When I talk to friends and family who are looking for a job, I’m surprised at how many still default to searching Monster.com, Craigslist and other online job boards as their primary means of finding a job. Online job boards seem to make sense for those with little experience, no contacts in a certain field, or if you’re moving to a new area. It certainly doesn’t hurt to use these options, but my first priority would be to seed your network.
I’ve found that the best jobs I’ve found are those that were never officially open. Since they weren’t open they never hit any of the job boards or even the company’s own website. My current job came through a friend I met at Microsoft nearly 10 years ago. Had I not kept in touch with him over the years, I would have never been in the position to ask him about jobs in the Seattle area. He didn’t have a job at the time but he put me in contact with someone who did. I firmly believe the best jobs will come through your network. This doesn’t mean you can ignore someone for years and then hit them up for a job. It means that it’s worth your time and effort to keep in touch with those in your network. I consider them my friends so it’s not a problem keeping in touch with them. These people are also some of the busiest people I know so getting much time from them can be very difficult but it’s not impossible. Some of the best conversations I’ve had in this area have come over instant messenger or email. A quick lunch is ideal if you can swing it.
If I were looking for job I’d be contacting those within my network first before hitting the online job boards. When I’m looking to hire I might list the job on the job boards at some point but it’s usually a last resort after I’ve exhausted the personal referrals of co-works and other people in my network.
The best time to look for a job is when you have a job. The same goes for building your network.
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