Job hunting tips

The economy has hit the workforce hard over the last year and there are countless people who have either been looking for work or people who have worked for companies for years that are getting laid off. With so many people on the hunt for work at once, the competition for a job is hot. Here are a few tips that I have gotten from showrooms and designers on how to get your resume noticed.

• Don’t just hand your resume to a receptionist. Always ask for the manager or find out who they are beforehand and come back and give it to them person. Additionally, put your resume in an envelope. If you absolutely have to leave your resume with a receptionist, putting it in an envelope makes it more personalized to the manager AND you don’t have secondary eyes scanning your resume. Trust me, it could easily get ridiculed all the way back to the manager and tossed before you know it.
• Post your resume on Craigslist in multiple places.
• At this point in time it really is about who you know. Plenty of people can post their resumes or drop them off but I have seen first hand that people are getting hired because they know someone in the company. So how do you go about meeting the “right” people? Here are some tips on that as well:
• If there are any free seminars, go to them. There are a lot of managers and designers who attend them as well and it would be a good way to talk to them one on one and even pass on your resume.
• This refers back to showrooms, always good to meet with supervisors or managers. Even if on the first couple of times you don’t mention that you are looking for work, just that you have an interest in the showroom and then approach them about possible job opportunities. It is a time investment but it will payoff in the long run.
• Don’t just go for showrooms, post resumes in design centers. Here in Chicago the Merchandise Mart is the major design center in the city which homes over a hundred showrooms. Although they are intermingled, they are totally separate entities. Besides applying to showrooms, also apply within the building itself.
• In the Merchandise Mart the 4^th and 5^th floors are the Corporate Offices. I have been told by designers that there are usually job postings listed there AND you can drop off your resume as well.

If you have any tips or suggestions to share, feel free to post/comment.