Following up on my June post, Heat Up Your Job Search: Avoid Job Boards, this post offers 5 PROactive (vs. REactive) approaches to a successful job search.

A reactive job search puts the job seeker in the position of only reacting to what they find posted on job boards.  This costs them time and energy, and hides the majority of job opportunities from them.  It also puts them at the mercy of whatever is posted and available where they are looking, and it puts them in the most competitive job marketplace.  All negatives.

A proactive job search puts the job seeker in charge, is much less passive, less discouraging, and, even, less competitive – often MUCH less competitive.

So, How Does a PROactive Job Search Work?

1.  Focus the job search -

• Determine the target job and industry so that search efforts can be focused and the resume can be effectively polished and tailored specifically for those target jobs (not more than 2 or 3).
• Select the preferred target employers – ask around: check the local chamber of commerce, look at the companies supporting the local PBS channels, scan the yellow pages in the local phone book, ask friends and colleagues, and keep researching.
• Research the employers and visit the employer Websites regularly looking for postings there and news about new projects, products, services, and employees and officers.

2.  Expand network and knowledge:

• Join or at least visit local business or professional organization meetings.
  Volunteer to help in some way.  Attend meetings as a way to learn and keep up-to-date with best practices, news, technology, people, growing businesses, and more
• Volunteer for the local PBS fund raiser, where local movers-and-shakers tend to hang out, or for another favorite cause or charity.
• Visit industry trade shows and local business expos to see what new businesses have appeared, what the latest news and trends are, and who seems to be doing new and/or interesting things.
• Help a favorite candidate to win (or try to win) an election.
• Collect information.  Ask for information, NOT a job!
  And, the more information; the better!  Talk with people to collect information on good employers in the location and industry or field. Look for trends, news, new people to meet, and new ideas to consider and discuss.
• If the job seeker has attended a college or university, regardless of graduation status, the school’s career center may help alumni. Check the alumni directory for other alums who work for one of the preferred potential employers or in the preferred career field.
• Look for a local job search support group where job seekers, lead by a career professional, review resumes, exchange leads on potential employers, share information on networking organizations, and more. Find them through the local places of worship, public library, or even city hall.

3.  Leverage LinkedIn and other social media -

Truly! LinkedIn is where recruiters are looking for people now! Let them find you!

• Be sure the LinkedIn Profile is 100% complete (including a photo + 3 LinkedIn recommendations).
• Add contacts to expand the reach of the network.
• Use the advanced People search to find people working for the preferred potential employers and the target job/job function.
• Join relevant and appropriate industry, professional, and location-focused Groups.
  Participating in the Group Discussions can be important personal reputation building.  Also check each Group’s Job postings to find more employers and opportunities.

  Consider joining Job-Hunt’s Job-Hunt Help Group on LinkedIn, but do NOT limit LinkedIn Group activities to the job search Groups.

• Respond thoughtfully and thoroughly to the questions in Answers, and carefully post a few well-considered questions.

Hundreds of employers skip the cost of job boards and use Twitter to Tweet their latest hot job postings, and they also have company pages on Facebook where they recruit new employees.

Note: Use the same “avatar” image, preferably a headshot, on all the social media so your friends will recognize you no matter where they find you.

4.  Find new potential employers.

• Use the “job aggregator” Websites, like Indeed, SimplyHired, and JustJobs which collect job postings from job boards as well as employers and associations in one gigantic database searchable by keywords (like job title) and location.
• Check out LinkUp.com, which aggregates job postings from thousands of employers,  and JOBcentral, which is a Website run by an organization of employers.  Also excellent sources of new employers.

Be wary of getting caught in the search-online-and-apply mode, though.  Use these sources to identify potential employers which can then be approached via a network contact.

5.  Monitor your online reputation.

Ignore people who might tease you about “vanity Googling” – Google your name often to see what is attached to it in Google, because 80% of the time employers will Google you before they respond to your email or ask you in for an interview.

I have seen bad information about someone with the same name really mess up a job seeker’s job search, and it took the job seeker months to find out.  They waited way too long before they finally Googled themselves to see what was going on.  

MONTHS were lost because of confusion around the job applicant’s name!

Set up a Google Alert to monitor your name so you know when trouble appears – someone with the same name is accused of molesting a child or robbing a bank.  You need to know so you can respond!

Review the information in the Online Reputation Management post for more information and some strategies to deal with “digital dirt.”

Bottom Line

A proactive job search, largely disconnected from traditional job boards, is more effective and less competitive.  If you are in a job search right now, try it for a week and see what happens.

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

When you were a kid, did you cross your fingers “for luck” when  you were really, REALLY hoping something good would happen –  maybe as you were about to ride your bike for the first time in front of your friends or as the teacher/professor was handing out the final exams?

And sometimes - perhaps often - it seemed to work.

But, then you “grew up,” and you stopped believing in crossed fingers because you knew that superstitions are dumb or, worse, useless. (And, anyway, crossed fingers are SO obvious!)

Scientific Research Shows That Crossed Fingers Work!

Well, it turns out there’s a reason for that positive outcome, and the reason many of us are – at least a little bit – superstitious:  IT WORKS!

