Job hunting - any tips for success?

So after five years I've decided it's time to move on from my current employer. Basically I'm a field technician for a small company in a niche industry, and aside from limited opportunities to advance there are also some big changes going on that don't look good so I'm starting the job hunt for the first time in a while. I've been here since my second year of college and aside from some brief consulting gigs I've never really pursued anything else. It always felt like a "job" as I kind of landed it by accident and I've never really seen a future for myself here; initially, I wanted to leave the field entirely and pursue a communications position more in line with my education. More recently however I've come around to the idea of using my experience to pursue a more satisfying career in the technical field instead, as it seems like there are ultimately more opportunities here.

Ideally I would like to find a position in the technical writing field or possibly another technician job, working for a larger company with a less shaky future. I have a bachelor's degree in Journalism which, while not particularly relevant to the field I've found myself in, at least gives me the ability to write a solid resume and communicate effectively in a lot of situations. Whenever I get an interview they tend to go really well; it's getting the interview that's the hard part.

I typically get out five or six applications a week to positions I see on job boards. A lot of these are to BIG companies - the kind of places where they make sure to tell you unsolicited follow-up calls will negatively affect your chances - so I pretty much just send off applications and hope for the best. In December I had a couple interviews that went well before deciding the positions weren't for me, but since then it's been pretty quiet.

What does everybody do these days to improve their chances? So many hires seem to be connection-based these days, I'm just wondering how to get that foot in the door (since physically following up on an application is a thing of the past, lest you enjoy being escorted out by corporate security) or at least stand out to whichever HR person ultimately sees my resume. Are career fairs and those kind of networking events worth the time? Is my acknowledgement of education in the liberal arts possibly hurting my chances despite my years of experience as a technician? Any professional certifications or things like that worth looking into? Resume tips?

As I said before, I've had a few positive interviews for jobs I ultimately decided not to pursue so I'm not THAT desperate, just wondering what you guys would do/have done in similar situations to get a leg up on the process.

Really?
While you were posting this, GRM was posting this!

In reply to JohnRW1621:

While working for GRM would of course be awesome, relocation at this point is a no-go. Sure is fun to daydream about though!

I am in somewhat the same boat, liberal arts education, been with my previous employer a long time, hoping to break out of my specific niche, and wanting to avoid relocation. It should be noted that I haven't found a new job yet, so you may want to take this with a grain of saltshaker.

I've switched from a traditional reverse chronological resume to a skills-based resume in the hopes that it helps me make it past the initial scan. The thought is that if you list your relevant skills first (including the right catch phrases and buzzwords for your industry) and put a work history below, it minimizes the chance you will be quickly rejected for what seems like irrelevant previous job titles or in my case, a work history somewhat unrelated to my desired position. I've been looking at job listings to get ideas about how to refine what I highlight on my resume for the types of job I desire.

The biggest help I've found so far has been from a book called the 2-Hour Job Search by Steve Dalton. The title is a bit hokey, but much of the content is good. It is helpful because it is all about networking and job hunting in the modern age, and is geared towards folks just out of school or folks looking to make a change mid-career who are struggling with networking and feel like they are just throwing job applications down a black hole with no progress. I skipped some parts that were more focused on the recent graduate, so I didn't do it cover-to-cover. Here's what I've liked best about it in a nutshell. I'm not going to become a pusher for the book, but my take might help you with some ideas:

He points out that limiting yourself to big companies severely limits your prospects because there aren't very many big companies out there, and they receive the most applications. A business with more than 500 employees is high-profile, and assuredly has a careers section to their website where you can fill out an application online. The ease of applying and high visibility mean that everyone and their grandma is applying, hence the warning about follow-ups, so by applying you are jumping into the biggest pool filled with the most sharks. Yes, a bigger company likely has more openings than a smaller company, but the lion's share of the total openings in the market are at small companies, they are just more scattered. He asks, "Why limit yourself to a small portion of the job market, and the most competitive one at that?"

A smaller more local business (50-500 employees) is not as visible, may not have online web-form applications to fill out, and there are exponentially more of these types of businesses than the big guys, so focusing here takes more work on your part, and may not seem like a certain future, but it is a very quick way to become a much bigger fish in a much smaller pool.

