It is no secret that the job market has been tough lately. Good jobs have been hard to come by, and just getting your foot in the door has rarely been this much of a challenge. Adding to the problem is the fact that many tried-and-true job hunting techniques no longer work in the new modern world.
 
If it has been awhile since you hit the job market, you might want to rethink your job hunting strategy and dust off your resume. While some old-fashioned career advice still holds true, other techniques simply do not work as well as they once did.
 
The Standard Process May No Longer Be Enough
When you sought your first job, you probably followed a fairly defined process. You sent your resume off to the companies you wanted to work for and waited anxiously for a response. You scheduled the interview with the hiring manager, put on your best suit and put your best foot forward. If you were lucky and skillful enough, you landed the job and started negotiating your salary and benefits. .
 
Step one of that process no longer works as well as it did in the past. These days, your carefully crafted resume is more likely to end up in the black hole of corporate disinterest than the hands of a decision maker. If you are spending your days sending out hundreds of resumes, you are wasting both time and money
 
The Personal Touch
If you want to get the attention of a decision maker these days, you need to reach out and invoke the personal touch. You have all the tools you need at your disposal, from online corporate directories to social media platforms. With just a few clicks, you can get the name of the hiring manager, find their profile on LinkedIn or Facebook and make a personal connection.
 
Once you have the attention of the hiring manager, you can broach the subject of employment and talk about your qualifications. Networking has never been more important than it is today, and making a personal connection is your key to success..
 
The Inside Line
Another tried-and-true job hunting technique is to give your resume to a friend or colleague who already works for your target employer. This strategy can still be effective ,but there are a few important caveats to keep in mind.
 
Giving your resume to a trusted friend and asking them to pass it on to the powers that be can bring good results, but only if your friend has a real in with the hiring manager. If your friend is good friends with the hiring manager or a trusted part of the organization, their word will carry a lot of weight. If not, the resume could end up in the same black hole it would have found had you mailed it.
 
Go Outside
One mistake many job seekers make is spending most of their time at online job boards, searching for positions, filling out forms and sending out virtual resumes. That strategy may have worked in the early days of the Internet, when the pool of candidates was smaller and competition was less fierce. These days the job boards are so flooded that your chances of making it through are quite remote.
 
You can still find out who is hiring via online resources, but the actual job search should take you outdoors on a regular basis. Reaching out in person to colleagues and decision makers at your target employers will go much further than responding to an online posting.