Essay Guideline

1) Set aside some time, even if it’s just an hour every day looking for jobs. If you do it in the morning, it’ll make you feel better later in the day, as you’ll feel you are taking steps towards your job-hunting process. If you have a partner, they will appreciate it too, knowing you are making good use of your time.

2) Customize your resume for each job that you’re applying for, writing in greater depth about the skills required for the job. This will bring greater prominence and attention to the employer.

3) Make sure that you have all the buzzwords on your resume, as agencies mainly identify candidates through searches.

4) Follow-up by calling a dozen agencies each day, just to remind them that you are still available. Although your resume will come up when the agency does a search, so will hundreds of others, and you want to make sure that the agencies consider you first for jobs that have come in that day.

5) Monitor as many of the job boards as you can, and resend your resume each time a new job comes up that matches your skills, even if the particular agency already has your resume.

6) Keep your resume to 2 pages in length, as no one wants read a 10-page resume when they have hundreds of others to read. Make sure you have a summary of your skills on the front page. Remember that this is a sales document. If you want to impress further, make your resume a Brochure, as this will stick out from the crowd plus show that you work in a professional manner.

7) Show your resume to as many friends as possible for their comments, and ask agencies for their comments as well.

Send out a fresh online batch of resumes to extra agencies each week. More and more companies operate with Preferred Supplier lists, and if you are not on the books of the Preferred Supplier agency, you will not be considered. Therefore, it’s suggested that you be on the books of as many agencies as possible.

9) Don’t rely strictly on agencies, but use your own contacts. Call up or email your old companies, bosses or fellow workers to see if there are any opportunities they might provide.

10) Get in touch with all the old colleagues that you are still in touch with to find out if they are aware of any work that may be going on at their companies. If you’ve lost touch with many of the people that you worked with, use reunion sites like NamesFacesPlaces to see if any old colleagues who might be registered could help you find work.

11) Find something else to do with your spare time, which may become useful in the future. Learn a new skill or build your own website. Once you’re back in work, you’ll wish that you had made better use of your time.

12) Attend networking events such as those organized by the PCG or the BCS. Perhaps you could organize a reunion or other event. Schedule a time to get together for drinks with colleagues who worked at a particular site with you. The people you invite will invite others and as they may have similar skills to you and may know of some work going at the companies they work for.

13) Look in on IT discussion web sites where you will find people with the same problems. Here you can learn and share advice. You may also get encouragement after talking to some people who were out of work but have managed to get jobs. Ask them how they did it.

14) When you finally get an interview, remember to prepare well for it. Make sure that you reacquaint your self with the subject matter. Ask one of your friends with similar skills to interview you first so you can better prepare yourself. There’s nothing worse than failing an interview that you feel you should have landed, due to lack of preparation.

15) And lastly, don’t give up. It’s difficult to keep repeating and doing the same things on a daily basis without immediate results, but your perseverance will pay off in the end.

Gerry McLaughlin has fulfilled every role in Software Development from Trainee Programmer through Systems and Business Analysis, Project Leader and Manager, Systems Manager and Chief Information Officer with a department of 80 people. Tens of thousands of IT Contractors visit http://www.ITContractor.com each month to keep themselves in touch with the market.

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We’ve all heard it before: “Just get out there and network!” If it was that easy, we would already be doing it. So why is it so hard? Well, you’re an introvert, aren’t you? Enough said.

However, unless the prospect of a really long job search excites you, you have to get out there and connect with people who don’t know you but who could benefit from your expertise.

Below are a baker’s dozen tips to help you crack the connection code.

1. Attend with a purpose in mind. Be choosy about the events you attend. Pick the ones that interest you most. It could be a ribbon cutting for a new business, a chamber of commerce mixer, SPCA benefit, or pink slip party.

2. Take a friend. Make a game of it. Challenge each other to beat your stated goals with the winner treating for ice cream.

3. Plan ahead. Set a networking goal to talk with at least five people and collect business cards from three individuals in your industry, profession, or career of interest.

4. Split up. Rule #1 is you can’t talk to your networking partner until you’ve met the goals you’ve set for yourself. That means you can’t sit with each other, hang around the food table together, or accompany each other to the rest room. However, you may smile encouragingly across the room.

5. Surprise, it’s not about you! Walk up to someone you don’t know. Ask the other person an opening question. It can be something as simple as, “What made you decide to attend tonight?”, “What brings you to this meeting?”, “Do you attend often?”, or “What kind of work do you do?”

