The Hunt is on!

You may be wondering where I'm at in the job hunt.

Well, to tell you the truth, I'm pretty much nowhere at the moment. That is, I've sent out resumes, and that's it so far.

If you've read “What Color is your Parachute,” you know that sending out resumes is one of the least effective ways of finding a job (he gives it a 6% success rate). 

So although I've been sending out resumes for the past 15 months, I've only had one nibble, and that was over a year ago.

That's about to change.

As of Monday the 26th, I will be starting the job hunt in earnest.  I will be spending 2 weeks in Oregon, hitting the street for 8 hours a day, contacting businesses, contacting old school friends, contacting anyone who will talk to me.  I have a Master Plan, I have business cards, and I have the determination. 

And soon you will have daily updates on my progress.  During this time, I will be posting every day after I return home from the Hunt, describing my experience, describing my mood, describing how well my great ideas are working in the real world.  I hope this will be valuable as well as entertaining, as you get to feel what it's like to be on the job search.  And in the process, I will talk about which techniques I'm using, and how they turn out.

What to do
Speaking of techniques, I want to mention the three main methods I'll be employing.  The first is cold calling.  This is essentially either calling or visiting every business that sounds interesting and asking if they're hiring.  It has a low chance of success per call, but it relies on the law of probabilities.  By sheer numbers of companies I'll visit, there's a good chance that someone will want me.

The second method I call “Friendworking.”  This technique has me getting together with all my old friends and asking if they know of any job openings.  It's a way of having 100 pairs of eyes open for jobs instead of just 2.  Similar to the cold calling, by the sheer number of people looking, there's a good chance that someone will know of something.

The third method is true networking.  I will be talking to specific people in specific businesses that I have previously researched, where my skillset is particularly strong.  I will gain as much information from each person as possible, including names of other people I can network with.  In the process, I will get my name out there, so that when it does come time to hire, they will remember who I am and will want to contact me.

At least, this is how it should work in theory.  We'll see how it works next week when it's the real thing.

Wish me luck!