Resume Guru

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job hunting

Easter Eggs and the Job Hunt

Every year, the Easter Bunny stashes eggs throughout our home. Every year, our children wake us near dawn, straining at the leash. This means I’ve been up at dark-thirty filling and hiding eggs and want nothing more than to go back to bed. Much like Christmas as an adult, come to think of it…
 

The Easter egg hunt holds some lessons for the job hunt, too:

  1. Be enthusiastic. Expect wonderful things to appear unexpectedly. Enjoy the hunt. Have a spirit of discovery and delight.
  2. Be curious. Look in unlikely places. The legendary “hidden job market” just means “takes effort and luck to find.”
  3. Be energetic. Keep moving. Don’t linger in one spot, keep looking. Traffic is always light on the extra mile.
  4. Play nice. Share information and tips. It’s not a zero-sum game. Everyone can win. Helping others with advice may prove to be an investment, coming back to you in unforeseen ways.
  5. Starbursts might be flavored wax. The jury’s still out on that one.

Online chat: Job Search Strategy to Find a Job NOW

I’m hosting this week’s HireFriday chat on Twitter. January 6th Noon ET, 11 Central, 9am Pacific. Details on the HireFriday site.

The perfect job search requires mastering a number of skills: career goals, assessment tools, resume writing, cover letters, references, networking, interviewing, salary negotiation, work/life balance, etc. There are hundreds of books and thousands of articles teaching these skills. You could read and practice for years.

But you don’t have years. You need a job now.

So today, we’re going to talk about job search strategy for the real world, not the perfect world. Job search tactics that reflect what’s missing from most advice: a sense of urgency!

Q1: How do you know what job search tactics are a priority?

Q2: How often do you change your job search tactics?

Q3: What job search tactics seem too time-consuming or difficult?

Q4: Who do you call first to build a network?

Q5: What online job search resource produces fastest results?