Job Search Manual

Finding the best job that suits your personality and your lifestyle is never easy.  It’s actually a full time job itself.  To better understand your needs and increase your chance of succeeding in your chosen field, you need to conduct a personal evaluation.  Is this the career you want?  Is there room for growth?  Are the salary and benefits good?

You can’t really evaluate a position unless you do the research.  From a recent survey in the U.S., graduate degree holders earn an average of 35 to 50 percent more than just bachelor’s degree holders.  This is a reason why more and more are taking their Masters.  There could be an offer or two, all you have to do is make a concrete decision to ensure the right job for you in the present job market.

Know what you want

Knowing what kind of personality you have and your interests gives you an idea how you would like to spend your day on a job.  The activities you’d like to get involved in plays a great role in keeping you motivated.  You could make a list of the kinds of people you would like to be working with.  Say, people who like being told what to do or authoritative types; how about loud people or quiet types; and would you like a place where people love socializing or not?  There are different sizes of companies as well, there are small, medium, large, overseas, local, and regional.

The Internet is a valuable tool that assists online job seekers in looking for a job they could fit in.  Trim down the choices depending on your needs and wants to get the more possible pool of companies you can try submitting resumes.

Below are the common job search techniques:

Percentage of
Job hunters               Search Technique                              Effectiveness

66.0%                             Direct application                              47.71%
50.8                             Referral from friends’ work                     22.1
41.8                             Asking friends from other places           11.9
28.4                             Asking family about the company 
                                               they work for                           19.3
27.3                             Asking relatives about jobs from
                                               other places                            7.4
45.9                             Newspaper posts                                23.9
21.0                             Career centers                                   24.2
12.5                             School organizations/clubs                 21.4
15.3                             Civil Service Exams                           12.5
10.4                             Referrals from mentors                       12.1
1.6                             Local ads                                           12.9
6.0                             Cooperative programs                          22.2

*Percentage results obtained from dividing the technique by the total number of job hunters who tried to use the method, successful or not.