I Guess That On-Campus Interview Thing Was A Pretty Good Deal
"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." -Sir Francis Bacon
Looking for a job is a lot like climbing a ladder. When you graduate, you are down there on the bottom rung with the rest of your class and the rest of the classes across the country. With each job hunting task you tackle, and conquer, you're climbing up one more rung on the ladder. This puts you ahead of those job hunters who don't develop a good resume or don't worry about using a cover letter.
At first, it's a scary thought, but the great thing is that this process can work to your advantage. By the time you get to the critical step in the ladder of finding potential employers, you're probably about to jump ahead of half of the other job hunters out there.
It's at this point, finding potential employers, that many job seekers our age drop out of the competition, but they don't even know it. Maybe they drop out by waiting around for jobs to come to them. Maybe they drop out by looking for jobs through the most obvious methods, like on-campus interviews or ads in the paper, but they don't use the more creative, and successful, methods for finding jobs which we'll discuss in this chapter.
Whatever the problem, this process of elimination puts you one step ahead. If you follow a few simple rules, you can look for jobs in ways in which some of your classmates never dreamed. And the more jobs you know about, the greater your chances of finding the job that is right for you.
In this chapter, we'll look at all of the ways you can find a job, not just at the most obvious ones. We'll explore the benefits and drawbacks of each method and the advantages of looking for a job through several different avenues.
If you take a creative, far-flung approach to job hunting, your job search will be more exciting and more interesting. It will probably be a lot shorter too. At the end of this chapter, you can determine what mix of job hunting methods you'll use, and set some concrete goals for finding employers.
There are four primary methods of job hunting. The first involves responding to ads, the second sending out mass mailings, the third using job banks and fourth networking. Networking can sound obnoxious and agonizing. Luckily, networking doesn't mean anything more than meeting people in the field in which you're interested. It consists of telling these people that you want a job and asking if they have any advice. It's straightforward, easy and even somewhat fun.
Networking is such a big part of job hunting that it overlaps with all of the job hunting methods we're going to discuss in this chapter. Since there's so much to cover with networking, we'll wait until Chapter 5 to discuss it fully. If you have the attitude I used to have towards networking, you probably wish we wouldn't discuss it at all. Once you've found a great job through networking, though, it will all be worth it.
“Job Search Is Classified''
The first major way to find a job is through the classified ads (which are also called the want ads). The classifieds are a convenient, easy-to-use source. To be honest, I had never looked at the classifieds in my life until I looked for a job, and I couldn't have told you what they were, where they were or what they were used for.
Classifieds are the part of the newspaper where employers pay to list jobs they have available. Depending upon the size of the city you live in, the classifieds are a separate section of the paper, like the business section, the sports section, etc. Of course, if you succumb to the mental state of mind known as "Job Hunter's Syndrome," you will begin to think that the classifieds are the newspaper, and all that other stuff in there is just filler.
There are many reasons to use the classified ads in your job search. The first is because you know there is a job available. The second is because it is easy. Of course, we've all had our bad experiences with something someone else says is easy. If your’s was when your roommate's brilliant girlfriend persuaded you to take chemistry for a grade rather than pass/fail because chemistry was so easy, I can understand why you're a little nervous. The listings in the classifieds are alphabetical by job category. Under each category, you will find a brief paragraph describing an individual job. It will often include the salary, and it will give either the employer's address or a post office box number to which you can send in your resume and cover letter.
Classifieds often don't give the companies' names because some companies prefer to remain anonymous when they look for employees. You don't need to worry, however. Companies which only put in a post office box are still usually legitimate job prospects. Often, even the largest and best-known companies in the field will opt for an anonymous ad.
The classifieds are full of strange abbreviations, and it takes a little while to figure each one out. For example, instead of saying that a job pays $20,000 a year, it will just say $20K. The classifieds are also full of strange job categories, such as forestry associate and punch out operator.
I assume that forestry associates help out around the forest with Smokey the Bear, and I have no idea what punch out operators do. When I looked for my first job, after seeing listing after listing for punch out operator, I began to think I was in the wrong career field. Once I could get my attention away from that mysterious category, however, I usually found quite a few potential jobs in the classifieds-and you can too.
I was looking for a career that involved writing, so I looked under advertising, editing, journalism, public affairs, public relations, reporting, and writing. On a bad day, I probably looked under party planner, movie star, ballerina, and personal shopper.
I give you all these listings to illustrate how many different places you can look in the classifieds to find basically the same type of job. You can probably find five or six categories in the classifieds that apply to your career field, and some of them may be in categories about which you would never have thought. But those darn classifieds. They always seem to leave out the important categories, like European Traveler and King of the World.
Don't be afraid to look far and wide under job descriptions you've never considered. It never hurts to interview for a lot of different jobs that all require the same skills. In starting your job hunt with a broad perspective, you can eliminate jobs that don't appeal to you, and you never know what you may turn up that will be of interest.
The best way to use the classifieds is to take some time going through them to familiarize your-self with all of the different headings and types of jobs listed. Once you have some ideas of the categories that apply to you, you should look every day, whether it's a part of your daily job hunting routine or something you do while you're hanging around your apartment with your roommates.
