Spring Cleaning For Job Search

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.” – Phyllis Diller

Yes, even job search requires Spring cleaning every once and awhile. If you’ve been on the job hunt for a few months or more, it is not a bad idea to take another look at everything in your Job Search Marketing Toolkit. Your cover letter and resume should top the list. Remember, you can have multiple resumes (and you should already have multiple cover letters). So while you are cleaning your attic (or closet), also take a look at your tools of the job search trade.

While it may be a little late for Spring cleaning, I’m about to jump on a plane and will be away for a few weeks and I want to be sure I pass on some of the great websites that readers have sent in (thanks for all of your emails). I won’t capture all of them in this post, so there will be more to follow.

• CareerBliss.com – “Find a Happier Job” is the tag line for this site. You can register top center page (or log in if you are already a member). It is fairly easy to register on the site. Top right hand side of the page is a quick job search box (or salaries, reviews, jobs, or questions). There are tabs at the top of the page for BlissFinder (Education &/or Resume critique), Reviews, Salaries, Jobs and more. Click on jobs to link to their Job Search page. it is pretty neat, with boxes as the top for Job Search title, company or location. There is a “jobs near you” section and you can filter by salary, location, title or date. There were well over 100,000 job opportunities when I checked the site. The Company Q&A is also pretty unique, allowing you to ask questions about specific companies. Certainly worth some time navigating through unmarked territory.

• 10 Major Companies That Are Hiring Big Time – This article is from Businesscards.com and lists 10 large companies that are hiring. All of these companies are well known – from Technology to aerospace to manufacturing. There is a brief paragraph on each company along with links to the companies career page. To see more articles like this, click Human Resources under categories on the left hand side of the page and scroll down. You will see other articles with career related links.

• 14 Fields in Desperate Need of Females – This article provides a list of careers for women. It is an interesting list of careers which are both interesting (whether male or female) and not careers you would typically find many females (hence the article). From Forestry to Fire and Emergency Services, I’m sure there is an interesting career for you. Each career type has a paragraph overview followed by a link to specific site for that career. As an example, Aviation has a link to the “Women in Aviation” site. Take a look.

• Tired Of Your Network Feeling Sorry For You? – For anyone who has tried to leverage their network while looking for a job (and you would be crazy not to), this article hits home. I, for one, struggle with leveraging my network in a way that does not either make me feel like a pest or does not make me feel like people feel sorry for me. This article, from Timsstrategy.com, provides some great advice. Providing your network with what they need to help you connect with opportunities along with having (and displaying) the right positive frame of mind will make all of the difference for you. There are embedded links for related information in the article and, as always, a wealth of additional information on the website. Take a look at the article links on the right hand side of the page while you are there.

• JuJu.com – This site is a job search engine (versus a job search board). What that means is that they aggregate job search results from career portals, employer websites, recruiters and job search boards. There is a job search box at the top of the page. Enter your keywords (job title, industry, employer, etc) and then your location in the next box. There is an advance search engine as well (just click the link). The results will show a brief description of the job, along with where the job was posted. Click the link to see detail and apply for the job. You can sort by relevance or date.

Good luck in your search.

By Career Alley

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.