I spent 3 months job hunting while trying to move to a new city.
If any part of that that sentence made your grimace, then you know exactly how I felt. I wasn’t expecting my first major job hunt to be so tedious and time demanding. Job hunting is a necessary evil. I was lucky enough that it only lasted three months for me, but easily could have lasted longer
After I graduated with a BFA in Theatre I didn’t have any major plans lined up, so I had no choice but to move back in with my parents in my tiny midwestern hometown. (Off to a great start, right??)
However, I needed a survival job to support myself while looking for acting gigs. After a brief stint trying to become a flight attendant (a story for another time) I started focusing on administrative assistant and reception work. These two job positions are definitely appealing because there isn’t a specific education required. If you have the right soft skills you, but that’s not what we’re talking about right now.
After a hard, long, exhausting job hunt, here are the 3, in my opinion, most useful tools for getting a job. These definitely were not talked about when I was in school, but I did learn how to sing in Italian… Ok, here we go.
Indeed
Indeed was my primary resource for finding job listings. Anyone can post a job listing to Indeed and it’s pretty user friendly. I actually got my current position through a job listing on Indeed, so it actually works.
Basically, businesses can post a listing with a description of the job and the job hunter can search by key words and location to find a job they are interested in.
Some things I learned on Indeed:
- Check every day. Indeed is constantly being updated, so you don’t want to risk a position you’re perfect for being lost in the shuffle.
- Get creative with your keyword search. Sometime there may be a job you are perfectly qualified for, but it uses alternative keywords.
- Don’t get overwhelmed and be patient! There can be a lot of content on Indeed (especially in a metro area) but you’ll become efficient at finding positions that are plausible for your job search.
Pros: Indeed is fast changing and there are plenty of opportunities. It’s easy to use, and the listings that are labeled ‘Easily Apply’ are sooo convenient! It’s easy to sort through the spam too.
Cons: I wouldn’t always hear back on applications from Indeed. Sometimes job listings would be left up and I’d waste time applying for positions that were already closed.
All in all, I would definitely recommend Indeed as a first stop on job hunt. It is an extremely useful tool for a wide range of careers and various job hunter levels.
LinkedIn was something super overwhelming to me at first. I actually deleted what little framework I had on my LinkedIn profile and started over. This might not be the best tactic, since LinkedIn is best when developed over a long period of time, but I was confused.
LinkedIn is often described as a Facebook for professional and work environments. It’s your resume, hilight reel, and job search engine all in one.
If you’re just getting started with LinkedIn, or if you want to vamp up your profile, here are the things I learned from exploring LinkedIn.
- Fill our your profile as completely as you can. You don’t want employers who visit your profile to be met with a half-hearted attempt at a professional profile.
- Don’t over-focus on making connections. LinkedIn pushes this pretty hard, but honestly, I don’t think having more connections will help you get employed faster. Connect with valuable people, but don’t stress about it too much.
- Even after you get hired, periodically come back and update your profile. I wish I had done this periodically so I didn’t get overwhelmed by doing it all at once!
I didn’t spend nearly as much time on LinkedIn as I did on Indeed, and ultimately it was an Indeed application that allowed me to get hired, but I can definitely see why many prefer LinkedIn. Here were the pros and cons I experienced.
Pros: Presentation! I love that you can represent yourself on an entire profile instead of a single-page PDF. There also seems to be quite a lot of job opportunities here.
Cons: Some job opportunities seem a bit… scammy? LinkedIn lets you get messages from rando recruiters too. I also had some difficulty applying to listings that didn’t have the ‘Easy Apply’ option.
Staffing Agencies
If you are using Indeed or LinkedIn, you might come across a staffing agency listing. I was kind of skeptical at first, but I had a really good experience with one (and a bad experience, but that was pretty brief.)
A (trustworthy) staffing agency is paid by the companies that are looking to hire candidates, so applicants shouldn’t have to pay anything. (If you are asked to pay anything, run the other way! If they are making money from you, why would they try to get you hired?)
So the staffing agency I worked with briefly had me do a series of interviews to determine what kind or roles they should submit you for. They really tried to match me with a position I would be well suited for.
Here’s what I learned form working with a staffing agency:
- They aren’t all sketchy! I interviewed with one and never heard a peep back, but the second one I interviewed with had interviews lined up for me within 2 weeks.
- Be honest about what you want. They will not be offended if you say you won’t accept a role that doesn’t fit your specifications on location, pay, or other element. Plus, you’ll just be wasting their time and yours if you’re submitted for positions you don’t want.
I had a positive experience with a staffing agency, even if it was cut short (because I was hired, woohoo!) It was kind of nice to have other people do the leg work for a change!
Pros: So many! You have other people communicating with companies for you, opportunities are presented to your for your choosing, and some agencies even offer interview coaching before you go on an interview. So nice!
Cons: Soo, if a company comes to a staffing agency looking for candidates it might be because they have a hard time finding interested candidates, or holding on to their hires. That’s kind of a red flag, so read up on some reviews of an agency you are thinking of working with.
Last but not least, a bonus tool!
Word of mouth or personal recommendations
Did you know that 92% of people trust personal recommendations from friends or family over anything else?? It is certainly to your benefit to ask friends or family about positions at their companies or other places they have personal connections to.
One of the reasons I believe it took me 3 months to find a job in a city filled with opportunity was because I had a Theatre Degree on paper. I was looking around at my theatre peers with jobs outside of theatre, and most of them got those positions through a personal recommendation.
There is certainly nothing wrong with getting a position through a personal recommendation. Why not take advantage of a recommendation? Though it’s not a guarantee, it can certainly save a lot of time and hassle in a job hunt.
Still need some help in your job hunt? I gotchu! Definitely check these posts out.
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