Job search help

[SecondCor521]

Hi all,

For those of you keeping score at home, I am currently unemployed.

I am looking for a full time position in the Boise, Idaho area in either firmware/software engineering / testing / QA, technical sales, or technical marketing. I have a BS in Computer Science, 15 years of good experience plus an MBA. I have always had a high GPA and have received numerous scholarships, awards, stock options, etc.

Two requests:

1. If you know of any openings or have any suggestions or contacts, please PM me, email me, or post a reply to this thread.

2. I am planning on sending the following email to a number of people in my personal network. Feedback would be appreciated. (It seems too terse to me but I figure people's time is valuable.)

"Hi,

I hope this email finds you well.

I am in the midst of a job search. If you are aware of any openings or companies that might need my services in the Boise area, I would very much appreciate any help you are willing to provide.

Also, if I can help you in any way, please let me know.

Thank you!"

Thanks,

2Cor521

 

[growing_older]

Lionbridge has a technical lab in Boise. Current published searches:

Posting Job Title Interest Category Country State/Province City Position Type Editor Technical Writing United States Idaho Boise Full Time - Temporary Localization Test Engineer Localization United States Idaho Boise Part Time - Regular Localization Tester Localization United States Idaho Boise Full Time - Temporary Software Engineer Software Development United States Idaho Boise Full Time - Regular Sr. Test Engineer Test/QA United States Idaho Boise Full Time - Regular Test Engineer Test/QA United States Idaho Boise Part Time - Regular

 

[Spanky]

It's better to contact your networks by phone instead of emails.

Visit sites of companies in your area (career section).

Visit job search sites such as Monster or career builder,
Here is an example of listing from Career Builder:
Software Engineer Jobs in Boise, ID on CareerBuilder.com

Good luck

 

[Jessica08]

I agree with Spanky; you really should phone your contacts rather than email them. But if you prefer to use an email, I think you should add a line reminding your contacts of either your qualifications or the type of position you are interested in. That email is too general, and you may find yourself with responses with a wide variety of position types. Also, your email seems to be a mix of extremely casual and extremely professional language, you may want to find a balance there.
A great source to try is Job Search | one search. all jobs. Indeed. It pools job search results from numerous sources and puts it all on one page. It was a lot easier to use than going to multiple sites, and it was recommended by the career services in my MBA program.

 

[citrine]

Have you tried contacting the career centers at your old schools to see if they have a list of job postings? I believe they also will give you free resume help and networking information since you graduated from there.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

You may also want to consider a "virtual" position by which you work from home.

 

[SecondCor521]

growingolder, I'll add Lionbridge to my list. I'm familiar with them; I worked for one of their clients for about 18 months.

Spanky (and/or Jessica08 ), why do you suggest phone instead of email? Also, I will look at Monster and CareerBuilder.

Jessica08, good comment about tone -- I was considering sending the email to a mixture of types of contacts, from family and friends to casual professional contacts. Perhaps I should write two (or more) different emails for the different audiences? At the risk of sounding like an idiot, can you be specific about what sounds personal and what sounds professional? Also, thanks for the heads up on Indeed...I'll check it out.

citrine, I'll check with them also. They've helped me before in a general "finding my perfect career" attempts, and I'm sure they'll help with the resume and the more tactical job search I'm starting now.

Jay Gatsby, I'd be interested in something like that if I could figure out how to arrange it. My neighbor has an at home technical job but how he acquired it doesn't seem to be a repeatable method (i.e., he lucked into it).

Keep the suggestions coming...

Thanks,

2Cor521

 

[Marquette]

Jay Gatsby, I'd be interested in something like that if I could figure out how to arrange it. My neighbor has an at home technical job but how he acquired it doesn't seem to be a repeatable method (i.e., he lucked into it).

I'm working on it too. So far, my approach has been to tell every headhunter I know that I'd be willing to work 80-100% remotely. To be honest, I haven't put more effort into that so far... I've had some leads but nothing that felt solid enough to commit to yet.

