Getting Started with Job Hunting
The basics
The best jobs are not obtained by the cleverest or ablest candidates, but by those who plan, get themselves organised then act. Being successful at job hunting is no different from other activities - it takes time and practice. The employer is not generally trying to find an outstanding person, but is worried about hiring someone who later turns out to be incapable of doing the job in question or who does not fit in with the organization.
Tracking vacancies
Most vacancies are not suddenly created, they are known about in advance, e.g. someone is known to be leaving, or a new office or factory is being planned. If you approach organisations during this time your chances are very much greater than if you wait until jobs are actually advertised. Vacancies can be found from the following:
- Advertisements in newspapers and trade journals.
- Your local Employment Office.
- Notices outside business premises.
- Agencies - Government, Private, Trade Union, etc.
- Asking people already working.
Choosing your employer
In selecting your first employer, try to choose one that can offer you further training, either through an internal training department, or externally. At the very least, do they seem as though they will care about you? Never select a job just because it is well paid, or has an impressive title. Think in terms of selecting an employer to who you are entrusting your future. If you definitely know whom you want to work for, contact them well before you finish your studies, and then keep in touch. Employers like people who know what they want and are persistent.
Your Personal History File
During your job-hunting activities, you will need to make use of a lot of information about yourself. This will be needed for your letters of application and your CV and also for preparing answers to interview questions. Keep all this in a Personal History File.
Take a loose-leaf file and allocate a page for your personal details, category of activity and each of the last seven years. Then record all the salient events, under the appropriate headings. This will include activities at school/college, personal activities, places visited, sports played, work history, etc. Add to this file throughout your working life and re-read it before every interview.
A three minute summary
Use your Personal History File to prepare short summary of yourself - you will often be required to recount this at interview. This summary should be written out and memorized and should not take longer than three minutes to say. You may hear this referred to as an 'elevator pitch'.
