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You can find a good job — here's how!

Here is how to locate and keep the job you need.
Others have done it.
So can YOU!

 

DESPITE major unemployment vast numbers of people are working today. How do they find and keep their jobs?

Some of you reading this article are right now in desperate need of a job. Your rent is past due, your money is gone, and you may not know where your next meal for yourself and your family is coming from.

You can locate a job! Here is a way to find one. Read this carefully!

 

Finding Available Jobs

In many areas, employment officials note jobs go begging for lack of qualified takers. And many are not menial tasks, but positions offering satisfaction and opportunity for growth.

While many in your area may be looking for a job, there are definite ways to improve your chances of finding a good job.

Available jobs go to those who know how to get them!

Employment agency officials report that those who tramp un and down the streets, visiting companies in a hit-or-miss fashion in the hope of "turning up something," waste most of their time and seldom find a job.

There are definite steps to take in finding a job. Here they are.

 

Analyze Your Abilities

Your first step in finding a job is to analyze your experience and your ability. You need to find out how many different types of work you can do successfully.

Ask yourself, "What jobs have I done successfully? What work have I done that others have commended me for doing exceptionally well? What machinery and equipment am I qualified to operate? What vocational training have I received in school or in the armed forces?"

Make a list of the abilities and skills you have to offer to an employer.

Most people underestimate their working potential. It's amazing how many different jobs a human being can do.

 

Plan a Course of Action

Don't go out blindly hunting a job from door to door. You will save yourself many fruitless, heartbreaking hours if you first take the effort to find out the exact name and location of business concerns who hire people who have your abilities and skills.

There are definite, precise ways to find the names and addresses of the companies you might work for. Also the names of their key personnel who have the power to hire you and put you to work.

One very practical way to find a job involves looking at the classified ads of your newspaper. Jobs are often listed in newspaper ads, trade journals and professional publications. This gives you an immediate source of available jobs, often with telephone numbers to call.

Then there are the employment agencies. They often place "Help Wanted" ads in the newspapers. You can also get their names and addresses from the business section of the telephone book. These agencies make money by providing the job-seeker with information about available jobs.

Whenever someone is hired through the agency, there is a fee that must be paid. Sometimes, especially when there is a great need on the part of the employer, he will pay all or part of the fee. Usually, however, in the United States it is the new employee who pays the fee. There is, of course, no charge when you are not hired.

You can go also to a public library and have the librarian help you find books relating to employment. While you are there, look carefully through the pages of the telephone book. Take down the telephone numbers and addresses of any companies that have work you are able to do. Get yourself a city map if you need it, to easily locate these possible places to work.

Note carefully that directories listing businesses and industries usually give the names of key personnel who hold important company positions. Call these key personnel and ask them for an interview. You could easily land a job before your first week of search is over.

Ask yourself, "Where is the strongest need for people with my background?"

Make a list of the organizations that look like prospects. List them in order. Check off those you'd like to work for.

You should be able to locate job prospects in half a day. These concerns do not have to be advertising for help for you to find a job. Employers are impressed by people who have the ability, drive and initiative to go out and find a job for themselves.

Don't overlook the job opportunities at a new office building. Remember that every new office building or factory that goes up needs workers, everything from maintenance crews to business executives. By a little thinking, you can often make a list of at least a dozen jobs you are qualified to do in just one new office building alone. Why not have the employers hire you? If you are on your toes, you can land one of the better jobs.

Remember that the government is also an employer. There are usually many job openings available. Study the civil service announcements at your post office. Also there are civil service or government employee newspapers in many localities that often announce government job openings.

Don't make the mistake of overlooking your most obvious source of information — friends, neighbors, relatives and business acquaintances who may be able to help you get a job. Ask them for specific information — names, companies and addresses.

 

What to Know About Your Prospective Employer

Realize you may be working for your next employer for a long time to come.

Find out the answers to the following questions before you ever go for your first interview. Is the company reliable? (Some are not) Is the job temporary or permanent? Is it only seasonal? You may find most of these answers in chamber of commerce directories.

Find out how much of a demand there is for a company's product. Is it needed by a great number of people?

If people depend on this industry, your future job will be more secure.

Not only know the products of the company, but also know the general financial standing. Know the names of certain men in high positions in the company, and the history and background of the company.

After finding out the names and locations of various concerns, be there at quitting time. The kind of workers you meet will tell you a lot about a company's efficiency and hiring practices. Find out whether this company is a good company to work for.

 

Prepare for the Interview

"At interview time," first impressions are important. Be neat! Be clean!

