How to Find a Great Job
I've done a bit of job searching and a lot of hiring over the past 15 years or so, and have some helpful tips on how to find (and get) a great job.
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Instructions
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Make sure you have the right attitude. You're not looking for a job. You're looking for your next great opportunity.
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An organized approach is very important. Create a detailed action plan with specific timeframes.
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Marketing material is very important. It should be well-written, have no mistakes (typos, grammatical errors, etc), and be targeted to the appropriate audience.
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Use current technology. Resumes are necessary but not sufficient. Make sure your profile is up to date on every online job site and social networking site you can find, starting with LinkedIn.
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Create, clean up, and/or beef up your online profiles. Potential employers are going to look for you online, and what they find will be a significant part of their first impression of you.
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Solicit recommendations. LinkedIn makes this very easy - I used that as my basis and then copied them into other formats for my overall marketing portfolio. This is also a great ego-booster, which is very important.
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The biggest single thing is the first - don't look for "a job", look for "your next great opportunity". I haven't hired many people who were qualified but came off as just looking for a job, and when I have, I have invariably regretted it later. I've hired a fair number who were only marginally qualified but were enthusiastic and excited about helping me and my company be successful. Those tended to work out a lot better.
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Tips & Warnings
The biggest single thing is the first - don't look for "a job", look for "your next great opportunity". I haven't hired many people who were qualified but came off as just looking for a job, and when I have, I have invariably regretted it later. I've hired a fair number who were only marginally qualified but were enthusiastic and excited about helping me and my company be successful. Those tended to work out a lot better.
Taking people out to coffee or lunch to learn about what they're doing is a great way to find out what good companies and areas are out there, and often leads to specific opportunities. There shouldn't be any expectation of a specific outcome for these - the lack of pressure is what makes people willing to talk to you. Most people are happy to give you 20 minutes of their time if they get to talk about themselves. :-) I did 5-10 of these a week for several weeks during that stage of my last search. They're also a lot of fun - there are an amazing number of cool things happening out there that you don't normally hear about.
