The employment marketplace is a crowded sector with strong competition for every job that becomes available. Being best-equipped in both the application process and interview process will give you an added advantage over competitors so take these 7 job hunting tips to heart when looking for work.

1.  Use business-related publications to your advantage.

Most business-sectors have a magazine or publication that provides the current news related to that business-sector. Keep a keen eye on the one for your industry, if you read of companies expanding then send your resume into them. This can be particularly advantageous if there is a new HR Manager quoted, you can then send him/her a letter of congratulations on his/her appointment along with your resume.

2.  Be open to change.

Finding the perfect job can be a rarity, so welcome new challenges and don’t make yourself immune to new ideas.

3.  Don’t just email your resume and hope to get a call.

To give yourself the best shot at getting interviews and finding vacancies you need to be proactive and not just rely on finding a job via the internet. You can find roles at job fairs or through word of mouth via your network of friends and ex-colleagues.

4.  Be sure to register with a recruitment firm.

Recruitment firms will be eager to find you a job, after all they earn their money by getting you a job, so register with one. Do research in advance to see if there is a recruitment agency that specializes in your area of expertise.

5.  Evaluate your resume and cover-letter.

If you are not getting called for interviews that you think you are a good match for, check your cover-letter and resume to make sure there are no errors on the cover letter or spelling mistakes on the resume. The slightest inaccurate detail could impact your success-rate so ensure grammar is correct. Make sure to read How To Write Cover-Letters That Will Grab The Recruiters Attention along with How To Write A Resume.

6.  Don’t let stress follow you into your interview.

Stress affects us all in one way or another and job searching can be a particularly stressful time in your life, however it is vital that you come across calm and composed in your interview. Recruiters and Hiring Managers would be wary of hiring someone that they may perceive to be unable to handle pressure.

7.  Look the part.

Make sure to treat each job interview with professionalism, know the appropriate dress-code for the company and dress accordingly.

Stay determined and try to remain positive, stay calm in the face of any disappointment, it will make the sweet taste of success taste all the better when you eventually do find a job.

8 Questions To Consider Before Accepting A Job Offer.

When you receive a job offer you should be delighted with yourself for being chosen above all other applicants as the best candidate following the interview process. Even if the salary you are offered matches or exceeds your expectations there are other important criteria to consider before officially accepting the offer letter. This post looks at 8 questions definitely worth pondering over before making your mind up on the job offer.

1.  Will the role stimulate you and allow you to look forward to going to work?
2. Is there a future career-path associated with the position?
3.  Will you be thrown in at the deep-end or will training be provided?
4.  Does the benefits package match your expectations?
5.  Is the location of the company in a reasonable distance from your home?
6.  Have you met your new boss yet, if so did you get on well with him /her ?
7.  Are you happy with the hours of work?
8.  Can you picture yourself staying with the company for a significant period?

If you answer all these questions in a favorable manner then you can be confident that the job is ideal for you, even if you can only answer 5 or 6 of the 8 questions favorably then the job is still worth considering. If unsure about whether to accept a job then get a blank piece of paper and write the advantages and disadvantages of the job down, once written weigh up the importance of each issue before coming to a final decision on whether to accept it or not.

3 Reasons Not To Apply For A Job Until You Know Who The Job Is With.

If you are currently in a job the importance of being made knowing in advance where your resume is being sent cannot be understated. In your eagerness to find new employment you may be tempted to apply for jobs where the client company is not specified, this could turn out to be a big mistake. If you see a job advertisement that looks perfect but has “Confidential” listed as the company then avoid applying for it until you can garner more information about the job. The following examples highlight just 3 of the dangers .

1. Your resume gets sent to your existing employer.

Yes the unthinkable could happen, you apply for a job before eventually finding out the dreaded information that the role is with your existing employer. Expect a call to the bosses office should this happen but not necessarily for the type of meeting you hoped for.

2. Your resume gets sent to a client of your existing company.

Your boss won’t appreciate getting a call from a vendor asking “What’s that employee John Smith (for example) like?, he has applied for a job here with us”. This will be met with, at the very least, disappointment by your existing employer and like above will a meeting with your company management for further discussion.

