Tired of your Old Job? Looking for a new job?  Well you've come to the right place.  Since I first wrote this page, I have found that some of the things that I said earlier were a little off (e.g. there are more effective ways to get people interested in you)  Here's the update:

Finding out who is Hiring:

How to write a resume
How to Recruit a Recruiter
A taxonomy of Recruiters
How to spot a good company
Interview Tips

Read the Newsgroups in the bottom of this document, and look for job postings.  Now that the web is so big almost every message will contain different URL's to apply for jobs online.  Use them!   For the effort of posting 1 resume (about five minutes of time) you will be browsed by thousands of headhunters instead of just one when replying in the news.  Have them come to you instead of you coming to them!

Online Job Databases.  Here are the links to post your resume on:

How to Write a Resume

Forget what they tell you about 1 page resumes.  When looking for jobs on the internet, more is better.  The more experience, in the largest range of skillsets , will get you the best responses. 

Keep the "best" points at the top of the resume.  For example, if you don't have a degree, don't list education as the first section on your resume.  Here is an example of my resume.  You can use it as a guide for your own resume.

The most important features of the resume are:

  1. A "laundry list" of skills organized by category
  2. The skills that best match the job that you are looking for should be first
  3. Experience section that accurately reflects your skills/job.  I have been burned by "stretching" the truth. If you don't know how to do it well, don't list it.
  4. An attractive, sans serif font such as Arial, or Avant Garde if you are postscript fan. Serif types (like the one this article is written in) don't fax very well.  Also send all faxes in 'fine' rather than standard mode.  This will assure that the resume is readable.  Keep font sizes at LEAST 12 points.  10 point type doesn't fax well, and is hard to read on the screen.

I have heard several views on the "personal" section of the resume.  A good guide is to avoid any activities that identify sexual orientation/preference, religious beliefs (although I am Christian, I let my walk describe me), or political affiliation.  Employers have no business knowing these, and you can avoid unpleasant lawsuits if you avoid them.

I have even heard some people that say you have no business having any kind of personal section at all.  In EVERY interview I have been asked what I do outside of work.  I think that the section is important because it shows that you are human and not just a machine.

Don't underestimate the importance of 2 day courses.  Any training that you have had can be valuable, and should at least merit a bullet item in your resume.  

Employers LOVE concrete details that explicate your job.  E.G. it is better to list a project that you did and the skills you got from it.  Try to pick up on concrete skills that you have earned on the job (or in college) and turn them into skillsets the employer is looking for.

Prepare your resume in THREE formats: 1.  Text 2. HTML 3. Word

How to Recruit a good Recruiter

Its a dangerous world out there.  Recruiters (in general) are only interested in 1 thing:  Money.  Many of them will "seem" interested in you, but the moment you place, they are gone.  I strongly suggest that you look at my taxonomy of recruiters (humorous, but based on truth).

Some things to look out for in recruiters:

Some things to look FOR in a recruiter

How to spot a good company

In general, a company that is committed to getting a good employee should do the following:

Beware "cheap" or "Startup" companies.  For example, I dealt with a company named ZCOM.  They refused to pay for my interview and instead opted for the "cheap" teleconferencing.  They let me go after two weeks.  Startup companies may look nice, but they have a tendency of being underfinanced, and over optimistic in their revenues.  When lean times come, you will be the first to go.  My second experience was with Prosoft, an internet training company.  They offered me the "world" trained me for three weeks in a hellish hotel in Carson, CA.  After this they sent me home, and then "let me go" because there was insufficient money in the corp.  The CEO of this company was under investigation by the IRS.  He also had failed in three previous capitol ventures.  

Research publically traded companies.  If a company is on the NASDAQ exchange, you can look up their history.  This history provides a very accurate and impartial appraisal of a companies performance over a long term.

Read a companies website.  If their website sucks, then probably so do they. Although this rule isn't a hard and fast rule, since some companies are behind the times.  In IT related fields, however, web presence is EVERYTHING.  If they can't manage a website, they probably can't manage a business.  However, most important is just to use your common sense.  

Start out small.  If you are a first time newbie out of college, don't expect high salaries.  Look for entry level jobs that can provide you with a couple of years of experience, in SOMETHING related to your desired field of study.

Interview Tips

The interview is a complex and difficult process.  I will not attempt to tell you everything about interviewing, except for the obvious things.

Things you should do for an interview

  1. Wear a well pressed, dry-cleaned suit, or for women an acceptable "power" suit.
  2. Wear a set of respectable and well shined shoes
  3. Wear a tie (men) that isn't loud or intrusive.  Its better to wear a tasteful, conservative tie (in most cases) that won't attract unnecessary attention
  4. Be well prepared on company facts (most of the time these aren't necessary, but they make you more aware of what the company does.)
  5. Try to know the names and titles of people who will be interviewing you (I am terrible at this, but you might as well try!)
  6. Make direct eye contact and firm handshake with initial contact
  7. Make direct eye contact during interview
  8. Listen to interviewer for cues about what they're interested in.  If you can't find them, then ask them what they are looking for in your answer.  Sometimes they won't tell you.
  9. Practice, practice, practice.  Don't be discouraged if you blow a few interviews.  Practice makes perfect
  10. Have at least 1 more resume than there will be people interviewing.
  11. Comb your hair
  12. Shave
  13. Wear de-odorant
  14. Don't eat anything that will make you fart a lot
  15. Brush your teeth
  16. Don't eat anything that will make your breath stinky.

How to look for a job using the News

3.  Use the news.  One of the greatest sources of job postings on the internet is the News. Here are the newsgroups:

4.  Use keyword searches within the news.  When one starts looking through the news for the first time, it can seem a little over overwealming.  In one day, in just one newsgroup there can be as many as ten thousand postings!  This is where using a little judicious information filtering can help.  One of the most valuable techniques to use is to look through for the jobs that you are looking for. Chances are that most kinds of jobs have certain words.  For example, I always search misc.jobs.contract for the word "web".  This reduces the amount of irrelevant entries you have to wade through.  The other valuable technique is to use killfiles.  Say that you keep seeing AS/400 in your searches for a webmaster.  Rather than wading through them all, just add AS/400 to your killfile.  No more AS/400 entries to worry about!  Less irrelevant info to wade through.  A really great newsreader is NewsExpress.

8.  Get some kind of a web presence. Geocities offers free web pages.  These are great because they provide a public area for you to display your nicely formatted HTML resume.  When you update your resume, you can just upload it to geocities, and everyone can get it without expensive or inconvenient printing/faxes.

9.  The best time to be looking for a job is in January/Feb/March.  Since companies have already gotten their budgets done, this is the most favourable time to look for a job.  I put out the bulk of my resumes in Oct/Nov/Dec and received about 20/40 replies, but without putting nearly as resumes out I had nearly 30/40 calls in Jan.  I also had "real" interviews only after the "last quarter".  I had lots of inquires before Jan, but in the space of 3 weeks I had 4 interested parties who wanted to interview me.

1