by: Fiona Harper - posted (or last updated): June 15th, 2009

Occupation: Recruitment Consultant with 15 years experience and author of 4 career books

After 15 years in the hiring industry working for various companies in a variety of industries, I have never seen the employment market as tight as it is today. There are fewer jobs than before (although not that much less) but and an explosion of job seekers.

But, don't dispair, YOU can find the job you want with the right effort and a few smart, outside the box solution-based strategies. Here's what I recommend.

1. Spread Your Wings, and you can fly much higher and farther.

Virtual career fairs have grown immensely in the last 10 years, among employers looking for new cost-effective ways to recruit talent as well as Internet-savvy job seekers. Virtual fairs (or resume database companies) remove geographical obstacles and make hiring and job search extremely easy, cost-effective, efficient - and FAST.

Jobs By Email :

There are many online sites that offer jobs posted by employers in virtual job fairs. You should ideally be registered with all of them, or as many as you can. You must get yourself into every database you can since the employers in your area offering you your next job, could be in only one of them. Almost all are free for job seekers and charge employers a very reasonable rate.

Here's where you find the latest and most recent jobs that come on the market :

• Search for a job in your area on a daily basis. Search for a Job in your Area (enter your zip code and get a list of available jobs in your area) - You should search here for local jobs that come on the market at least twice a week - or even better - every day.

• Sign up for email job notifications with as many as the following as possible. Spread your job search and you will have a much better chance of finding a job (it will take you few minutes to sign up for each of these to get in front of 100,000's of employers but it is much more effective than spending a whole day at a job fair in front of a dozen employers).

• Professional, Managerial & Executive Openings!


• Job Openings at $75K+


• Free Resume Submission to a leading Employers database - Great source


• Free resume submission to US/Canada jobs database - Many employers


• Writing/Editing Freelance Jobs (Free registration but $7 for full service - this is well worth the money since it will take months to compile this list of jobs)


• Educated professionals (Free registration but $40 for Premium service)


• Free Registration Executive Jobs ($60,000+ for Executives, Directors, Presidents, VPs, Corporate Officers, Managers, Sales, Marketing, Legal, Operations, Technology, Finance, Accounting, HR, Service & Manufacturing) - Submit Your Credentials Here


• List of companies offering hourly jobs in your area


• Free CareerMatch JobAlert Service


• Submit your resume to Job Sites ->

• Kmart Sears Jobs


• Home Depot Jobs


• Kohl's Jobs


• Toys "R" Us Jobs


• Bed, Bath, and Beyond Jobs


• AMC Theaters


• FedEx Jobs


• Boston Market Jobs


• Retail Jobs


• Walmart Jobs


• Marriott Jobs


• T.J. Maxx Jobs


• Dunkin Donuts Jobs


• Healthcare Jobs


• Summer Jobs


• Domino's Pizza Jobs

 

2. Think positive and do positive.

Although times may be rough for the employment industry as a whole, but the reality is - there are still millions of jobs being offered everyday thourghout the US and all you have to do is get only ONE job among millions. That is not impossible. In fact it is very probable.

While everybody on TV is talking about 10% unemployment, try to think of the 90% that are EMPLOYED. You can be one of them too. The glass in 90% full - that is not bad. It is even better than 50% full.

Employers are always looking for individuals that are positive and resourceful. So, here are few extra things that you can do and put on your resume (and even fill gaps in your resume):

• Start a Blog to display that there is diversity in your range of skills and hobbies. You want to demonstrate that you are a go-getter, you are an expert in your field and strive to build knowledge, you are a professional person who is a team player and has empathy for others, and you are going to grow the employers business in a positive way.

• Participate in volunteer/charity work of your choice once a week. You meet people, you help people, and you can put this in your resume. All very positive things. Giving makes most of us human beings very happy. Employers regard volunteer work as job experience.

3. Only spend at most 6 hours a day job searching.

Yes, you are reading this correctly.

I still see some people working 10-12 hours a day to find a job. This is, in most cases, unproductive and you will not be able to be relaxed enough to think outside the box and seek out job opportunities and explore fresh ideas.

If that is you, then you are over doing it. Spending more than 6 or 7 hours a day job hunting, is going to leave you exhausted both mentally and emotionally and you may be wasting your optimum productivity. You don't want to wake up every morning totally exhausted and start the new day demoralized and depressed.

Try instead to stop after 6 hours of job hunting activities each day and go and spend time with friends and family that are supportive, or help a charitable cause or do volunteer work, help other people that are looking for jobs with their job hunting strategies, or do something that you really enjoy, for instance playing a musical instrument, watch comedy on TV or a movie, reading your favorite book, and doing whatever you enjoy. You must relax and rejuvenate in order to unleash your creativity and bring fresh ideas and keep your effort at an optimum level.

It is essential that you re-energize on a daily basis as you may need that little bit of extra all the way to the finishing line.

Undoubtedly, job hunting is time consuming and can be a little demoralizing. The process is lengthy and it's easy to get discouraged along the way. The feeling of panic that you have to have a job now! can slowly creep in, as are mean-spirited friends who undermine your confidence, well-meaning family who are concerned and your own ego, which tells you that if you were truly a good provider, you would have a job by now.

The simple fact is that - almost everybody gets a job through effort in searching, networking through people you know, and by not giving up. So it is that easy if you choose to see it that way.

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