Finding a job can take months of time and effort. But you can speed the process by using many methods to find job openings. People who use many job hunting methods find work much faster than those who use only one or two. Here are some tips to get you started:

Personal Contacts

Many jobs are never advertised. People get them by talking to friends, family, neighbours, acquaintances, teachers, former co-workers, and others who know of an opening. Be sure to tell people that you are looking for a job because the people you know may be some of the most effective resources for your search. To develop new contacts, join student, community, or professional organizations.

Careers Advisers

Secondary School and College placement services help their students find jobs. Some invite recruiters to use their facilities for interviews or career fairs. They also may have lists of open jobs. Most also offer career counselling, career testing, and job hunting advice. Some have career resource libraries; host workshops on job hunting strategy, resume writing, letter writing, and effective interviewing; critique drafts of resumes; conduct mock interviews; and sponsor job fairs.

Employers

Directly contacting employers is one of the most successful means of job hunting. Through library and Internet research, develop a list of potential employers in your desired career field. Then call these employers and check their websites for job openings. Websites and business directories can tell you how to apply for a position or whom to contact. Even if no open positions are posted, do not hesitate to contact the employer: You never know when a job might become available. Consider asking for an informational interview with people working in the career you want to learn more about. Ask them how they got started, what they like and dislike about the work, what type of qualifications are necessary for the job, and what type of personality succeeds in that position. In addition to giving you career information, they may be able to put you in contact with other employers who may be hiring, and they can keep you in mind if a position opens up.

Classified ads

The "Help Wanted" ads in newspapers and the Internet list numerous jobs, and many people find work by responding to these ads. But when using classified ads, keep the following in mind:

• Follow all leads to find a job; do not rely solely on the classifieds.
• Answer ads promptly, because openings may be filled quickly, even before the ad stops appearing in the paper.
• Read the ads every day, particularly the Sunday edition, which usually includes the most listings.
• Keep a record of all ads to which you have responded, including the specific skills, educational background, and personal qualifications required for the position. You may want to follow up on your initial inquiry.

Internet Resources

The Internet includes many job hunting websites with job listings. Some job boards provide National listings of all kinds; others are local. Some relate to a specific type of work; others are general. To find good prospects, begin with an Internet search using keywords related to the job you want. Also look for the websites of related professional associations.

Also consider checking Internet forums, also called message boards. These are online discussion groups where anyone may post and read messages. Use forums specific to your profession or to career-related topics to post questions or messages and to read about the job huntinges or career experiences of other people. Although these message boards may seem helpful, carefully evaluate all advice before acting; it can be difficult to determine the reliability of information posted on message boards.

In online job databases, remember that job listings may be posted by field or discipline, so begin your search using keywords. Many websites allow job seekers to post their resumes online for free.

Professional Associations

Many professions have associations that offer employment information, including career planning, educational programs, job listings, and job placement. Information can be obtained directly from most professional associations through the Internet, by telephone, or by mail. Associations usually require that you be a member to use these services.

Jobcentre Plus

Although this one is a bit obvious, it is nonetheless overlooked. Use the computer terminal to find local jobs. Don't forget to ask a member of staff for advice too. You'll be pleasantly surprised to find that they really do know what the local job market is like and can help you find work.

Employment Agencies

These agencies can save you time and they will contact employers who otherwise might be difficult to locate. Such agencies offer a free service to job hunters but charge the hiring company a fee. Keeping in constant contact with these agencies will ensure they remember you whenever there is an appropriate opening.

Internships

Many people find jobs with business and organizations with whom they have interned or volunteered. Look for internships and volunteer opportunities on job boards, school career centres, and company and association websites, but also check community service organizations and volunteer opportunity databases. Internships and long-term volunteer positions provide experience and the chance to meet employers and other good networking contacts.

