Landing a Job in this Economy

If you have recently lost your job or just out a school and are looking for a new job and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Don’t get discouraged, there is light at the end of the tunnel and the end might be closer than you realize. Keep in mind that the average job placement process is about 4 months.

The best strategy for finding a job has always been and will remain: Word of Month and Networking. Don’t be afraid to ask friends, past clients, co-workers at your past job for references or leads they may come across. For students just leaving College, make sure you tab into the college alumni association, join a professional organization, reach out to college friends who graduated before you and reach out to professionals in your desired industrial to ask questions and get their opinion on your career search and about the industry, you never know will this will take you.

After conducting some research we have found some great points in landing a job. Below are several areas you might want to focus on.

Portfolio:
It is a good idea to make a portfolio of your past work. Projects you worked on in detail or special achievements. This will show your interviewer several things. 1) That you are very professional 2) you are very organized and 3) you know how to prepare a presentation.

Interview:
You’ll be asked at the end of every interview if you have any questions. Let me answer that for you, YES, you do. Never say, “no, I’m fine.” To assure you are interested in the position you need to ask questions. Here are some questions to base yours off of, yours should be accustom to the interview.

What will a typical day in this position be like?
What skills contribute to success in this position?
**My favorite question to ask at the end is- “Do you have any doubts in my ability to perform in this job function?” That will blow them away.

Networking:
You need to be constantly networking. Take people to lunch in your field, meet with people outside your company that you work with, subscribe to a trade magazine, find an online discussion group and do the best you can at becoming an expert in your field. Networking is critical for your career, without a good networking strategy; you might end up in the same position your entire career.

The best career advice comes in one statement from Dale Carnegie in his book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Write this quote down and always remember it.

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you”. Pg 54

If you follow this one statement, you’ll have a very successful career.