Well, here's the thing... I'm currently job hunting. I go on about 2 or 3 interviews a week. I send out at least 10 resumes a week. This has been going on for about a month. I'm still looking for a job.

I realize a month isn't a long time to be looking, but I was SO unhappy with my last job, I quit without having another job lined up (I have enough money to get by) What I'm asking all you smart people of pamie's forum is: What can do in order to get the job of my dreams, or at least something to pay the bills? What kind of resume/interviewing tips do y'all suggest?

Thanks in advance, windy

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Answers

here are my wise tips...

1. find a university nearby. if they're not hiring full-time, then get a temp job there- they tend to prefer hiring temps first, then switch them to full-time.

2. ALWAYS send a thank you note the same day you interview.

i just went on interview #2 for "irene's perfect job." i may get it, i may not. i hope i do.

i know my dad found his "niche" job-wise when he was in his late forties. my mom is just now, in her forties, finding her perfect work. some ppl (pamie?) are just super-lucky to get it right early on. sometimes it's 1,000 crappy-ass jobs and then BLAM! the perfect one falls on your lap.

just keep your spirit up. network. smile.

you'll be just fine. :)

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

well, lo and behold, the committee was unanimous, and i got the job!

two more weeks and two days and i can forget about housing contracts and students who can't seem to figure out where to put their name on a form... *sigh*

i am at peace.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Congratulations, Irene! Best of luck to you!

I just spent about 4 MONTHS looking for my ideal job. It's never easy, but I'd much rather take the extra time to find something worthwhile than wind up sucked into some nowhere job (it happens to the best of us). My advice, Windy, is to be patient. And persistent. Oh, and to send resumes to companies, even if they're not posting for particular positions because you never know. I took a part time job while I was looking for my "real" job to get the bills paid. You do what you can. Good luck to you, too!

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

OK, so I always hear that getting jobs through newspaper listings is practically impossible. Does anyone agree with this? It makes me really discouraged, because newspaper/monster.com/online listings are about the only way I CAN find a job, because I sure as hell don't have any contacts here in my chosen field.

Sigh.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Persistence. And some bold steps. My present job I literally walked into and landed an interview -- the boss wasn't calling me to set up a time so Ithrew on a jacket and a tie and I walked in and said I just happened to be in the area, shuck, jive, you know, it's sometimes easier to find ten minutes than to schedule it, snappy patter, etc. say, why not have me sit down and write some hedes (headlines) right now for you since you seem to be shorthanded, boy I bet you're up against the wall what with people wanting time off pretty soon, you know, the holidays and all (was right before Christmas) so on, say, I'm not sure about this, but I think AP style says that this is how this is written, let me double check though, oh, fer gosh sakes, I was right, howzabout that, so on.

That's the god's honest truth. And it worked.

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2000

Wow, that's inspiring. I get jobs through friends. Ask friends with cool jobs to look out for openings. With all of the dot.com companies popping up, skilled workers are being stolen from companies all of the time. Which leaves room for those of us not-so-skilled workers to step in. Often times, the deciding factor can be that someone knows you. That way, maybe you'll stick around instead of taking all of their training and moving to another company. Which you should do as well.

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2000

I got my job through an online newspaper (boston.com online Globe). I started out as a temp for 3 months, then went perm. I started in tech support but they were pretty happy with me and I've since moved to Engineering. So even though you're looking for perm (I'm assuming) don't take temp as a no. I'm pretty happy here but I'm always on the lookout for more.

I also have a friend who works for a firm that constantly searches the online places, like Dice.com, headhunter.com, etc..She gets people jobs all the time. I think that only works if you live/want to work in a big city sorta place though.

Good luck!

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2000

High tech companies are growing like crazy right now, and it's not just geeky folks like myself getting jobs. We need administrative staff, business people, and marketing sell the technology and interact with the real world. If you've got any skills that might be vaguely relevant to office kinda work or high tech stuff, I'd be happy to pass your resume on to our human resources department. Chances are good my company has bought a business near you, so you probably wouldn't even have to move. Alternatively, try making a web page with your resume. Dig around some search engines and make sure they can find you.

