Well, folks, today’s bit was going to be a post-NaNoWriMo advice column on how to do lots of nerdy things impressively fast.  However, teh Steve was teh inspiring once more with this article about the high-speed job search.  As someone who had yet to enter the workforce when technology made possible – and ultimately necessitated – the warp speed job hunt, I am familiar only with such an approach.  I’ve seen it make life easier as well as harder (although, mostly harder) to utilize technology to navigate the sea of WTF.  Fortunately, there are alternatives to mass resume emailings and online job boards, and both employers and prospective employees can benefit.

1. Research
2. Niches
3. Using “job radar”

Today, we’ll talk about research.  So…



1. Do your freaking research.

The Internet is not just for quickly sending infinite copies of your resume to every company in existence.  In fact, never use it for this purpose.  Ever.  All that did for me was send me, in my post-OMG-my-entire-department-just-got-outsourced panic, into endless despair because “There’s no jobs” and “I literally tried everywhere.”

No… no, that’s not trying everywhere.  Trying to find a job by sending your information everywhere is like trying to find the prettiest colour by mixing all your paints into an unidentifiable brown sludge.  The key is to specialize.  And how do you do that?  You figure out what it is that companies want.  Oh, Internet, I knew we’d stay friends.

Get online, research the companies you want to work for, and read their “about us” sections first.  That gives you a much clearer image of what they are looking for, and might even offer up some delicious buzzwords that a disenchanted secretary is skimming for in your cover letter.

If you don’t know what companies you want to work for, check for the names of the companies in the credits of your favourite movies/shows/games.  Then go back to the trusty Internet and find out their parent, affiliate, and subsidiary companies.  Corporate integration is ubiquitous.  You’ll get a nice long list.

Oh, and if/when they call you for a job interview, go back to their website and memorize a point or two about the company’s “mission statement” and history.  It couldn’t hurt to drive the point home that you know what you’re talking about, especially in an era when most people no longer bother.  Let the other candidates’ primary goals be speed and having lots of other applications out there.  Let yours be expertise. 

Next week: Niches!

-Tamara Hecht