Job search secrets: Targeting done right
What's the best way for job seekers to land a new job in this dismal market? Target specific employers and network your way into them, career experts say. It's sound job search advice. Unfortunately, most job seekers go about this the wrong way (or they don't do it at all), says Vicki Brackett, a career coach and president and CEO of Make It Happen Consulting.
Job seekers make many mistakes in their job searches, including over-relying on networking with people who can't offer much help in this job market, such as recruiters and HR managers, says Brackett. But their biggest misstep is conducting their job search backwards, she says. In other words, they start by updating their résumé, which they then send out to their network, hoping those people will pass it on.
Such a scattershot approach to networking and to the job search doesn't work when thousands of unemployed professionals are using the same approach and job opportunities are so limited, says Brackett.