This week I read something from Richard Bolles (Author of What Color is your Parachute). He said the job search is not a science, it is an art. This is what has bugged me about a lot of job search advice – the advice comes across like a science (“do these 13 things and you’ll land your job!”). However, even artists, with all their artistic freedom, know they have to do things based on certain principles. Or, at least they must understand the principles so they can know how to manipulate their medium.
I say YOU must understand your medium, and your principles, so you can understand how to apply job search advice. Your circumstances might be different based on your profession (actuaries probably find jobs differently than PR people), your industry (is it huge or tiny, growing or shrinking, high-margin or tight-margin, etc.), location (small town, big city, global, or focused on certain countries/states).
Understand your own circumstances and then you can measure job search advice against it.
So with that, I’ll tell you, I can’t tell you how to find a job fast. Not many people can – UNLESS you find a real job search coach who understands you, your industry, your profession, your targeted geography, etc.
Otherwise, it’s up to you to figure it out. And you SHOULD.
There are, however, principles in the job search, just like there are principles in any science or discipline. Here’s a great post by Thom Singer on how to find a job search fast. He has the main points and a bonus point.
Otherwise you’ll find advice on AOL, CareerBuilder, Monster, HotJobs, etc. on how to find jobs. Make sure what you are reading is principle-based. Some of that stuff is written by people who have no idea how you should find a job (they either haven’t ever had to do it, or they haven’t done it in a long time).
Too bad it’s not as easy as science, where you could get a simple recipe… you know, add this much stuff, use this much heat, for this long… that would be too easy… this job search stuff is more of an art.
