Job Searching = Headache!

[rages4calm]

So I've been here in frisco almost 3 weeks I believe, it is indeed completely different from what I am use to.. it is no texarkana by any means lol.

The thing that bugs me the most is the fact their are 10x the amount of jobs available here but also a bigger population of people that are looking. I have e-mailed, faxed, handed-in my resume for 3 weeks straight and even double checked my resume.. then had a few managers i know look at it to make sure its not my resume.. I am not sure what I am doing wrong but this has to be more agitating then job hunting in texarkana where there are 0 jobs!! lol

My poor printer probably has my resume engraved in its memory lol.

If anyone has any suggestions im all ears..

I've tried craigslist, hotjobs, dfwjobs, dallasobserver, frisco forums you name it!!

[kenw]

Carl, it is going to be more about who you know that anything else. In 30 years, I've only had 1 job that came to me from a posted/emailed/whatever resume. every other one came from:

1)my wife's uncle worked with the brother of the VP of mfg...
2)former boss dogged me until i sent him a resume, job offer came within days...
3)church friend knew of a special project at his workplace...

work hard to meet people: church, bars, whatever. Someone knows someone who knows someone who needs you now. Slinging resumes hither and yon is important but not nearly so much as face time. Spend your days networking.

hang in there. i know your pain firsthand.

[Buddha]

Yep. What he said.
A resume' that is less than 101% what is required won't do you much good.
You should get on Linkedin and network as well as any local networking groups you can find. After you join Linkedin for free, search for people you know who are members, and connections they have who might help you. Search for people who live in your area. Search for people who do the same things you do. Then start contacting them and ask for help.

[rages4calm]

I'm actually a member of linkedin been there for quite some time now. Seems to be a useful website.

[raevyncent]

I've been looking for almost 5 months now... just recently moved to N.Dallas from Burleson, so my options are more open here, but i feeeeeeel your pain. Try to find job fairs, that's a good way to get an instant first interview. Jobing.com has listings for alot of god job fairs as well as local jobs. Good luck to you, I think finally I might have snagged a good one with Geico, have to see after the interview (I worked for them in '98-'00).

[CaptainTom]

For what it's worth, the last day job I had came from a member of TPF..

thanks David

[toverman]

You're right about the number of jobs and applicants. What this means in many cases is that the process will just take longer. Employers will sometimes solicit applications for a longer period of time and not review them until they are all in.

I've got an example of my own. I applied to work at a large corporation based in Fort Worth that sort of rhymes with Video Snack. Sent in my application and about 10 weeks later, got a call from a recruiter to take the basic tests. Got an interview. Got a second interview. Got a job offer. In the meantime, things improved at the job I already had and I turned it down. Looking back, the length of the process helped me. Strangely, I got a call from another recruiter based on that first application that they'd created a higher-level position and were interested in me for it. By then, Video Snack took a nosedive and was not a ship I was comfortable sailing on.

Patience is hard to come by when bills are due. Been there, doing that now. But it's a reality of a larger job market. Hang in there!

[ndsimm]

DEpending on the area of work you are in...Dice and Monster could help as well
3rd party recruiters have been a big help to me over the years
Robert Half, Prosource, etc...

[rages4calm]

At least I still have a few web sites from clients coming in to help out.

[kula23]

Originally Posted by rages4calm

So I've been here in frisco almost 3 weeks I believe, it is indeed completely different from what I am use to.. it is no texarkana by any means lol.

The thing that bugs me the most is the fact their are 10x the amount of jobs available here but also a bigger population of people that are looking. I have e-mailed, faxed, handed-in my resume for 3 weeks straight and even double checked my resume.. then had a few managers i know look at it to make sure its not my resume.. I am not sure what I am doing wrong but this has to be more agitating then job hunting in texarkana where there are 0 jobs!! lol

My poor printer probably has my resume engraved in its memory lol.

If anyone has any suggestions im all ears..

I've tried craigslist, hotjobs, dfwjobs, dallasobserver, frisco forums you name it!!

LOL I used lived in Texarkana, TX for 11 years........I hate those town.....so small and so boring. But I haven't live there for almost 8 years and I know they have grown more new places but heck I will never go back there! Good luck finding a job. It's tough I know that feeling!

[DaShellSellers]

It took my husband almost 3 months to land a position with a company that begged him to apply. They still had to go through the whole interview process with all the "qualified applicants" so they wouldn't get sewed for discrimination. Seemed like a waste of $$ to me to go through all of that when they already knew who they were going to hire. It's all politics.

[kenw]

Originally Posted by DaShellSellers

It took my husband almost 3 months to land a position with a company that begged him to apply. They still had to go through the whole interview process with all the "qualified applicants" so they wouldn't get sewed for discrimination. Seemed like a waste of $$ to me to go through all of that when they already knew who they were going to hire. It's all politics.

It once took 6 months for me in a similar situation, so I understand. But I did have job in the meantime.

I used to work for a large company where that was the unstated process. If someone was going to open a position and knew who they wanted for it, a "little bird" unofficially told the prospect to whip up a resume along the lines of the job.

Then the posting was written with that resume as a guide, and guess what? that person magically best suited the posted requirements......and avoided any nasty EEOC issues.

worked for me several times.....but as I said earlier, it's not about qualifications and # of resumes: it's about who you know and who knows you.

And when you do apply to a posting, tweak the resume (honestly!) to include words and terms in the posting. Many large companies use software to sort resumes and will pick up keywords they have programmed the software to look for. (if they want you to cut and paste text into a web site, you can bet it's going to get sorted by the computer before any human ever sees it.) Most likely they have used those same words in the job description. Use 'em, just like they are in the description. Don't use similar words, the computer isn't smart enough to spot them. For these kinds of applications, getting the computer to snag YOUR resume over the 1000s of others is the biggest step.

[amadjuster]

Originally Posted by kenw

it's not about qualifications and # of resumes: it's about who you know and who knows you.

Amen to that, Ken.

Of course, it also depends on what it is you are trying to do.