Unconventional Job Hunting Advice for Today's Unconventional Job Market

All too often, you’ll see a lot of the same tips when it comes to job hunting in today’s job market. How to dress; what to include or not include on your resume; how to answer questions; etc. Here, we’ll offer up some of the things you won’t hear all that often in your career search but still is helpful everyday advice that you can actually use.

Monday’s Too Tense and Friday’s Too Casual: Hit the In-Between Days

Haven’t heard from an employer and are nervous about when to contact them? It happens to everybody. The general rule is to give them some breathing room before contacting them even after they’ve said they will contact you. If they say they’ll contact you on a Monday, give them a week or so before you rush into that phone call. But more importantly, choose your days in which to contact them wisely. Nobody likes Mondays, even employers. And Fridays are one of those days where the attitude is going to be as casual as the dress code. Instead, opt for the days that are in-between. Tuesdays and Thursdays are those days when people are focused and into their work, so they’ll make perfect days to make that phone call to inquire whether or not they’ve come to a decision and to remind them of your strengths.

What’s Your Name Again?
Going into a new place (any new place!) can be difficult and confusing. You’re meeting new people on a minute-by-minute basis and often in flurries. It’s difficult to keep in mind and remember the name of every new person who crosses your path. However, remember one’s name shows that your personable and personal – people just like it. And while it seems small, it can go a long way in making an impression. If you’re one who finds it difficult to remember people’s name, associate a person’s eye color with their name when you first meet them. Studies show this association helps in memory retention, and later, you’ll be able to recall their name simply because you recognized a color during that first encounter. If all else fails and you find yourself in an interview unable to recall who’s sitting across from you, look for nameplates, diplomas and other items that might shed a little light on their identity.

Don't Come in Early (But Never Come in Late)
Interviews are always tricky situations. What to wear, what to bring, what to say - everything feels premeditated, and it should! But adding awkward onto awkward isn't going to help the situation out either. And timing is crucial to everything. While it's good to show up to an interview early (and always prepared) it's never a good thing to show up too early, and it's never a good thing to show up late. Instead, exercise moderation. Walking in seven minutes before the scheduled interview is the perfect time to insure that you won't be waiting long and you'll still be punctual.

6 Ways to Go Beyond Your Current Network in Your Job Search

There are a lot of discouraged job seekers out there and with good reason. The unemployment rate has remained relatively unchanged for quite some time. If you don’t have much of a network and you’re not getting any responses when you answer advertisements, here are six things you can do.

1. Get Active; Don’t Just Do What Everyone Else Does

Answering advertisements and going to recruiters are passive approaches. All you’re doing is throwing your hat in the ring with hundreds of other job seekers. The odds are high. Why limit yourself to them?

Instead, take the initiative. Contact employers who have not advertised, but are most likely to need your talents. Jobs are often filled by referrals, networking, recruiting from competitor firms or a letter hitting the desk of a decision maker at just the right time. It could be yours, but simply applying to advertisements isn’t enough.

2. Make Enough Contacts

How many you need will vary. But whether it is answering ads or contacting employers, you need to beat the high odds by making a lot of contacts. Only one person will get hired out of 300 candidates and only two or three out of 100 employers will have a need at the moment you contact them.

3. Get Creative in Your Networking

Instead of just asking a few friends to let you know if they hear of anything, get creative. Develop ideas about how you can make contributions to employers, especially in light of trends in their industry. Then identify key people in companies in the industry, and write them, letting them know you’d appreciate feedback from a knowledgeable source as to whether your ideas would be beneficial.

Follow up with a phone call, and when you do, even if they don’t think much of what you proposed, you’ve added to your network! You can thank them and ask if there is anyone else they’d advise you to talk with or any actions they’d recommend.

4. Pay Attention to Events

When you read business news, ask yourself, might this signal an opportunity for me? Research companies making progress or changes and send a short note mentioning the event to a decision maker in the company with your résumé attached. It makes a positive impression and you might get in the door for an emerging job before there is any competition.

What kind of events? Almost anything – new products, new contracts, expansions, reorganizations, relocations, leases signed, profit increases or even problems can be a sign of a job in the formative stages.

5. Contact More Recruiters

Don’t limit yourself to just a few you know about or those who have advertised an opening. The chance of one recruiter having a job right for you the moment you contact them is very small. As with ads, events and employer contacts, you can increase your chances for success by contacting dozens or hundreds.

6. Contact Growth Companies

Why? Because they are adding people in many functions when other companies are not.

Don’t worry if you are not in their industry. They are often in newer industries, and can’t find enough people with industry experience. So they are forced to look elsewhere for people with the right skills. Just be sure to sell yourself to them about how you will contribute and how the skills you’ve honed in other industries can work for them.

One quick way to identify growth firms: find out its SIC or NAICS Code, then go to the library and look up all the companies in your area who are listed under that code. A reference librarian will guide you.

