Feature Article: Follow Up All Job Leads: Don't Wait by the Phone (or Computer)
Special Feature: Sleuthing Out Hiring Managers Is Key to Job-Search Follow-up
Quintessential Site: Featured Career Web Site of this Issue
The Career Doctor: Answering Your Questions
What's New on Quintessential Careers
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search
Notes from the Editor: About this Issue...
Thank you, readers and visitors, for making January a record month for Quintessential Careers, which had 465,941
unique visitors in January, generating 1.6 million page impressions. That means the average visitor visited
about 3.4 pages on each visit to our site.
Thank you also for making us the second-highest ranked pure career site on the Web (based on visitors), according
to Alexa.com as of Jan. 20, 2004:
#1 -- WetFeet.com (Overall ranking based on ALL sites on the Web = 24,132)
#2 -- QuintCareers.com (26,750)
#3 -- CareerLab.com (47,899)
#4 -- Job-Hunt.org (50,390)
#5 -- RileyGuide.com (52,628)
Ready to start following up on all the resumes and cover letters you sent out for
the New Year? Our feature article on follow-up and special feature on
identifying hiring managers can help.
--Katharine Hansen, Credentialed Career Master, Certified Electronic Career Coach,
and editor at
kathy@quintcareers.com
Feature Article: Following-Up Job Leads
Follow Up All Job Leads: Don’t Wait by the Phone (or Computer)
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Does this scenario sound familiar? You're in the market for a new job, and after conducting all your research,
you send out 20 cover letters and resumes to potential hiring managers. Weeks go by and you wonder why not even
one of those hiring managers has called you for an interview. Is the problem too obvious? It must not be, for situations
like this one are the most common we hear about when job-seekers ask our advice about their situation.
If you remember nothing else from this article, please remember these words if you want to succeed in finding
a new job: follow up, follow up, follow up. Following up job leads shows prospective employers your interest in the
company and position -- and gives you another chance to sell your qualifications. Some job-seekers fear sounding desperate
or annoying when making follow-up inquiries, but as long as you do it right, you will come across as interested, not
desperate.
Quintessential Careers Announces New Weblog (Blog)
We've just launched the Quint Careers Weblog (Blog). It consists of career and job-search news, trends,
and scoops for job-seekers, compiled by the staff of Quintessential Careers.
Check out our career and job-hunting blog.
We'd love your input and suggestions.
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Sleuthing Out Hiring Managers Is Key to Job-Search Follow-up
by Katharine Hansen
Career experts are virtually unanimous on two
key points in the job search:
Job-search correspondence -- resumes and cover letters -- should always be addressed to a specific, named individual,
preferably the hiring manager for the job you're applying for.
After sending their resumes and cover letters, job-seekers should follow up with hiring managers
to attempt to secure an interview appointment.
The problem is that names of hiring
managers are rarely revealed in want ads and job postings. The reason is simple.
In these days in which online job-hunting makes the process all too easy for job-seekers, employers are inundated with
hundreds - even thousands - of resumes for a single opening, some from applicants who aren't remotely qualified. Hiring
managers don't want to also be bombarded with time-consuming phone calls from job-seekers. Still, most - not all - hiring
managers respond well to contacts from qualified, resourceful, and persistent job-seekers who show their enthusiasm for the
job by following up.
So how does the job-seeker find out who the hiring manager is?
To maximize your job opportunities, you'll need to cover a lot of ground. One way to do that is to post your resume
on all the best job boards, large and small. It may take some time, but it's well worth the effort. If you want
to save 60 hours of research and data entry, consider using professional resume-posting service like
ResumeRabbit.com.
After filling in one simple online form, they'll instantly post your resume on up to 85 of the top career sites at once.
Within minutes you'll be seen on Monster, HotJobs, FlipDog, Dice, CareerBuilder and more, where 1.5 million employers
and recruiters search for candidates daily.
All job-seekers -- especially recent college grads -- can search for
jobs and post resumes at JobNext.com. You can search by job type, job status, industry, location,
qualifications, and keyword.
The site offers a solid Career Resources section that is especially strong on
interview tips. Features include Top 10 Interview Tips, Quirky Interview Questions,
and Tough Interview Questions in these categories:
General Questions
Experience and Management Questions
Industry Trend Questions
If You Are Leaving a Job
Quantifying Your Experience, Accomplishments
Job Search Questions
Your Work Habits and Style
Salary Questions
Personality Questions
Your Career Goals
Also provided are Top 10 Resume Tips, and features called Create Your Job Title,
and Gain Work Experience.
