To those that have recently gotten a job

[TheProject]

The e-mailing a resume thread got me thinking...

Those of you that have gotten a job in the past few months...how'd you do it? With the job market being the way it is, and with the glut of applicants out there, what did you do that made your resume stand out? Did you do anything different with your resume or cover letter?

There are hundreds of tips, tricks, and ideas out there, but I'm curious to hear from someone that got results.

The last time I looked for work, the market was down, but I was still getting phone calls...this time, very little response.

Anyone?

 

[Y_lifter]

Lie ?

 

[WODIN]

Hook up with one of the Hilton twins broly.

 

[TheProject]

Hook up with one of the Hilton twins broly.

Okay, not to take my own thread off the beaten path, but who the hell are the Hilton twins? I know they had some E special, and I saw the thread about them the other day, but why should I care?

 

[gettinlarger]

It's gonna be hard man. Took me 7 months to find a job after I graduated. Send out your resumes. Fax, email, snail mail. All of them. To everyone. When you get an interview, just be yourself. Let them know your skills and that you are the man for the job.

 

[WODIN]

They're sluty, somewhat sexy and super rich....

 

[jackangel]

They're young, rich (from the Hilton hotel family), famous, and beautiful (if you like the skinny model thing).

You should not care, though.

 

[jackangel]

As for getting a job, I need one too. I graduated with a BS in CompSci in Jan 2001, but I still haven't had a job yet. I dunno howtf I'll spin that into a job. I don't suppose the market is better for entry-levels than it is overall?

 

[TheProject]

It's gonna be hard man. Took me 7 months to find a job after I graduated. Send out your resumes. Fax, email, snail mail. All of them. To everyone. When you get an interview, just be yourself. Let them know your skills and that you are the man for the job.

Oh, I'm not the least bit concerned about interviewing. I interview very well. I'm more interested in some tricks that people might have tried that made their resume stand out, or got them in the door for an interview.

As always, networking is king. If you know someone that can refer you, that'll get you an interview. Outside of that, I'm not sure.

jackangel, I think the market is just flooded with applicants overall. A buddy of mine was out of work for 13 months, and he said that he talked to companies that were getting two and three hundred resumes for every opening, and there were former directors and VP's competing for support and network engineer jobs. However, it does seem like there are more entry-level positions available than higher level.

 

[gmanlax7]

I start monday , $9.50 an hour

 

[TheProject]

1) lower your pay
2) send your resume to everyone on the planet
3) send resumes to hr's that aren't advertising (they might have unadvertised jobs or hidden jobs)
4) make your resume look like next thing to sliced bread. Stand out.
5) make a cute online resume site (resusite) if u can. HR folks love to surf the web, or any reason to do so.
6) call headhunters and keep on 'em. Help them do their job by supplying as much info and materials as possible.
7) When doing interviews, look eager and full of energy. Don't look or act like mr old fart, i know everything, so hire me type person.
8) Try to get into a revenue-generating position if you somehow can figure out how to make money for people. Then you'll make bank.
9) Realize that computers aren't where the money is. Computer jobs/Tech jobs are now on the same pay scale as dishwashing.

-= nav=-

1) Have to have an offer before salary even becomes an issue.
2) I agree...I've been working every contact I have, and would suggest everyone else do the same if they're not already.
3) This one's a little more tricky...would be interested to hear how one would approach that.
4) Again, I agree, but what have you done that worked? Everyone always says this, and there are hundreds of tips, but which of them actually work, particularly in a day and age where so many resumes are parsed down to plain text?
5) To a point, I agree, but the HR people I know don't just go out surfing resume sites. If anything, they're going to hit monster, dice, or one of those. The odds of your resume site being hit are pretty slim, I'd wager.
6) That's been one of the interesting points for this search...even getting headhunters to call me back has been a trick.
7) I agree with you in regards to interviewing, and personally, I have no concerns about my interviewing style. However, very good tip for others.
8) Yeah, I got nothing.
9) I think you're exaggerating to make a point, but the tech sector is my background. I'm feeling out the life of the tech sector before I go making a career change.

 

[TheProject]

Project, I'm tellin ya, all we need is a couple paper sacks and a good welder.

Okay, I'm stopping at Hy-Vee on the way over to get a couple sacks, you work on the welder.

 

[kronk]

Project,

The one thing that always worked for me, was making my resume "reader friendly". Meaning that most resumes are not read by people at all. They are read by scanners first, then run through software looking for keywords and things like that. I would taylor my resume to fit this and always got calls.

Secondly, I made a cover letter that just threw people through a loop. This was for shock value "after" the scanners read my resume.

Anyway, just my two cents..what do I know anyway. LOL. I am a Laywer, who worked in software, got laid off and ran for the hills. LOL

 

[TheProject]

Project,

The one thing that always worked for me, was making my resume "reader friendly". Meaning that most resumes are not read by people at all. They are read by scanners first, then run through software looking for keywords and things like that. I would taylor my resume to fit this and always got calls.

Secondly, I made a cover letter that just threw people through a loop. This was for shock value "after" the scanners read my resume.

Anyway, just my two cents..what do I know anyway. LOL. I am a Laywer, who worked in software, got laid off and ran for the hills. LOL

Agreed...keywords are an essential.

Now, for a shocking cover letter...kronk (or someone) please give me an example. Mine are always pretty bland, but I did try something different last week, and it's too soon to see if it worked, but I think the theory is sound.

 

[TheProject]

Get a headhunter. It's better to have somebody selling you.

Agreed...now if they'll just call me back.

 

[SofaGeorge]

Get a headhunter. It's better to have somebody selling you.

 

[kronk]

Agreed...keywords are an essential.

Now, for a shocking cover letter...kronk (or someone) please give me an example. Mine are always pretty bland, but I did try something different last week, and it's too soon to see if it worked, but I think the theory is sound.

Mine would blow you away brother. I will send it over to you if I can drag it up. The last job offer I got (about 30-45 days ago), the VP of Sales called me and said he wanted to call me personally because of my CL.

As for recruiters and headhunters, with what you do, they are worthless right now except via email. I would do a resmueblaster.com or something like that and get it out to them, but that’s about it.

 

[TheProject]

Mine would blow you away brother. I will send it over to you if I can drag it up. The last job offer I got (about 30-45 days ago), the VP of Sales called me and said he wanted to call me personally because of my CL.

As for recruiters and headhunters, with what you do, they are worthless right now except via email. I would do a resmueblaster.com or something like that and get it out to them, but that’s about it.

Yeah, if you can dig that up, I'd love to see it.

And I'll check out resumeblaster.com.

 

[rsnoble]

I have a solution to every jobless person problems: Fire Bush in 2004!!!!!!!!!!!!