Recruiting Blog: BuzzLinks 09-26-08 Job Hunting, Marketing Yourself, and Job Search Bloopers
Posted by JasonJob Hunting Is, and Isn’t, What It Used to Be
When I think back to my job-hunting days, my methods seem as quaint as comparing a Victrola to an iPod. Prescott Perez-Fox, a graphic designer from Brooklyn, says he knows he faces a great deal of competition when he searches online job sites.
First, there was no Internet. I perused trade journals for job possibilities. I painstakingly typed my résumé on a typewriter (electric) and had to retype — and retype and retype — when I made a mistake. I cut and pasted my newspaper clips, which I needed to send along with the résumé, onto letter-size paper, which was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing.
Then, because self-service copying was in its infancy, I had copies of my clips made. Then, I stuffed them into manila envelopes and took them to the post office to mail.
Marketing yourself in a tough job economy
It’s a tough time to look for a new job, whether you’re unemployed or looking for a better opportunity. Employers are skittish about hiring, while the pool of job seekers is growing. Unemployment is at a nearly five-year high, at 6.1 percent. Last month, the economy lost 84,000 jobs, bringing the total to 605,000 jobs lost this year.
More U.S. employers are scaling back hiring plans in the fourth quarter compared with the previous three months, according to a recent survey by Manpower Inc. Of the 14,000 employers surveyed, 22 percent expect to increase staffing in the October-December period, compared with 26 percent in the third quarter.
A job search will test your patience and be demoralizing at times. Some signs are indicating it is taking more than the typical six months to land a new job. Marc Cenedella, chief executive of search site Ladders.com, which focuses on executive jobs that pay $100,000 or more, said the company’s recent survey found that fewer executive-level job seekers expect to land a job in six months or less.
Job Search Bloopers
In a recent interview with Laura DeCarlo, co-author of “Job Search Bloopers…Every Mistake You Can Make on the Way to Career Suicide and How to Avoid Them,” she recommended the following “bloopers” recent graduates make when searching for a job – and how to avoid them.
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