Cut Your Job Search Time in Half
| July 16, 2010 | Posted by admin under DECLARE - Network/Interview, DECODE - Assess/Plan, DIRECT - Target/Resume |
Cut Your Job Search Time in Half
by Eilene Zimmerman | Apr 1, 2010
It now takes almost as long to get a job in the U.S. — seven and a half months — as it does to produce your next of kin. That’s the longest slog since the Labor Department began tracking job search duration in 1948. Looked at another way, there are currently an average of six people vying for every job that you are, each of them doing exactly the same things — combing job boards, networking, prepping for interviews — as you. Is there a way to speed up the job search and stand out from your competition?
Recruiters and other experts say that the only way is to put in the extra work to present yourself so that employers realize they absolutely need you, and that they need you right now.
Mary Berman managed to do it. After interviewing last fall for a job she really wanted in event management and marketing, the 56-year-old Berman decided to ditch the typical thank-you note and instead spent the whole night after the interview creating a detailed action plan for her first 30, 60, and 90 days in the job. She described to her future boss how she would learn the job, build rapport with employees and customers, contribute to the company’s bottom line, and fulfill every function outlined in the job description. And it didn’t hurt that she had already sent the person she first interviewed with, as well as the office receptionist, a chocolate-dipped apple to go with her thank-you note. Three days later, Berman heard back with an offer — just two months after she started her job search.
Here’s how to copy Berman’s success and stop wasting valuable time:
1. Forget Monster.com
2. Borrow from Headhunters’ Tricks
3. Dump the Timeline on Your Resume
4. Get Ready for Your Close-Up
More than anything else, an interview is an audition, so you had better rehearse
5. Push the Envelope
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