A job hunting tip from one of my young relatives

[pnwmom]

who recently found a job in his engineering field after a year of unemployment. Human resources people may hate me, but here goes.

After a year of trying to do everything "right," he finally spent a week sending out hundreds of resumes -- with no attempt to target them, personalize them, etc. He sent them to every company in his field that was hiring anyone at any level -- even companies whose job openings required much more experience than he had. His thought was thought if a company was in the hiring mode, maybe they'd consider him even if he didn't fit the advertised slot. And he happened to guess right. From that mass mailing he got three interviews and landed a good job. The company still needed to hire a more experienced engineer, too -- but decided to hire him first.

Good luck to everyone who's looking now. I know how hard it is.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I think that could be helpful to many who are looking!

Thank you for providing this bit of light...

Recommended.

[JDPriestly]

2. I think that is great advice pnwmom

All that resume tailoring sounds great, but the bottom line is that employers hire you because they like you.

[pnwmom]

3. I think it often does come down to that, if you can get to

the interview stage. That's the really tough part.

[JDPriestly]

7. Right. It's really a matter of playing the odds.

Out of 100 applications, you might get one or two interviews. So why tailor each cover letter, each resume? It slows you down. I wish I had ignored the advice of the "experts" and approached my job search that way when I was still trying to get a job a few years ago. I doubt that I could get hired by anyone at my age with my lack of recent work history. Age discrimination prevents you from getting a job in an economy like this one.

But for young people, your advice is really good. One cover letter, one resume and lots of stamps.

[realisticphish]

4. I mean, really

if you apply for a place who isn't hiring at what you think is your level, you can easily stumble into a job that they were overshooting on.

[pnwmom]

5. The thing was, he didn't think the job was at his level.

But they were starting to expand, so it turned out they could hire the more experienced engineer they needed AND hire a new one. I think they would have hired a second engineer anyway, but my nephew's resume pushed the date up a little.

[tcaudilllg]

6. The more apps you put in, the better your chances.

[Le Taz Hot]

8. I refer to that as sending out Blind Resumes.

I've gotten two jobs that way. As a past employer, I always went to my resume files FIRST to see if there were any viable candidates. Saved me the time and trouble of advertising for the position.

[hootinholler]

9. Thanks for the wishes

I had a good interview yesterday. Dare I hope?

-Hoot

[pnwmom]

10. FWIW, I'm sending positive thoughts your way, hootinholler! n/t

[hootinholler]

11. Thanks for that! n/t

[shrike]

12. Actually, I did that back when I was job hunting

I've been freelance for fifteen years, but back in the days when I was looking for fulltime work I always used the blanket approach. As in "blanket the country with resumes." Worked much better for me than all that stuff about the "hidden job market" and such. And every time I went to a "networking" meeting it'd be full of other people who were looking for a job.

I'm not saying that the way you're supposed to do it won't work. But for me, finding a job was always a matter of luck. The right place at the right time. Come to think of it, I look for freelance work in the same fashion: throw as much against the wall as I can and see what sticks. Usually, something does.