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10-Step Career Program to your next great job!
If you have been fired,
terminated or laid off, review the Chicago
Unemployment Information first.
Step 1 - Write resume &
other career letters
Your resume is THE most
important step. Most people fail to adequately
sell themselves to potential employers on a piece of paper or
email. Besides the resume you should also create a
sample cover letter. The following
resources contain a veritable library of articles relating to your
resume, cover letters
and follow-up letters.
Cover letter books,
Cover Letter tips, Follow-up
letter tips, Graduate Tips,
Recommendation Letter Tips,
Resume books, Resume
Services, Resume tips
Step 2 - Research Chicago Employers,
Recruiters, Consulting Firms and
Employment Agencies
Research, research, research. Repeat 10 more
times! Instead of waiting for a job listing to appear out of
thin air, find the employers and organizations you want to work for.
Prepare yourself with information about the company before
you apply for the job and before you interview.
Don't forget to expand your employment search to consulting firms
and employment agencies if things are going too slow. Since all
jobs are never advertised or on an employer's web site, employment agencies
and recruiters can
help you land that perfect job too! If you need one on one
help to determine your career fit or polish up your interview, resume or
attitude, it is recommended you look into a career coach.
Chicago Employment Directory - Over 3,800 employer, recruiter and consulting firm fax numbers, web sites and email addresses.
Other resources include: Fast web job
search,
Fast web resume posting,
Job Hunting Books
and
Job Hunting Books (web).
Step 3 - Networking
to find jobs
If you think the only place to network for
jobs is at a Job Fair or Career fair, you are missing many other
opportunities for career and job networking. The
following resources
are some additional ideas on where
to make contacts that can lead to your next job.
Chicago Associations, Chicago Career Centers
and Services,
Chicago Job,
Career & Employment Fairs,
Chicago Job Clubs, Networking Books,
Networking
Tips,
Web Career Tips,
Step 4 - Consider
a Career Coach, Employment Agency or Recruiter
Career Coaches - Career
Coaches work with people in order to improve their
work satisfaction, change jobs, or make a career change.
Employment Agencies and Recruiters -
While most of these resources work for the employer,
employment agencies and recruiters do have job openings that are not posted on
the web or at the employer web site.
Step 5 - Keep your
career and job skills current
One of the most important steps you can take to
continue to develop your career or change your career is
to keep your job skills
current. Be it in house training by your employer, on the web, at
the local college or university or with a training organization.
You can improve your existing
career and job skills, build new ones
or become an expert in a specialty field.
Career Books,
Career coach tips,
Career Web Directory,
Chicago Job Books,
Education links
, Education Tips,
Grad School books
Step 6 - Prepare for interviews
After you contact the employers and you setup your interview date and time, now
you face your golden sales opportunity to shine and sell yourself.
Practice, practice and practice possible interview questions and interview responses.
You may also be asked to give a five minute talk about yourself. Practice,
practice and more practice.
Interview books,
Interview questions tips,
Interview Response Tips
Step 7 - Negotiate a job offer
You get an offer for
the job you always wanted but the salary was not what you
expected? Prepare yourself for other items you can
negotiate before accepting the job offer such as extra vacation, a review after 6 months, starting
bonus, etc. If you get this far
in the job offer process, you know they want to hire you. You can
only be told no, so plan to negotiate now or never.
And then you can decide if you are willing to accept the final
job
offer.
Salary Books, Salary
links,
Salary tips
Step 8 - Accept a job offer
You finally get the offer for
the job you always wanted. Is that the best offer
for the position?
Better check BEFORE saying yes!
Salary Books, Salary
links,
Salary tips
Step 9 - Resign current job (if needed)
If you have a job when accepting another
offer, please don't BURN the bridges. You never know where your fellow
co-workers
may work one day.
Resignation Tips
Step 10 - Celebrate your success!!!
As soon as you sign that employment contract,
its time to celebrate your new success! Congratulations.
Chicago Stuff
Don't forget to keep your job and career
skills current!
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