The Sunday paper will yield the greatest number of job possibilities, because the classified section is much bigger on Sundays. In some cities, Thursdays are also big days for classified listings. Surprisingly, you will sometimes find a wonderful job listed once or twice during the week, but not at all during the huge stack of listings on Sunday. For this reason, you should check every day.
You should also consider checking the part-time listings. As we discussed earlier, you never know where a part-time job might lead. As you look for a full-time job, it will encourage you if you're working at least part-time in your career field.
Understanding the Want Ads
Perhaps the biggest trick to using the classifieds is figuring out what a want ad really says. Most ads try to say it all in about twenty words. Usually, fifteen of these words are so abbreviated that it looks like you're learning some kind of new alphabet that doesn't use vowels. This makes it hard to figure out what an employer wants.
Luckily, after you've used the classifieds for a week or so, it becomes easier to tell the amazing opportunities from the dismal dead-ends. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as you use the classifieds.
First, don't avoid a great job because of an intimidating ad. Employers' want ads are the equivalent of the picture you hold in your mind of the dream job. They call for the ideal candidate. Employers may realize that there's not anyone who meets all of their criteria, and they may be including a wide range of skills so they can find the best person available.
Even if you haven't done exactly what an ad calls for, you may be the type of person for which they are looking. Unless a job requires a skill that is way beyond you, such as a graduate degree or fluency in a language you don't speak, add a concise and convincing paragraph to your cover letter and send in your resume.
This is a key point. I noticed when I was using the classifieds that I could never predict which employers would call me back when I sent in my resume. I would see ads that I thought practically described my resume word for word, yet I would not hear from the company. Other jobs looked like a real stretch, and I would almost feel stupid for sending in my resume because I was so under-qualified. It turned out that those were some of the jobs about which I received calls.
The second pan of reading between the lines of the classified ads involves looking for phrases that indicate that the employer wants little more than a glorified secretary. If an ad calls for "good typing skills," "light secretarial work" or an "administrative assistant," this may not be the best opportunity for you. It could be that this job would lead to more substantive work, but you should maintain a healthy skepticism for jobs that wouldn't fully utilize your skills.
One issue which can pose problems for recent college grads is determining the worth of a position as an administrative assistant. In some fields, such as advertising, public relations and journalism, this can be a good place for a recent college graduate to start.
For example, as an administrative assistant at a public relations firm, you might set up and attend client meetings, write smaller pieces, such as client bios or follow-up letters, and generally learn more about the field. In this case, you are gradually acquiring the specific job skills you need to move up to the next level, and you are assumed to be working towards an eventual promotion.
In some fields, however, beginning your career as an administrative assistant could be a mistake. While you may be given vague promises about the potential for advancement, you are really serving as a secretary. As an ambitious college graduate, you should probably avoid those administrative assistant positions which never require anything more than data entry and other clerical chores. You may not find any opportunity for advancement with that company, and you are unlikely to learn anything substantive to take to your next employer.
As you try to decide if a position as an administrative assistant would be right for you, you can best make that decision by listening closely in an interview-and by asking a few discerning questions. We'll talk about this later on in the chapter on interviewing. For now, use your best judgment. If a job sounds great, go ahead and respond with your resume and a cover letter, no matter what the title.
You've probably already heard a lot about having to pay your dues and work your way up, but you'll be doing yourself a big favor if you try to start out at the highest level that is reasonable for a recent college graduate.
There is nothing more frustrating than ending up in a stressful and demanding job in which you don't really do anything more than make the boss' coffee and type for fifteen different people all day. Especially if other recent college graduates with your same level of experience came in one step higher than you because they didn't fall for the pay-your-dues routine. We'll get into this more in the assertiveness chapter. You should view yourself as an intelligent person who deserves to get the best job for which you are qualified.
As you become a savvy user of the classifieds, you'll start to see a few jobs that frequently reappear in the classifieds. Be wary about responding to these ads. There must be some reason the company either can't find someone or can't hold on to them once they hire them. You just don't want to find out why first-hand.
As you can see, the more carefully you evaluate an ad before responding, the better your chances of finding a job you'll love. But no matter how many good jobs you find through the classifieds, if you rely on the newspaper alone, you'll miss out on a lot of other opportunities. The classifieds are a readily available and easy-to-use source for jobs, but they don't tell you about all the great jobs.
"Often, it's who you know that helps you get a job," comments career counselor Sherrie Pavol Bereda of Career Concepts. "Many jobs aren't advertised, or if they are, they are filled before the ad is ever published."
This is because someone already working at the company decides to try for the job or someone at the company tells a friend of a friend about the job and they get it. If you want to be one of those people on the inside track who finds out about jobs before they're advertised, you should branch out into other methods of job hunting.
''Of Course This Isn't A Form Letter"
Mass mailings are a good way to supplement your use of the classifieds. Sending a mass mailing means sending out what is basically a form letter to a list of employers, whether that means 25 companies, 50 companies or 200. You can do a mass mailing without a lot of effort if you have a well-written cover letter which appears to be fairly personalized.
There are a lot of benefits to mass mailings. You can run across jobs that aren't being advertised yet or of which you were unaware. You can explore a different aspect of your career field, and you may even uncover jobs you might never have considered before. You can meet a lot of people, or network, which we'll discuss later. Just try to prevent your letter from sounding like one of those rambling, impersonal Christmas letters that people send to 800 of their closest friends.