Is the “hidden job market” a myth? Career experts have for years touted the notion that the vast majority of jobs – published statistics have suggested figures ranging from 75 to 95 percent of the total job market – are never advertised. This portion of the job market that is hidden from public view is behind the rationale career practitioners use to promote the effectiveness of networking in the job search. But, based on a prominent consultant’s assertion that the hidden job market is a myth, Quintessential Careers (www.quintcareers.com/), one of the Web's leading career tools sites, investigated the hidden job market concept and has published its findings in a package of three articles.

The consultant was Gerry Crispin, who in 2009 stated in a career-management discussion group that the hidden job market is one of the biggest myths of job-hunting; that, in fact, it doesn’t exist: “Maybe a few thousand out of 20 million jobs are unpublished, and they are primarily at or near the C-level,” said Gerry Crispin, who with partner Mark Mehler, operates CareerXroads®, which consults with corporations in career planning and placement, contract recruiting, executive search, recruitment advertising, and human-resource management.

With his permission, Quintessential Careers shared Crispin’s opinion with more than 70 experts in the career-management, employment, recruiting, and hiring sectors. The majority refuted Crispin’s opinion that the hidden job market is a myth, though few offered concrete evidence in favor of the hidden market. Some agreed with him. The experts, however, identified two problems with the hidden job market concept:

1. Definitions and interpretations of the “hidden job market” may not reflect reality. “Hidden” may not be the best term for this sector of available jobs since employers don’t deliberately hide vacancies.

2. Those who are skeptical about the hidden job market generally admit it exists but dispute commonly bandied-about figures – that the hidden job market comprises 75-95 percent of the job market — contending that the portion of the job market that is unadvertised is much smaller. The size of the hidden job market may also fluctuate based on the economy, some say.

In Quintessential Careers’ lead article on the hidden job market (www.quintcareers.com/hidden_job_market_myth.htm), Is the Hidden Job Market a Myth? A Quintessential Careers Investigative Report, experts agreed with Crispin’s assertion that employers generally don’t purposefully hide job vacancies from the public, but suggested that situations such as the following may result in unpublicized openings:

• The employer needs to confidentially replace a nonperformer.
• The employer at a public company fears news of significant hiring will hurt stock prices.
• The employer does not want to reveal future plans to competitors and others, and publicizing openings could expose those plans.
• The employer wants to get referrals before or instead of publicizing the vacancy and being inundated with resumes from unqualified candidates.
• The employer hires a search firm or recruiter to conduct a confidential search.
• The employer uses social media or other non-advertising means to find candidates.
• The employer may be very small and does not have the resources to advertise the opening.
• Human error; the employer simply fails to publicize the opening (e.g., lack or time, forgetfulness) or has a poorly designed Website, where job-seekers have difficulty finding vacancy listings.
• The opening exists, but there’s a hiring freeze, so the job cannot yet be publicized.
• The opening is still “in the pipeline;” it’s unofficial, so it cannot yet be publicized.

Techniques for penetrating unpublicized openings like the foregoing is the subject of the second feature in Quintessential Careers’ hidden job market package (www.quintcareers.com/unpublicized_job_market.html), How to Tap Into Jobs in the Unpublicized Employment Market.

Experts speculated on the size of the market and, in a sidebar feature in Quintessential Careers’ hidden job market package (www.quintcareers.com/unpublicized_job_market_experiences.html), shared plenty of anecdotes in which job-seekers obtained jobs that had not been advertised. The only definitive statistics on the size of the market come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in a regularly issued report called Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS. The Quintessential Careers’ hidden job market report explains that, while determining the size of the hidden job market from these statistics depends on how the stats are interpreted, what they include, and the state of the economy, they clearly suggest the existence of the hidden job market.

“Regardless of the size of the hidden/unpublicized job market,” said Quintessential Careers Associate Publisher Katharine Hansen. “The evidence is clear that networking is crucial to job-search success and remains the most effective way to land a new job. Job-seekers should consider tapping unpublicized jobs as just one tool in the job-search kit,” said Hansen, who wrote the three hidden job market features.

Source:  Quintessential Careers/EmpoweringSites.com