-- Anonymous, April 21, 2000

Windy, I'm contemplating a career change at the moment, and to help e figure out what i want to do I'm reading 'What Colour is my Parachute'. I really recommend you get a copy of it. It looks at the traditional ways of job hunting and explains why they don't work as well as you'd think. Basically, the ways job hunters look for jobs - sending out resumes, scanning ads, using agencies, are not the ways companies look for employees - they prefer to always employ a friend of a friend than a total stranger. It would tak a long time to go into all the things this book suggests you do, but it's really worth a read.

Incidentally, in recent studies about online recruitment sites the numbers of people posting their resumes was huge - like around 80,000 for some sites - but the numbers of companies actually looking on those sites for new employees was tiny - like around 400. So that's a big fat waste of time unless the job you're looking for is purely dot.com related, and even then you're better off contacting the companies that interest you directly. But don't email them - so big companies are getting over 10,000 emailed resumes a week these days, and they won't be reading any of them.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2000

The thing about erecruiting though is that it is quickly growing. It does help to post resumes online. The number of companies using them grows daily. The great advantage to HR departments is that it's a paperless solution so it's easier for them.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2000

I temped for 8 months after I graduated college because 1.) I didn;t want to get stuck in a job i hated, 2.) my plans were up in the air regarding moving & grad school...and i went throuhh interview hell when in the 6th month I decided to look all-out for a real full-time position. Monster.com got me my dream job. It took a bit of time, and a few nail-biting moments when I agonized over whether turning down an ok job was the right thing...but all the interview practice definitely paid off, and i knew the moment i finished interviewing at my new place of employment that i would really be working here soon...

i have no good advice to offer other than:

1. if it (the company or the job) doesn't seem right in the interview, trust your instincts.

2. talk nicely to everyone and anyone in the waiting room while you are waiting for the HR person to come and collect you for said interview. One of them might just be the wacky president and ceo in disguise...(true story!)

3. remembering names is an important tool...ginko is your friend.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2000

I've had to interview people numerous times at my last two jobs, and I can tell you some of the things I strongly recommend (I work in high tech fields, but a lot of this advice applies to the non-geek world):

1) Have a one-page resume.

The average resume that makes it to a recruiter's desk gets looked at for 7 seconds. If you can't impress them with the first page, they won't bother to turn it over. And they won't bother to call you in for an interview. If you feel you need to give them your whole life story, take the long version with you to the interview.

2) Get as many (smart) people as possible to proofread your resume.

You may think you're the best resume writer in the world, but if you've got a typo that spellcheck won't catch, you look like an idiot. And get multiple opinions -- all it takes is one person's bad advice to screw things up. If you can, seek advice from friends who've been interviewERS as often as they've been interviewEES. Constructive criticism is your friend.

3) Fill your online resume with (appropriate) buzzwords.

Headhunters don't know what it really means to be an Oracle DBA or a Network Architect (and most of them don't have a clue on how to pronounce words like Linux). They just look for the words their clients tell them they want.

4) Be prepared to back up your resume.

Don't think that an MCSE or CNE or CCNE (or any other certification) is worth diddly shit if you can't prove you know anything. I've turned down MCSEs for crappy front-line tech support grunt work because they assumed all they needed was that piece of paper to pave their way to a six-digit salary. Any idiot can get lucky taking a test.

5) Be honest.

You wouldn't believe the number of people who do. And how easy it is to catch them at it. I had one guy try to tell me he was a UNIX System Administrator who didn't even know how to use grep and hadn't even heard of vi. If you're asked a question you don't know the answer to, be honest -- you win more points with honesty than with talking out of your rectum.

6) Buy a cellphone and keep it charged.

You never know when you might be running late for an interview because of a tremendous crash involving sixteen busloads of Chinese nuns. There's never a payphone when you need one. And you never know when you'll get a call from a headhunter -- I got my current job from a phone call from a headhunter at 4pm on my day off as I was walking into a movie theater. And if someone calls you while you're at work, you can take a break and walk outside, instead of having to call seven different people back between 8:00 and 8:30 the next day because that's when you have to leave for the office.

Hope this helps.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2000

Whoops. That's supposed to be:

5) Be honest. Don't lie.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2000