Re-entering The Job Market

I wanted to share my thoughts for those individuals who find themselves back on the job market after many years of comfortable employment.


Job searching has changed, hasn't it?


The first thing you need to know is your job search is going to be 70% Internet based. This means you are going to have to be okay with browsing multiple web pages and posting your resume electronically. Resumes are not faxed anymore, they are emailed and uploaded on websites.


Your resume should be posted on Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and Craigslist.org (also, Dice.com if you are an IT Professional). This not only means uploading your resume, but logging in every other week to update it in their system. Unless, you have a crazy manager who monitors all of these sites, do not list yourself as confidential. This makes it more difficult for potential employers to contact you. Some may even skip your resume, simply because it is listed as confidential. If you are nervous about sharing too much personal information, omit your address. It is acceptable to just have your city and state listed. You can also list your current employer as "confidential". But remember, listing your email and phone number are important. You want to make it easy for hiring managers and recruiters to contact you.


Now, don't forget about searching for jobs. A great site for searching for open positions is Indeed.com. This site lists all of the open positions listed by the job search sites I previously mentioned. The only drawback of this site is it may have older jobs listed that have already been filled. That's okay, you are going to apply for a lot of positions anyway. Job searching is definitely a numbers game. Do not be over-analytical. If you have 80% of what they are looking for, go ahead and apply. It's possible that you have some experience not listed on the job description that they need. Or the other 20% of requirements aren't really needed. The worst thing that could happen is they wont call you.


- BG Recruiting