I recently met with a friend who was job hunting. She was telling me about the cover letters she was writing and the empty CV that she was sending to pretty much anywhere. It all seemed so old school and depressing. Personally I did not have to look for a job in a while, but I have a few ideas beyond sending a CV or mingling in trendy vernissages.
WORK ON YOUR CAREER
Basically I think people should not worry too much about their job, but more about their career. Sometimes the timing is right and you find a good job, but what happens when the company is laying off people because of a bad economy? You’ll be one job seeker among others. I find it is better to constantly be working on your portfolio and network. You just never know, you have to be prepared for new opportunities.
Use Networking Tools
You probably expected that. Social medias are everywhere and they can certainly help in your job search.
LinkedIn- Opening a LinkedIn is the first thing I would do. It’s all about who you know. LinkedIn is based on that same idea. The site is like a Facebook for CV profiles. You add the people you know and they become your connections. You can then see who they know, and get introduced. With this site you get access to people you would normally not be able to have access to. You can also learn more about key staff in the company you are coveting. It’s a great stalking tool! You can contact a person directly instead of using that info@company.com address. Best of all, your chances of getting a reply are much greater if you are sending the message from LinkedIn.
Twitter- A friend of mine gave me this great tip; he told me that when he was job searching, he started “following” lots of design firms. The reason is that often the job position appear on the company’s twitter before anywhere else. Placing ads for a job opening is costly while Twitter is free. Finding out about a creative job opening before anywhere else is a great advantage.
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