6. Focus on them! Ask compelling questions: “Tell me more about your work or business.” “What is a good referral for you?” “What are you hoping to achieve tonight?” Get them talking about themselves and then offer a little information about yourself.

7. Create a compelling commercial. When it’s your turn to tell them about yourself, take fifteen seconds or less to capture their attention and make them want to know more. Help them understand what you hope to achieve at this event and how they can help.

8. Take little steps. Don’t force yourself to join a large boisterous crowd. Instead seek out a friendly looking individual who isn’t part of a group. Smile and extend your hand in greeting. He’s probably as relieved as you are to connect with a friendly stranger.

9. What’s in it for you? Everything! Seventy to eighty-five percent of jobs are found through networking. It’s not who you know; it’s who your friends know that makes the difference! So use this networking opportunity to make friends.

10. Visibility is key. As an introvert, I’ve learned three important things about networking: You’ve got to get out there and be seen; the more you do it, the easier it gets; and the more people who know you, the greater your chances for making meaningful connections.

11. Get on the fast track. Join a networking group. Your comfort level and connection quotient will grow astronomically when networking is part of your regular routine.

12. Smile! Be approachable. Make others want to meet you and get to know you better.

13. Make a date to follow up. Make it your goal to connect with at least one person that you would like to get to know better. Invite him or her to meet by telephone or for coffee. Look for ways to make the meeting mutually beneficial.

You have a whole world of valuable contacts to share and new ones to make, so apply these networking tips. Before you know it, you will crack the connection code!

Mary Jeanne Vincent is the author of Acing the Interview tip cards featuring answers to the 20 top “Killer” interview questions. Included are tips for interviewing in the new economy, techniques for taking the sting out of illegal questions, and tips for avoiding 10 deadly interview mistakes. Go to http://www.2bworkwise.com for free job search articles, to sign up for the free WorkWise ezine, and to find out about other valuable, easy-to-use career tools and personal career coaching. You may also reach Mary Jeanne at 831.657.9151.

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The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most lucrative business sectors as evidenced by its $550 billion global industry revenue in 2004. As such, many careers have been developed to cater to the varying needs of the industry. One good example of such a career option is pharmaceutical sales, which is believed to be one of the most sought-after careers in the job market today.

The reason behind this trend is that pharmaceutical sales offers extraordinary salary potential, which may go as high as six-figures annually. Other amazing perks are special bonuses, a company car, trainings in exotic locations, flexible work hours, as well as unlimited opportunities for career growth.

Needless to say, many people who already have a career in sales are slowly but surely transitioning into pharmaceutical sales. If you’re one of those people who are ready to take your sales career to the next level, there are a variety ways to do just that.

For starters, educating yourself about the pharmaceutical industry is an important first step. Learn about various pharmaceutical companies, especially the biggest and most successful ones and how the entire industry is doing. It’s also important to keep yourself updated on industry trends.

In addition, equip yourself so that potential employers may notice you. As mentioned earlier, pharmaceutical sales positions are so in demand these days that you have to truly stand out among other hopefuls. To address this concern, there are online companies today, which through their websites are offering products and services that aim to help prospective pharmaceutical sales reps - with or without sales experience - to land a job in the field.

Such products and services may include how-to e-Books and other information materials, resume writing and evaluation services so that your resume is specific to and targeted towards the pharmaceutical sales industry, and more. They also offer interview coaching, which may include doing mock interviews to help you develop the confidence and to ensure that you know the right things to say.

It would also be a good idea to begin establishing networks with other pharmaceutical industry professionals, particularly in your area. The reason behind this is that job openings are oftentimes filled through referrals from existing pharmaceutical sales reps and that pharmaceutical companies rarely post job ads, except for those which are relatively harder to fill. As such, you definitely would want to be in that loop.

Lastly, different companies have different requirements - some require their pharmaceutical sales reps to at least have a bachelor’s degree, others may require an MBA. But in the end, having a smooth transition to pharmaceutical sales boils down to having the right attitude. For instance, one should have an aptitude for science so that learning would be a breeze. More than having the sales or the medical background, equally important is displaying your outstanding interpersonal communication skills. An aspiring pharmaceutical sales rep should be able to relate to different types of people.

Also, an aspiring pharmaceutical sales rep should be an aggressive, motivated and driven self-starter with high achievement goals. This is especially important once you’ve actually got the job. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to succeed. Needless to say, pharmaceutical sales is one career option where the saying “you reap what you sow” is very, very true.

Ryan Stewart has coached hundreds to pharma sales success (and he’s done it all for free). To jump-start your pharmaceutical sales career go to pharmaceutical-sales-representative.com

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