If you want more great tips and updates from Free Job Hunting Info, be sure to follow our Twitter feed and 'like' our page on Facebook!

Think Ahead

So you've impressed an employer with your resume, but now comes the interview. You can't let your nerves get the best of you. The best way to go into an interview with the most confidence, is to plan ahead and quiz yourself with questions you think you may be asked. No interview is exactly like another, but some questions are bound to resurface depending on your profession. You might be taken by surprise by some questions, but there are others you should expect to be asked. Go into detail when explaining what you bring to the company with examples from your past. Use these work examples to show why you have all the necessary experience to add to the overall success of the business.

Be direct in the interview. The best way to do this is to think of questions before the interview and answer them in the most detailed explanation, without droning on. No doubt your new job will have stressful times. The interview is a way for your boss to see how you handle stress and being put on the spot. All the other pieces to the puzzle may be there for you to be a great addition to the organization, but there may be another candidate who gets the position because they were more prepared and confident in the interview.

So, to review the plan:

1. Think of questions you have been asked before in previous interviews. Find out from friends in the same line of work what they were asked.

2. Formulate what your answers to these questions are going to be.

3. Know there will be at least one question you didn’t plan on being asked, so when the time comes, you don’t feel completely sideswiped.

Going over your resume and talking about your skills will happen in the interview no matter what. The interview is the time for the boss to see who you are. They want to see what your personally is like and what you will bring to the feel of the business, not just the bottom line. Know that the interview is when you will seal the deal for your next career opportunity.

Tap into tech to advance your job hunt

There's a whole world at your fingertips in terms of tools you could be leveraging to shift your job hunt into another gear. The beauty of it is most of the resources out there on the Internet are free, easy to use and extremely accessible. Not to mention, there are resources galore to get you started (like this blog for instance). So here we offer up some quick ideas to take your job search out of the dark age and into the digital age.

1. Tap into LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the our society's answer to the old-fashioned Rolodex. All the professional contacts and connections you've made in your career can now be stored in one convenient website. But there's a lot more to it than just that. In addition to the people you already know, making connections with those who have influence in companies that you want to work for is also a good idea. LinkedIn also provides the option of recommending coworkers you have worked with or work with currently. By recommending someone and writing something casting them in a positive light, you open up the door and increase the likelihood that they'll recommend you back. But there's also groups targeting specific industries that you can join to keep up with the latest news in your field.   

2. Be a social media butterfly
This isn't so much a recommendation as it is a requirement. More and more employers are looking for and expecting some sort of social media presence to find out more about you and make sure you're keeping up with current trends. Do: post and share messages related to your industry or field of expertise; offer to help people out and be a resource. Don't: post anything that could make you look bad. i.e. Those pictures from your best friend's party in Mexico.

3. Get your blog on
Another great way to establish your cred as an expert in your specialty is to start blogging. There's numerous free blogs out there from Blogger to Wordpress that one can sign up for quickly and customize easily. Once signed up, start sharing insights, links or offering up advice. Then you can start promoting your new blog to people interested in your industry or thought leaders via your social media and LinkedIn.

4. Post on a job board
Careerbuilder, Indeed and a slew of others - there's a plethora of job boards out there that you can use to look for a new position. The results they yield can sometimes be negligible because they are so saturated with resumes and applicants. But employers do use them and look for people that fit the qualifications for positions they open. It's something that if you're not doing, you should be.


6. Hit up a website - your own.
Back in the '90s, the Internet was a cryptic and esoteric place reserved for coders and web developers. So if you wanted to find a way to secure your own spot in cyberspace, those were the people you had to call. Not so anymore. Now, there are plenty of intuitive, easy-to-use sites with WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) tools to get a professional looking website up quickly and easily. In only a few minutes you can set up something with your resume and a bio for free! And if you're willing to pay the cost for a domain name, many of those sites can connect your own personal web address to the site to take it a professional step further. Need ideas? Visit sites like Wix and Moonbuilder.

The new discrimination in job hunting

Lately there's been stories in the news when it comes to employers discriminating against certain types of job seekers, discrimination that isn't the typical kind seen over the years.

One group in particular that is calling foul is one that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to turn away: the unemployed. With about 14 million people unemployed as of January's report, that certainly doesn't bode well for those looking for work.

But on Feb. 16, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to examine the complaints and to determine whether or not discrimination is taking place and the legality of it. A University of Colorado professor testified that companies are posting advertisements for employment with the stipulation that the candidate must currently be employed.

A low blow, really.

In addition to the unemployed, another demographic is also getting turned away at the door -- that of people who smoke. In keeping with a trend that began picking up steam a couple of years ago but is seeing more activity as of late, employers are going a step further to banning tobacco and implementing a 'smoker-free' placeplace, with some even going so far as to require urine tests to make sure employees are clean of any tobacco-related products.