The other thing I appreciated was the way he gets you to think about things from many different angles, and as a result, got me thinking about some employers I would not have considered otherwise. Early on, he encourages you to generate lists of potential employers WITHOUT doing any more research or filling out applications. It is just brainstorming, so clicking through to more details or reaching out to contacts at the company bogs you down before you have applied any filters. He has you make your lists without worrying about specifics, then start applying filters later to quickly narrow things down. For example, name some dream employers, add them to the list, then maybe jot down any competitors for those dream employers also. Make a quick list of companies at which you have a contact, personal, professional, or alumni...don't worry if they have any openings at this point. Instead of focusing just on your preferred industry/job title, spend a little time listing other companies that offer a similar corporate culture to some of your desired jobs. Do a few quick web searches on trends in your desired industry and see if any companies pop up that you haven't listed before. Change one parameter at a time in your job listing search (widen the pay, widen the geographic area, go up one step in specificity of job title, etc) and see if anything new pops up you hadn't seen before, etc.

Once you have a big list, then he has you put them through the wringer of more searching regarding pay, location, current openings, potential contacts on LinkedIn, glassdoor.com, indeed.com, your alma mater's career center, etc.

He also encourages you to seek out informational interviews as a way to add new connections to your network and cast your web further. This also takes time and effort, and you aren't likely to have success if you think of it only as a stepping stone on a linear path to getting a job. It may take time to see the dividend of this type of work, and the opportunity may not come from the company in question. Even if they don't have an opening, if you are genuinely interested, and can find/build some connection to someone at a company, that gives you a potential in to ask for a chance to chat. If you come prepared with questions that demonstrate an interest and showcase your knowledge and skills, and aren't just angling for a backdoor to a job, it may lead to a heads-up about a job opening at that company down the road, or might lead to a suggestion you reach out to a contact of the person granting you the interview, like, "You might want to talk to my college friend/former boss/brother-in-law who works for Acme in the next town over" or something similar. These interviews can also alert you to weaknesses or question marks in your skillset or the way you present yourself and can help fine-tune your resume or bolster future interviews at another company.

The last bit of advice I got was not from the book, but from a friend into cars. He suggested reaching out to any lawyers, bankers, and accountants I know, especially ones at smallish-to-midsized local firms that offer services to commercial customers. The reason being that someone in these fields is likely to know when one of their customers is looking to expand or going into a hiring push. If they know you are looking in field XYZ, they might be able to give you a heads-up about opportunities likely to be coming down the pike. I went one step further and did the same with some acquaintances who are super-outgoing busybodies who also have a bit of social-worker streak...if they know I am looking they become an extra set of eyes/ears out there for me.

BTW, if anyone still reading has information about corporate training and related HR work for a guy looking to expand upon what he's learned in his career to date in sales/retail management, I'd be much obliged.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

You probably know all this already about job searches but a lot here recommend Indeed and Glassdoor, they are the catch-all for postings. Post a resume through their site online, something I myself need to do soon. LinkedIn is another good site to post on as well as networking. IIRC some stat somewhere, 50% of all jobs never get posted outside as they are filled from within or through connections.

Good luck w/ the search.

Good networking advice. What has always worked for me is an accomplisment based resume (as opposed to skills or chronology). My logic is that the skills are pretty much a given listed in a job description. If that doesn't match the job description you'll have a tough time getting past the initial HR screen. What an employer wants to know is what you'll do with those skills (the real list: can you do the work, will you do the work, will you fit in, are you the best choice from the options available). The piece they have to go on is your history. Tailor your cover letters to every employer and highlight what your past accomplishments are that's relevant to them. Grammar and spelling count.

Don't forget to tell all your networks!

Examples:

• Family (maybe mom's friend is hiring, uncle works for a great company, etc)
• Friends
• Facebook (make a post telling the world what you are looking for).
• other social media
• Customers (if appropriate)
• etc

Kinda sucks to do this if you don't want your current employer to know, but it is the best way to find those connection jobs. You never know where they come from.

What kind of "field tech" are you and what are your specifc interests?

This board right here has lots of eyes and mouths..

In reply to OHSCrifle:

I'm currently a field service tech for a company that specializes in production mailing equipment for commercial clients. Lots of hands-on work with mechanical and electronic components, PLCs, software, networking, etc...also the kind of regular customer interaction that could be expected of such a position, ranging from training to consulting and beyond.

If it isn't obvious, the mass mailing business kind of is what it is at this point, which has left me unable to really relax and see a future in the position. The more recent and immediate struggles I'm facing there just validate my desire to move on. Ideally I would like to transition into technical writing as I find the work compelling and it would bridge the gap between my education and professional experience quite nicely. However I'd also be comfortable continuing as a technician if it was in a different industry. Either way I want to end up in a field with a more concrete future; I've found myself looking into jobs in the medical systems, communications, and building automation fields, though of course there's lots of other things that interest me as well (this is GRM after all).

In reply to pointofdeparture:

Last I knew the medical equipment tech field paid way more than other field tech jobs, though it generally requires on-call work.

