What Job Search Techniques Work?

What Job Search Techniques Work?

Your plan of action will include a variety of job search techniques. You should find those you believe will best help you get the job you want.

* Networking -- Let people know you are looking! Talk to family, faculty, and friends. Contact Career Services and ask about the Connections program - a newly created data base of alumni who have volunteered to be contacted by students for information about what they do and who they work for. Remember - everyone is a potential contact.
* Cold Calls -- This is the old "knocking on doors" technique where you call companies or go in person to personnel offices to inquire about possible openings. Using this technique, however, requires careful preparation as you will leave an impression with every person you meet in the process. You need to be prepared to interview on the spot.
* Field Specific Listings -- These are job announcements found in professional journals and newsletters. They are more career specific than those found in daily newspapers. Have you surfed the Internet yet? An increasing number of field specific listings can be found there.
* Mass Mailing -- Sending out a large number of cover letters and resumes is a common but passive strategy. It is important that you know the odds - for every 80 letters you mail out you can expect 2 - 4 positive replies. You need to consider how much time and money you want to spend for this kind of return.
* Want Ads -- This is probably still the most widely used job search technique. Like mass mailing, want ads don¹t always yield a high positive return although some fields use them more regularly than others. A better use of newspapers is often for the information you can gain about an area through its news. Subscribing to a paper in a city or state where you hope to work in can be a useful strategy if you plan to relocate.
* On-Campus Recruiting -- If there is a company coming to campus with a position that interests you - pursue it! Over the years, however, the numbers of recruiters coming to campuses has been declining as employers look for more cost-effective ways to recruit new employees.
* Career Fairs -- UW-Eau Claire's Career Information Conference is held annually in October. Come and meet employers to network and position yourself for a later application. Some representatives may even take your resume.
* Experiential Learning -- These include opportunities such as internships, volunteer work and even student employment in your field of interest. More and more employers are looking for people who already have experience or related experience in their field and some have begun to hire only from their intern pool.
* Information Interviews -- Although the focus of information interviews is to find out more about a company or a career field, a hoped for by-product is to also find out about specific openings and how the organization does its hiring.
* Luck and Chance -- Don't underestimate the power of fortuitous circumstances! Lucky people, however, are frequently those who know how to maximize their good fortune by actively researching their field of interest to learn ways they might position themselves to be in the right place at the right time.
* Resume Referral Systems -- This is a relatively new technique that employs up-to-date computer and communication technology. One such program, Blugold CareerLink is available to all UW-Eau Claire students. Registering for Blugold CareerLink puts you in a data base from which employers can request matches for their job openings. If your credentials match, their requirements, your name is sent to the employer for consideration. Learn more about Blugold CareerLink.

Should I Keep A Record of My Search?

Absolutely! Develop a file system, keep a notebook! Keep track of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of your prospects. Record the dates of every contact you make. This will help you stay organized and create a history your search that may later prove helpful. And be sure to check out our other FAQ sheets for additional information.