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Friday, June 25, 2010

Targeting Your Job Search

Once you have defined your career goals and aspirations, you are in a position to identify your target job, industry and location. Defining your career goals and aspirations gives you a structured starting point from which you can clearly identify your personal requirements. With clearly defined goals in mind you are in a position to conduct a comprehensive but structured job search utilizing your pre-determined criteria to help the decision making process. You will also find that the field is larger once you open yourself up to various possibilities. In this way, you will be in a position to locate prospective employers who fall within your target area and criteria.

Locating prospective employers within your area can be done in a number of ways including:

Chamber of Commerce - Your local Chamber of Commerce will have a list of all businesses within your area.
Trade Publications - Accessed at public libraries or online.
Business Publications - The Wall Street Journal and various other monthly business magazines can provide information on proposed mergers, acquisitions and market trends.
Industry Associations - Use the Encyclopaedia of Associations researched by Gale Research, Inc., to locate corporate member profiles and member directories.
The Public Library - You can use many resources including the Directory of Directories to source information on employers within your region.
Career Fairs - These are particularly useful for recent graduates and entry-level employees as you can gather job/career information, make contacts and conduct interviews onsite.
Online Job Boards - There are many job boards that can prove beneficial to your job search including but not limited to, www.hotjobs.com www.flipdog.com www.monster.com among many others. Don't forget to review local job boards that are specific to your state as these may offer a more targeted approach.
Mailing Lists - You may access mailing lists of companies as defined by specific industries. Call the Direct Marketing Association at 212.768.7277
Networking - Still the most effective way to locate a potential hiring manager. Check out our article on networking to find out how this technique can work for you.
As you can see, there are many resources available to assist you in determining your job search strategy. With the level of competition for jobs intense, it is critical to your chances of success that you approach your job search in a structured and targeted manner.

You must be aware that every job posting attracts hundreds of applicants. With this in mind you should be increasingly aware of the role that your resume, cover letter, networking and interview play in your job search.

Hiring managers want to hire competent, enthusiastic and focused candidates. They want to hire candidates who can make an immediate contribution within their new position with little or no direction. Smart job hunters are aware of this fact and use it to their advantage. Your resume, cover letter and interview answers must tell a prospective employer exactly what it is that you can bring to their organization and why they should hire you.


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