The Young Professional- Job Search

Happy Monday and welcome to week two of The Young Professional! Today we are talking about job searching. 

 

A lot of people say that looking for a job is a full time job...which it can be. You will invest hours going through job listings, applying, preparing for interviews and actually interviewing. It is time consuming and can be frustrating. 

 

 

So, how do you find jobs? 

• Websites- These days it seems like everyone is posting jobs online, especially since there are so many free job posting sites. Not only can employers post but people searching for employment can upload their resumes; employers can find you and the website can send you postings that match your qualifications. My favourite job search website is indeed.com, this site compiles job posting from around the web that match your search criteria. Other good sites include Simply Hired, Workopolis, Linkedin and government job banks.
  
• Newspapers- Fewer companies are advertising jobs in newspapers, but some still do. These are usually bigger organizations or organizations that have had a hard time filling a position. 
  
• Recruiters- I have worked with two recruiters and highly recommend it. Recruiters will put you in their system and match you with jobs that will be a good fit, and will keep you in mind for future jobs that would be a good match for you. The Recruiting Agency will also post jobs on their websites, which you can apply to even if you aren't already connected to the agency. In the future, I'll have a whole post dedicated to working with a recruiter. 

• Check your LinkedIn feed- LinkedIn has a job posting section, which you should check, but also read your LinkedIn Feed. So many of my connections have posted that their companies were hiring. I've also interviewed for a job that I found because one of my connections 'liked' a post by one of her connections...because she 'liked' it, the original post ended up in my feed. I contacted the original poster and one thing led to another. 

• Talk to your friends/contacts- I mentioned to a contact that I would love to working for the same company as her, because they always seemed to be having fun. She started forwarding internal job postings to me and even told her regional manager about me. I mentioned to friends that I was looking for a new job and they proceeded to tell me about jobs they heard about. I had another friend tell me that an organization he was on the board of director for was hiring. 

• Send your resume to companies you want to work for- I got two jobs this way...just because they aren't hiring doesn't mean there isn't a job. The first time, I dropped my resume off at an Insurance Brokerage (at the time, I had my insurance license) that I walked past numerous times. I knew nothing about them, just walked in and dropped off my resume. They weren't hiring, but were impressed with my resume and wanted to meet me. They were impressed after meeting me and created a job for me. The second time, it was a specific non-profit I wanted to work for, they weren't hiring but I sent them my resume on a Monday. Wednesday of that same week, their event coordinator (which I am) announced she was going on sick leave. Friday morning I went in to meet them and had a job offer Friday afternoon. It was pure luck...but I covered that sick leave contract for almost 2 years AND led to my next job- the same position but at another office.

There are tons of ways to find jobs, the ones listed above are ones I have tried and have had success with. Job searching is tough and it can take months to find something. You will, eventually, find something that is the right fit for you.


Next Monday...Resumes.

Looking for more on this series? Check out The Young Professional tag.