By Christine Kleckner, Minnesota School of Business-Lakeville Director of Career Services
Entering a new career field or looking for advancement in an old one can be extremely time consuming. Many have said that looking for a job is a full time job, but what if you already have a full time job? Use these tips and tricks for utilizing your time and potential to the fullest.
● Focus on job boards that are giving you the biggest bang for your buck. Sites like Indeed search hundreds of online job boards and provide you with opportunities from many different sites. By using this site, you will find positions from Monster, Career Builder, Star Tribune Jobs and more. It’s a one stop shop for job seekers!
● Utilize your personal network. Experts say that 80% of job opportunities are filled through word of mouth, and never advertised. Make sure that friends and family are aware of your job search so that they can spread the word. LinkedIn is another great place to gain connections and meet people that are working in your chosen field of study.
● Let the jobs come to you. Use job alerts to sign up and receive job listings by email. All the major job sites have search agents and some websites and apps specialize in sending announcements as new positions get posted. Use this tool so that you are the first to know when a new position opens up in your field so that you can be the first to apply!
● Contact Career Services. Whether you are an active student or graduate, the Career Services Department is here to help! We can assist you with job seeking document preparation, interviewing skills, job leads and more.
Happy hunting!
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Christine,
I think your idea of signing up for job alerts is key for the working student. So many students really don’t have much time to job hunt, and to have an email sent to you instead of having to hunt for openings can make you more efficient and successful. When your job, studies and personal life are all taking up large portions of time (as they should!), it’s important to find ways to make technology work for you.
We had session at our DECA conference today where the presenter discussed how he looks at applicants’ Linked-In sites and them as a better source for information about the person than their resume’. Using these social connection tools have replaced calling your connections to try to get a job.
Christine,
I like the idea of using LinkedIn for job searching. One of the great things about LinkedIn is people can search for you. If you use the right keywords and have a professional presence on LinkedIn, people will search you out and contact you about a job. Once again another great way to have job opportunities come to you!
You provided great tips for job searching!