Most people believe
summer is the worst time to conduct a job search. Between
college students and high school students eating up the
market, vacations, lagging budgets, etc. hiring would seem
to lag during the summer making it a bad time to conduct a
job search. In reality, summer is a very good time to job
hunt. Here are some tips to make your summer-time job search
more effective:
— Spiff up your
telephone skills. With people on vacation, you will be
receiving more voice mail messages than usual as you try to
reach people in your job search network. Always make calls
with a notepad or organizer nearby and take note of when your
contacts will be back in the office. Set an email up to be
delivered the day *after* the person’s return and set a
reminder to call again the second day after he/she returns.
Make sure you leave a
clear, informative voice mail. Make sure you state your name
twice, your telephone number twice, and your message once.
Give a good time for a call-back. The following is a general
formula for an effective voice mail.
“Hello <FIRST NAME OF
CALLEE>, this is <YOUR NAME>. My number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. I am
calling because <COMPLETE MESSAGE>. The best time to get back
in touch with me is <DAY, TIME, TIME ZONE>. Again, this is
<YOUR NAME> and my number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thank you!”
Always include your
area code with your telephone number. Many times, people
cannot return calls because they are not sure where the caller
is calling from. Giving your time zone helps the recipient of
the message know where you are located and helps them know
exactly when to call you back. Speak slowly and clearly,
especially if English is not your native tongue. Spell your
name if the spelling is not easily recognizable. Provide more
than one number if possible and repeat both of them twice.
—Take advantage of
summer social activities for your search. Most jobs are filled
through word-of-mouth. That means the more people with whom
you talk, the more effective your search. Summertime is
chock-full of social activities from picnics to family
reunions to ball games. Make the most of gatherings of people
to gather information for your search and extend your network
toward your target companies.
— Volunteer. Summer
seems packed with opportunities to volunteer. Volunteering not
only gains additional network contacts for your search but it
has many emotional rewards, too. Looking for a job, especially
for those who have been engaged in long searches (more than 3
months) is emotionally exhausting. The warm fuzzies you
receive from volunteering go a long way toward boosting your
mental attitude.
— Be persistent. Since
many job seekers slack off in the summer thinking they are
wasting their time, your competition is less. Take advantage
of that and redouble your efforts in your search.
