Fast Results E-Zine
When you sign up, you'll get instant access to my article archives, exclusive content and other freebies. Plus, we will never sell, rent or share your information so sign up today.
Search
Bookmark this Page
Blog Carnivals
Blogroll
Resources
Categories
- 10 Things (2)
- Blog Carnival (8)
- Bullying (3)
- Career (51)
- Communicators in the news (20)
- events (1)
- General (15)
- Goal Setting (20)
- Health (1)
- Inspiration (21)
- Interpersonal Communication (30)
- Job Interview (25)
- Leadership (5)
- Learning (2)
- Motivation (47)
- Networking (16)
- Online Success (6)
- Personal (5)
- Politics (20)
- Public Speaking (121)
- Quick Tip (7)
- Review (2)
- success (4)
- Time Management (5)
- Toastmasters (27)
- Video of the Week (14)
- Writing (5)
Archives
- March 2010 (6)
- February 2010 (12)
- January 2010 (6)
- December 2009 (7)
- November 2009 (12)
- October 2009 (12)
- September 2009 (3)
- August 2009 (6)
- July 2009 (11)
- June 2009 (16)
- May 2009 (8)
- April 2009 (7)
- March 2009 (10)
- February 2009 (7)
- January 2009 (8)
- December 2008 (5)
- November 2008 (3)
- October 2008 (7)
- September 2008 (11)
- August 2008 (9)
- July 2008 (18)
- June 2008 (9)
- May 2008 (14)
- April 2008 (14)
- March 2008 (11)
- February 2008 (10)
- January 2008 (13)
- December 2007 (13)
- November 2007 (2)
- October 2007 (4)
- September 2007 (3)
- August 2007 (4)
- July 2007 (3)
- June 2007 (4)
- April 2007 (1)
- February 2007 (2)
- January 2007 (3)
- December 2006 (2)
- November 2006 (7)
- October 2006 (6)
- September 2006 (12)
Last night I attended a networking event and the topic of job searching came up. If you’ve attended networking events recently, you’ve probably noticed the same thing that I did: many (if not most) of the people that attend networking events are looking for work.
I shared a story from a speed networking event that I attended a while back. It struck me as odd how so many people looking for work didn’t think to bring business cards or resumes to the event. Others last night shared similar experiences so it got me wondering: are people taking their job search seriously?
Finding work is work. In fact, in the nine months that I looked for work in 2003, I averaged 50 hours per week looking for work. If I didn’t have interviews scheduled, I was submitting resumes, attending networking events, attending workshops to help me improve my job search skills and working on my technical skills to make me a better candidate. I had a lot of friends who were also looking for work at the time and some of them took a more relaxed approach. I remember calling one friend to see what time he wanted me to pick him up to attend a networking event and being shocked when he said he was going to skip it so he could watch some talk shows.
If you are looking for work, especially in this economic climate, you need to take your job search seriously.
It’s not enough to be a good candidate – you need to be the best candidate. Some jobs get hundreds of applicants so while it’s impressive to be in the minority selected for a phone screen, it doesn’t matter unless you get the offer. Job interviewing is one place where coming in second really is being the first loser. In some rare cases, another opening may crop up and you’ll get another chance, but don’t hold your breath.
So what can you do? Well it’s obvious that sitting on your couch watching TV isn’t the best method for getting job. You want to focus on three key areas:
- Market yourself as a candidate.
- Improve your job search related skills.
- Strengthen your technical skills.
Market Yourself:
When I was unemployed, I had two goals for marketing myself: apply for at least ten jobs each weekday and attend at least one networking event per week. Given the current state of things, if I were looking for work now, I’d bump up the networking events to at least three and add goals for connecting with people through social media.
Finding networking events is easy – just check the business section of your local newspaper or contact your local unemployment office. I would also consider checking out various Toastmasters clubs in the area you’re seeking work, especially corporate clubs, as they are excellent opportunities to make connections with people. To find a Toastmasters club near you, use the search box on this page and type “Toastmasters” followed by the name of your city.
Improve Your Job Search Skills:
When I was unemployed, I visited the library several times per week. I was fortunate that my local library had a huge career section. In addition to books on interviewing, resume writing and other career related topics, the library had DVDs (and VHS tapes), audio books and even events geared towards looking for work. I spent at least six hours per week watching DVDs and VHS tapes on career skills. Unfortunately, I found that most were either outdated or the material was so much like common sense that I didn’t feel like I learned much. But I did come across a few gems and got some great ideas that eventually helped me with job search. My frustration in the quality of materials caused me to create my own program on job interviewing (which is also available on CD audio).
But there are number of organizations out there that offer free or low cost job skills training. I offer my course from time to time for free, but many colleges and universities offer these services for both current students and alumni. So contact your alma mater or search the web for courses near you.
