Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
Job-hunting tips from the February 2, 2004 issue of
QuintZine.
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...
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.
