DIY Job Search Part I

DIY Job Search â€" Part I (DIY -> Do It Yourself) When I first got laid off I knew exactly what to do.   So do you.   So just get down to it and within a short period of time youll start to get interviews lined up.   Heres what I did: First, I got my resume ready.   I spent about a week creating my resume from scratch.   I got my brothers resume so I didnt have to play with the format and adjusted the information.   Unfortunately I had to spend some time chasing facts like my calls to the university to ask what date did I get my CIS degree, what is the exact name of the degree I got, what was my GPA stuff like that.   And I had a few friends and family check it out to see if it was ready for production! Alas, 5 days later I had a resume that was ready to post on job boards.   (note: 5 days isnt much time unless you are unemployed)! Second (during that 5 days of resume creation), I got accounts on CareerBuilder, Monster and Dice.   The local job boards just didnt have enough postings yet and so I didnt spend much time on those.   I created little agents or whatever they are called so that I could get specific opportunities e-mailed to me each morning.   Oh yeah, Jobs.com has a cool name so I got an account there also. Third, I looked up and met with some headhunters and recruiters.   Actually, I had to do some research on the issue it seems a few years ago I heard there were different types of headhunters and I wanted to make sure I got the best one.   My research taught me that indeed there were different types of headhunters that research ended up not helping because the headhunters I met with all seemed to be the same type. Fourth, I identified some local companies that I was interested in the big ones like American Express, eBay, Franklin Covey and others.   I found their job postings (some were not too easy to find hidden somewhere on their websites) and spent a few hours creating accounts.   By this time I was wishing that all the job boards would have some consistent technology to them at least let me upload my resume, parse out the data, and then I could just verify that they imported it correctly.   Thats okay, it only took about an hour or so on each on.   Well, except Intels site they were having technical difficulties at the time and I spent about 8 hours there, since I would get most of the way through and then it would delete my entry.   Try again.   But I was sure that Intel may have held the pot at the end of the rainbow. Fifth, I started applying to jobs.   Got a good cover letter and had a good resume, and I was off!   It felt good to have accomplished so much in so little time. I should mention that I got input and advice from family but I didnt need input and advice from a counselor.   I didnt have time for that. And I was off.   I sent out resume after resume, and it was awesome.   Each week I sent out dozens of resumes.   Even though I was down on my luck I knew that I was doing my best, doing the right thing, and that if I got enough resumes sent out Id eventually land a job. But it wasnt working!!! I only got 2 interviews in the first 2 months.   No one was calling back.   What was wrong?   What was the problem with my tactics?   My DIY tactics were not working. Well, for the sake of not writing a novel, Ill save my analysis for next week.   Have a great weekend! DIY Job Search â€" Part I (DIY -> Do It Yourself) When I first got laid off I knew exactly what to do.   So do you.   So just get down to it and within a short period of time youll start to get interviews lined up.   Heres what I did: First, I got my resume ready.   I spent about a week creating my resume from scratch.   I got my brothers resume so I didnt have to play with the format and adjusted the information.   Unfortunately I had to spend some time chasing facts like my calls to the university to ask what date did I get my CIS degree, what is the exact name of the degree I got, what was my GPA stuff like that.   And I had a few friends and family check it out to see if it was ready for production! Alas, 5 days later I had a resume that was ready to post on job boards.   (note: 5 days isnt much time unless you are unemployed)! Second (during that 5 days of resume creation), I got accounts on CareerBuilder, Monster and Dice.   The local job boards just didnt have enough postings yet and so I didnt spend much time on those.   I created little agents or whatever they are called so that I could get specific opportunities e-mailed to me each morning.   Oh yeah, Jobs.com has a cool name so I got an account there also. Third, I looked up and met with some headhunters and recruiters.   Actually, I had to do some research on the issue it seems a few years ago I heard there were different types of headhunters and I wanted to make sure I got the best one.   My research taught me that indeed there were different types of headhunters that research ended up not helping because the headhunters I met with all seemed to be the same type. Fourth, I identified some local companies that I was interested in the big ones like American Express, eBay, Franklin Covey and others.   