Advice to Job Seekers

I love to help people find jobs. If I can help you in any way, let me know.

If you're looking for an opportunity because you lost your prior job (for whatever reason), don't worry - it's going to be ok. I know it's tempting to freak out. Feel free to do that for about an hour. Then get down to the business of finding the next great thing that will put bread on your table.

Here's some advice that I offer to most job seekers. Since I've repeated it many times, I decided to put the advice in a list and make it available here on this blog.

1. Send me your resume. My email address is my full name (no dots or dashed) at yahoo dot com.
2. Check out my company's web site at: http://www.wolterskluwer.com/ to learn more about the company and what we do.
3. Search the Wolters Kluwer career opportunities site by going to http://wolterskluwer.apply2jobs.com/. We have openings at many of our offices across the US, especially in Sales and Account Management. If you find something that fits your background and experience, apply online and then send me your resume (which hopefully you've already done in step 1) with the job # that you applied for. You can optionally include a cover email telling me how excited you are about the opportunity and how your skills and experience match the job requirements and description. I'll then submit your resume through our Employee Referral program.
4. Check out the OU job board. They list lots of jobs in all areas of the country. Also, make sure your resume is posted on all the standard places: Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, etc. If you're in IT, post your resume at Dice and ComputerJobs as well. I'm sure there are other industry-specific job sites as well. Review these sites on a regular basis (2x a week) for new posts.
5. If you find an opportunity at some other company, especially in the Chicago area, let me know. I may have someone in my network who can help you get your resume into the right hands at that company.
6. Create a profile on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/), search for me and link to me. That'll put you in touch with part of my network. I strongly suggest that you develop your professional network using some online tool. IMHO LinkedIn is the best. LinkedIn is professional. I don't recommend using social networking sites (such as Facebook, MySpace, etc) for job searches.
7. Consider using a reputable staffing agency or temp agency to place you. These people do the leg work of finding you work (either permanent or contract) and, for their efforts, take a chunk of your billing rate as their fee. If it's a permanent position, they'll negotiate a flat fee, usually based on your starting salary, from your new employer for placing you. It's usually worth it. Make sure you understand how benefits and taxes are handled when you work through a staffing agency. Also, you will never need to put up any money up front or pay a fee of any kind to the agency. The fees are always paid by the employer. If someone asks you for money, politely decline and leave.
8. Do your legwork every day. A new job is not going to fall into your lap. You will have to work to find it.
9. Feel free to email me with any questions you have. I hope I can help you find a new position.