To send out a mass mailing, you need a list of companies with jobs similar to the one you want. This is probably the part of the process that takes the most work.
Creating Your List
Find a good library in your city, whether it is the main library, a suburban branch, or a business library affiliated with a college or university. Once you've located a library, head for the reference section to find books which contain lists of potential employers.
You will be amazed at how many different lists of companies there are. There are Uses of the biggest companies in your area, the fastest growing, the largest in any one industry or, best of all, every single company in a certain field. You can find lists that split up the country geographically so you can emerge with the names of companies in your own area.
For example. National Trade and Professional Associations of the U.S. (Columbia Books, Inc.) and the Encyclopedia of Associations (Cole Research) are a good place to start. Depending upon the field in which you're interested, you can find a wealth of reference materials to help you pinpoint potential employers. If you need assistance in locating the right sources in your library, be sure to talk to the reference librarian. Explain that you're conducting a job search, and ask for any ideas the librarian might have.
In looking for a writing job, I found, and used, lists of advertising agencies, public relations firms, speech-writing groups, newspapers, publishers, newsletters and more. There are lists of law firms, engineering firms, government agencies, large corporations, etc.
The different types of lists go on and on, and if you're willing to spend a few hours in the library and do some photocopying, you can walk out with the names of hundreds of potential employers, especially if you live in a big city. In addition to straight lists, there are surveys. Where I live, one of the major newspapers publishes a yearly survey of the 25 largest or best (or whatever category they've created) law firms, engineering firms, etc. in the metropolitan area. This list is a tremendous resource for job hunters. It gives the company name, address, phone, product or service, years in business and a very brief history. A lot of other publications publish similar lists, whether it's a Fortune 500 magazine or a local publication's listing of area employers.
If you find a specific back issue of a newspaper or magazine with all of this information, you can often order it directly from the publisher. This will save you both the time and expense of photocopying long lists at the library.
After you've developed your lists, look over them to see which companies might employ someone with your talents. Try to be creative. For example, if you've got a degree in accounting, you could work for virtually any kind of company.
The first places you might think of working are the larger or better known accounting firms, but you could also work for a local business or a non-profit organization. Developing good lists for your mass mailing can take thought, but can broaden your possibilities considerably.
Surprisingly, the phone book can be another good source of companies to add to your list. It can also help you think of places to send your resume that you might not have considered before.
Career counselor Susan Schubert of Schubert & Associates suggests you flip through the yellow pages with a set of key words in mind. For example, if you know you'd like to work in health care, but the only places you've considered are doctors' offices and hospitals, you could develop a more complete list by going through the phone book.
Your list might end up including insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, nursing homes, social services agencies, AM-PM clinics, etc. Developing a list of key words is effective regardless of your major or career interests. Schubert advises that you include any employment category that sounds like it might match up with your skills. You can always eliminate one of your key words if you don't like the jobs that fall under that heading.
"Before job hunting candidates send out resumes, it's important that they identify what they can do," explains Schubert. "Use the phone book or use reference books and other publications to find career fields and job titles."
''Did You Say Mass Mailing Or Mass Confusion?''
Whether you're sending out mass mailings, responding to ads, or both. General Motors' personnel manager James Sturtz stresses the importance of conducting your job hunt in an organized way. This will keep you from getting confused and allow you to cover the field more completely.
"Focus on companies that have opportunities for you rather than taking a shotgun approach," advises Sturtz. This means targeting two or three specific job categories, whether from the phone book or from lists you've created, and devoting your time and attention to these positions. Some recent grads aimlessly send one letter to an insurance agency and another to a bank and feel like they've exhausted their opportunities.
Recruiter John Stone from Chrysler suggests that if you use mass mailings, you select those companies in which you're most interested. While this is easier said than done, you might be able to figure out which companies are best suited to your interests by asking a former professor or employer.
Or you could consult one of your mass mailing lists and see which are the biggest or the fastest growing or the most civic minded or whatever it is that is most important to you. Concentrate your letter writing and follow-up on the jobs that seem to best match up with your skills.
"Pick out the companies you are genuinely interested in and tailor your cover letter," says Stone. "Have a first tier and a second tier."
There is one drawback to conducting mass mailings, and that is that you have no idea if there is a position available at the organization you are contacting. And since larger companies may not be as willing to interview you if they don't have a position available, mass mailings may be more effective for smaller companies.
"We do hire students who send us unsolicited resumes, but not as often as we hire students through on-campus interviews," Stone comments.
For smaller companies, however, mass mailings can open a lot of doors. Whether or not your job search lends itself well to mass mailings is something you can decide depending upon your own circumstances and the type of job for which you're looking. If you have the time, though, it never hurts to send out a resume, and you can end up with a lot more than you ever would have thought possible.
As Ford's college recruiter Darrell Washington expresses it, "You don't want to not do something, like send out a resume, and that could enhance your opportunities."
Using Job Banks
Responding to the classifieds and sending out mass mailings are the two primary ways to put your name in front of potential employers, but there are other methods, such as using job banks. Job banks are listings of jobs available in certain fields. I know of several job banks which list positions in journalism, advertising, public relations and government affairs. I'm sure there are countless others in practically every career field you can imagine.