One nice feature not seen in many career and job sites is a section of Latest Job Headlines.
Based on years of research, the Jackson Vocational Interest
Survey (JVIS) accurately measures your interests, showing how
they relate to the worlds of study and work, and mapping out
your route to an interesting career.
Jeffrey writes: "I had an interview on Jan. 9. Then, after the interview, I sent a thank-you letter on Jan. 10. The
hiring manager gave me a reply as follows: 'Thanks for coming and talking with us. I think the entire interviewing
team was impressed with your enthusiasm, and that quality will certainly play a factor in our decision. As I mentioned to you,
we will likely be able to provide you more information about your status soon.'
But so far, I have not received any more information from him. My question is: When can I do
second follow-up? I hope that he doesn't think I am desperate. If I should send second follow up,
what can I say and how to say? Please advise."
Sarika writes: "I am thinking of a career change that will let me plan events or set up for events. I have no experience
in planning events; however, I do have a great interest in it. How can I go about getting my foot in the door -- or where can
I go to get some basic experience. Obviously, I'm thinking of small events at first (parties, bridal showers, etc.) but
I'm not sure where to turn with no experience."
Allison writes: "I am required to turn in a resume for a school district with whom I am applying. I have been in the same type
of position for nine years, doing relatively the same type of work (counseling). Since each of the jobs I have held have
virtually the same description, how do I address that under work experience?
I wonder if I should do a functional resume and bullet all the skills I have acquired through the years and then
just list the schools (or districts) in which I have worked under the work experience."
Anonymous writes: "I have been in the information-technology field for the last 13 years. Because of some weird circumstances
I was sent to jail for the past six months, and now I'm out on parole. How do I get my career back on the right path? How do I tell potential
employers about my parole, but not hurt my chances of landing the job?"
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Electronic versions now included with all resume and cover
letter products at Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters at
no extra cost!
An electronic version of your resume for sending via e-mail and posting to Internet job boards
is an absolute must these days because 80 percent of resumes are now placed directly into keyword-searchable databases.
Read more here.
That's why electronic versions are now included at NO EXTRA COST with all our resume and cover letter
products!
Jobs4u.ie --
a job site for job-seekers searching for employment in Ireland, where you can search job listings
(by category, location, date listed, and keywords), post your CV, register for a job-matching alert, or
have new job listings text-messaged to your cell phone. Also includes career resources.
Free to job-seekers.
RegisterJobs.com -- where job-seekers
can search job listings from around the world (by country, keywords, salary, job type, and job source),
post your resume, register for a job-search agent, receive job listing text messages, and more.
Free to job-seekers.
RetiredBrains.com -- where older job-seekers,
including those retired or about to retire, can search job listings for part-time, temporary,
and full-time positions (by keywords, industry, and location), post your resume, and register
for an e-mail job-search agent. Also includes career resources specifically for older workers. Free to job-seekers.
WorkingWorld.com -- where job-seekers
searching for employment in the Los Angeles and Orange County, California, areas can search
job listings (by keywords and job category), post your cover letter and resume online, and
read informative career articles reprinted from Working World magazine.
Free to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest Additions section.
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Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
A majority of employers and job seekers still view the follow-up technique of sending a thank-you note after an interview
as an important element of proper job-searching etiquette. However, job-seekers from both Monster and MonsterTRAK,
a career resource for college students and alumni, still prefer the traditional
thank-you letter route, while Monster employers would rather receive thank-you notes via email.
According to a recent Monster poll, 60 percent of job-seekers send thank-you notes after job interviews (41 percent indicated
that they send a traditional letter, while only 19 percent said that they use email). On the MonsterTRAK poll, 64 percent of the
college and young alumni job-seekers send thank-you notes (38 percent mail their thank-you letters the traditional way,
while 26 percent email them). Conversely, 65 percent of Monster employers expect a thank-you note of some kind (36 percent indicated
that they actually prefer thank you notes sent by email, surpassing the 29 percent who would rather receive the traditional letter variety).
Job Shadowing 2004 is being launched on the date of this issue, Feb. 2, 2004, and will continue throughout the school
year as students across America "shadow" workplace mentors as they go through a normal day on the job. Feb. 2 marks the
arrival of new virtual "career" mentors on the
Virtual Job Shadow site.
New shadows include a school counselor, as well as an advertising creative director and a manager of promotions
and events, both with Best Buy. Kobie Boykins, mechanical engineer with the NASA Mars Rover Mission, is also profiled
as a Virtual Job Shadow.
