Job hunting
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Job hunting, job seeking, or job searching is the act of looking for employment, due to unemployment or discontent with a current position. The immediate goal of job seeking is usually to obtain a job interview with an employer which may lead to getting hired. The job hunter or seeker typically first looks for job vacancies or employment opportunities.
Steps
Locating jobs
Common methods of job hunting are:
- Finding a job through a friend or an extended business network, personal network, or online social network service
- Using an employment website
- Looking through the classifieds in newspapers
- Using a private or public employment agency or recruiter
- Looking on a company's web site for open jobs, typically in its applicant tracking system
- Going to a job fair
- Using professional guidance such as outplacement services that give training in writing a résumé, applying for jobs and how to be successful at interview.
As of 2010, less than 10% of U.S. jobs are filled through online ads.[1]
Researching the employers
Many job seekers research the employers to which they are applying, and some employers see evidence of this as a positive sign of enthusiasm for the position or the company, or as a mark of thoroughness. Information collected might include open positions, full name, locations, web site, business description, year established, revenues, number of employees, stock price if public, name of chief executive officer, major products or services, major competitors, and strengths and weaknesses.
Networking
Contacting as many people as possible is a highly effective way to find a job. It is estimated that 50% or higher of all jobs are found through networking.[2]
Job recruiters and decision makers are increasingly using online social networking sites to gather information about job applicants, according to a mid-2011 Jobvite survey of 800 employers in the USA.[3]
Job seekers need to begin to pay more attention to what employers and recruiters find when they do their pre-interview information gathering about applicants, according to this 2010 study by Microsoft, "Online Reputation in a Connected World".[4]
Applying
One can also go and hand out résumés or Curriculum Vitae to prospective employers. Another recommended method of job hunting is cold calling or emailing companies that one desires to work for and inquire to whether there are any job vacancies.
After finding a desirable job, they would then apply for the job by responding to the advertisement. This may mean applying through a website, emailing or mailing in a hard copy of your résumé to a prospective employer. It is generally recommended that résumés be brief, organized, concise, and targeted to the position being sought. With certain occupations, such as graphic design or writing, portfolios of a job seeker's previous work are essential and are evaluated as much, if not more than the person's résumé. In most other occupations, the résumé should focus on past accomplishments, expressed in terms as concretely as possible (e.g. number of people managed, amount of increased sales or improved customer satisfaction).
Interviewing
Once an employer has received your résumé, they will make a list of potential employees to be interviewed based on the résumé and any other information contributed. During the interview process, interviewers generally look for persons who they believe will be best for the job and work environment. The interview may occur in several rounds until the interviewer is satisfied and offers the job to the applicant.
Onboarding
New employees begin their onboarding into new organizations even before their first contact with potential employers. While the best employers will invest in accommodating, assimilating and accelerating new employees,[5] those joining firms that don't should take charge of their own onboarding, doing their best to get a head start before their start, manage their messages, and help others deliver results after they start.[6]
Job hunting in economic theory
Economists use the term "frictional unemployment" to mean unemployment resulting from the time and effort that must be expended before an appropriate job is found. Search theory is the economic theory that studies the optimal decision of how much time and effort to spend searching, and which offers to accept or reject (in the context of a job hunt, or likewise in other contexts like searching for a low price).
See also
References
- ^ Hinshaw, David. "The dangers of online job hunting". Boston Metro, 13 September 2010, p. 16. References uncited studies.
- ^ http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2011/spring/art01.pdf
- ^ "Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey 2011 | Results of research on recruiting through social networks". recruiting.jobvite.com. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ http://www.job-hunt.org/guides/DPD_Online-Reputation-Research_overview.pdf
- ^ George Bradt and Mary Vonnegut, Onboarding: How To Get Your New Employees Up To Speed In Half The Time, (John Wiley & Sons, 2009) - ISBN 0-470-48581-7)
- ^ The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan, George Bradt, Jayme Check, Jorge Pedraza, John Wiley and Sons, 2009 - ISBN 0-470-40703-4