Strengthen Your Technical Skills:
This is an often overlooked requirement for getting an offer, especially if you’ve been out of work for a while. I learned this the hard way when I spent the first three months of my job search so focused on finding interviews and learning how to interview better, that I hadn’t even thought about my technical skills.
Now technical skills are the skills required to perform job duties. If you’re a doctor, for example, it’s the ability to diagnose a patient. In my case, my technical skills truly were technical because I was in information technology. In my world, there’s this thing called the technical interview which the job interview equivalent of a pop quiz in high school – only that it counts for 90% of your grade. I hadn’t written programs since leaving my job and to make matters worse, didn’t write any programs for the last seven months when I was employed. So I was eons behind the times and so far removed from programming that I stumbled on easy questions.
My solution was to get caught up. I spent two weeks using the best books, tutorials and web sites available to catch up. I not only learned the latest technologies, but everything I had done in the past started coming back to me. I even made myself extra productive by creating marketable software applications that helped me manage my job search.
Your situation is most likely different, so my approach may not work for you. But there’s still a number of things that you can do to keep your technical skills sharp such as volunteer for a non-profit, have your own consulting business, do pro bono work for friends and family or simply create your own projects to keep up with.
So these are some ways to get ahead with your job search. Just keep at it and remember that finding a job is a job in itself. It’s important to keep an optimistic attitude while looking for work – even if it seems like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Keep going, you’ll get there.
ShareCheck out these Related posts:
- Are Business Cards Needed For a Job Search? The answer is an absolute “Yes.” I’ve been to...
- 10 Questions to Ask During a Job Interview Job interviews are full of opportunities for you to...
- How to Answer the Strengths and Weaknesses Job Interview Question One of the most common and most challenging job...
- Job Interview Success: Job Interview Tips Roundup I’ve recently attended a few events where I’ve met...
- Illegal Job Interview Questions: How to Answer Them Interviewers and interviewees alike are often unaware that certain...
- Interview Question: What are your strengths and weaknesses? This is a textbook interview question and is mainly...
- How to Exit a Conversation If you’ve ever been to a business networking event,...




(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)calendar
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Aug | Oct » | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | ||||
Recent Posts
Popular Articles
- Interview Question: What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- How to Answer the Strengths and Weaknesses Job Interview Question
- Public Speaking Success: How to Get Ideas for Speech Topics
- Hannah Montana Takes “Racy” Photos
- 25 Illegal Interview Questions
- A Fast Way to Improve Your Articulation
- Public Speaking: How to Write a Powerful Conclusion for Your Speech
- Public Speaking: How to Write a Speech - Part 1: Your Speech Outline
- Have a Communication Fear? Here’s What To Do About it
- Job Interview Questions: Where Do You Expect to Be in Five Years?
- Public Speaking Success: Three Ways to Make a Speech More Interesting
Recent Comments
- Don’t Let BlackBerry Addiction Ruin Your Presentation | Overnight Sensation - Public Speaking, Communication and Personal Development
on The Speech Introduction - Don’t Let BlackBerry Addiction Ruin Your Presentation | Overnight Sensation - Public Speaking, Communication and Personal Development
on Public Speaking Success: How to Create a Presentation for Work - Don’t Let BlackBerry Addiction Ruin Your Presentation | Overnight Sensation - Public Speaking, Communication and Personal Development
on Career Success: 10 Tips for Productive Meetings - Xamuel
on 20 Revealing Interview Questions - 20 Revealing Interview Questions | Overnight Sensation - Public Speaking, Communication and Personal Development
on 25 Illegal Interview Questions - Marketing 101 – Logic, Emotion, Needs and Wants « @rtstrategy
on Why We Feel Inadequate - Richard Garber
on Why We Feel Inadequate - Why We Feel Inadequate | Overnight Sensation - Public Speaking, Communication and Personal Development
on Public Speaking Myths: You Must Immediately Capture Your Audience’s Attention
recent entries
- Don’t Let BlackBerry Addiction Ruin Your Presentation
- 20 Revealing Interview Questions
- Why We Feel Inadequate
- How to Exit a Conversation
- Interview Questions – Why did you Leave Your Last Job?
- February Blog Carnivals
- Illegal Job Interview Questions: How to Answer Them
- An Ingredient to Spice Up Your Presentation
- 25 Illegal Interview Questions
- 5 Social Media Mistakes That Can Prevent You from Getting a Job
Wordpress theme by Wordpress Themes & made free by Internet Marketing Center
© 2006-2008 James Feudo All Rights Reserved.



No user commented on " Are You Taking Your Job Search Seriously? "