Don’t forget your parachute?

What color is your parachute by Dick Bolles is arguably the best-selling job-hunting book in the world. A favourite of job hunters and career changers for more than three decades, it continues to be a mainstay on best-seller lists.

Rewritten on an annual basis, the 2008 edition makes a strong point — one that is echoed by most career counsellors: Sending out resumes is one of the worst ways to search for a job.

Bolles says there is only a seven percent success rate for mailing out resumes (either by post or Internet). Use personal connections and target your mailings. Apply only for the jobs for which you are truly qualified. Otherwise, you’re going to get lost in a sea of resumes, many of which won’t even get read.

Some other general job-hunting reminders:

• Don’t spend all your efforts on big companies; research small and mid-sized businesses, government, and non-profit organisations.
• Expect to spend a year to a year-and-a-half on a professional job search to land a good fit for your talents, experience and expectations.
• Know yourself — what you like to do, what you’re good at doing — before you get frustrated applying for jobs that aren’t realistic or won’t make you happy.

Check out the associated web site Job Hunters Bible.

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