I'd say avoid the office equipment realm, as its drying up quickly - trained techs have been mostly replaced by parts-swappers...or disposable equipment in general.

In reply to petegossett:

I'm already on call for third shift every other day of the week and often work 6-day weeks on top of that...the struggle is real

Hmmm, I also have a Journalism degree and this year will hit 10 years of experience in Tech Writing. It's been about half and half on if I got the job on my own or knowing someone that worked there helped.....I did get my first one on my own........but it was also contract and not great pay back in 2007.

I would say, you need produce some sample documentation that shows you actually understand how to produce a Technical Document. I would also look into learning about coding/HTML/CSS/Java/Javascript and APIs.

http://idratherbewriting.com/docapis_course_overview/

I just landed a gig at Oracle after spending the last 9 years in mechanical. I likely wouldn't have been offered this job if I didn't have an old friend here who worked with me at a previous Tech Writing job.

Do anything you can to start in the software side of Tech Writing, but it will be tough. Once you start mechanical stuff it's VERY hard to get into the other side regardless of your Project Management experience (I converted two different multi-million companies 'think north of $50mil in revenue per year' to different publishing systems).

The suggestion about networking is the most valuable of all. It took me six months to get a great job, and I wound up working for my neighbor's best friend. I never mentioned my search to my neighbors (who I am friends with and speak to all the time). Had I, I may have been able to reduce that to 2 months.

I also worked with a career counsellor to get a better idea of my strengths, what I want in a job, and what I would not be able to live with. It really helped me change the focus of my resume and LinkedIn profile to highlight my strengths and target what I was looking for. Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath should be required reading for anyone in your position.

I also leaned on LinkedIn heavily and tried to expand my connections as much as possible. Reach out to headhunters especially. Convince them that you are a valuable asset that they should have in their file. And apply to every job that you see, and be sure to create an account for job alerts at ever company that you would want to work for. It's true that a lot of jobs are never advertised, people find you through your LinkedIn Profile. But it is also true that every job I have filled in the last year was advertised on Zip Recruiter and I got very few applicants and even less qualified applicants.

Check industry-specific organizations as well. The Material Handling Industry (MHI.org) has a career section on their website for example. Sorting equipment is basically just automated material handling, so your experience would pay off well there. Promat 2017 is in Chicago soon. Go to the show, walk the floor and talk to people. You could honestly walk out of there with 20 leads on good positions.

As for the technical writing job, my wife has a journalism degree and currently runs a technical writing department. Some of her people have a marketing background, some sales and some technical. It takes a little bit of all three, so I think that you would do well. Try to find a company that needs to generate an appication-specific recommendation for each installation. Many larger medical devices are like this, as well as CNC machines, material handling equipment, etc.

Do everything you can to network in person. Are you a part of your alumni network? Do you attend local alumni gatherings? What about a professional trade group? Volunteer work? Attend pertinent conferences?

This is one man's opinion, so take it with a huge grain of salt: Cold, online network is very nearly fruitless. Since I started my professional career 15 years ago, only 1 of my jobs came as a result of applying online. Every other one came from a friend/relative/neighbor/professional relationship I had built.

There's a strange phenomena in the marketing world that a product recommendation from a trusted friend is more likely to get you to buy than a multi-million dollar marketing campaign. The same is very true for hiring. I've been on both sides of the interview table. Referrals from trusted employees make it to the top of the stack, and get looked upon more favorably.

Here's an idea I haven't seen yet in this thread (admittedly I skimmed a lot) - contract/temp agencies.

While the term "temp" conjures up all sorts of negative connotations all of the downsides IMHO are merely potential not guaranteed, just like getting a bad employee position. In fact, in my experience they're a great avenue for situations like this when you want to get established in a new(ish) field. They're extremely invested in getting you a position ($$$ in their pocket) and have the industry contacts to submit you as one of a few names instead of hundreds. Some jobs are contract-only and most companies only do business with a handful of agencies so it cuts down on the number of submissions.

Also, theoretically the pay should be more than an employee position because there is less overhead for the company. You really just need to figure out what your take-home needs to be if you're getting less benefits than you were before. There's always the contract-to-hire pathway as well.

Full disclosure - I contracted for 2 years with my company before becoming a full-time employee. I never would have known the original position existed, because it was only available to contract agencies. As a employee I'm now team lead and do the hiring, also exclusively through these agencies due to my company's policies. Basically, a lot of larger companies won't contract directly to individuals due to the liability concerns. On paper, their "leasing" employees from these agencies.

