ExitBuddy

“I’m an Electrical Engineer, I go to a job networking meeting and ask for contacts at one of my target companies, and someone gives me the name and contact information for an Accountant! What good is that???” Or… “I already know someone at ‘XYZ Company’, I don’t need anymore contacts there.” Leading job networking groups and teaching job search classes, I get the same kinds of questions or comments all the time. What good does a company contact do you if it’s not the hiring manager for the kind of job you want? And, why should you pursue multiple contacts at a company you are targeting? Because the more information you gain, and the more allies you develop, the better your chances of gaining an interview and a job! When networking for contacts in your job search, any contact can be a great asset to you. Also, pursuing multiple contacts in the organization can boost your exposure when you need it. There is a great deal of value to those introductions and names. They can each ...

image by  CharlotWest Don’t be fooled by people who tell you that resume objective statements are optional, or that you shouldn’t have one at all. Their reasoning is usually that objective statements fence you in and limit your job-seeking focus. I’m here to tell you that you need an objective statement on your resume . Why? An objective statement tells me why I should keep reading the rest of your resume. It’s advertising, basically. It’s the teaser that will draw me in to reading the rest of your resume. (The cover letter won’t do it. Recruiters don’t generally have the time to read a cover letter–we go straight to the resume. So, make sure the first few lines of your resume make me want to read more.) Read about how to craft a compelling objective statement . At it’s core, it’s about creating a statement that fits your capabilities to fulfilling the needs of the organization. What are a few of your key qualities that will make you a good fit for this job? Be ca...

If you’re a baseball fan, you know that even the best hitters in Major League Baseball actually get a hit significantly less than 40% of the time they step up to the plate. That obviously means they try, and fail, over 60% of the time! Over a 60% failure rate! However, anyone that’s close to ‘only’ a 60% failure rate earns several million dollars per season! Everyone knows… NO ONE bats a 1000! Joe Mauer, last years best batter in the Major Leagues, averaged .365. That’s considered an extraordinary year. However, it still means that 63.5% of the time he got an ‘at bat’, he failed! Whether you’re a baseball player, a sales person, an investor, an engineer, or in a job search … the same thing is true! You will not be successful in every call, or in every effort you make. Unfortunately, that’s not how most people approach their search. Job seekers regularly hear that the vast majority of jobs are filled through ‘networking’. That means you have to actually connect with real peop...

by Meg Guiseppi • March 29, 2010 • Original Post Here Here’s a piece of old-fashioned advice to build personal brand equity when you’re in the job search, and for overall successful networking and healthy career management: Invest in some quality thank you notes and plenty of postage stamps, and start using them regularly. That’s right. Remember snail mail? Get into the habit of sending hand-written thank you’s to just about anyone you interact with in your job search – not just interviewers!!! This can include people in your network who provide introductions or do favors for you, employers and colleagues who write recommendations, etc. I recently heard that at most a mere 5% of job seekers send thank you’s after interviews . So imagine that number is closer to 1%, probably lower, for non-interview purposes. The impact for those who take advantage of this little-used strategy can be significant, as you will really stand out from the crowd. Much more than a courtesy, a thank you n...

If you're great at taking business cards when they're handed to you but not so great at remembering who gave them to you, where, and what you were talking about, reader meep offers a simple but smart trick : A friend told me about this excellent networking tip: when you get a business card, write where and when you met the person, along with important facts you may need later on the back. This way you can say, 'Oh, remember when we were [there] and you asked about [this]' as a conversation starter later on. Despite what we may have expected , it turns out business card use is alive and well among Lifehacker readers , so this tip might come in particularly handy next time you're at an event where the business cards are flowing like wine. Got another method that helps you remember more about the person who handed you the card? Let's hear it in the comments. 'A friend told me about this excellent networking tip...'

What many job seekers don’t realize from jobmob When I ask job seekers how long it’s been since their job search began, a typical reply is “too long.” Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes people will say “well, I just started looking…” but almost NO ONE ever says “for the position I’m looking for, in today’s market, in this city, it takes 4-6 months on the average to find a new job. I’ve been looking for 3 months, so it’s still early…” After I resigned from my job at Amazon in the summer of 2001, I thought it would take 1 month to find a new job. And that was just after I’d moved back to Jerusalem and had no idea how much (lack of) demand there was for my skillset there at the time. I was so clueless. I thought employers would be impressed by my Amazon achievements and I’d have my pick of offers. Really. Why did I think it would only take me just 1 month? Because my previous job had taken about that long to find. Having been my first full-time career job, I didn’t know a...

