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Searching Tips
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Understanding the industry you want to work in, and the role you want to play in that industry, is the first step in developing a sound and successful job search strategy.
You will need basic criteria with which to evaluate potential employers. Listed below is a series of questions to assist you in evaluating what is essential and what is not. As you engage in employer and job market research, you may wish to revise and update this list.
- What are your geographic preferences?
- Do you want to work in an urban or rural environment?
- Do you prefer a warm or cold climate?
- Do you prefer a large or small organization?
- Are you interested in work that will require you to travel frequently, or would you prefer work that is more routine?
- What are your salary requirements?
- Are there any benefits (health insurance, vacation, sick leave, etc.) that you consider essential?
- Are you looking for a formal training program?
- What product or service do you want to be associated with?
Career Portals serve as a gateway for finding answers to the questions above, in addition to providing helpful information about resumes, cover letters and job-hunting tips, job markets, relocation issues, corporate profiles, and actual job listings. Click the link above to see a table of career portals.
Professional Associations are one of the most frequently overlooked sources of job listings. In today's market, more jobs are posted through associations than before, and in many cases this may be the only way in which a job opening is listed.
Although portals can be very useful, sometimes they can be cumbersome when you are trying to find positions in particular fields. In many cases, employers now place their job listings in Specialty Job Banks that cater to their occupational field only.
Adapted from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Campus Career Network at www-ccn.acad.umass.edu.