You can find these job banks through professional associations or through contacts you've met while networking. We'll discuss both of these possibilities in the next chapter. Job banks vary widely and are as good as the individual organization which runs them. Most job banks require membership in the group. Membership dues for professional associations range from $50 to $ 125 per year. Often, there are various tiers of membership, such as student member, associate member, full member, etc. Recent college graduates frequently can join as associate members and pay a slightly reduced membership fee.
Most job banks work in a straightforward manner. Usually, you call a phone number and listen to a tape recorded description of each job, the qualifications the employer is seeking and the salary. The recorded listing gives all of the information except for the name of the employer.
You then call the person in charge of the job bank, give your name, and ask for more information, such as the employer's name and address. The rest is up to you. If you're interested in the job, you send your resume and cover letter.
To participate in job banks that rely on written listings, you can put yourself on the organization's mailing list and receive job bank updates through the mail. If possible, you can save time by going to the organization and picking up the updated listings every week or month.
Clearly, the more current the job bank listings, the more useful they will be to you. When evaluating a job bank, ask yourself these questions: How many new listings appear each time the job bank is updated? How often is the job bank updated? Where else are these jobs publicized? How often do employers fill the jobs with people using the job bank?
Some organizations require an additional fee for use of the job bank. I would hesitate to pay extra for a job bank, because, like the classifieds, there is no guarantee you can find a job. You could consider using a job bank that charges a fee if the fee is nominal or if there is an opportunity for you to try the job bank first without paying for it. It also might help if you could get a refund if you give the job bank a trial run and you're not satisfied.
The benefits of job banks are the same as those of classified ads, in that you know there are specific job openings and you simply have to regularly consult one source, the job bank, for new information on potential employers.
The drawbacks of a job bank lie in how good the job bank is that you are using. If the job bank is rarely updated, or if it doesn't advertise good jobs, it probably won't be too helpful. However, if you've found a good job bank, it can provide you with all kinds of opportunities.
Here is a partial listing of job banks I found in my local library.
- If you're interested in careers in the arts, there is "Art SEARCH, The National Employment Service Bulletin for the Arts." It is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc. in New York City.
- If you're interested in non-profit organizations, check out "Community Jobs," published by James Clark in Boston, Massachusetts. If you'd like to learn more about non-profits dedicated to protecting the environment, check out "Earth Work," a monthly listing published by the Student Conservation Association in Charleston, New Hampshire. There is also a job bank publication entitled "1991 Helping Out In The Outdoors," which gives information about internships on public lands. This job bank lead sheet is published by the American Hiking Society in Washington, D.C.
- If you'd like to enter a career in library science, look in100 "Career Leads," published by the American Libraries Association in Chicago, Illinois.
- A larger and more general job bank which includes classifieds from all over the country in practically every field is the "National Ad Search." This weekly publication is published out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Insuring the Accuracy Of Your List
Once you've found prospective jobs, whether through the classifieds, through lists at the library or through a job bank, your next step is to confirm the name and address of every employer on your list.
Yes, this is another one of those ways you have to adapt to real life after you graduate. Unlike on-campus mail, you actually have to address your mail accurately. And you'll probably have to be more careful with the addresses on your personal correspondence too, since mailing little scraps of paper addressed only to "Wild Man" won't cut it with the U.S. Postal Service.
Calling to confirm the addresses of potential employers may sound like a lot of work, but it can help you climb up one more rung on the ladder. No matter how up-to-date any list is, there are going to be companies that have gone out of business, moved, merged with another company or simply changed names. First impressions count, and if your letter is delivered to the company under the wrong name, you may have wasted an opportunity for an interview. Of course, if it isn't delivered at all, you can write that one off.
For all of the other job hunters who went as far as developing a list for a mass mailing, very few will take the time to get the name of a specific person at the company or to confirm the mailing address. This is good for you because it's one more way to eliminate some of the competition for what may become your job.
Calling each employer is most critical when you're using a list that you've developed. If you are responding to an ad in the paper or a job listed in a job bank, you may have all of the information you need without making any calls.
As you confirm the address of each company on your list, you can also get the name of the person to whom you should send your resume. In general, you should send your resume to the head of the division for which you're interested in working. There are several reasons for starting at the top when you send out letters seeking employment. Senior level people are more likely to speak to you than the human resources office is, especially if the company doesn't have a job available at the time you inquire.
In addition, the president of the company or the head of the department may view speaking to you as more of a professional courtesy. She might want to help out someone younger who is entering her field.
When I was looking for my first job, I was encouraged by the fact that I ran across a lot of people who were willing to speak to me, give me advice or give me the name of someone else to call. I often found these people by directing my resume and cover letter to someone near the top of the company's hierarchy.
Some job applicants like to send a copy of the letter to102 human resources in order to cover all of their bases. This is a good idea, and it also lets you play by the rules of the corporate hiring process. By notifying the human resources or personnel office that you've written the president or vice-president of the company (or of the division in which you're interested), you’ve indicating that you're not trying to evade their formal system for bringing in new people.
Indicate that you're sending two copies by typing cc: followed by the name of the person to whom you're sending the extra letter. For example, if you're writing Brian Thomp son in marketing and Jane Rogers in personnel, address your letter to Brian Thompson and put cc: Jane Rogers at the bottom of the page after your name.
