The days when a decent résumé could get you into the right position are gone.
Now more than ever, career experts say, you have to take a strategic approach to your job search and application process. And you have to pursue that strategy all the time, not just when you're in the market for new opportunities. The best candidates are always taking steps to manage their careers, assess the market and build relationships to keep them employed during good times and bad.
"You have to do everything you can to get the right job. You've got to maximize your opportunities. You've got to use all the tools at your disposal," says Allison Nawoj, a career adviser at CareerBuilder LLC in Chicago.
That's particularly true in this economy. Of the 2,090 manager-level respondents to Computerworld's 2010 Salary Survey, 47% said their companies will hire new IT staffers in the coming year. However, cutbacks and layoffs have made competition for those positions fierce.
This new reality might push job seekers (particularly unemployed ones) to take whatever comes along. But that approach is short-sighted -- and old-fashioned, says Thuy Sindell, vice president of client services and a leadership development coach at Mariposa Leadership Inc., a San Francisco-based career consultancy for managers.
Companies in this modern global economy will create or tailor jobs for top-notch workers, if you know how to look for such opportunities, says Sindell, co-author of The End of Work As You Know It. "Sometimes jobs are created for certain people, so that means talking to a former colleague about current initiatives and then saying, 'That sounds very exciting, and here's how I can help,' " she says.
But because most people don't get hired that way, Sindell says savvy job seekers pursue all channels to find positions that could be good matches for them. They check in with current and former colleagues, recruiters and search firms, visit job sites and attend career fairs.