 

[Jessica08]

Jessica08, good comment about tone -- I was considering sending the email to a mixture of types of contacts, from family and friends to casual professional contacts. Perhaps I should write two (or more) different emails for the different audiences? At the risk of sounding like an idiot, can you be specific about what sounds personal and what sounds professional? Also, thanks for the heads up on Indeed...I'll check it out.

Two separate email templates sound like a great idea, but make sure you can tweek each a little so it doesn't look like you are sending it to the masses. You don't sound like an idiot at all, it's hard sometimes to tell the difference between personal and professional. I think the best way for me to explain is to give you an example.

Professional:
Dear. Ms. Smith,
The reason for this email is because I need your assistance in my search for a full-time position in the technical field. If you could be of help during this process, I would greatly appreciate it...

Personal:
Hi Martha,
I hope this email finds you well. I am looking for a full-time position in the technical field and I was wondering if you could help me....

I think the main difference I could say is that professional writing is more to the point and a bit colder than personal writing. I only saw the difference when I took my Business Communications course. If this is still unclear, please let me know. I am more than happy to help.

 

[Spanky]

why do you suggest phone instead of email?

Email is very impersonal. People would simply ignore it. Beside they may not check their email that often.

Phone contact is more personal and interactive.

 

[jIMOh]

If you are willing to travel, check your mail and let me know.

 

[aenlighten]

Craigslist has displaced a lot of job boards. I would try it first.

 

[SecondCor521]

Jessica08: The difference is clear between the two styles. I have merrily and naively been using the personal style in my emails whether they are personal or professional. The formal style just seems too stilted for my taste, and I guess I ass-um-e that people receiving my emails agree with me on that point. By the way, the use of "idiot" was a mixture of poking fun at myself and just a blunt way of saying I didn't know.

Spanky: Good points. I've already shifted from sending out mass emails to individual emails, and will consider adding phone calls as well. I guess there is a strategic question to decide: whether going "wide and shallow" (mass email) or "narrow and deep" (phone call) is better. I don't know one way or the other.

jIMOh: Thanks for the PMs/emails. I'll be sending you an email reply shortly.

aenlighten: I'll check craigslist. Good suggestion, thanks.

2Cor521

 

[jIMOh]

Spanky: Good points. I've already shifted from sending out mass emails to individual emails, and will consider adding phone calls as well. I guess there is a strategic question to decide: whether going "wide and shallow" (mass email) or "narrow and deep" (phone call) is better. I don't know one way or the other.

I will second doing follow up phone calls to any serious lead. For example in the two jobs you submitted for at my employer, In would advise calling HR and seeing where your resume is- at minimum it would force someone in HR to look for your resume.

Even if the positions already submitted for were "old", there might be new positions in the pipeline which I did not see on the internal site I looked at. The personal touch shows you are serious.

 

[SecondCor521]

I guess my question really comes down to how ought I allocate my job searching time among job opportunities -- do I spend 2 hours per opportunity and therefore work on five opportunities per day, or do I spend 2 minutes per opportunity and therefore work on 300 opportunities per day? Those are obviously extremes but I am using them to try to illustrate my point.

My tentative answer to my own question is that someone looking for any old job will get *a* job faster leaning towards the latter strategy whereas someone looking for a particular job will get a *good* job faster leaning towards the former strategy. Of course the amount of time one spends on any particular opportunity should probably vary based on a whole host of factors. I'm probably more towards the "particular" type of job searcher in that I have salary and geographic limitations and a work record that somewhat typecasts me.

jIMOh, I'll make a note to make a followup call to HR on those two apps. (Thanks again.)

2Cor521

 

[jIMOh]

I would spend 30 minutes per lead- look up contact, make a phone call, and make a note to follow up 4 days later if you do not hear back.

If you have 10 hours, then you can do 20 leads per day. That is more than enough. A few suggestions- look for any application in the computer field. Most software companies need application specialists (that is what I do). Even if you background is something else, if you can learn an application and be good at it, software companies need people like that.

 

[Marquette]

Just a note on the email / phone call debate.

Personally, as a tech person, I'd much rather get an email than a phone call. In fact, I'm more likely to help if I get an email request because it's that much easier to put it on my to-do list and forward on to other people. I know many other tech people prefer things the same way.