Using the Phone to Your Advantage
While it's easy to make the call to confirm a name and address, it helps if you have a general idea of what to expect when you call. It can be intimidating to call the company for which you hope to work, but after you've made a few calls, you can develop a system that works for you.
You can start the call by saying that you want to confirm the address and by reading off what you have. Some lists give a president's name so you can also confirm the spelling of his or her name at this time.
If no names are listed, ask for the name of the company president or the director of the department in which you're interested. At this point, a receptionist will often ask either who is calling or why you're calling.
State your name and don't worry about it. It is unlikely the receptionist will record your name or mention your call to someone higher up in the company. If she does, it simply looks like you'd like to work there.
If she asks why you're calling, explain. Tell the receptionist that you plan to send in your resume, and you want to make sure you have the correct information. Explain that you want to get the name of a specific person at the company so your resume won't get lost.
It's easy to get paranoid when you're job hunting, especially when you've just graduated, and you feel like one wrong step will ruin everything. Keep in mind, though, that when you're looking for a job, your main objective is to present yourself well. If you have to make a few phone calls and ask a few questions in order to do that, that's fine.
In addition, when you call to get the necessary information, some receptionists will tell you that there aren't any jobs available. Don't let that stop you. You're interested in sending in your resume whether or not a job is currently available.
There could be jobs coming up down the road that the receptionist doesn't know about. Or the president's next door neighbor may own a similar company and may be looking for new people. The possibilities go on and on, and you can't let negative words from a few people deter you in your job search.
Now that you're aware of the many sources of potential jobs-and of the importance of sending your resume to the right person-you can decide which mix of job hunting methods you would like to use. After you've selected your methods and sent out some letters, you're ready to follow up with the employers you've contacted.
Fabulous Follow Up
You may have thought you'd made all of the phone calls you needed to make when you confirmed the names and104 addresses of employers, but that was just the beginning. Now is the time to distinguish yourself from other applicants by following up on your letter and resume.
Follow-up calls are one of the most critical parts of a job search. You can send out literally hundreds of resumes and cover letters, but you are unlikely to find a job unless you take the initiative and contact employers to request an interview.
Follow-up calls actually serve several purposes. First, by making a follow-up call, you can verify that the employers received your resume. Second, you can demonstrate that you really want the job. Third, if you can impress potential employers through a brief phone conversation, you will be able to interview even if there's not a job available. This way, you've made a valuable contact, and when a job does become avail able, you could be first in line.
How you choose to follow up with employers depends upon the circumstances under which you send in your resume. If you sent in your resume in response to a classified ad or a job bank listing, you should give the employers some time to look over all of the resumes that are sent in. The employers are probably swamped with resumes, and you want to make yourself stand out for your attention to detail, not for your pushy approach.
A good rule of thumb is to wait to call employers until approximately one week after you've sent your resume. After that time, you can call employers and ask to speak to the person in charge of hiring. If you know the person's name, simply ask for him or her.
The issue of what to call an employer used to disturb me as much as finding the perfect interview suit. If you call and ask for Mr. Jones, it immediately sounds like you are young and perhaps not worthy of speaking to Mr. Jones. Worse yet, it might sound like you're trying to sell him something. (Of course, you are, in a sense, but the receptionist doesn't need to know that.) If you call and ask for Bob Jones, it can make you feel like you're pretending to be on a first name basis with the man.
I found it most effective to call and ask for Bob Jones, but then, of course, to address him as Mr. Jones once he was on the line. It doesn't matter if he answers the phone and hears you ask for Bob Jones, because once you begin speaking to him, you'll call him Mr. Jones.
It's amazing how earth-shattering each of these fine points of etiquette becomes in your mind once you start job hunting. But your initial phone call goes a long way in creating a first impression on potential employers.
According to John Stewart of The Austin Company, poor phone manners are often the first way many job seekers blow their chances for an interview.
"I don't like having to dig information out of someone over the phone," explains Stewart. "Some applicants make the worst presentation over the phone. They call up and say 'I'm Ed Smith, and I'm looking for a job.'"
In Stewart's opinion, job seekers would make a better impression if they volunteered information more freely. While Stewart and other employers don't want a sales pitch over the phone, they'd like to hear what your background is, such as your major or the name of your college, and they'd like a brief statement as to why you'd be good for the job.
It might be as simple as saying, "I'm interested in the job you advertised, and I think my experience with (fill in the blank) in college would make me a good applicant."
Use the same judgment in your follow-up that you used in writing your resume. You don't want to go overboard, calling people up and describing yourself in glowing terms, but you shouldn't make employers drag all of the relevant information out of you.
It helps if you deal with employers in the same way you would deal with professors you wanted to favorably impress. If you had to go to your professor's office to talk about something, you wouldn't discuss your brilliance and the number of hours you study, but you wouldn't come in and stand there mutely either. The best approach with employers is to be natural and to be willing to talk about yourself and your qualifications.
Once you've made a few calls, you shouldn't have any problems presenting yourself well to employers. It just takes a little practice and advance planning. If you keep in mind that conversations require effort on both sides, you can present yourself as a well-organized and articulate candidate.
If you make a follow-up phone call and you're able to reach the person who received your resume, ask if you will be able to come in for an interview. Express your interest in working for the company and briefly highlight one or two of your strong points from your resume.
