It might be a real challenge to find a desired job within normal circumstances, but what if you are looking for a job in the situation of the world economic crisis? Enterprises are getting rid of the old stock, slowing down production rates, trying to lower costs, and consequently, cutting down the workforce. Many companies around the world are reducing their staff. Hiring? Not really.

It might look like a completely hopeless situation – how can anybody get a job, when so many are being fired? But this is not exactly like that. Yes, it is most likely that you are not going to find vacant positions openly advertised on the companies’ web pages or anywhere else. However, Human Resources are looking for people – full of fresh ideas, talented, bold people. People, who will bring positive changes, invent new techniques and rewrite the history of the business development. Who told you, that you cannot be one of those people?

Please, consider the following:

Career transition.

There should be something you have always wanted to do for your living, but never got down to it, because you had another job, because you did not have relevant experience to do this kind of work, because, because… This is the time! Just be bold and go ahead!

If you start asking yourself this question, this is not a good sign at all – there is something to think about. However, there is no reason for totally freaking out. You are not the only one: thousands of job seekers are getting increasingly frustrated, because they keep searching, but cannot find a job they want. It might be even worse, if you are currently unemployed or looking forward to running away from your present working place that you hate from the deep of your heart.

Let’s see what could be the reasons for your job hunt taking so long:

Variant 1: No Interviews.

If this is the case, you really need to review (and consequently rewrite) your resume and cover letter. Those, basically, are specially designed for getting you invitations for interviews; your resume and cover letter should be selling you to the potential employer, convincing them that they will never find anybody better than you to fill the vacant position. If you are not getting interviews, your curriculum vitae and cover letter are not good enough and need to be redone in a proper way.

You might also want to review your references – are they positive, encouraging the human resources representatives to contact you directly and make an appointment? Or are they cutting off your potential communication with the head hunters?

Another reason why you are not invited for a face to face talk with prospective employers could be that you are applying for wrong positions. Is it that you are trying to get a job position that you have just no chance of getting? Think about that. Be more realistic and do not waste your time.

Visiting a job fair may significantly increase your chances to get a job even faster than you might have thought. You just need to be prepared to “hit” the potential employers. This article will give you some useful tips on how to be a success at a job fair.

Resume.

Review and update it, making sure that the contents reflect the kind of job you are currently looking for. Even if your previous working experience is not too much relevant to it, adjust your resume to your needs – stress out the points that could give you an advantage in job hunting in the desired field. Make many copies of the resume so that you can take a bunch of them to the job fair – you are going to meet quite a lot of prospective employers there.

Introduction.

Think of a brief presentation, that you could use to introduce yourself. It should be like a 40-60 seconds’ commercial, outlining the main points and aimed at making a good impression. A fresh, bright, upbeat presentation will help you grab the recruiter’s attention and get them interested in employing you.

At all interviews all employers with practically no exceptions do ask about the applicants’ current / previous job and why they do not fancy it any more. Do you have an answer to this question so far? A clear, precise, reasonable and persuasive one.

Reflection on this topic will not only help you to prepare for your job interview, but will also make you understand what kind of position you are looking for. Consider the following points:

1. What is your job?

Just describe it and be as precise as possible: what your daily activities at work are, what you are responsible for, how much time you spend at work, etc. The more details – the better. It is like looking at yourself at work from the distance. It will help you realize:

2. What do you like in your job?

3. And what will you never miss in case you leave the present employer?

Both points are worth reflecting on. And do not say that there is nothing positive you can think of about you current job – there must be if not loads, at least some positive things in it. Think this over and be honest with yourself, objective and specific – it is all for your own good, you do not want to get a new job and keep complaining about the same issues.

The last thing in the world you want to happen is your current boss getting to know that you are searching for a new job. Employers normally do support career development, but only within their own company. Here are some useful tips of how to avoid the awkward situation when you have to explain why you are going for job interviews and, basically, considering a job change.

Never involve company facilities usage into your job search.

This includes phone line, Internet, fax, and computer. Many employers monitor Internet usage and check phone logs. It is also not secure to store your resume and cover letter, job applications, references from former employers and correspondence with potential ones, - somebody can just come across with them accidentally and, believe me, will get very suspicious.

Never use your business email address for this purpose.

You might think that it looks more professional, when the email address on your resume contains the name of your company, but you are not quite right. First, you destroy the idea of confidential job search, letting everybody know who you are. Second, in many companies business email address usage is prohibited for personal purposes, and your employer might be reviewing the external email traffic, and might quite easily discover that you are job hunting. You should rather use a personal email account or set up a free of charge mailbox at gmail.com, for example.

Debbie has been working for Whatever Inc. for quite a few years already. She has been doing good job so far – her boss is happy with the results and cannot point out just nothing that Debbie could have done any better. Debbie is also quite happy with what she is doing, but… But she feels she should move further, grow, develop, meet new challenges and win new battles. Currently Whatever Inc. cannot offer Debbie any career development – they need her in her present job role. So, Debbie goes job-hunting in order to check what the market can offer. Good move! But what if her boss gets to know about it?.. Whoops!

You have never promised to your employer that you will work for them forever; it is natural to look for new possibilities. However, if got caught, make sure you act quickly, because you do not want to loose your job before you find a new one. Talk to your boss. Here are the variants your conversation can be based on:

You are looking for career growth. Just like Debbie.

Explain to your boss that you have short and long-term career development goals, which you need to review on regular basis. Thus, the purpose of you going for job interviews within this particular period of time is updating your current market value and competitiveness information. In this way you are also getting to know in what way you can improve your marketability, which is absolutely true.

Salary negotiation is a very important and – many would agree – extremely exciting part of the job search process.

It is true to say that often the salary negotiation is not exactly about how much you cost, but about how expensive you can “sell” yourself. To some extent we can compare the “selling” process to slave-trading in the Middle Ages. Yes, you have to sell (=employ) yourself for some certain monetary reimbursement (=salary, bonuses, other benefits). This is what they used to do in the past as well – trade people. The crucial difference here is that we do that of our own will, plus we sell our knowledge, skills and ideas, but not our bodies, unless we are talking about some specific job positions, not covered within this abstract.

So what is the secret key to success in trading yourself (=salary negotiating)? In this article you are offered the most essential points on this topic – world’s best knowledge at your disposal!

1. Market research.

Before going for an interview (no matter if this is the first, second or final one – salary negotiation may be initiated anytime and you need to be prepared) make a thorough research on what the fair market value for the position in question is. You need to know that, because you expect to be paid at least not less then others doing the same job. It is not like you just know how much you want to be earning – you should be realistic and know the price the employer is expecting to pay.