Another very important point is to prepare what you expect to say in advance. Be able to give honest answers to direct questions, such as: "What sort of job are you looking for? What is your experience? Why did you leave your last job?"

Make your answers short, but not so short that you leave out important information.

Tell your prospective employer what you can do. Don't underestimate yourself! If you can do the job, tell him you can — not that you think you can.

Prepare a one-or two-page, easily read summary of your education, your experience, your ills and abilities. Give him this résumé.

Emphasize experience that shows you are qualified for the kind of position you are applying for.

Take plenty of time to write it. Seek advice from those qualified to give it. Few people realize that for job-hunting there is hardly a more useful tool than a good résumé, yet most people skip it or do it badly.

Your résumé must be neat, but do not make it elaborate or expensive-looking. Your public library will have information to help you prepare your résumé.

In a few instances you may want to have a printer run two or three hundred copies to mail to key personnel. Your prospective employer may offer you more than you would dare to ask, so always leave your salary requirements open for negotiation.

 

Sell Yourself!

When you go for an interview, don't be afraid to tell the personnel director you have investigated the company, and you know the company is financially sound. He will be pleased to hear it. Employers are impressed by the rare individual who is able to show such initiative, enthusiasm and real zeal. They NEED this type of individual.

Also be able to honestly tell him you want to work at this company because you have talked to the employees and have found that they enjoy working there.

Be dynamic! Be forceful! Your personality, your interest in the company, your resourcefulness, your friendliness, may be the deciding factors in "landing" you the job.

Look your interviewer straight in the eye. Tell him in a straightforward manner you have prepared long and hard for this type of work. Tell him you believe in doing as much as possible for him and the company; that you like this kind of work and you are prepared to go "all out" in making a success on this job!

Tell your prospective employer how you can help him, not how he can help you. Remember the company is buying your services, your experience and your abilities. An employer wants to hire you only if you can make him money. Sell him your ability to make him money. Prove to your employer your services will be profitable to him!

Be factual! Get to the point and say clearly and concisely what sort of abilities you have to offer and what your experience is. Do not reel off endless details about your jobs you held years ago.

Employers also look for loyal, cooperative employees who do not complain and criticize their last employers. Employers want well-adjusted, happy people who got along well as part of a team with their last employers and fellow workers. They want someone who is willing to work, and do as he is told.

A word of caution.

Most interviewers will turn down any job applicants who launch into a philosophical spiel about their "eagerness," their "willingness to work," "character" and "ambition."

Also, an interviewer almost always turns down any job applicant who discusses his personal difficulties. They are hiring moneymaking producers, not problems.

 

Be Persistent

Make job-hunting a full-time job. Begin looking for a job early in the morning. Don't quit until closing time. You will work for your employer 40 hours a week. Why not work at least that much for yourself?

Job researchers insist the job-hunter should be able to make nearly one application an hour, 40 a week for nonexecutive jobs. They state that jobs on the executive level require much longer interviews.

Set a goal of a certain number of applications a day until you land your job.

Call up and ask to speak with the directors of the various company divisions, the lab directors or the shop foreman. If you have good qualifications, the lab director may hire you even if there is no opening at the moment. He must look ahead to future needs. Show initiative, drive. Put forth this effort. Prospective employers are impressed by initiative.

Most job-seekers stop with the interview, when many a job could be secured by a follow-through.

Keep going back. Some employers make it a policy to hire an individual only after his second or third visit. They want a person who is persistent.

Sometimes a thank-you note to the interviewer for the time he gave you, or a telephone call in a week or so, may remind your prospective employer of your qualifications and determination and win you the job.

 

Look Ahead

Once you get the job, keep alert to what's going on in your organization. Know how you are doing and what your boss thinks of you. You should usually know how long your job is going to last.

If you see that the end of your present job is in sight, IMMEDIATELY begin laying the groundwork to find another job.

In today's tight labor market, don't ever quit your job unless you already have somewhere else to go. It's far easier to find another job while you still have one than when you don't.

Don't ever turn an offer down flat because it doesn't meet your every requirement. Be willing if necessary to accept a position that requires traveling, or be willing to take company training.

If you are in an area where there aren't any jobs available, then you must be willing to go to another city where there are jobs. You may well have no other choice.

The unskilled often find it difficult to find jobs. Remember you are never too young or too old to learn a trade.

There are definitive laws of success in achieving whatever you undertake. We offer our free booklet called the Seven Laws of Success. It can help you find and put into practice other principles necessary to find and keep a good job.