For example, you could say, "This is Tim Smith, and I'm calling to follow-up on the resume I sent you one week ago. As you may recall, I graduated in the top fourth of my class with a degree in engineering, and I worked for one of my professors last summer on a research project involving the use of synthetic materials on the space shuttle."
After the employer indicates that she remembers you, or even if she doesn't remember you, ask if you can come in for an interview. You could say, "I'm interested in coming in for an interview, and I wondered if we could set up a time at your convenience." If she says she is still reviewing resumes, ask when would be a good time to call back. You can close the conversation by saying, "I will call your office in two weeks as you have suggested, and I look forward to speaking to you then."
If you aren't able to get through to the person who has your resume, give it another few days and call once more. When you call, ask to speak to the person who has your resume. Tell the receptionist that you're calling to inquire about the status of your resume.
This phone call serves a practical purpose. If you're no longer being considered, you will find that out, and you will not waste any more time focusing on that job. If you are still being considered, you're bringing your name to the employer's attention, and that little nudge could be all it takes to persuade him to bring you in for an interview.
"It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, and often, persistence can win you a job," says Pavol Bereda. "If an employer says they'll know who they're going to interview in one week, call them in a week."
According to Pavol Bereda, many companies hold off on making a decision, either on who to interview or who to hire, until they see who has the initiative to call and ask if they're being considered.
If you make your follow-up calls and the person you're trying to reach won't speak to you, ask the receptionist if there is a certain time of day that is a good time to reach the employer. You can often tell by the receptionist's attitude if the person really is hard to reach or if he is not interested in taking your call.
Of course, if it is a big company, the receptionist may not know when the best time to call is. A good rule of thumb is to stop calling if you place three or four calls over a week or two and never get any kind of response.
Keeping Accurate Records
As you look for a job, you will probably send out close to a hundred letters and make twice as many phone calls. If you keep track of who you send letters to, who you call and what you discuss in each phone call, it will be easier to keep yourself organized.
Now you can start using that filing system we discussed in Chapter 1. There isn't a right way or a wrong way to keep track of your job hunt, as long as what you're doing works for you. Sometimes, though, it's easier to develop your own system if you have some general guidelines to follow.
Consider starting your filing system with four files. The first is for letters you've sent out but haven't followed up on yet, the second for letters on which you need to take some action, the third for letters that are pending and the fourth for rejections.
In the first file, you can keep letters that you've sent out and haven't had time to pursue. This is handy when employers start to call you as well. You can turn to your first file and pull out a copy of the letter you sent. In doing this, you can also see the mass mailing list on which the employer's name falls or the classified ad or whatever it was that prompted you to send in your resume.
In the second file, you can keep letters that require some action on your part, whether it is an initial follow-up phone call, an interview, or, once you start interviewing, a thank you note. In the third file, you can keep letters from companies which you haven't heard anything. This will probably end up being your largest file as you continue sending out letters. Never throw away any correspondence from a potential employer, even if the person to whom you sent your resume won't take your calls and it's been two months since you sent your letter in.
Job hunting can be an unusual process. You may not hear anything from specific companies for a long time, and it might simply mean they're busy and they've put off hiring for a little while. They may then call you when you least expect it, so unless you have some reason to believe a company has rejected you without telling you, keep your pending file fill.
You can use the fourth file for your rejection letters. It makes sense to save a rejection letter because you can write notes about the company on their letter. For example, you may interview for a job and get rejected. If you thought the job looked boring and you wouldn't want to work there, write that down. You may get called in again by that company at some point in the fixture, and it can help you make decisions about whether or not you want to try for another position there.
Or, you may interview and get rejected by a company, but decide that you'd eventually like to work there. Write down all of your perceptions of the interview and the company, and file the rejection letter away for future reference.
File all of your letters in chronological order, no matter which of the four categories they're in. It's easiest if you file them with the most recent letters on top and the oldest letters on the bottom.
Now that you're familiar with a basic filing system, you can figure out how to keep track of your job hunt. If you send a form letter to 50 banks, copy one copy before you send it. You can then keep only one copy of the letter and a list with the names of the 50 banks to which you sent your letter.
If you send one letter to 50 banks and a slightly modified letter to 25 accounting firms, keep a copy of both letters and keep two lists of names. The first list will be of the 50 banks which received letter A and the second of the 25 accounting firms which received letter B. And if you ever work for the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, these mass mailing skills will put you way ahead of the game.
As you start calling all of the banks on your list, keep track of who you speak to at each bank. Write down the date that you called them (or that they called you). Write down what they say, whether it's that they've filled the job with someone else, they're still thinking about it or they'd like you to call back in three weeks.
If an employer tells you to call them back in three weeks, write that down in your calendar. It works best if you write down the employer's name and phone number on your calendar page. After three weeks go by, you can pick up the phone and make the two or three calls you need to make that day, without going through your files.
However, it can be helpful to look over your form letter briefly before you call someone back. Reviewing your files will help you remember which collegiate experience you linked to the job or which academic project you mentioned in touting yourself as the most qualified candidate.
If you used a classified ad, staple it to the form letter that you sent. This way, you have all the information at a glance, such as the salary and other details of the job. It's best to know these things before you get on the phone with a potential employer. Keeping this information in one place will greatly speed your follow-up phone calls.
