- Review your online presence - Clean up (if you can) anything out there which looks embarrassing. Use a couple of search engines (google, bing) to be sure. Check your Facebook postings using a tool like Simplewash. Also, you may want to 'disambiguate' your online presence if you have a common name. Like I did: "... if you google 'Doug Kalish', I'm not the HR guy, the bass fisher or the one who paints dog portraits."
- Visit some "how-to-get-a-job" websites - Sites like monster.com will direct you through the mechanics of preparing a resume, how to answer interview questions, and how to dress. Do visit a couple of these sites and pay attention!
- Draft your resume(s) and cover letter(s) - The college career center may have a resume review service. It's always a good idea to get another opinion.
- Write down and rehearse typical interview questions - Anticipate likely questions and practice answers. The job websites are useful here. Here is a link to 50 tough interview questions which you should think about.
- Draw on your network for help - 70% of jobs are found through networking. That's why you've been networking so hard. Look at the way you're spending your time looking for a job: you should spend 70% networking and 30% trolling on job sites. Go to your network for knowledge of job openings and for references.
- Interview early and often - Every interview is practice for the next one.
Finally, be sure to take my quiz which indicates how prepared you are to look for a job. It only takes a few minutes to complete and it will evaluate whether you are missing any essential items that you need before you begin sending out resumes and scheduling interviews. Good luck!
