Job Hunting Stories?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Kathy Frost reports: <<I'm going to be out looking for a job starting next
week (I'm being laid off after 2 1/2 years) I was a little panicked to learn
that for every IT position posted in our area, employers are getting
somewhere in the neighborhood of 400-600 responses.  This means to find a
job, you're going to have to change careers, do something extremely creative
with your resume
to get it noticed, or find alternative ways to find a job. I'm interested in
alternative ideas.>>

The first thing to do is start cutting back on your optional expenses
(ground beef, not filet mignon) so the day you hit the bricks, you'll be
less stressed about covering the non-optional expenses (rent etc.).
Voluntary simplicity takes a bit of getting used to, but that lean and
hungry experience focuses the mind most wonderfully. <g> Use those first few
days on your own to relax a bit (read a good book), recover from the stress
of being unemployed, and face the challenge in a couple days with a bit more
confidence and energy.

Given how many resumes are being circulated, take this as a clear signal
that you're unlikely to compete based on your resume alone. Think "needle in
a haystack" and you'll see why. That being the case, I think you're right on
the mark about looking for alternatives to resumes for finding jobs. They
key is to think laterally and creatively rather than taking the same
traditional linear approach everyone else is taking.

For example, a company hiring engineers may not be asking for writers in
their classified ads, but they'll certainly be producing new products that
need documentation. Contact the company directly, ask to speak to the person
who's hiring the engineers, and try to sell yourself as a writer so you can
send them the resume directly, bypassing Human Resources. The resume will
still end up in HR, but if you've got someone asking HR to call you for an
interview, you're automatically out of the slush pile of resumes. Best of
all, they may never even post a job ad if a perfect candidate contacts them:
why review 600 resumes and spend weeks on interviews if you can hire someone
immediately without all this fuss? (I got my first job--with IBM--that way.)


When I say engineers, I'm obviously including programmers, but don't stop
there. A company that's hiring analytical chemists, microbiologists,
personnel managers, proposal writers, ISO 9000 analysts, etc. etc. etc. may
also need writers and editors. Take a long, open-minded look through the job
ads, focusing on the big ones (covering at least 1/8th of a page) since
they're most likely to need more people and have the money to pay you. (By
no means should you ignore the small ads; just start big because there are
fewer of these ads and they often pay off better.) Figure out what these
non-writers will be doing on the job, and ask yourself what a writer or
editor could do to help them accomplish this. Then send a letter to their
future manager telling them how you could help.

Include local and other news stories in this "through the side door"
approach to job hunting. I got my current job in forestry research by
noticing that FERIC was moving to a new building and expanding its research
facilities; that told me they had researchers, were hiring new researchers,
and probably needed someone to help these guys publish their research
results. What's your own educational background and what are your interests?
Many universities are now aggressively forming industry-academe links to
obtain funding, and the departments involved in this process often need
assistance writing grant proposals and reporting the results of industry
funding. If you're already an expert in a particular academic area, you
might fit very well into this process.

Last but not least, network. Tell everyone you know that you're looking for
a job, and willing to discuss options. As a kid, I got most of my summer
jobs that way, and from what I see at STC meetings, it's still a great way
to find out about job opportunities before they get advertised.

--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada 
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html
Hofstadter's Law--"The time and effort required to complete a project are
always more than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's
Law."


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