You should also include in your records any phone calls you make that aren't returned. Say you call ABC Manufacturing on June 8, 9, and 12th, and no one calls you back. If you call a lot of other companies during those days, you might not remember that you've placed several calls to ABC which haven't been returned. Or you may not have made the last two calls at all, thinking you'd already tried them and they'd said no.
Therefore, put a note on your list next to ABC Manufacturing. It can be as simple as something like: "6/8, 6/9, 6/12: left: message." You might speak to ABC Manufacturing in June, and they'll tell you to call back in July. When you call back in July, they may say there is a hiring freeze, but recommend you call back in early September.
Record this information in your calendar so you'll remember to call back in September if you're still looking for a job. Write down the information about the hiring freeze so when you do call in September, you'll know what's going on with the company. It may sound like there's no point in calling employers a few months down the road if they've already said they don't have any positions available, but you never know what may turn up.
As you have seen, there are several different ways to find potential employers. And once you start sending out letters, your job hunt will begin to get exciting, and believe it or not, even kind of fun. Here are a few ideas to help you move into this phase of finding potential employers.
Making Opportunities Happen
- Start finding potential employers through the classifieds. Begin looking for jobs today. If you're looking long distance, check out the section below.
- Make a list of key words and look in the phone book under these different headings. Every day, try to find a new category under which you can find jobs you'd be interested in. Do this until you've got about five or six categories.
- Begin developing a mass mailing list. As valuable as these lists are, they can take a little more time to put together, so don't become discouraged if this step takes you a while or if you need to put it aside while you respond to the classifieds. Just don't put it off for good!
- Check out your key word categories at the library, and copy relevant directories. You might want to make your first mass mailing a small one, with 25 companies or so. Try to call five or six of the companies on the list to confirm their addresses each day. This way, you should have a completely accurate list within a week.
- Find out about job banks or employment hot-lines in your area. If you know of some, spend this week becoming a part of the system. Begin calling the job bank or picking up the listings, and add those opportunities to your employment list. If you have no idea where to find a job bank, hold off on this until you've read the networking chapter.
- Set up a schedule for beginning your follow-up phone calls, say, two weeks from the time you send out your first resume. After two weeks, call four or five employers to ask about the status of your resume.
- Take yourself out and reward yourself for making so much progress with your job hunt!
As you put together your game plan for finding potential employers, you'll want to decide exactly where you will look for a job. Will it be in your home town? In your college town, if the two differ in some great city in which you've always wanted to live? Anywhere you can find a good job?
It could be one of these places or it could be all of them. It's not uncommon for recent graduates to find their job search encompassing several different cities at once.
The long distance job search can pose some unique challenges, but if you utilize the methods outlined in this book, you'll find you can be successful, whether you're looking for jobs that are nearby or far away.
“This Couldn't Be Worse Than A Long Distance Relationship''
There are two parts to a long distance job search. The first part involves actually looking in a city which you may never have seen before.
Just as your life has several different components which aren't related to work, your decision as to the city which is best for you will probably include personal factors. You can, however, make a decision that suits both your personal and career needs by carefully assessing your chosen career field. Are you interested in a career which would flourish in a particular geographic location? For example, recent graduates interested in working their way up in book publishing would want to look closely at Manhattan, as would someone who hopes to someday become a stock broker on Wall Street.
Recent graduates interested in the entertainment field, on the other hand, would want to consider Hollywood.
Aspiring television or newspaper reporters might need to get their start in smaller towns while those interested in the restaurant or hotel service industries would probably focus on larger towns. Recent graduates with engineering degrees often find themselves working at plant sites in rural, out-of-the-way areas. If your career would benefit, or, as is the case for many recently graduated engineers, require that you move to a particular city or state, you should probably make that move.
In past years, recent graduates and others seeking employment have flocked to areas of the country experiencing an economic boom. At the time of this writing, it seems that Washington and Oregon come the closest to fitting that description. When I graduated, California and the Northeast were prospering, and in the early '80s, Texas and the South west were getting good reviews.
Some career fields, on the other hand, lend themselves to depressed markets, as is the case with bank examiners or work out specialists who take over failing companies. If your goal is to prevent or turn around a bad situation, you might need to seek out the more economically troubled parts of the country to make your big break.
There is some wisdom in moving to a market which appears to have more opportunity than the one in which you are currently located. As you think about basing your choice of cities on the prevailing economic situation, however, you should also take into account the things that make you happy outside of your work life, such as your hobbies and your general life-style.
As you strive to determine which type of city would best suit you, you can consult a variety of books at your local library which rank the "livability" of almost every city in the country. One good example is the Places Rated Almanac. It ranks metropolitan areas by cost of living, job outlook, crime, health, transportation, education, the arts, recreation, the climate and more.
You should also think about the connections you already have or the personal needs you would like to fulfill as you select your future home town. Do you have friends and family in a certain city? Do you love skiing and the outdoors and need somewhere you can get away from it all? Are you an urban person who feels stifled without museums and night-life?
While you are the only one who can decide which city is best for you, especially regarding your personal life, you can use this book to launch a successful long-distance career search after you've selected the city or cities in which you're interested.
A Job Search Is A Job Search Is A...
First, follow all of the steps outlined in this chapter just as you would for a local job search. Purchase a subscription to the major newspapers for the cities in which you're interested. If this sounds too expensive or difficult for you, you could skip the subscription and drop by the library each day to check out the classified ads in the newspapers for the cities in which you're interested.
