Passively learning this material won't be enough. You need to put what you learn into practice.
The Employers Perspective
Employers are looking for someone who is concerned first and foremost with doing a good job. They want someone who shows an interest in understanding their organization, its needs and goals, and who wants to actively contribute towards those goals. You can best show that you are that type of person by viewing employment opportunities from the employer's perspective.
It is important to identify how any specific job relates to the overall operations of the organization, and how your contribution in a position would help to further the purpose of that organization.
You will be most successful in job hunting if you pay primary attention to the needs of the employer rather than your own needs. This may be difficult if you have pressing financial concerns, for example, but it will be a more effective method for helping you to get the job you want An employer will hire you not because you need a job, but because you can do a job for the organization. You cannot convince an employer that you can do the job until you fully understand what job needs to be done.
You cannot fully understand the job that needs to be done until you view it from the organization's perspective! Ask yourself and the employer such questions as:
- Why is this position open?
- If no one was hired to fill this position, what problems would occur?
- What are the responsibilities of the position?
- What is the relative priority of each responsibility?
- How much time should be spent on each?
- If someone had the position previously, why did that person leave?
- What is that person now doing?
- Was that person considered successful? Why?
- What changes in the position does the employer envision? Why?
- What are the employer's most prominent expectations?
- How is performance evaluated?
- How does the position relate to the supervisor's job?
- How does it relate to other positions in the department?
- How does the department relate to the goals of the entire organization?
Approaches For Finding Job Opportunities
You can identify job opportunities either through direct approaches or indirect ones. Direct approaches include contacting directly the organizations where you would like to work and using sources such as Career Planning and Placement Centers, employment ads, employment agencies and services, and personnel departments to find information about specific job opportunities that are currently available. Indirect approaches for identifying job opportunities involve primarily talking to individuals in your field of interest to let them know of your interest and availability and to ask their help in your job search. This approach, known as net working, although it may seem less clearly defined, is the one that tends to be the most fruitful for most job hunters, because it enables job hunters to uncover opportunities not widely publicized through the traditional sources of employment information.
Direct Sources of Employment Information
Career Planning and Placement Centers
Career Planning and Placement Centers, located on most college and university campuses, can be one of the best sources for identifying specific job openings. Many employers in the area of the campus will list openings with the campus Career Planning and Placement Center, and sometimes do so in lieu of advertising to the general public through newspapers.
These employers may be pleased with previous students hired from the campus and wish to establish an on-going relationship, or they may be alumni from the college or university themselves.
Career Planning and Placement Centers offer on-campus recruiting as well as direct job listings for students. National organizations that recruit on campus provide a list of the positions they are seeking to fill and the degrees that would most likely qualify applicants for those openings.
The government and other agencies typically provide similar listings. Also available are listings of positions that local employers call or mail into the career planning and placement center. In addition, the center may subscribe to one or more job posting systems such as a computerized data bank of employment openings.
Another valuable resource found in Career Planning and Placement Centers is career counselors. They can help you clarify your career goals, locate needed information, identify career opportunities, review your job search strategies, and show you how to do your best in your hunt for the job that is right for you. Most career counselors conduct group workshops on such topics as resume writing, interviewing skills, and job searching strategies as well as doing individual counseling.
Employment Ads
Employment ads advertise specific openings that an organization has to offer. They state the minimum-and sometimes the ideal-qualifications that are necessary for the position. The ads often state the qualifications in the order that they are perceived to be important to the employer.
Employment ads are usually found in newspapers or professional journals.
When in newspapers, ads usually reflect the current state of supply and demand in the job market. They are used more heavily by employers when applicants are difficult to find, in highly technical positions, which few people are skilled at, or undesirable positions, which few people want.
