What to Do when Looking for a Technology Job

The job market today is getting marginally better, but there are still a large number of people that are out of work. I have several friends that have been laid off recently and in talking to them I have been finding out some of the options that they are looking into in order to make sure that they are marketable and in the best position once they have an interview to be hired. These options include things like obtaining more certification or finishing degree programs, volunteering with non-profit organizations in order to learn and keep current skill sets current, and even using social media to find job options.

With the new free time that my friends have found themselves in, they are using their time wisely. One friend is working on his Cisco certification while another is finishing classes towards his Masters program. Both have the potential to opening doors. I hope that my friend completing the masters program does not find himself overly educated, and that his Masters will not put his job search at risk because firms are not wanting to spend the extra monies that the degree warrants. In this job market certificates will often times help more than degrees. Programs that offer both certificate and a degree help even more.

Spending time volunteering with small businesses or non-profits is one way of keeping one's skills. This is also a way of learning new skills that one might need going forward. If you need more experience with networking, then offer to work items like helpdesk in order to have someone train you on the networking items that you need to learn. I would make sure that you ensure that your agreement includes how and what type of specific training will be given to you in trade for how many hours of service back to the company. This way you end up getting the training that you need, and do not feel bad later that you spent time helping them, but did not get what you wanted in the end.

Small things like building out a web site to showcase your resume can go a long way to gaining exposure. Other ways of gaining exposure is use of social media sites. First go and create new profiles so that people will not have access to your personal profiles. No need for people to find out that you spent the last weekend on the lake drinking the whole time and the embarrassing video will not help you. Make your social media profiles look as professional as possible.

There are also several good sites like "theladders" and Linkedin that allow you to connect to old co-workers that might be able to assist in your job search. These sites also have good tips to on how to interview, changes that need to be made to your resume. Use sites like CareerBuilder to post your online resume, you might be surprised in who finds you.