Virtual Job Shadow is a great way to prepare for more traditional job-shadowing experiences.
You can use Virtual Job Shadow as a way to research careers, or to reinforce what
you've experienced after a traditional shadowing event.
Trends show that by 2005, three out of four hires will come from the Internet and referrals, according to Gerry Crispin
and Mark Mehler, principals of CareerXroads, in their annual Source of Hire survey, which also showed:
60 percent of all external hires in 2003 were attributable to two channels -- employee referrals and the Internet, and
these sources are continuing to grow.
Of the hires from the Internet, employers report that almost 68 percent came from their company Web site.
Niche job sites were a larger source of hires from the Internet in 2003 than leading job boards combined:
Niche sites: 17.6 percent
Monster.com: 8.7 percent
CareerBuilder: 4.1 percent
Hotjobs: 1.8 percent
The study also shows that while more positions were filled in 2003 (up 6 percent) than 2002, slightly fewer
positions will be filled in 2004 (down 2 percent). It's clear that the job market will continue to be tight just
as the sources most likely to result in success continue to narrow.
No. 4: With your lists completed from earlier tips, start researching jobs that may appeal to you from
the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, (updated version is online;
skim the Occupational
Outlook Handbook for jobs in demand. This information is readily available at your local public
library or online. PLEASE DO NOT FOCUS OR DECIDE ON ANY ONE JOB JUST BECAUSE IT IS IN DEMAND.
You are still on a job-search-treasure hunt, not the complete job search, YET ... to be continued...
College students and new grads should check out this e-book,
The Last Job Search Guide You'll Ever Need:
How to Find -- and Get -- The Job or Internship of Your Dreams!
The book contains must-read contributions from 149 of North America's top employment experts
and is available risk-free for 90 days.
If your school, organization, business or other
entity has a Web site, we welcome you to link to Quintessential Careers.
If you already have a link from your site, we want you to know we
appreciate it. If you don't have a link to us, please
send a request to your site's Webmaster to establish a
link to Quintessential Careers. Thanks so much!
For more details (including sample HTML copy), see our
Link to Us page.
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming
issues of QuintZine:
* Dining etiquette
* Ten Tips for Creating a Career That Lights Your Fire
* Identifying Your Passion's "Building Blocks"
* Career Assessment for New Grads
* Turning an Internship into a Job
* 10 Career Change Mistakes to Avoid
* Resumes for New Grads
* 10 Resume Mistakes
* The Scoop on Resume Length
* Moonlighting/Holding Multiple Jobs
* Career Focus Quiz
* Overcoming a Lack of Qualifications/Credentials
* Fighting the Overqualified Label
* Surviving and Moving Beyond Low-Wage Jobs
* Pre-Employment Testing
* 10 Things for High-School Students to Remember
* First in a Series Tracking College Plans of a High School Student
* Importance of Junior Year of High School
* How to Make a Temp Job Permanent
* Temping Your Way to Career Change
* Mastering Second (and Subsequent) Interviews
* Interview Damage Control
* 10 Interview Mistakes
* Exude Confidence in Interviews
* Job Satisfaction Quiz
* Job-search Time-Management Skills
* Reinvent Your Career at Midlife
* Working Beyond Retirement
* Workaholic Quiz
* Building Your Brand
* Pros and Cons of Nontraditional Careers
* Nontraditional Career Paths for Men and Women
* Make Your College Application Shine
* Changing Landscape of College Admissions
* College Admissions Annual Report/Panel Discussion
* Internet Jobhunting Annual Report
* Top 5 Networking Strategies
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more!
Don't ever want to miss another issue of QuintZine? Get a free subscription to
the email version of QuintZine by completing our
subscription form.
Quintessential Careers Announces Career Coaching
We now offer two types of career-coaching services!
Are you...
feeling stuck in an unsatisfying job?
facing a major change in career or job status?
searching for your ideal career or job?
seeking help in developing a job-search plan?
looking for a solution to job-search obstacles?
desiring to bounce ideas off of a career expert?
trying to discover the keys to career success?
Let Dr. Randall S. Hansen, The Career Doctor, help you work through all your college, career, and job-search concerns,
issues, and problems. He has helped hundreds of teens, college students, and experienced job-seekers identify obstacles, develop
action plans, and achieve success -- and he can help you!
And for an economical online-only career-coaching alternative,
visit The Career Clinic.
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