous work relationship.

Mark Granovetter of Johns Hopkins University (now at Stanford) spent thirty years researching social networks. He found that eighty percent of "weak ties" in social networks. He discovered that eighty percent of the time, people who found jobs through networking found them through weak connections. These weak links tended to be a "friend-of-a-friend" rather than close friends. This allows the job seeker to access resources that are not available among closer, "strong links." Include your associations (church, social groups, service clubs, etc.), alumni groups (high school, college), influential's (clergy, medical, financial advisors) and friends and associates in your job networking.

Let people know you are looking for work. Avoid asking them if they know anyone who could hire you. Instead, ask if they know someone who you could talk to about working in a specific industry or for a particular company. That takes them off the hook for finding you a job and makes them more likely to pass your name along.

If you don't have a contact card, get some made. They are inexpensive and absolutely essential. You can approach anyone to give them your card and they will almost always respond with their card. That gives you the ability to continue the contact later. Just the other day someone approached me with a business card in a coffee shop after overhearing part of a conversation. He did not get my card (mine were sitting in the car) and he lost his connection to me. That means I have the choice of following up or not. You don't want to give the other person that choice.

Direct targeted inquiries

Contacting a company directly to see if they have an opening that fits you is another tactic. Naturally if you have some connection to the company it can help, but it is not mandatory. Sometimes a company is unaware of a need they have. You can "create" a job for yourself by uncovering that need and proposing a solution - you. Write a proposal showing how you can solve a problem and save them money or otherwise add to the bottom line.

These targeted inquiries can be a result of an informational interview. As you learn about the company and they learn about you, they may reveal clues to needs that are not being addressed. By following up with the person you interviewed and presenting them your proposal, you offer them an opportunity to be a hero in their own company by finding he solution.

News events

Reading the newspaper or listening to the news on television or the radio can be a source of leads for jobs. Announcements about businesses receiving contracts or relocating to your area are signals of possible hiring. Reading online newspapers and checking other websites with business and consumer news can provide additional information about hiring trends.

For example, a news story in the New York Times about a new government program to require retrofitting existing commercial airplanes could mean jobs if a company performing that type of work is located in your area. It also opens the possibility of relocating to obtain a job. There are many factors in deciding whether or not to move to the job, but being flexible increases your options. Every day events occur that change the business and employment picture. Staying informed helps you prepare and take advantage of the right opportunities. With the Internet you can surf the business sections of newspapers in a dozen major markets in minutes to see where to turn your attention.

Published Job Market

Recruiters

If you are in a management of executive level position recruiters can "shop you around" to their client companies. Recruiters often have specific openings to fill but also may be privy to behind the scenes information about other jobs that may also fill the bill. Career professions, i.e. coaches or career counselors, often come from the recruiting ranks and maintain network relationships with fellow recruiters. This can be helpful but mainly because it establishes a link with the company.

Ads

Job ads in the classified section of the newspaper or on online resources like Craig's List are a good place to get information about jobs but not such a good place to actually get a job. Reading ads can give you an idea of the types of jobs available, which companies are hiring and about how much the jobs are paying. However, they are used primarily as a way to meet compliance requirements. As a job seeker you can use them in your research and contact the companies to conduct informational interviews. Informational interviews are a fantastic way to get information about an industry or company and increase your network. You will generally leave with several other names and, ideally, introductions to continue your networking efforts.

Ads are also useful for getting a feel for what employers really want. What pains are they trying to address? How can you provide a solution to their problem? The more you know about the job market and the employer's needs the better prepared you will be in an interview.

Job Boards

Job boards are touted as the cutting edge way to find work. They are a wonderful way to gather facts, figures and contact information. As a job source they are useful in only a narrow spectrum of employment, primarily technical.

Think about it. If thousands of people can read a newspaper ad and respond, how many people might read an ad on a major job board? It could be a hundred thousand or more. That makes your chances of getting the job pretty slim. You would have to be a) very, very quick in responding to make it before the cutoff, and b) you would have to be absolutely perfect for the job to stand out among the competition. Very narrow, specialized areas of technology and computing are the only markets where you might have success. Even those openings are more likely to go to someone who has been referred by a current employee or related industry connection. The numbers are overwhelmingly against you.

Job boards are a fount of information and a great place to research jobs. You can search geographically, by industry, by company, by job title, etc. Salary information is often posted and the job requirements will help you prepare yourself to enter or advance in a given field. You can take your findings, broadcast them to your network and pave the way for those weak links that are most likely to result in employment.

Conclusion

Those are six major sources of jobs. You will no doubt want to use many or all of these methods to locate potential jobs. The idea is to be aware of where you will get the most bang for your buck and how to use each of these segments. Also, nothing here is written in stone. Use this information as a guideline only to give yourself the best chances of landing the job you want.