The Plan B Job Search Strategy & Reading List

[Golden Monkey]

In light of the thread, and the very wise advice to "hope for the best and prepare for the worst," I wanted to start a thread about recommended job search strategies and books on job-hunting.

I read an older version of the standard What Color Is Your Parachute? but plan to read the newest version.

A few years ago, I read Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters. While I didn't end up finding my next two jobs with these methods, they did make a lot of sense and gave me a lot to think about.

In the bookstore, I saw this book, Don't Send a Resume, which is kind of similar to "Guerilla Marketing." I plan to pick it up now.

I have never read Who Moved My Cheese, but it's been recommended by others.

Please contribute any recommended books, strategies or thoughts, for those of us already proceeding with Plan B.

[crayolacat]

I used to be an employment specialist for a church... I recommend the Knock Em Dead books. And also, please please please don't make your resume ugly. In my current job I have to review CVs (not for job selection, just to see if people have the qualifications for a certain certification) and 99.9% of them are ugly as sin. Looking at prof's CVs online, same thing. Also, buy a copy of the Merriam-Webster Secretarial Handbook (most people can get through college without ever learning how to format a letter, etc.) and the Chicago Manual of Style if you don't already have it and consult both for your business correspondence. Spend some time on your LinkedIn profile and get some recommendations if you can and good links. LinkedIn is the lazy way for employers to see if you are who you say you are, because you are less likely to lie in front of the whole world than in a resume.

I would also say don't apply through Monster, etc. if you can help it. Figure out the company and go apply to them directly on their website. I think it makes you look more serious about the company than just someone who was trolling Monster. If they have a text-only resume eater, format another version of your resume that looks pretty in text-only, but then bring your truly pretty resume to the interview. "Here, I think this is easier to read." They will agree and appreciate it. One thing I did at one point in my career was just drove around the area where businesses like the one I wanted to work at were located and wrote down names from signs. It can be easy to miss small businesses in general web searches.

Also, don't be afraid to take a job very low in an organization if you have no practical experience. I read so much about new college graduates throwing away perfectly good jobs that are "beneath them". In my industry, new grads are hired into a position that is basically secretary. Yes, they are sitting next to people with AA degrees or less, the difference is that it is a training opportunity for the new grads to learn the business and they will move up if they will just sit there long enough to learn something. Just ask at the interview what the progression opportunties are, and then ask for specific examples (how many people were promoted out of this position in the last two years?) so you know they aren't just blowing smoke.

Lastly, send a thank you letter after every interview, preferably hand-written on paper. I used to find the post office that served that particular business (search on usps.gov) and drove my thank you letter there so they would get it the next morning. One job I got, I was told that they had actually selected another candidate and then changed their mind because of the thank you letter.

BTW, my personal story is that I graduated with a degree in philosophy and no work experience. I read database design books at night while working as a secretary by day, wrote a database that computerized a very complex human contact system the business where I working used, moved into data management of scientific studies, scratched and clawed, and now hold a management position in a science company and am about to finish an MS that my employer paid for. I know so many people who never would have taken that secretary job (and so many people who walked in the front door and turned up their nose at the secretary, one intern from the college where I had graduated told me I seemed smart enough that I could go get a college degree if I really tried, heh), but it was just Point A of my journey. I have now saved enough money and overpaid my mortgage so that I can afford to go graduate school full time and keep my modest little house, if I can get in. If I don't get in, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

[Golden Monkey]

Great input, Crayolacat.

One thing I wonder about is this concept of the "Guerrilla Resume," as it comes from the Guerrilla Marketing book. The idea is to make your 2-page black and white text only resume into a 1-page color brochure of sorts, with logos from important companies you've worked for in the past. While this makes a lot of sense to me (the theory is that humans are more driven by graphics than they are words,) the examples I've seen have been so aesthetically horrifying that I can't bring myself to do it. Example. I guess in my umpteenth rewrite of my resume, I'm trying to come up with some compromise between the two.

One thing I learned from my very first "real" job interview was that you should be really, really careful about interview/career advice from someone who has absolutely no familiarity with your particular field. While this advice is typically well-intentioned, you need to ask someone who has worked in that field, or trust your own intuition, rather than listening to someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. When I got my first interview, the job involved a lot of physical work: carpentry, fabrication, etc. in addition to all the design work. My sister's boyfriend at the time came from a completely corporate publishing background and said that I must, must, must wear a suit, and always with a white shirt and a red tie, and to make sure my shoes were polished. I had a feeling he was completely wrong, but did as he said because he had been working for years and was 100% adamant ("always a suit. No exceptions ever!") When I got to the job interview, every employee was in the most casual of clothes, and everyone single one of them made a crack about my ridiculous suit. I didn't get the job, because, I was told, they got the impression that I was not willing to get my hands dirty and do the manual labor that came with the job. I always regretted listening to that advice, because I knew from the beginning it was wrong, but followed it anyway.

[crayolacat]

Heh, good story. I have no idea what to wear these days, even if I were interviewing for my job. We're somewhere between business casual and too d**n casual, I know that. And good example of a horrific resume.