I found their job postings (some were not too easy to find hidden somewhere on their websites) and spent a few hours creating accounts.   By this time I was wishing that all the job boards would have some consistent technology to them at least let me upload my resume, parse out the data, and then I could just verify that they imported it correctly.   Thats okay, it only took about an hour or so on each on.   Well, except Intels site they were having technical difficulties at the time and I spent about 8 hours there, since I would get most of the way through and then it would delete my entry.   Try again.   But I was sure that Intel may have held the pot at the end of the rainbow. Fifth, I started applying to jobs.   Got a good cover letter and had a good resume, and I was off!   It felt good to have accomplished so much in so little time. I should mention that I got input and advice from family but I didnt need input and advice from a counselor.   I didnt have time for that. And I was off.   I sent out resume after resume, and it was awesome.   Each week I sent out dozens of resumes.   Even though I was down on my luck I knew that I was doing my best, doing the right thing, and that if I got enough resumes sent out Id eventually land a job. But it wasnt working!!! I only got 2 interviews in the first 2 months.   No one was calling back.   What was wrong?   What was the problem with my tactics?   My DIY tactics were not working. Well, for the sake of not writing a novel, Ill save my analysis for next week.   Have a great weekend! DIY Job Search â€" Part I (DIY -> Do It Yourself) When I first got laid off I knew exactly what to do.   So do you.   So just get down to it and within a short period of time youll start to get interviews lined up.   Heres what I did: First, I got my resume ready.   I spent about a week creating my resume from scratch.   I got my brothers resume so I didnt have to play with the format and adjusted the information.   Unfortunately I had to spend some time chasing facts like my calls to the university to ask what date did I get my CIS degree, what is the exact name of the degree I got, what was my GPA stuff like that.   And I had a few friends and family check it out to see if it was ready for production! Alas, 5 days later I had a resume that was ready to post on job boards.   (note: 5 days isnt much time unless you are unemployed)! Second (during that 5 days of resume creation), I got accounts on CareerBuilder, Monster and Dice.   The local job boards just didnt have enough postings yet and so I didnt spend much time on those.   I created little agents or whatever they are called so that I could get specific opportunities e-mailed to me each morning.   Oh yeah, Jobs.com has a cool name so I got an account there also. Third, I looked up and met with some headhunters and recruiters.   Actually, I had to do some research on the issue it seems a few years ago I heard there were different types of headhunters and I wanted to make sure I got the best one.   My research taught me that indeed there were different types of headhunters that research ended up not helping because the headhunters I met with all seemed to be the same type. Fourth, I identified some local companies that I was interested in the big ones like American Express, eBay, Franklin Covey and others.   I found their job postings (some were not too easy to find hidden somewhere on their websites) and spent a few hours creating accounts.   By this time I was wishing that all the job boards would have some consistent technology to them at least let me upload my resume, parse out the data, and then I could just verify that they imported it correctly.   Thats okay, it only took about an hour or so on each on.   Well, except Intels site they were having technical difficulties at the time and I spent about 8 hours there, since I would get most of the way through and then it would delete my entry.   Try again.   But I was sure that Intel may have held the pot at the end of the rainbow. Fifth, I started applying to jobs.   Got a good cover letter and had a good resume, and I was off!   It felt good to have accomplished so much in so little time. I should mention that I got input and advice from family but I didnt need input and advice from a counselor.   I didnt have time for that. And I was off.   I sent out resume after resume, and it was awesome.   Each week I sent out dozens of resumes.   Even though I was down on my luck I knew that I was doing my best, doing the right thing, and that if I got enough resumes sent out Id eventually land a job. But it wasnt working!!! I only got 2 interviews in the first 2 months.   No one was calling back.   What was wrong?   What was the problem with my tactics?   My DIY tactics were not working. Well, for the sake of not writing a novel, Ill save my analysis for next week.   Have a great weekend!