Job Search Strategy Methods

Websites

With the massive explosion of information on the Web, many companies and organizations are listing job opportunities on the web. Likewise, job search firms are doing the same. Many of these sites include postings of worthwhile positions. See the “Research” section of this handbook for some of the best sites identified by The Business Career Center.

Pros:

  • Many, many sites with actual job postings
  • Can narrow your search through various search engines
  • Application process is under your initial control
  • Many sites allow you to post your resume for employers to review
  • Accessible at the click of a mouse

Cons:

  • So many sites, so little control over quality (large organizations including companies, governments, and non-profits are the safest)
  • Information about positions may be sketchy
  • You may not know who the employer is when accessing positions from large job banks

Newspaper Advertisements

Pros:

  • Readily accessible
  • Fairly wide range of jobs

Cons:

  • Greater competition
  • Small fraction of job openings areadvertised in the paper
  • 2-5 out of 100 applicants survive
  • Simplified, impersonal screening process
  • Some ads may be blind or fake used to build up a "resume bank" or for research purposes.

Hints:

You are playing a numbers game. If you can get your resume to the person who is doing the actual hiring, you may improve your chances.

Read the ad very carefully. Your goal is to make yourself appear to be the one candidate the advertiser should invite to interview. Do this by:

  1. Determining the key qualifications and skills outlined in the ad.
  2. List these items on a piece of paper.
  3. List specific examples of situations and accomplishments you’ve had that illustrated these qualifications and skills.
  4. Address your abilities that fulfill these requirements in your cover letter and resume.
  5. Answer the advertisement right away (within a week)
  6. Follow up by phone

Be very suspicious of blind advertisements with a post office box (the company name is not listed; thus, you do not know who you are applying to).

Placing Advertisements Yourself

Pros:

  • Ambitious
  • Aggressive

Cons:

  • Very few employers read these
  • Very effective in getting responses from employment agencies

Hints:

This is a REAL, REAL REAL LONG SHOT.


University of Minnesota
2-100/2-180 Hanson Hall
1925 4th Street South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Business Career Center
(612)-624-0011
(612)-625-8840 fax