Worktree Blog

When it is time to look for a new or first job, you are better off visiting one of the many job websites. The classified section of the newspaper is outdated for many reasons.

The most obvious reason that an online job search is better is because the ease and pace of job websites far exceed the tedious task of browsing the paper, circling and mailing out resumes.

Also, employers these days simply don’t want the hard copy of your resume. With the amount of inquiries they get for each position that they list, it is far easier for them to save, sort and find resumes that are electronic.

Many companies don’t even consider hard copy resumes anymore. Besides for the fact that they are a huge waste of paper, they just create more hassles and take up more space than is necessary.

With that said, once you found a job website that you like, focus on perfecting your resume before jumping right into pressing the ‘send’ button.

First off, have someone else read your resume for errors that you may have not caught, which happens all the time to writers who have been staring at their work for hours. Your resume will look different to a fresh pair of eyes.

Letting someone look at your personal resume and writing could be intimidating, so pick someone you feel comfortable getting constructive criticism from, like a colleague or classmate, and ask them to be perfectly honest with their suggestions.

After perfecting your resume, save it in a PDF format so that you’re spacing, bullets and fonts don’t change as you send it from person to person. This is the equivalent to printing out your final draft on nice bounded paper.

Finally, you are ready to start applying for jobs. It is alright to use more than one job website because they might list different jobs. But it is important to keep a record of all the jobs that you have applied for, which site you applied for them on and any and all contact information that the job listing offered.

This will help you stay organized and avoid applying for the same job more than once, which is a major waste of time.

When you receive offers for interviews, make sure you reply in an extremely timely manner, the same day if possible, so your eagerness shines through and they don’t think that you’re not interested.

Be sure to keep the same level of professionalism in your response letter or phone call that you exhibited in your resume and cover letter.

When you are looking for a job, there are plenty of job search engines to choose from. In fact, it can very well be daunting at time.

Unfortunately, being a recent college graduate, I have spent a lot of time job hunting  and using job search engines to send out my resume. I am writing a short blog to share some tips with you, which I have discovered throughout my search, that will make your search a lot easier.
1) I like job search sites that allow you to save your searches. You will do several different searches, because it is likely that your job skills fit several different areas of job descriptions.

For example, I graduated with a degree in journalism and the types of jobs that I applied for included writer, editor, copy writer, proof reader, reporter, internships, marketing and even receptionist.

If your job site doesn’t allow you to save your searches, then write down all the jobs you want to search for and be consistent with them because new jobs are posted daily.

2) Record all the jobs that you have applied for or are applying for. Furthermore, write down the name of the company, the job position, the contact name and email if it is listed, and the job site from which you applied.

This way, if you get a response for an interview, you know where to find the job description that was posted and you have a little more information about the company.
Since you can apply for at least twenty or more jobs a day, it is impossible to remember them all. But jotting down information as you go will help you remember information, should you get a response. It will also keep you more organized so you can go back and see what you’ve applied for.

This also comes in handy as, over the days, you may forget what you’ve applied for and you don’t want to waste your time applying for the same job twice (nor does that look particularly professional).
Overall, my main advice is to be dedicated and persistent. Finding a job doesn’t happen overnight and it usually takes a company weeks, if not months, to sort through all their job inquiries and pick good candidates for interviews. Don’t give up if you don’t hear something right away.