HELP! Laid off and job hunting for 3 months! Suggestions?
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Another idea as well is to try and do a bit of follow-up on any jobs for which you may have had an interview, but did not receive. If you receive notification from an HR dept. in writing or via phone that they have accepted another candidate, politely ask (but don't interrogate them) if they can provide a response as to why that candidate was selected over yourself. Some may decline to answer, but some HR reps might be willing to at least give some general feedback - candidate X had more experience with XXX, etc. That kind of feedback can be used to fine tune your resume and / or interview talking points.
To the OP - hang in there! I started looking for a new position several months ago (not out of work, but it is looking like my company will be broke by the 4th quarter of 2009 so I'm trying to move on before I have to face the prospect of being out of work). I got almost no bites for a few months - now I've had 5 phone interviews with 3 different companies in the past 2 weeks and have two in-person interviews scheduled next week.
I know you mentioned you couldn't do retail anymore because of back problems and I have some of those issues myself. So I understand that's real. But is there ANYTHING you could apply for where it wouldn't strain you too much physically, but for which you have not applied cause you feel it pays too low/you're overqualified, etc?
When I was just out of college, I was having a hard time finding anything in my major OR outside my major for that matter. I finally took a position that was entry level at a hospital (part-time) and worked my way up to be full-time in social services, which was I wanted all along. Even if a job is not ideal, it gets you out there among people and helps you network. Also, I totally believe that it is possible to work your way up in a company and you often WILL be noticed and promoted if you are a good employee. (And sometimes it happens faster than you would believe!)
i have found a lot of people that are willing to help out. The Job Angels group on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) (look under groups) is GREAT. There is lots of good information to be found there. Also the Wall Street Journal has a column called 'Laid Off and Looking" (http://blogs.wsj.com/laidoff/) It doesn't tell you where to find a job but it provides some good insight. Also places like the Underground job network (http://undergroundjobnetwork.com/) gives ideas about where to look for jobs that aren't always on Monster. Sometimes just searching on google for "job search" can sometimes lead to places that can help.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!
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