Just Changed Jobs - Ask me anything

[ScottK]

Just as the title says - ask me anything about the process of changing jobs I just went through.

I want to share my experience in this go 'round of job searching. I thought of writing a narrative but, since I'm starting a new job and I'm pretty busy, I'll approach it in this manner.

So ask away. I can talk about reasons I moved on, the search itself and resources I used, rectuiters, how I focused on what I wanted, stresses and frustrations I experienced, other companies I interviewed with, etc.

My Background - 20 years of experience in QA, Continual Improvement, Project Management, and Regulatory Affairs (OSHA, ISO, FDA, CE Marking all included) based on a degree in Industrial Engineering.

 

[hogheavenfarm]

Congratulations Scott,
I wonder how many of us are actively searching while we are in our present jobs? It might make a good poll. It would indicate what level of dissatisfaction there is and maybe shed some light on the whys.

 

[Moncia]

Congratulations.
TO get job right now it is pretty amazing. I have friends who have been looking for 3 some years now and still no luck.
How did you do that. I know they go through recruiters, trade shows and nothing. Both have great experience in their fields, research, but nothing.

Any advice for newbie to the whole quality business. How to address lack of years of experience???

Good luck at your new job.

 

[ScottK]

I know a lot of people who are looking to move on from jobs. For various reasons.
And the ones I see getting the hits are the ones spending time searching and not just counting on putting their resumes on Monster and Career Builder or handing it out to recruiters.

Yes - I had my resume on Monster and CB. Did it get me much just having it there? Not really. Mostly I got recruiters looking for someone to relocate or just looking for me to help them find connections for jobs that I was overqualified for.

I got the interviews by:
1) Answering ads on the internet boards by searching by geography and with various terms - QA, Manager, Director, Systems, Regulatory - various combinations of these.
2) Going to company websites and applying - I drove around industrial parks to see what companies are in the area and looked up their web site career sections.

And for both I always submitted a cover letter with the application. I have a general template which I tailored to each position.

Bottom line - you have to put in the time and do the research, not wait for them to come to you. That magic-of-the-internet is not working in this market.

 

[Moncia]

That is soooo true

 

[tomvehoski]

I've actually had better luck with Monster, which just got me my new job that was not advertised anywhere. You just have to know how to manage Monster. I also got some pretty good leads off of Dice. Careerbuilder mainly generates spam and check cashing schemes from my experience.

First, you need to update your resume every day. Update date is one of the key sorts, so if it is not current you will drop in the listings. You have to change something to get it to update the date. I found the easiest was to toggle "seasonal" on and off in the profile each day. Dice will update your date just by opening your profile and then clicking save after entering the secret code number.

Also make sure you put every possible keyword in your resume. I added a section at the bottom in 4 point text, white on white, so it is not visible but searches hit on it. It is tough to work in 8D, 7 Step, Kepner Tregoe, and all the other synonyms in the body of a resume.

For searching I found indeed.com the best as it brings together all the major job sites plus many company specific database. A negative is that it can generate a lot of duplicates if a posting is on a company site, and Monster and then gets picked up in other recruiter sites.

 

[AnaMariaVR2]

I agree, there is a way to manage Monster & CB. I only got spam from Monster in the past. On the other hand, I got companies that found me through CB and got interviews & job offers that way even when I didn't initiate the approach.

Anyway I was wondering about time...Timewise, how long did your whole job seeking process lasted?
From starting your job search to getting leads, interview invitations & getting offers?

I'm just wondering...there is a lot of extremely competent people out there that mainly due to being laidoff, they can't find jobs or even interviews and their unemployment benefits are running out. Is their difficulty industry-specific or are there other common lessons transferable into every job seeker's industry ?

Did you considered a pay cut too? Is that out of the table? I have many questions, I know many people hurting right now struggling to land a job and they don't know what to do anymore.

Thank you in advance for your insight & thank you for starting this discussion.
Ana

 

[shaggy1812 - 2011]

Congratulations,

I just changed jobs too. I spent 4 years kinda-sorta looking. I had a very long commute and wanted a job "back home" so I was picky. My background chemsitry-primarily research, then into tech service and quality control. Not a lot of opportunities. Most of my job changes came from recruiters rather than the big job sites. A lot of interviews came from my local paper. The job I'm in right now actually did come from CB and there were less than 10 realistic candidates. Just spoke with a friend at my old company and they are filling my Technical Manager position with a Quality Manager-they posted it on the local "big city" paper and received over 1000 resume's. Yikes.

 

[hogheavenfarm]

I added a section at the bottom in 4 point text, white on white, so it is not visible but searches hit on it.
Excellent idea, i will incorporate that, thanks.

 

[Cari Spears]

Also make sure you put every possible keyword in your resume. I added a section at the bottom in 4 point text, white on white, so it is not visible but searches hit on it. It is tough to work in 8D, 7 Step, Kepner Tregoe, and all the other synonyms in the body of a resume.

Thanks for posting your experience - and for this great tip!