3. The job may not exist.

You read that right, it is not unheard of for companies / recruiters to want to build a database of resumes for certain positions, in order to have them on file should such a position become available through an employee leaving or company growth. It is rare in the extreme that this happens but is worth bearing in mind nonetheless.

It is important not to let your desire to find a job curtail your professionalism in seeking one, should you see a job advertised without a name do all that you can do to find out who it is with. One way of trying to find out their identity is to send an email (not from your company email address) requesting information about where the role is based, at the very least, this should help you eliminate your own company as being the employer.

Information That A Job Offer Letter Contains.

If your resume was selected for interview and you then gave a winning interview, what happens next? You wait anxiously for your offer letter to arrive so you can absorb the details of the job and look forward to a new phase in your career. An offer letter can be accompanied by an employment contract or in some cases may be sent in advance of a full contract until references have been secured. Depending on the role, size of the company, the industry and other variables you may not receive one but if you do expect it to contain;

Job title.
You need to be sure that you are accepting the role that you initially applied for so be sure the correct job title is described.

Start-date.
Ensure that the date proposed on the offer letter fits in with any notice period that you may have a duty to fulfill in your current company.

Time to commence work on opening day.
Arriving late on day one will not make a good impression so be sure to fond out the appropriate starting time for your position.

Reporting details.
Expect your offer letter to provide the name and job-title of the person that you should report to.

Salary & benefits.
Ensure the salary proposed on the offer letter tallies with any offer verbally agreed.  As with salary you can expect to see most of the company benefits described in the offer letter.  Examples of benefits include bonuses, company cars, relocation expenses amongst others.

Vacation time.
Details of vacation time is regularly displayed in the offer letter along with the employment contract.

Offer letters that are deemed as full employment contracts will often contain a more formal approach outlining company policies and procedures etc. Often companies have mandatory drug screenings, if this is the case then expect that to be mentioned in your offer letter. Be sure to check that all compensations, be they salary or otherwise, that were verbally agreed in your job offer is mentioned in the offer letter.

Should you be in any way unsure about any aspect of your offer letter don’t be afraid call the HR Dept you will usually find they are only too glad assist in your queries.

In todays economic climate competition for jobs gets tougher by the day so knowing where to look for vacancies is critical if you are to eventually find employment. However despite the doom and gloom that engulfs us there are jobs out there waiting to be snapped-up, just knowing where to find them is the vital ingredient, hopefully this post today will shed some light on that for you.

1. Employment Agencies / Headhunters/ Recruitment Agencies.
Do some research on the internet to find out if there is an employment agency that specializes in your business sector. If there is then register with them, chances are that they get the vacancies before general employment agencies. If a company is looking for IT Programmer, for example, they will approach, and will in all likelihood already have relationships, with IT Agencies. However you should still register with a general employment agency to keep your options open, register with no more than 2 to 3 companies.

Tip: find out how many recruiters work in your business-sector, an employment agency with 10 working in their IT team (for example) will generally have more vacancies than that of an agency with 3 in their IT team.

2. Job Websites
Jobs are added on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis to these websites, such as Monster, CareerBuilder etc, they are used by both employers and agencies alike and should be your first port of call when job-hunting.

3. Careers Section On Company Websites
With companies eager to cut-back costs they may forfeit the luxury of having recruitment agencies hire on their behalf and instead try to recruit directly themselves. Should this be the case then those companies will be adding jobs to the “Careers” section of their websites, so keep a sharp eye on the websites of companies that your skills are most suited, as should jobs come available they will go up there before anywhere else.

4.Newspapers and Trade Magazines
Despite the growth of online newspapers you should not overlook print media in your career search. Depending on your industry, vacancies can be found in amongst the classified advertisements along with the
business/jobs supplements that most papers provide. Trade magazines are a great way of finding contacts to help with your job search.

5. Social Networking Sites
Sites such as LinkedIn, Jobster, CraigsList and many more, provide a wealth of opportunities to connect with professionals and find open jobs so market yourself well, just don’t come across in a pushy manner.

Nowadays job applicants have to extremely proactive in order to find jobs so don’t limit yourself to sending your resume out and hoping for the best, instead take the time to find where the true open vacancies exist and focus you attention on them.