The PCS Job-Seeker’s Guide
Choosing the Resume Style That Fits You Best
PART TEN IN A SERIES

Now that you’ve prepared an impressive and effective resume, it’s time to start looking for a job. The question is where to start.

The most obvious place, of course, is in the advertised job market, which includes jobs found in newspaper listings, at job agencies, and on the Internet. Bear in mind, though, that the most obvious place is also the most popular, and the competition for jobs accessed from the advertised market is fierce. Remember, too, that only 15-25% of the jobs that are available are going to be advertised at all; employers fill the great majority of positions with people they already know, who are referred to them, or who just happen to contact them. So, while you will want to devote some of your job search time to newspaper ads and the like, it is advisable to devote the greater part of the search to tapping into the “hidden market”, where positions are not advertised to the general public in any way.

Says Professional Career Services Director Rabbi Aaron Dovid Schindler, “If you contact a company that has an opening that has not been advertised, you stand a pretty good chance of being one of the very few candidates they interview for the position. The odds of getting the job this way are much better than if you are one of hundreds responding to a help-wanted ad.” So how do you find out about jobs in the hidden market?

One way is by “networking”, enlisting the help of people you know–and through them, people you don’t know– in finding out about job openings and in spreading the
word that you are looking for work. Another approach – – “broadcasting”– is to put together a list of companies that hire people in your occupation and email each of them a copy of your resume. Both these methods are used successfully by job hunters, and more discussions of each will appear in this guide in the weeks to come.

“The best job hunting strategy is to devote about a fourth of your search time to the advertised market and the rest to the hidden job market,” observes Rabbi Schindler. “By organizing your search in this manner, you’ll be greatly increasing your chances of finding a job.”

If you know of a job opening please contact Professional Career Services at 732.905.9700[email protected]

Agudath Israel of Lakewood, NJ, Community Services, Inc.
Yoel Tolwinski, Director of Placements     
Shoshana  Smulowitz, Director of Placements     
Daniel Soloff, Director

Agudath Isreal of America, Community Services
Moshe Tyberg,
Avraham Kahn
Daniel Soloff

(This article first appeared in the Hamodia)