I had the opportunity to meet with a friend of a friend this morning, to see if I might be able to help his networking efforts in search of his next career opportunity. As a St. Louis Marketing Headhunter, I value the opportunity to help friends and/or colleagues in whatever way I can. As I was talking with him this morning, I realized I can help you as well.
This gentleman is already doing a very good job, of looking for a job. He realizes it's a full time effort, and he's doing it the "right way", by networking like crazy. He has an excellent resume, and a terrific attitude . . . two of the major ingredients in support of that marketing job search.
As we talked, I was able to help him find ways to fine tune his efforts. We talked about LinkedIn and the value it has. He can improve his presence on LinkedIn, which will have at least two direct benefits . . . It will allow him to research those companies he's interested in working for (he has a very good idea of just who his target companies are, from a demographic perspective) and he will be able to better find warm introductions to those prospective employers.
He's a smart guy, who is capable of researching and identifying those companies who might best be able to use his skills and experience. He's also going to identify those companies that he'd like to work for (a novel idea that surprisingly few people utilize). Once those companies are identified, he can look at their "Careers" section to see if they're looking for any positions that fit his interests and background. I encouraged him to identify as many of those companies that he might like to work for as possible . . . like 40 or 50!
Here's the trick! There's a website out there called "Watch That Page". It is a sensational tool, in that it allows you to bookmark any page on the web for free. When the content of that page changes, if you've bookmarked it with Watch That Page, you'll be immediately notified of the change(s) by email! Very, very cool.
I encourage you to do the same thing. Get as proactive as possible with your job searching efforts. Don't just wait around. The best advice . . . network as hard as you can.
When the time comes that you've identified an opportunity and been invited into that first interview, check out some articles on my website that I hope will be of value to you.