According to LifesLittleMysteries.com, a series of scientific experiments in Germany on the effects of superstitions revealed some very interesting results.  In the article, “Superstitions Bring Real Luck, Study Reveals” by Amber Angelle, researchers discovered that feeling lucky actually seems to work:

• Lucky golf balls
  “The first experiment looked at the influence of the concept of good luck in a test of putting a golf ball. Experimenters handed participants a ball, and those who were told the ball was lucky tended to outperform those who weren’t.”
• Fingers crossed
  “In another experiment, participants were given a cube containing tiny balls and a slab with holes. The goal was to get as many balls in the holes as quickly as possible. Again, participants who were told, “I’ll cross my fingers for you,” by the experimenter performed better.”
• Lucky charms
  “The final two experiments involved a lucky charm brought by each participant. In a memory test and an anagram test, the participants who were permitted to keep their lucky charms with them performed better.”

The studies revealed that people who had their “lucky charms” with them set higher goals than those who didn’t, and they also achieved more success.

Getting Lucky in Job Search

So, how does this apply to a job search?

If the research is correct, having some sort of lucky charm (not the cereal) will help you feel more confident.  AND, you will have a better outcome – as the research shows!

1. Find your lucky charm(s).
   Maybe it’s something one of your kids, your spouse/significant other, parent, or a friend gave you – a pen or a pin or something hand-made.  Maybe it’s that “lucky” penny you found on the sidewalk (heads up!) as you were walking to the interview.  Perhaps it’s a “lucky” file name for your resume.  Maybe it is crossing your fingers at the start of a phone interview. Or, maybe it’s the Japanese Maneki Neko “lucky cat” figure, the one you find inside almost all Chinese restaurants, sitting beside your computer.  Don’t limit yourself to one lucky charm!
2. Recognize that sometimes good luck comes to you first disguised as failure or bad luck.
   I’ve been laid off twice.  Fortunately!  Truly, they were – in retrospect – the best things that could have happened to me.  Both of them! But they didn’t seem like good luck at the time, and, in fact, were very scary.
3. Put your personal network to work for your job search.
   Encourage your family and friends to keep their fingers crossed for you and your job search.
4. Keep your personal lucky charm(s) with you at all times.
   Realistically, carry only the small, unobtrusive, and easily portable ones, particularly as you head out for a job interview or networking event.  Leave that lucky horse shoe behind on the wall.
5. Enjoy the idea of creating your own good luck.
   If nothing else good comes of carrying around your lucky charm, you will hopefully be laughing at yourself and the whole idea of “lucky pennies” and “lucky file names.”  Consequently, you will be more cheerful and, maybe, even have a smile on your face.

Use whatever positive reminders work best for you.  As someone who’s been gathering lucky pennies (also dimes, nickles, etc.) from sidewalks for years and who feels extremely blessed, I’m a believer.  For many people, religion replaces luck – use whatever you feel most comfortable with.

Focus on feeling positive, feeling that good things ARE going to happen for you in your job search.  When someone starts to tell you how awful things are, turn them off.

Bottom Line:

Your attitude determines your altitude is an old saying, but often applicable in job search and in careers as well as many other aspects of life.  Identify your lucky charm, and get lucky in your job search.  With a smile on your face and working hard at the task, you’ll conquer the job search world!

And, of course, the very best of luck with your job search!

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

The official August to September U.S. Unemployment Rate stayed steady at 6.1%. Not bad news (although we hope for better, of course).

On the other hand, the “long term” number has climbed to over 20% of those currently counted as unemployed. The “seasonally adjusted” rate for September is 21.1%, a 1.5% increase over August’s seasonally adjusted rate of 19.5%.

[Note: when the U.S. Department of Labor talks about "long-term unemployment" in the October report on unemployment, they are referring to the people who have been unemployed for more than 6 months ("27 weeks and over" in DOL jargon).]

In addition, the seasonally-adjusted number of people taking part-time jobs because they couldn’t find full-time employment also increased, by nearly 6%.

So, while some indicators are clearly not headed in the best direction for job seekers, all the news isn’t bad.

While that is definitely an increase in the average length a typical person is unemployed, the good news is that, STILL, nearly 80% of the unemployed find new jobs in FEWER than 6 months. Wise job hunters will take that information into account, and while expecting that their job search will last fewer than 6 months, they will plan and allocate their spending as though it will take much longer. 

Best Job Search Strategies:

Check Indeed’s database of jobs posted to find promising smaller employers in your area who are hiring.

Check the online business news for press releases or press coverage of these employers.

Set up Google Alerts on the organization’s name.

Use the Internet to research those employers -

What do they do, and how well do they do it?

Are they growing? New contracts, new big customers, new locations, or new divisions announced on their Website or in the business news?

Reputation?

Financial standing?

Contact members of your network (family and friends, former colleagues, other alumni/ae of your college, etc.) for points of entry into the target employers’ organizations.

If at all possible, find that job BEFORE you become unemployed.  Waiting for the proverbial “ax to fall” (or waiting to collect a nice severance package) before you begin your job search is a gamble that may or may not pay off for you long-term.