Using an Employment Guide to Finding a Job

Using an Employment Guide to Find a Job
by Robert Loblaw

As you can well imagine, looking for a job poses no real challenge at all, but it's actually finding a job that's the hard part. Once you embark on your mission to find employment, you may soon discover that an employment guide is worth its weight in gold. Not only can a good employment resource guide provide you with the necessary tools to ensure that interviews go smoothly, but it can also help you to navigate through the job market.

Pen Your Resume. Considering that you cannot even apply for a job until such time you have written your resume, it only makes sense that you do so before you even start looking through the classified ads. In this respect, an employment resource guide can be invaluable in that it can help you in gathering all the necessary information and then putting it down on paper. Remember, your resume should not only show what professional experience you have, but it should also highlight your skills and the education you have. Above all, it needs to be written in such a way so that it stands out from the crowd, bearing in mind that hiring managers receive numerous resumes and you want yours to be noticed. Providing you use a good employment resource guide, you should then have a blueprint for a first class, professional looking resume.

Ask Friends. A good place to start looking for job leads is your friends. An employment guide will suggest that you ask your friends if the places that they work are hiring or if they know of any places that are hiring. Your friends and family can be a fantastic resource when it comes to finding great job leads.

Read the Newspaper. Of course the newspaper classified ads are a good place to see who is hiring. The problem is, while you are looking for a job in the classifieds, so is everyone else. An employment resource guide can help you determine which ads are good for you to pursue and how to write your resume and cover letter so that you stand out above your competition.

Make Use of Online Job Boards. Let's face it; there are literally hundreds of thousands of online job boards which you can use to your advantage and many of which are free. Of course you'll want to check out many of the general ones, but you should also make a point of looking at those which are industry specific and also region specific. By using these types of boards you'll be minimizing the amount of competition you come up against. In fact, you should also check with an employment resource guide in order to see which is the best way to go about responding to potential ads.

Get In Touch With Those Companies That Interest You. If you know of any particular companies that you would like to work for, you could of course go ahead and cold call them. In addition to calling them, you could send in your resume together with a professionally written cover letter. Remember, not all companies bother advertising each and every position which becomes available, and as such, you just might strike it lucky. If you decide to take this approach, then your cover letter should ideally allow some room with regards to your choice of positions. Furthermore, it should also place some emphasis on your skills and any experience you may have which the company may deem as being beneficial.

Following Up. Once you've sent your resume and a cover letter to a company, you should ideally allow a week or two to pass and then you should follow up on it. A good employment resource guide will tell you exactly how to make mention of this in your cover letter so that the company knows you intend following up within a specified time. When the time arrives you should simply give the company a call and ask to speak to the hiring manager in order to determine whether or not they require any further information, or if they have any questions and like to ask.

The importance of being creative. The job market to day is vastly different to what it was in the past, in that many industries, businesses, and corporations are quite literally flooded with applications. With such a tremendous amount of competition it can be extremely challenging to have your application noticed, and to have it stand out above the rest. In order to achieve this, your application needs to be as creative as possible. In other words, you need to come up with something which a hiring manager will find to be interesting and tempting. For example, you could go as far as including a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation outlining any relevant experience you may have, as well as your various skills and accomplishments. If you find you're at a loss with regards to a creative idea then of course you should check with an employment resource guide.

Write a Thank You Note. Any employment guide will tell you that the interview does not end when you walk out of the office. No, that hiring manager is thinking about you, considering you, all the while talking to and thinking about many other applicants. Keep your name fresh in that hiring manager's mind by sending a thank you note after the interview. Keep it simple and brief, telling him or her how excited you are and how you see yourself contributing to the company or project. Also thank them for taking the time to see you. It could be the one thing that sets you apart. And in this market, that is exactly what you want.