By Harry Urschel Do you know where your resume has been presented? Do you know who presented your resume? Are you driving, or being taken for a ride? Often, people think that the more their resume gets shown to a company, the better their chances of being considered. That can be true if done right, but often can backfire if handled poorly. Unfortunately, many people handle it poorly. What should you, and what should you not do? Here are some points to consider. Don’t submit more than once when a recruiter is involved! Although there may be times where it may make sense to submit a resume to a company multiple times for a position (more on that later), be careful when you’re using a recruiter. Typically, a recruiter only collects a fee from their client company if they are able to present a candidate the company isn’t already aware of. Depending on the relationship the recruiter has with the client, there may be exceptions, however, as a rule they want to be sure they are the...

Here are the job search add-ons that make Firefox the only browser for job seekers. I’m not just saying that. Google Chrome only has a few extensions for searching job boards , while Internet Explorer has no specific job search add-ons at all. How to use this guide All the add-ons mentioned here can be found in the Best Job Search Add-ons collection I created on mozilla.org. Search plugins Search plugins add a specific search engine to your browser’s search box. Indeed Job Search : search Indeed.com, one of the biggest job search engines in the USA. Jobtweet.de – Twitter Job Search engine (English version) : search Twitter for job openings from English-speaking countries. Other versions of this add-on search for jobs in Russian , French and German . TwitterJobSearch : Search Twitter for job listings. CharityJOB : search for fundraising jobs, charity jobs, and third sector jobs in the UK. DoNanza Freelance Job Search : search the “world’s biggest search engine f...

Send your resume and a cover letter which states “It’ll appear obvious from my resume that I’m over-qualified  for the job you advertised, so let me tell you why you should interview me and consider “super-sizing” your opportunity”. Write a bulleted list of 3-5 benefits you think they might be interested in. Close the letter saying something to the effect that “I am old enough to have already learned from my mistakes – so my experience is more cost effective than a more junior person. In a few months, or years, you’ll need to send them on training to upgrade their knowledge, whereas I come fully equipped to do the next job too.” Point out any certificates or advanced training which you already have that someone in that job might be expected to acquire. Show you are already qualified to do the next position too. Point out any retraining allowances or incentives employers might be eligible for if they hire a more seasoned person. ...

by mandymooo “Age Bias,” has become somewhat of a buzz word associated with job seekers over a given age, but let’s call it for what it is…Age Discrimination. There I feel better now. When does it begin ? It’s been my experience that age discrimination starts rearing its ugly head when one is over 40 years of age and not 50 as is widely believed. Does age discrimination exist ? I know it does, at least to some degree. In fact, as an Executive Search Professional, I once had a new client (a household corporate name you would know) who screamed obscenities into my phone and further threatened to fire my search firm; if in the future we sent them anyone 40 or older. What was their (twisted) rationale ? “People over 40 simply do not have enough (runway) left in their career to advance far in this company,” they were quoted as saying to me. By the way, this was the belief and a rigid mandate set forth by the company’s Regional President...

image by  Joe Lanman A 30/60/90-day sales plan is a written outline for exactly what you’ll do in the first 3 months on a new job. It’s the goals you’ve set for yourself as a new employee for the first 30 days, the first 60 days, and the first 90 days. A 30/60/90-day sales plan is tremendously impressive to a hiring manager because it takes a lot of effort to write one, and requires that you research the company and the job very well in order to be specific in your goals. (It takes the idea of “doing your homework” to a whole new level.)  Very few people put this kind of effort into a job they haven’t even gotten yet. When a hiring manager sees a candidate with one of these plans, they think at least two things: (1) “This person knows exactly what I need here, and he can hit the ground running…I can see him doing well in this job” and (2) “Wow. If this candidate will work this hard before she gets the job, imagine what a go-getter she’ll be on my team.” (Either...

“What do I need to do to be more effective and keep my job search alive?” In this article, I give you four sure-fire tactics to implement so that you can keep your job search campaign kicking! Step #1 – Reach Out Networking is more than just going to professional association meetings, eating lunch or dinner with strangers and collecting business cards. There are specific methods for getting a pay off in every networking activity that you engage in! 1. Be intentional. Even before you sign-up for an event, before you pick up the phone, or before you send a resume to anyone, you should have a plan, a goal and an expected outcome for each and every activity that you perform. 2. Categorize Your Contacts. Organizing and categorizing your contact database is key to understanding how to communicate with each contact and what to expect. I recommend that you classify your contacts into three types: power brokers, peers, and pay-it-forward individuals. 3. Customize Your Communications. Once...