While I work in web/software development some of these agencies contract and recruit for a variety of different industries. The ones I deal with are Aquent, Apex, Sync/Synergis, IDR, TekSystems, MDI Group, & Onward Search.

In reply to Matt B:

I did the temp/contract thing in the past. Maybe I just had a bad experience but after 9 months my position was eliminated with less than 2 weeks notice due to an unforeseen lull in business and the agency couldn't find a placement for me. I had to grovel for my prior job back to stay afloat. I've seen staffing agency postings that interest me but I fear going through that wringer again, now that I have a mortgage and car payment and so forth...

The company i work for needs field service guys. They also dont require you to relocate. They just send you out from where you live. You would be working on industrial machinery. Lots of money but lots of time on the road. Pm me if you want to learn more.

LinkedIn is too much of an asset to not be on it, at minimal just to make your presence known in your field. Might pay off better for white collar jobs but works well for the trades also. I'd take full advantage of it.

For instance, I'm a boiler operator/ mechanic and connected w/ two of our former chemical supply guys on LinkedIn. These are the guys who are in steam plants on a weekly to monthly basis, they can get the skinny on plant status, wages and bennies, working atmosphere and other goings on as like job openings: retirements etc.

The last chemical guy notified me about a future opening at a state college plant due to a upcoming retirement, even said they'd be looking for me after he mentioned my name as I'd interviewed there before and was still interested. The job wasn't officially posted till three months later but I had found another job in the mean time. Still, not too shabby being connected w/ the 'insiders'.

You really have nothing to lose.

In reply to fasted58:

I've been on LinkedIn since before I graduated college. It has been a worthwhile resource, no doubt. Just not a lot of activity as of late.

The last time I changed jobs was nearly 25 years ago, pre-LInkedIn, pre-Internet. Having said that, I got my job by networking. I got laid off from my last job, and the next day I started going through my Rolodex and calling everyone I knew. If they didn't have any leads, I asked them for recommendations on who I should call next, and so on. I was able to line up some informational interviews ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informational_interview ) which lead to even more contacts, and ultimately one of those informational interviews turned into a job offer. I've been there ever since.

I work in HR for a living. I work in compensation and HR systems. I get paid to study labor markets as well as implement/fix the technology used in HR departments.

Applying to most company websites is a waste of time.

I call them the black hole. You put your information in and there is high probability it will never be seen again. The statistics break down like this in Silicon Valley. ~10% of the open jobs are filled from applications on the company website. ~ 20% of the open jobs are filled by found through advertising on Craigslist and all the jobs boards like Indeed. 70%+ are filled people found through personal and professional networks. Nationally it closer to 80%. The two best tips I can give you as an HR insider.

1. Be clear on EXACTLY what you are looking for.

2. Spend your job search time connecting with people.

Number one may sound counter intuitive. You'll find most people want to help you. The clearer you can describe what you looking for and what you can do for your next employer, the easier it is for them to figure they can connect you to.

I hope this helps.

+1 on the neighbors reminder for networking. It may seem obvious, but as far as networking goes, don't forget clubs and the like! You never know who you might be your cone shagging partner at autocross/rallycross! Don't forget service clubs, charity/volunteer events, sports leagues, church functions, neighborhood potlucks, etc. A short time sweating together or partying together forms a bond more memorable than any resume or online profile ever will.

I'm hoping to branch out with my motorcycle riding partners this spring. I want to follow up on all those unfulfilled "We should go for a ride someday..." conversations. Worst-case scenario, I find some new folks to ride with and the stresses melt away. Best case scenario, we have fun, and I forge a personal connection that leads to a professional connection or job opportunity!

pointofdeparture wrote: In reply to Matt B: I did the temp/contract thing in the past. Maybe I just had a bad experience but after 9 months my position was eliminated with less than 2 weeks notice due to an unforeseen lull in business and the agency couldn't find a placement for me. I had to grovel for my prior job back to stay afloat. I've seen staffing agency postings that interest me but I fear going through that wringer again, now that I have a mortgage and car payment and so forth...

That's fair - sounds like our experiences are different. I had neither a car payment or mortgage at the time so it was worth the risk. I'll only add that was only one contract for you and 9-months is not particularly short or long (at least in my industry). Understandably, that might not exactly be a selling point.

I know you're not interested right now, but just as an postscript I find the best strategy when dealing with that model is to ask for enough compensation to account for some gaps in your workload, plus the delta in benefits I mentioned before. There are different models for that, but I prefer the to have at least a two-month cushion without dipping into long-term savings. In other words, earn in 10 months what you need for 12. If you're earning the same or less than an employee position, then it's not a good deal unless you're desperate.