Go where the employers go

Where do employers go when they're out of the office?

One of the places they go is the local Chamber of Commerce, or Business Centre for the city or town. These organizations usually host monthly "mixers", often for free and open to non-members at least for one visit.

Here employers mix and hope to find more business or business connections.

Here is also where they pass on names of possible employees to each other.

Here is where you should be as part of your job search, ready with your business card and 30 second info-mercial.
(read down for more on these)

Go around, meet as many people as you can. Tell them what you are looking for in the way of work and give them your card. Ask them to pass it on to anyone they know who may be looking for someone with your skills.

Your business card will have your name, contact information and either a job title (if the title makes it clear what you do) or 3 bulleted skills that you think will hook an employer the most.

Your Informercial takes about 30 seconds to deliver, and tells the listener exactly what it is you are seeking by way of employment.

Read other blog entries here on these two topics.

So get out and meet employers where they go, and find jobs before your competition.

Need more help with your job search?

Be Creatrive: consider how your skills can fit into the most unlikely places

We all tend to allow ourselves to get stuck in "boxes". We get ideas about where our skills fit and don't realize that there are a great many other places and businesses out there where these same skills might be useful.

A client who had been working in manufacturing for years, moved to the island here where I live to be with his new fiancee, where basically there is no manufacturing. He couldn't think what on earth he could do here. However, this is a retirement location, so health care is huge. He eventually found work cleaning and sterilizing surgical instruments, working for the local Health Authority. Wasn't an obvious move from manufacturing, but it turned out to use the same mechanical skills and attention to detail he has used before.

That is just one example of a creative job search.

Don't allow yourself to be boxed in by where you expect to find work. Instead, look to see what is out there. What companies, what types of work are hiring, then think out which of your skills fit in, and how.

Don't expect the employer to do this when you send in your resume. S/he won't.

Instead, make sure you point out clearly that you have these specific skills that are relevant to the job for which you are applying, even if it's a totally different job than you've had before. It's the skills that matter, not the job title.

But you have to sell the skills Your resume has to be targetted to the job you are applying for, and the relevant skills you have to offer. And when you go to the interview, make sure you are ready to back that up with strong examples of when you used these skills in ways that make sense to this employer and this job.

The limit of this is your creativity. Notice I say creativity ... I am not suggesting any deception. I am however suggesting looking at your skills from a different angle and finding out where else they could fit.
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If you can't get one job, have you considered two or more?

Although less than 50% of workers in North America have full time (37+ hours a week) jobs, that is what most people still think of when they think about "getting a job."
But it's not the only option.

2 or more part time jobs can be a solution. And I know, many people don't want to have several part time jobs, and often the benefits that come with a full time job are not there.

But if you can't get that full time job at the moment, it can be a very viable option.

The benefits of more than one part time job are that you gain a wider variety of skills. Perhaps your 2 jobs are quite different, or perhaps they are doing the same type of work for more than one employer. Either way, you will learn more skills and, if you do a good job, gain more great references.

If boredom has ever been an issue in your work, 2 different part time jobs can ease that considerably.

You will meet more coworkers, and have the opportunity through that not just to make more friends, but also, to hear what else is going on the outside world of work from more people ... giving you a greater chance to hear of full time work when it reappears.

Try looking on the positive.

When you look on the negative all you see are the negative points. But everything has a positive side. Actively look for the positives in the concept of more than one part time job, and you will be surprised how many you will find.

As a confirmed part-time-in-more-than-one-job worker myself, I can tell you quite honestly that I love it, and would never want to have one full time job ever again.

Think about it ... what part time work could you do?
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