Securing a Job Means Winning the Game

Most of us have been raised in or around competitive sports. The headlines report on events like Hockey, Basketball, Football and much more. This constant barrage of competition has imbued more than most people with a competitive spirit and with a desire to win when they enter into any type of contest.

People in general don’t view job hunting as a competitive sport and I think this leads them into accepting less than perfect positions. Securing a job in today’s glut of over-educated, under-paid, dissatisfied workers has become more and more difficult.

The Game

So, instead of approaching the subject of finding a new job as some onerous task that you complete in as little time as possible, start looking at job hunting and securing the job as a game with the highest stakes. You need to approach the job quest as the pinnacle of a sporting career where your entire future depends on how well you do in this game.

The main goal in playing the job game is identifying your opponents and making plans on how you can outsmart, outplay and outmaneuver them. In this game, your opponents are faceless bodies rather than real people but you still have to plan for beating them at the job game.

Analyze your opponent

Look back at how you conducted your job search prior to making it a competition. Make a list of the steps you were taking to find a job:
Post resumes on a couple of job boards
Send resumes to job postings on major job sites
Ask friends if they know of any job openings
Wait for calls for interviews

Once you have developed your list, you can consider this as the basic strategy of your opponent. In essence, we are assuming that most people do not consider job hunting a game like you do now.

Develop and implement your strategy to win

Now that you know what the competition is doing, you can take steps to give yourself the advantage over them. So, take the list above and list out the ways you are going to take extra steps to defeat your opponent:

1. Post resumes on a couple of job boards
o Post your resume on as many job boards as possible. The ResumeDirector service will post your resume on over 90 job boards (including Monster, HotJobs and CareerBuilder, as well as niche sites)where it will be seen by 1.5 million recruiters every day. Visit:
http://www.jobsearchinfo.com/rd.htm
2. Send resumes to job postings on major job sites
o Branch out and start sending resumes to all jobs ads on niche sites. On the biggest job boards, recruiters often receive 200+ resumes from each job opening. On more specialized sites, they receive 50 or even fewer. ResumeDirector is a good way to find niche sites. Another good way is by asking other people in your profession or checking with your professional or trade association.
3. Ask friends if they know of any job openings
o Make your networking efforts more methodical
o Start attending professional conferences, talks/seminars, and other places where you can meet more people in your profession to network with
o Sites like LinkedIn.com can help you leverage your professional network
o Start contacting companies where you would like to work and see if they are hiring. Check company websites because some never post on job boards, etc. If there's a company where you really want to work but don't know anyone, consider creative ideas to get referred into the company - like by hanging out at the coffee shop nearby and offering someone who works there $20 to forward your resume to the hiring authority. You're much more likely to be called in for an interview if you're referred than if you apply cold.
4. Wait for calls for interviews
o Instead of waiting for recruiters to contact you, why not contact them first? The ResumeArrow service is a great way to get your resume out to thousands of recruiters in your industry and geographic location quickly. To find out more, visit:
http://www.jobsearchinfo.com/dist.htm

It may take some additional effort on your part to win the job search game but in the end, it is definitely worth it. Remember, this is the pinnacle of your game where the stakes are the highest and you want to perform at your very best to win. Good Luck!

This article was provided by JobSearchInfo.com.  For additional career resources, please visit http://www.jobsearchinfo.com.

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