Myths And Misconceptions About Job Hunting

In order to conduct an effective job search, you have to know what you are looking for, why you are looking and how to go about it. There are a few common myths and misconceptions to be aware of so your job hunt stays on the right path.

o After college, jobs come easily: You should never expect that you will get job offers immediately after you graduate. It will take time for you to find a good job. The fact is that some people will be lucky while others will have to wait longer. You need to have patience - on average, finding a suitable job takes 3-4 months. Don't waste your time simply waiting. Until you find a good job, try working in a smaller one, at least part-time. It may not pay you as much, but it will at least keep you occupied.

o Putting your resume on the Internet means more offers: This is not always true. Think about what recruiters must be going through. They get more than a hundred resumes everyday, and it is definitely not possible for them to consider each and every one of them. The best advice here is to personalize your resume to meet the requirements of each job that you apply to.

o Classified ads make up the majority of job openings: Agreed - ads in the newspapers and on the Internet do make up a good deal of job openings, but not all of them. The jobs that offer a big position and a huge salary are usually not advertised everywhere. This calls for some savvy networking. Try to approach companies even if there is no opening advertised, and don't forget to leave your resume with them. If there is an opening, be being proactive, you may receive a call for an interview.

o Job-hopping is bad: This is a very popular misconception that everyone seems to believe. Though this used to be a fact some years ago, but now the mindset of the average employer has changed. Changing jobs frequently was once viewed as instability in character. But now it is okay to change your job after a year, as this now indicates your ambition to learn and advance in your career.

o If you're over 50, it's over: This issue can never pose as a problem as long as you have the proper education, relevant experience and the right attitude. Having the right attitude means being open to new ideas, team spirit and contributing to the company.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions - Six Sigma Online (http://www.sixsigmaonline.org) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

New Ways to Brag About Yourself While Job Hunting

The web is constantly changing, we all know that. What most of us don't do is change with it. You need to go further than just sending in resumes if you want to compete for jobs. There are now plenty of new ways to promote yourself. For one, networking has gone online. Join social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Next, talk about yourself. If you're not telling people how awesome you are, no one else will. Brag it up. Here are some ideas on how to use new media.

Blog It

Once again, BRAG. You need to toot your own horn. Get started by blogging about yourself and your job experience. Make yourself interesting. It doesn't need to be all in one post. Make several posts. And this is a great format to go beyond the resume and cover letter. Include information that is generally left off of resumes. I once interviewed for a job at a HUGE email company. Turns out I got an interview not from what my resume said, but because I had lived somewhere the interviewee's best friend had once lived. Random? Yes. Did I care? No. The point is, you never know what about you is going to spark that employer to give you a call for an interview. Talk about travel, random jobs, or volunteer experience. Some rules to stick to: stay away from obscene topics, try not to be offensive. Think of it as a first date. Don't discuss politics, religion or past relationships.

Twitter

Love it. Set up a Twitter account, after all it's free. Start following job posters, job advice gurus and online resume builders. (*wink wink*) Create lists of job posters and go through their job postings daily to see what job offerings are out there. Listen to the advice of the gurus. You could learn something new that could be the key to your next interview. The great thing about Twitter is that it is a community. Most people are pretty supportive of you. Don't be afraid to let people know you're looking for a new job. If you have a personal Twitter account, make sure you are keeping things PC while you are job hunting. You may need to go through and clean up some old posts.

URL

Get your name as a website address and upload your resume. Don't do anything fancy like adding music. (Unless of course you're an unemployed musician or related field.) This is a great way to brand yourself. Another idea is to add a link to "other jobs" if you're resume does not list all your job experience. It is O.K. as well to upload a picture of yourself. Always play it safe. If you question whether or not it's appropriate, it probably isn't. Add the URL to your email signature or business cards. If you're out a networking meeting and pass out your business card, it will be easy for others to look up your resume for potential job openings.

Don't forget it's easy to update your resume at CreateBetterResumes.com. You can download your resume in multiple formats for easy upload to your new website. If you're still unsure of how to get started there are tons of great books out there you can get on promoting yourself online. The best thing to do is to just get started.

Rebekah Cockrell is a Community and Marketing Manager for http://www.CreateBetterResumes.com. http://www.CreateBetterResumes.com was founded with the purpose of making it easy for everyone to have a compelling results driven resume using our signature phrase building technology.