FAQs About the Job Search Process

What is the Job Search Process?

Your job search process begins the moment you start thinking about life after UW-Eau Claire and continues until you have accepted a job offer. Over your lifespan you are likely to find yourself going through the process several times. In fact, on the average, you can expect to have between three and five career changes during your lifetime, and up to six job changes within a career.

Each time you change jobs, for whatever reason, you need to start at the beginning of the process and work through it again. The specifics of your job search will change each time but the process remains the same. Since these changes will happen despite careful planning, learning what the job search process entails now will arm you with a valuable lifelong skill.

How Much Time Will the Job Search Take?
In general, job finding success is directly proportional to the amount of time you are willing to spend in your search and the number of strategies you use to identify potential openings. Sources suggest that you:

Be prepared for a long job hunt - 8-23 weeks
Spend at least 20 hours per week on your job hunt
Have an alternative plan.

Your perseverance will eventually pay off. Make sure you have a support system of family or friends to help you when you are feeling discouraged.

What Do I Need to Know Before I Start?

There is no magic way to find a job. It is hard work, takes time and at times may be boring and frustrating. It will take all your skills in planning and follow through but when done faithfully also pays the ultimate reward: A satisfying job for you! Some rejection will be a normal part of job-hunting and a new experience for you. Rather than letting rejections discourage you, let each one teach you a new way to improve your skills for your next opportunity.

Remember, your job search is your responsibility. You are the one who has to get out there and make things happen - no one can do it for you. The Career Services staff is available to assist you with each of the job search steps. The Career Resource Lab also has a variety of information on each of the steps in the job search process and job search workshops are offered each semester.

What Are the Steps of the Job Search Process?

A list of job search steps follows. The order may vary depending on your specific needs and goals.

Self Assessment -- The first step in your job search involves self assessment. Before you start looking for a specific job you need answers to such questions as: What are my work-related skills, interests and values? What have I learned from my academic, paid and volunteer experiences? What kind of position am I seeking? Where do I want to live? What are my career goals? What kind of lifestyle do I envision for myself?
Employment Objective -- Having a clear idea of who you are, what you can do, what you want to do, and in what environment you want to do it, will enable you to better develop a concrete career objective - one that accurately reflects what you are seeking.
Resume and Cover Letter -- These are the two most basic marketing tools for your job search. Developing an effective resume and good targeted cover letter is essential. The Career Services staff can assist you with their development.
Job Search Strategy -- The successful job search requires a definite plan of action. How will you develop a list of potential employers? How will you contact them? How can you build your network to include them? What are your communication strengths and how can you best use them? Conducting a job search without a plan will cost you in both time and money.
Interview -- Getting the interview is the goal of your tools - the resume and cover letter, and the outcome of a successful plan of action. It is easy, however, to be so intent on getting interviews that you neglect to prepare for them. Have you researched the organization? Are you prepared to communicate what you can contribute? Have you studied the kinds of questions often asked?
Job Offer -- "You've got the job!" are the four words job hunters most want to hear. But what then? Are you prepared to evaluate the offer to see if it matches your interests and more importantly your prioritized work values? Could you turn down a job offer you felt was wrong for you? How will you make your decision? Have you determined what your basic monthly expenses are so you can see if the offered salary will cover them and allow you to begin at least a modest savings plan?

What Job Search Techniques Work?

Your plan of action will include a variety of job search techniques. You should find those you believe will best help you get the job you want.

Networking -- Let people know you are looking! Talk to family, faculty, and friends. Contact Career Services and ask about the Connections program - a newly created data base of alumni who have volunteered to be contacted by students for information about what they do and who they work for. Remember - everyone is a potential contact.
Cold Calls -- This is the old "knocking on doors" technique where you call companies or go in person to personnel offices to inquire about possible openings. Using this technique, however, requires careful preparation as you will leave an impression with every person you meet in the process. You need to be prepared to interview on the spot.
Field Specific Listings -- These are job announcements found in professional journals and newsletters. They are more career specific than those found in daily newspapers. Have you surfed the Internet yet? An increasing number of field specific listings can be found there.
Mass Mailing -- Sending out a large number of cover letters and resumes is a common but passive strategy. It is important that you know the odds - for every 80 letters you mail out you can expect 2 - 4 positive replies. You need to consider how much time and money you want to spend for this kind of return.
Want Ads -- This is probably still the most widely used job search technique. Like mass mailing, want ads don¹t always yield a high positive return although some fields use them more regularly than others. A better use of newspapers is often for the information you can gain about an area through its news. Subscribing to a paper in a city or state where you hope to work in can be a useful strategy if you plan to relocate.
On-Campus Recruiting -- If there is a company coming to campus with a position that interests you - pursue it! Over the years, however, the numbers of recruiters coming to campuses has been declining as employers look for more cost-effective ways to recruit new employees.
Career Fairs -- UW-Eau Claire's Career Information Conference is held annually in October. Come and meet employers to network and position yourself for a later application. Some representatives may even take your resume.
Experiential Learning -- These include opportunities such as internships, volunteer work and even student employment in your field of interest. More and more employers are looking for people who already have experience or related experience in their field and some have begun to hire only from their intern pool.
Information Interviews -- Although the focus of information interviews is to find out more about a company or a career field, a hoped for by-product is to also find out about specific openings and how the organization does its hiring.
Luck and Chance -- Don't underestimate the power of fortuitous circumstances! Lucky people, however, are frequently those who know how to maximize their good fortune by actively researching their field of interest to learn ways they might position themselves to be in the right place at the right time.
Resume Referral Systems -- This is a relatively new technique that employs up-to-date computer and communication technology. One such program, Blugold CareerLink is available to all UW-Eau Claire students. Registering for Blugold CareerLink puts you in a data base from which employers can request matches for their job openings. If your credentials match, their requirements, your name is sent to the employer for consideration. Learn more about Blugold CareerLink.

Should I Keep A Record of My Search?

Absolutely! Develop a file system, keep a notebook! Keep track of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of your prospects. Record the dates of every contact you make. This will help you stay organized and create a history your search that may later prove helpful. And be sure to check out our other FAQ sheets for additional information.