While it remains to be seen what both of these situations will mean in terms of legal ramifications, one aspect of today's economy is clear: it really is an employer's market right now and it could be that way for quite some time.

To get more information from Free Job Hunting Info, check out Free Job Hunting Info's website, follow Free Job Hunting Info on Twitter or friend Free Job Hunting info on Facebook.

Breathe new life into your boring, old cover letter

Imagine for a second that you're a hiring manager and a big part of your job is writing cover letters.

We know, horrifyingly boring, right?

That's why one of the best ways to get an employer's attention is to have a good cover letter that actually gets their attention and breaks them out of their coma induced by reading the same cover letter over and over and over again.

Here are seven quick tips that you can start implementing to make sure your cover letter gets you a job and doesn't put someone else to sleep.


1. Lose the 'To whom it may concern'
Seriously, not the best start in terms of the whole 'oh, whatever is coming up is going to be fascinating, I bet" department. Lose it. Same with the 'Dear sirs or madames.' Find out the person's name who is doing the hiring, and use that. Or if you don't know it, then cut to the chase and just start the letter. That's what's important.

2. Don't start off asking for a job or saying you have interest in the job
We're guessing if they received a cover letter, something might tip them off that you're looking for a job and are interested in the positon. Just a guess. A cover letter gives employers a chance to get to know you and what you have to offer. Don't make it overly personal; keep it professional. But consider what really defines you professionally. What do you really bring to the table? What is your strongest quality? A cover letter is the elevator speech to sell yourself to someone else. Give yourself a definition.

3. Make it a story
People like to read stories; what they don't like to read is a listing of a person's skills and abilities in paragraph form, and often these are lost in all the clutter and conjuctions desperately trying to bind them together anyway. Use examples of accomplishments in your past to make your skills come to life. The key is in these examples and stories because that gives an employer evidence of the results you're capable of.

4. Channel a little Hemmingway
No, we're not expecting this to be that good. Nobody is. But one aspect of ole Ernest was his ability to write short, to the point sentences. They grabbed your attention. They got to the point. Subject. Verb. This is how we traditionally speak and what people like to read. The moment you start adding flowerly language to the equation, it gets clumsy and the information gets lost. Keep it simple, and Papa would be pround.

5. Take the time for tailoring
Taking the time to redo your cover letter with each position can be a pain, yes. But it's the hard work that often yields the best results, or any results for that matter. So each time you respond to an advertised job, look at the requirements and skills, and change your letter to fit those requirements. We're not saying you have to completely start from scratch each time, but make this information fit within appropriate areas.

6. Stay on point
Salary requirements, why you're looking, reasons for leaving past jobs - this is neither the time nor the place. Always remember this is about selling you for the future, not for digging up the past or bringing up things that don't need to be brought up.

7. Enthusiasm, enthusiasm, enthusiasm
We apply this rule a lot. That's because no matter which aspect of job hunting your engaging in, from interviews to phone calls, enthusiasm will carry you far and get an employer's attention. Don't be desperate and pleading, but be excited and genuinely interested in the new challenges and how you can put your skills to task in order to solve them.

Mistakes you're probably making in your job search (but can fix pretty quickly)

Everybody makes mistakes, and the best mistakes you can make are the ones you can learn from and/or fix relatively quickly. For your job search, we offer common mistakes people make these days and how to fix them.  
Not getting help
We say this a lot. Probably because it's really, really important in a job search. You have to be networking, and today it's easier than ever to do. People want to help you. Seriously. If you've ever helped a friend in his job search, then you'll know what we mean. It gives people a sense of satisfaction knowing they did something for a friend. Take advantage of the opportunities you have to meet and further your job search with others and with people others know.

Using the same resume you made for a class back in college
Writing a resume is like a job in itself. It's time consuming, painstakingly detailed and you need to go over it again and again to make it perfect. If you look up 'weekend killer' in a dictionary, a resume is probably sitting there. But you really have to take the initiative to reassess your resume and make sure that it's current and really sells everything you have to offer.

Not knowing what you want
Finding a job is a numbers game, meaning the more positions you apply for, the odds are going to be better that you will get a response. But that's not going to get you very far if you don't fit the position and the position doesn't fit you. Everybody struggles with the question, "what do I really want to do?" And no one is going to be able to answer that question except for you. But seriously consider it and refocus your search with goals in mind. Maybe first consider what you definitely don't want and work your way inward from there.

You're not plugged in
Wouldn't it be cool if you could have all of your job hunting materials essentially with you, essentially all of the time and you could essentially just give them to whoever you wanted to instantly? Well, check out this thing called "Internet." Now, it's easier than ever to create a website. Spend a few hours online researching it, and get your website up and running. It doesn't have to be extravagant, just simple and elegant. Employers will be impressed with anything moreso than nothing...well, that's not always true, so be tasteful with the site so it doesn't look like a crazy 90s MySpace page.