You know
exactly what kind of career you want.
Your resume is perfect. You've forced
your friends to spend hours asking
you practice interview questions.
Everything is in order - except you
don't know how to go about finding
the job openings.
The first step is to
shift your networking skills into
high gear. Start asking friends and
family members to ask their co-workers,
friends, hairdressers, optometrists,
accountants, and other acquaintances
if they've either heard of any available,
relevant job openings, or if they
know of someone to whom you ought
to talk.
Another good way to
make connections is to contact your
college alumni office or career services
center to see if either has a list
of alumni who have volunteered to
serve as mentors and contacts to
young jobseekers.
Also, if you've held
internships in the past, get in touch
with your employers and co-workers
from those experiences and ask if
they can point you in the right direction.
While there's truth
to the adage that the best jobs are
never advertised, that doesn't mean
you can't find a good job outside
the networking realm:
- Check out Internet
job listings.
- Go to trade websites
for the career field in which you're
interested. Often, occupations
have professional associations
with websites that include job
listings. If you don't know the
name of the association or trade
organization that unifies your
potential colleagues, do a search
or ask someone in the field. Those
websites are also an excellent
way to cull contact names.
Go to job fairs. You can usually find advertisements for job fairs in your
local newspaper.
- Visit the websites
of companies for which you would
like to work. See if they have
any job listings posted within
the site.
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