Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Some tips for finding a job

While I hope noone loses their job, it's not looking good. Here are job hunting tips that worked for me. These might be of general interest but are aimed at technical writers in Waterloo.

Post your resume on monster.ca, workopolis.com, and linkedin.com. Keep in mind that employers and recruiters search these sites electronically, so make sure you include all the keywords, software and skills that they will use when looking for someone for a job you want. Look at job ads to figure out what those words are. Set up an alert from Monster to get emails with new job postings. Every few weeks, update your resume on Monster and Workopolis (updates trigger interest).

On LinkedIn, get three people to give you recommendations. (Apparently it is not uncommon for employers and recruiters to filter searches to people with at least three recommendations.)

Register with the major recruitment companies in your town and in any town you would be willing to work in. Try to make an appointment to meet with one of their recruiters and treat it like a job interview. Ask them for advice about your resume. I am registered with a bunch, including Procom, Ian Martin, ProVision... I can't remember them all. Here's a site that has links to some recruiters and similar companies: KW Jobs, but there are loads out there.

Set up a job alert at indeed.ca. Before my recent job switch, I got a daily alert from indeed.ca of all writer jobs in Waterloo Region and Toronto. Indeed is a little different from other sites because it trawls through corporate careers pages finding job postings, so catches some that aren't posted on Monster or wherever.

Bookmark sites that have job postings you're interested in, such as Southwestern Ontario STC, Data Shaping, Charity Village and Mobile Dev Jobs.

If you're interested in living in the US, two must-see sites are dice.com and the US STC job bank.

There are millions of online sources of advice, but here's a good one: STC job bootcamp. My main piece of advice is to have a friend revise your resume. The biggest mistake on resumes is that people don't sell themselves sufficiently: an objective person can point out where you need to beef up your sales pitch.

The University of Waterloo careers department has a boffo career consulting service. If you are a UW alumna, you get three free sessions; otherwise there's a modest fee. It is well, well worth it. You can sign up on this site, which also has lots of great info: UW career action.

I wish everyone well.

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5 comments:

Kerry Liles said...

Glad to hear you managed to get out before the impending 'purge' - it might not be too easy in the K/W area in the near future with so many people out of work.

Yappa said...

Hi Kerry! Great to hear from you.

Yup, things don't look good for anyone in Waterloo, but being a RIM employee can't be pleasant right now. I was very lucky.

Unknown said...

A good way to find good jobs through the help of this article. Adding to the tips, one should always construct the CV in such a way that it fits the job one applies for. Customized according to the requirements of the job will help one to get into the interview easily and get the job as well.

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sweetsum said...

Workopolis is a great job site but after reading this article, I realize I was limiting myself from small to no chance of getting hired. It's a mistake to just post your CV on one job site and wait to get employed. The internet is a powerful tool; we should make use of its advantages well. Go and sign up on at least 5 freelance sites, it would end your job hunt faster.
An important reminder to all applicants; applying online got lots of benefits but it also has a few disadvantages. You could easily get hired and you'd end up on a lot of great job opportunities. However, you could also attract a lot of scammers. It's important to check the company first and do some research before agreeing to work for them.

Anonymous said...

I've found another site that has been extremely helpful in my
job search: http://www.Jobs.ca