icon can only be viewed by Members.
Career Advice - Job Hunting
Are you focusing your job hunt on publicly advertised positions? If so, then you are limiting yourself to just 20% of the jobs out there. Advertised positions are just the tip of the iceberg, because 80% of jobs are never advertised. The secret to a truly successful job hunt is dividing your search time effectively between the wide varieties of available job sources.
Advertisements: these are, of course, a great source of jobs, especially if you use all relevant publications, reply in time, think carefully about each job and target your responses to the specific advert. But do not rely exclusively on this method to find yourself a job.
Consider these sources:
- National, regional and local newspapers
- Job centres
- Specialist publications
- Industry and company Web sites
Agencies: these organisations work by advertising a position and carrying out initial interviews to screen individuals for specific positions. In other words, they handle the early stages of recruitment for an employer. They may retain a database of candidates to offer to employers seeking permanent and temporary staff.
Internet: more than four million people used the Internet last year to search for work. However, although recruiters are viewing online applications as a streamlined and effective system, remember that with this many people using this method each year, the competition is extremely high.
On spec: this is an unsolicited or uninvited speculative approach to an organisation wherein you ask to be considered for vacancies or positions that may or may not exist. Use this method to target organisations at which you would like to work, or where you think there may be vacancies. Follow this three-step process:
- Send a letter and CV.
- Follow up with a phone call a week to 10 days later.
- Then phone or send a letter again after a suitable interval.
Conducting sufficient research is the key to success in your speculative campaign.
Networking: this is done by using all of your contacts – and their contacts! – to gather the sort of information that will enable you to make a professional approach to an employer. Networking is best seen as a research exercise that leads to a speculative approach rather than simply asking: 'Do you know of any jobs?'
For many jobseekers, the idea of a productive job search is to send out numerous applications every week in the hope of being invited to interview. In fact, the key to success is to concentrate on carefully tailoring your applications and ensuring that you are practising your various job hunting techniques in the right way.
So, do you make at least 10 to 12 job applications a week? Do you follow up all outstanding applications? Are you confident that you have the skills and knowledge to job hunt the smart way?
If not, you can take advantage of the Institute's Online Career Service.
The Institute's Online Careers Service is available to members only - click here to join now
Related Links
