My last time searching for a job, I got lucky. I used the shotgun approach, and it basically went nowhere. 20 resumes later, I got two interviews and no job. Fortunately, I got a job through networking – referred by a family member – so it wasn’t even networking of my own doing. But that has landed me a great job! Still, I love reading this type of thing because I am sure I will be back in the job market someday, and this type of advice seems MUCH more likely to help find a job…

The solution that worked for me, in IT, was to join several local User Groups in subjects I was interested in (Linux, PHP, etc.). At the time the contacts I made there were far more valuable than my classmates.

Now 6 years after graduation, my former classmates and I are still in contact and networking with each other is actually useful. Most of us have jobs in different industries and our diverse work experience is useful when we’re job hunting, trying to fill a position or looking for an outside opinion on something.

You didn’t know a single person who worked their (via your “network” or not) and you still landed those interviews.

This is the point I try to make to friends (or random acquaintances) who try to see if I can “forward their resume” somewhere. If I don’t know you, or don’t know what you are good at, I am not going to waste everyone’s time forwarding resumes.

You have to know *yourself* first, know what you want to do, and *then* find companies who need you.

Plain & simple.

As for myself, I didn’t know a soul in any of the companies that I applied to. In a way, I guess I just wanted a clean break.

Anyway, here’s my story…

Trigger: Current job = dead end. No opportunity for new projects, or advancement. I loved (most of) the people, but the work just wasn’t challenging anymore. I had worked off & on in the same basic line of work for over 10 years, and I was ready for a change.

The Search: I looked at career websites for nearly 6 months, and only bothered clicking on jobs that actually interested me. I sent resumes and highly tailored cover letters to exactly 5 companies. (Not a typo… five (5) companies.)

The Result: Got form-email reply “thanks, but no thanks” from 3 companies (incidentally, these were the same three that forced me to fill out a career-site web application form to “apply” for the job). My guess is the computer screening resumes didn’t find enough of the right key words. In hindsight, I really don’t know if I truly wanted to work at a company where computers do work that is really best done by a human…

Finale: I got interviews at the other two, including one where I filled out a paper application in the lobby, chit-chatted with the receptionist before I took a personality test. I had two interviews, and eventually got the job at one.

Aftermath: I have been at my new job a few months, and I absolutely love it. The people could not be nicer, the work is challenging – but in a way I really like, they have a strong commitment to work-life balance (a “must” for me, which I saw in the job posting, and confirmed in the interview), and I have been able to immediately put to use the skills that I love using.

Sometimes, it isn’t “who” you know; but rather, how well you know yourself.

If folks would take the time to critically examine the job posting itself – whether or not their 3rd cousin, twice removed can get the application expedited – they would probably find themselves landing interviews much faster, and for jobs they actually want.

That’s my $0.02.

I’ve noticed recently that some companies in my province hold their own recruiting events or online job fairs. If you follow the company through social media, you can find out about these events.

For smaller companies, including start-ups, then the approach in the article will work, but for Fortune 500 companies, it wont work at all. If they hire without advertising, they can get into legal trouble, and the whole point of the HR dept is to avoid legal trouble regarding their hiring practices.

Ive worked for both a small tech start-up and a multi-national corporation. The interview and hiring processes were completely alien to each other. I dont think there is any one good way to find a job. Its industry and company specific.

Of course, the most important thing is having in-demand skills. I switched jobs in 2008 as well, and had no problem getting hired because of my technical skills.

If I were contacted with something like the letter in the post, I’d probably consider helping out the person.

Just for background info, while there was no networking involved in my getting hired at my current company (I was a college new hire), I did ping my previous manager and recruiter to get a different position at my company when I got a bit bored. So, technically, I did use my network to get my current “job”.

However, I know I have a much larger network, I’m just not quite sure how to exercise it if I wanted to since I don’t keep in contact with those folks and I’d feel awkward contacting them. So, I appreciate the example/advice in the post.

Before reaching out to more nebulous contacts (college alumni, those at orgs you want to work for) I’d check with previous coworkers first. LinkedIn is a great tool for that, as well.

That said, I’ve beefed up my LinkedIn profile, and jobs often roll into me whether I want them or not. Seriously, the amount of passiveness I’ve had in looking for work has been astonishing, since recruiters seek me out.

Note that I’m in software engineering, and have about 12 years experience. Even if I don’t think my experience is fantastic, it’s enough to put me in a sweet spot in an active industry.

Moving forward, I think it’s worthwhile to state that people should have an online presence in some form. While this won’t get you jobs directly (or at least jobs you likely don’t want), it will give you a platform from which you can inform others that you’re available in the job market; your online material can also show your capabilities. My favorite example in my field (electronics) are people showing off their passion on YouTube by showing off their hobby projects. It follows the “don’t say, do” mantra and I’ve seen it work wonders.

The new corporate model is a skeleton crew where in the past there used to floors stocked full of workers stuffed into cubicles.

Those days have passed and I don’t think they are returning any time soon.

Add to that the fact that companies actually prefer recent college grads with no experience and you should know why your job search isn’t going as well as you would expect.

With that said, it’s still a good excuse to start your own business.

The job advertisement for my current job really piqued my interest. As I read through it, I thought they were looking for me or somebody very similar to me. So I applied and was contacted by someone from HR. In the meantime, I remembered that an old colleague worked for this company, so I contacted him and asked for advice on the interview process. His advice really helped and I got the job.

So I sort of used networking, but in a roundabout way. The company is great and even though we had to move, we like the new area. Everything is much more reasonably priced, especially the real estate. And even though the cost of living is much lower in our new location, I did get a small raise by taking the new job. Monetarily the raise was small, but the increased buying power was like getting a 20% raise over my previous job!

Make sure that when you do network that you leave a professional trail. That is, when you’re out of work, don’t email my sister that you’re desperate– even if she’s your friend. She cannot forward that email and she’s less likely to be able to put her reputation on the line if you’re not professional every step of the way. Same thing with typos in those emails. Present yourself at all points as you would want a recruiter to see you.

I don’t know if the method would work for all companies, but for the type of company I wanted to work at, the super tailored strategy was incredibly effective.

I agree with the comment above to try and give as good as you get. Sometimes there isn’t much you can do to help mentors and more senior people in your network (beyond a big thank you, that is) but I’ve always been happy to “pay it forward”.