Job hunting skills

[Dietmar Tietz]

>From: Deepti Pradhan <PXH at psuvm.psu.edu>
>To: "bionet.jobs mail newsgroup" <bionet-news at dl.ac.uk>
>Subject: Job fair related question
>
>Hello Nettors,
>I'd like some information regarding job fairs - viz., how
>useful have they been in your obtaining a job; if you choose to go, how
>formal are the interviews (attire-wise too, please :) ); what is the
>protocol once you get there [I've been told all you have to do is show up
>with 10 copies of your c.v.  - then what???]; if they are held over more
>than one day, do the same employers show up each day or is it 
categorized in
>some way; any other helpful/useful pointers if one goes for a job fair.
>Please post answers here if possible.  If I receive replies by mail, I will
>be happy to summarize them here.
>Thanks for your help,
>Deepti
>
 
Dear Deepti Pradhan:
 
It certainly cannot do any harm to go to job fairs, but don't expect too 
much.
 
I have been told about a USA Government job fair that they received 
about 10,000 (!) resumes for just a few vacancies.  Since they could not 
read them all, they decided not to read any (equal opportunity 
initiative).
 
Going to a job fair, you should dress the way people dress in the job you 
want.  Keep on the more conservative side (unless you want to be an 
artist).  Try to contact as many people as you possibly can.
 
You should bring a number of resumes.  Avoid spelling mistakes.  Use a 
high quality laser printer.  Test your resume with some friends to find 
out whether they can get the message really fast.  Personnel 
administrators will probably give you 10 to 15 sec. to read your CV.  
Therefore, the top portion of your resume should have an attractive 
summary highlighting your qualities.  Limit your resume to well 
organized 1-2 pages, otherwise, job recruiters will believe you cannot 
focus on what is important.  Government positions may require that you 
type (no handwriting please) your career information on a special
form, i.e., SF-171 in the USA.  Such forms are also available for 
Macintosh and PC (use veronica to search gopher) and that makes it 
much easier to produce many of them and adapt them for the position at 
hand.
 
There are many more effective ways to get a job.  This is how people 
get a job (approximate numbers):
 
5  % responding to an ad
5  % headhunters
5  % job wanted ads
5  % other initiatives
80 % networking
 
What is networking all about?
 
1) Tell all your friends that you are looking for a job and what you 
need.
 
2) Talk to people who have a lot of contacts to other people, i.e., your 
hair cutter, physician and dentist, priest, insurance agent, etc.  A 
friend of mine mentioned to an old lady on the street that he cannot afford the 
fees to study at a reasonable university.  Well, that lady's daughter 
happened to work in the grant department of a famous university...
 
3) Informational interviewing:  Talk to professionals in the field you 
want to be.  You can do this in person, by phone, by email, etc.  
 
Important rule #1: Be polite and never take more than 20 minutes of 
that person's time unless THEY want to talk longer.
 
Important rule #2:  Don't ask them for a job.  Such a job "threat" turns 
off most people.  Anyway, they will realize themselves that you are job 
hunting.
 
Important rule #3:  Be prepared to talk about yourself.  "Do you want 
me to talk about myself?" is also a good way to get such an interview 
going, if your partner does not talk at all.  Concentrate on your 
achievements, do not mention failures. No self-pity please!  Such a self-
presentation should never last for more than 3 minutes.  At the end of 
these three minutes you may ask:  "Do you want me to elaborate on 
certain aspects?"  This phrase is also great to break "minutes" of silence.
 
Important rule #4:  Your interview partner should do most of the 
talking, since YOU are the one who wants information.  Ask him about 
his profession, what he likes or doesn't, whether he could recommend 
this career to a newcomer and what the prospects are.
 
Important rule #5:  Before you leave, ask for the address of three 
people who could give additional advice.  This way you can build your 
network and continue informational interviewing.
 
Important rule #6:  Write a thank-you letter the same day (most people 
don't bother).  Something may come to their mind later and in such a 
case they may remember you.
 
>>  Informational interviewing is a great way for people with no  <<
>>  connections to eventually have good connections               <<.
 
Informational interviewing brought me my job at the NIH in the USA.  
One of the scientists I met in Germany just returned from the States.  
Over there, he happened to meet a friend who had a vacancy.  This 
German scientist even wrote a nice recommendation for me to get me 
started...
 
A general rule of job hunting is to seek the personal contact. In the 
famous job hunting guide "What color is your parachute?" they give the 
following advice: "Paper is an insulator.  Never let it get between
you and a future job opportunity".
 
There is much more to successful job hunting.  If you live in the USA, 
you may want to join Forty Plus, a nationwide non-profit career center 
for professionals.  There are over 20 locations.  I am a former 
President and still a life-time member of the Greater Washington DC 
chapter.  Norman Vincent Peale and some IBM people started this 
organization more than 50 years ago in New York.  Forty Plus gives 
you a marvelous initial training (2 weeks 9 to 5) on writing resumes, 
interviewing, networking and finding job leads.  Many companies mail 
or fax their job openings to them.  They have lots of other helpful 
resources (plus computers & laser printers).  Also important is that you 
will find many people sharing your interest: getting a job.  You will 
make new friends and they are a good networking source too.  The only 
"catch" is that you have to pay an initial fee and monthly fees (very 
reasonable, about 10% of what a for-profit agency would charge you).  
In addition, you have to work one day per week as a volunteer to keep 
this organization going (nobody has a paid job there).  However, you 
can avoid volunteering by paying a little more money.
 
The skills I learned at Forty Plus continue to be very useful for me, not 
only for job hunting.
 
I wish you good luck!
 
Dietmar Tietz
 
 
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*           Dietmar Tietz, Ph.D.,  Research Scientist            *
*            Biostatistics, Justus-Liebig-University             *
*            Ludwigstr. 27, D-35390 Giessen, Germany             *
*                  Phone: +49-(641)-702-6015                     *
*                   Fax: +49-(641)-702-5995                      *
*              Email: Dietmar.Tietz at Uni-Giessen.de               *
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