The key words here are "each day." While it takes a little research to learn about jobs in distant cities, you will see results if you make a commitment to looking extensively in every city in which you're interested.
Second, even if you're conducting a long-distance job search, you should still engage in the same prospecting and networking process outlined in the next chapter. This means mass mailings are an excellent way for you to locate possible job openings. Just as you would obtain and develop lists of potential employers for the city in which you are currently living, you can also develop lists of employers for cities that are for away.
While you're at the library looking over the newspapers for "your" cities, develop a list of the potential employers located there also. For example, perhaps you're living in New Mexico now, and you'd like to work in the hospitality industry in Atlanta. You know some people there, and you think the job market for restaurant and hotel management will be relatively strong since Atlanta won the bid for the next Summer Olympics.
In this case, you can look up many of the possibilities for employment in Atlanta in the reference books at your library. You might look up the names and addresses of the hotels and restaurants themselves, as well as the trade associations which represent the restaurant and hotel business, the ad agencies and public relations firms who help them generate new business, etc.
Whether you're interested in writing, accounting, project management or translating, you can probably find a position in your chosen field in your chosen city (in this example the hospitality industry in Atlanta) if you will only be creative in putting together the list of potential employers you will contact.
Third, as you'll discover in the chapter on finding potential employers, you should think broadly as you begin your job search, even when some of your ideas sound a little wacky. It never hurts to interview for jobs you never strongly considered, and you might learn more about yourself and your interests.
For this example, you'd obtain the names and addresses of companies located in Atlanta from reference books. You'd either subscribe to the Atlanta Constitution or check out the job listings in the library's copy of the paper. You'd also want to make sure you weren't missing out on the want ads in smaller community papers serving the Atlanta area.
Fourth, supplement your knowledge of the communities in which you'd like to live by calling the local Chambers of Commerce there. The Chamber of Commerce offices in many cities have a toll-free 800 number, and the people who work there will be happy to send you information on employment, housing, entertainment, leisure activities and more.
Simply call the Chamber of Commerce for the city in which you are interested, and they will send you this information free of charge. You should also mention that you are job hunting, and ask if they have a list of large and small employers in the area. They may have a more extensive list than you would find in the library, with information about the age of the company, the number of people it employs and the product or service it offers.
A Chamber of Commerce may also be able to steer you to local job banks, such as one provided by the county or by one of the libraries. It can also help you locate the libraries in the area.
Fifth, call the reference librarian at the library you've decided to use in this far away town. Tell her you're conducting a long distance job hunt and you would like any information she could send you. She might send you much of the same information sent by the Chamber of Commerce, but she's likely to know of additional job hunting resources.
These are all "freebies," except for the phone calls, and you can save yourself a lot of time and energy by getting organized before you simply show up in a strange town and start knocking on doors.
'7 Guess I Shouldn't Have Scheduled
Interviews In San Francisco and Boston On The Same Day!''
There are a few difficulties in engaging in a long distance job hunt, though, and these obstacles will be most apparent when you network and follow-up.
Clearly, if you've sent in your resume long distance, the employer is aware that you are not available locally for inter views and networking meetings. This is not a problem, and does not reflect poorly on you, but it may mean you will have to pay your own expenses when you travel to this far away city for an interview.
In some cases, employers will pay your way, but it all depends upon the size and policies of the company and the demand for someone with your skills. Unfortunately, it seems to be more the exception than the rule to find employers willing to pay for your travel, especially if you're contacting the employer on your own after graduation rather than as part of the on-campus interview cycle.
Employers usually won't pay your way to informational interviews since these interviews are conducted as a courtesy to you. However, you can hold your long distance job hunting costs to a minimum, whether you're going on "real" interviews or on informational interviews, if you will engage in some well-planned scheduling. Careful scheduling will also allow you to maximize your networking contacts.
First, when you conduct your follow-up phone call, express your eagerness to come in for an interview. Explain that you will be in town during a certain week, and try to schedule every meeting during that time. If you make the most of your time visiting each city for interviews, you can accomplish quite a bit on a limited budget.
When you go to this new city, use any networking contacts you can think of, even for your personal life. Call a friend of a friend to ask about the cost and location of apartments. When you look through the classifieds as part of your library research, take that time to look at the real estate ads as well.
Make your interview trips as productive as possible by learning something about each city before you arrive. Perhaps rush hour traffic is extremely bad and you would waste valuable hours if you scheduled appointments in the late afternoon.
Perhaps there is some type of apartment locator service in a major shopping mall which would reduce the time you spend learning about the cost and availability of housing. In general, you should limit your long distance interviewing to three or four cities, unless some great opportunity presents itself to you in a far away city which is not on your list.
As you hone and refine your job hunting goals through the entire job hunting process, you may decide a certain city is not for you, whether for personal or professional reasons. If this is the case, strike it from your list and focus your energy on the remaining cities in which you're interested.
As you evaluate whether or not to look long distance, you can make your decision more easily by thinking about your individual life-style, your choice of career fields and the economic realities of the area of the country in which you're looking.
Whether you look locally or long distance, however, if you'll begin in an organized way and keep an open mind, you can find valuable contacts and a wealth of job opportunities.
