| Topic Name: |
What am I doing wrong? |
| Message Name: |
Passive Search |
| Date Posted: |
08/24/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
I am just looking for some advice about what I may be doing wrong in my job searches.
First my background: I graduated in May of '04 from a major university with a degree in Electrical Engineering and a GPA of 3.77. I spent about a year interning with a manufacturing company in the IT department and for the past year I have been working as an IT Consultant (PeopleSoft specialist). I have grown tired of the constant travel involved and would like to get a job at home (Austin, TX) so I can spend more time with my wife. I would love to actually get into Engineering work, but I am open to anything that would "pay the bills."
I have been using all the major job websites (Monster, CareerBuilder, and HotJobs) all the local job sites and I have submitted my resume to all the big companies in Austin via their websites. Since I started my job search over a year ago, I have only gotten face to face interviews with 2 companies (the one I am working for and one other) and a phone interview with one other.
Is the job market that bad, do I just suck, or am I doing something wrong? Any advice would truly be appreciated. |
| Message: |
Ouch! You've been searching for a year and only 1 interview? That's not fun!
Here's the thing, searching open positions via company websites and popular job boards is the equivalent of searching with your eye to a straw not to mention, most of us close the other eye so we can focus clearly through that straw, right? So now you are looking through a narrow tube with one eye shut. That just can't be effective, can it?
When you submit your resume, how is yours any different from all the other resumes pouring in the doors of these sites? What makes your resume stand out in the crowd? Is it a marketing document selling your expertise or a history report explaining the things you've done and the company you did those things for?
Do you do any follow up at all or just send the resume and hope that will be enough to make the phone ring?
If your phone isn't ringing...the resume isn't doing it's job -- which is generating interest in YOU.
Let's face it, pretty much everyone does exactly what you are doing in your job search: waiting for an opportunity to appear on a website, then standing in an invisible line with hundreds of candidates applying for those same positions. And most wonder, just like you, "what am I doing wrong??"
You've got to stop doing what everyone else is doing, separate yourself from your competition and start MARKETING your skills to decision makers in your target companies.
You should be looking for opportunities outside of traditional methods. There are lots of ways to generate job leads beyond the confines of overcrowded, unproductive job boards. If you don't know what those are, how will this search ever come to an end?
Andrea
http://interviewing.com/
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