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Most Popular Ways To Job Search

             There are many ways to go about finding a job. The field, employer demand, personal preferences and other factors typically influence the methods utilized in searches.

            There are six major ways most individuals seek employment using either the traditional or newer technology based approaches. Traditional methods have been used for more than a hundred years, but today’s technology has changed how recruiters and hiring managers look for candidates and how candidates look for employment. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. The occupation and the level of the position sought should help determine the method or methods used. For the majority of job seekers, more than one way should be used.

            The traditional approaches are newspaper employment classifieds, personal contacts, networking, and direct mail. And now technology provides an additional powerful tool – the computer linked to the Internet.

            The United States and Canadian governments have even gotten involved and require every state or province to have local employment offices to provide assistance to job seekers. The agencies that support these offices go by different names, but their purpose of listing positions and helping those in search of a job are the same. A big advantage to the service is it is free.

            Newspaper employment ads and weekly employment publications have been the most widely used method utilized by job seekers over time. They generally show positions available for regional and local employers. The publications are readily accessible and organized by job category. Most positions advertised are in the lower and mid-level range.

One of the advantages is they help show in one location many employers hiring and the type of positions that are in demand. Another is the quickness by which a job seeker can find and conceivably get an interview and be hired. Lower and middle level positions are typically found in this medium. However, often the higher skilled positions, higher management positions and many national companies (thought this has changed somewhat with the incorporation of the consolidated employment Web sites with print) looking for employees are not advertised here.

For accessibility by job seekers many newspapers today utilize the Web by placing advertised jobs online in addition to the publication hardcopy. In many situations, it makes little difference if the print or the Internet site is used by the job seeker other than personal preference if they are looking for employment only in the area where they live. This changes if you are looking outside the area since the Internet site covers regions all over the country and even internationally.

If you are seeking a lesser skilled position or many of the middle level jobs, you can often find a job quickly here. But the higher the level of the position, the less likely you will find the job you want.

One of the biggest mistakes highly technical and high level managers make is looking for a job primarily in the newspaper. These positions are advertised elsewhere or even not at all as part of the hidden job market (to be discussed later).

Another traditional method is the use of personal contacts, part of the networking approach. These contacts are personal friends and colleagues from work or school. This is greatly underutilized by many people because they do not like to ask for help – a big mistake.

The biggest advantage in using personal contacts is you do not need a personal introduction. They know who you are and many will know your abilities. Some may serve as references. People are often hired (with little formality) on an initial recommendation by a contact the hiring manager knows.

A drawback is that most people have a limited number of personal contacts. Another is the contacts may not be able to help in a targeted industry.

Networking is considered by many career experts to offer the most successful way of finding a job. Networking uses the premise that people hire people they know or that are known by people they know.  

Once personal contacts have been used, the biggest disadvantage is going out and developing additional contacts. Meeting new people and developing relationships can take a long time.

Because of its importance and the lack of understanding of how to practice this method, a complete section is devoted to the topic.  

Another traditional way to look for a job is direct mail outs. It requires researching companies of interest along with contacts and mailing addresses. Primarily it is a numbers game. The more resumes and cover letters you send out, the better chance you have in getting an interview and eventually a job offer.

E-mail can be used in many instances instead of mail. But, because of the large number of messages sent this way along with the fear of viruses, many managers may delete your information before reading. Regular mail may still be your best approach even though it can be expensive.

In the new technology setting the use of the computer and the Internet has opened up a powerful way of looking for and locating jobs of interest. Not only are there newspapers and large employment Web sites but also industry specific, company, association, government and professional Internet sites. They offer a quick and inexpensive way of finding and applying for large number of jobs. However, there are drawbacks here as well.

First, you must have a properly formatted resume and access to a computer. Second, even though there are numerous positions available, in most instances dozens or more people are applying for each position. Your chances of landing interviews are much less than they appear.

So, what is the best method? For most job seekers in an occupation that is not in great demand or has significant competition, the best thing to do is to have a well-organized approach using more than one method.

What ever you do, don’t rely on one or two large employment Web sites. This approach can be fatal to a job search.

 Many job seekers, after months of diligently looking on large employment Internet sites become frustrated and depressed since they believe no employer wants their services. The correct execution of an organized well coordinated search can change that.

The use of government supported employment programs can have positive results. They are more likely to have lower and mid level positions in their data bank, however. There use of the Internet has greatly enhanced their usefulness. America’s Job Bank at www.ajb.org lists all the positions advertised by the public agencies throughout the U.S. Jobs can be sorted by different categories such as location or industry.

It is important to remember that the government agency services, the newspapers and other publications, and the employment Web sites only advertise a small percentage of the actual available jobs. Another important point is an advertised position typically receives at least dozens of applications. That is the reason most job seekers never hear anything after responding to the vast majority of advertised positions.

 

PERCENTAGE BREAKDOWN BY SEARCH METHOD

 

Determining the percentages of success by search method is not an exact science because of the magnitude of the employment