Richard Bolles, the writer of the best-selling career book, What color is your parachute?, wrote: "The person who gets hired is not necessarily the person with the best qualifications, it's the one who knows the most about getting hired!"
There are fewer more true statements in job-seeking. Job search strategies go way beyond finding a job listed in the Job Center, filling out an application or resume, filling out a job requisition/sending your resume to the search committee, and crossing your fingers to wait.
Keep in mind that job descriptions are really nothing more than "personal ads"; they may be accurate but they are woefully incomplete! Personal ads are advertisements individual's write and publish in a newspaper to attract a potential mate.
While a personal ad may interest you enough to want to "date" someone, all by itself, it would be unwise to "marry" someone based on the information provided. A similar analogy applies to job ads. While the job ads may have enough information in them to interest you in learning more about a job, they can never provide enough information to know if it's right for a long-term commitment.
The best job search strategies are the ones that allow you to gather as much information about the job itself, the job environment and the departmental culture as soon as you can. They also include understanding the application process and the unique University culture surrounding job searching.
The best job search strategies include:
Check Job Center listings
back to Finding new work
back to table of contents
University of Minnesota Extension is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Copyright © 2009 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.