Christian finance and consumer credit counseling & debt management
Career Guidance
8th Essential:
A Creative Job Search
About 15% of all jobs are advertised, the remaining 85% are part are hidden, accessed through a creative job search.
How do you find the hidden jobs?
1) Networking
Networking is one of the most effective ways to begin your job search.
2) Information Interviews
The key here is not to ask for a job, but to gather information for the future. Always remember to:
Set up interviews with people who are employed in your target industry.
Schedule interviews at their convenience, not yours.
Leave your resume in case suitable opportunities open up.
Arrive with lots of relevant questions.
Send a thank you letter for their time.
3) Volunteering
Volunteering can be a creative job strategy when you have set your goals but a gap exists in achieving them. In order to increase both your skills and get some experience, perhaps the answer is volunteering.
4) Using the Internet
In order to cover the global market with your resume, put it "online". The Job Bank is a free service that connects employers with employees.
It automatically presents your profile when an employer looks for skills matching yours.
It creates a profile of your skills and stores them in a data base.
It advertises your skills free of charge to thousands of employers.
The Internet can also be an amazing source of information about any company that has a web site.
Your keys to a creative job search
Choose your future employer, rather than the other way around.
Volunteering can be both satisfying and rewarding as part of your job search.
Online resources represent a potential that has only recently been available.
What do you do now?
Use the Job Bank, go to the Job Bank Site.
Check out government programs promoting employment.
The 8th Essential is ...
A list of alternative sources for your job search.
Join a club. Search through the categories
above for a club that matches your interests. Click on that club
name, then on the "join" link in the upper-right-hand side of the
page. More help.
Create a club. Find a category that matches your club, then click on "Create a Club" in the upper-right-hand side of the page. More help.