Below are some statistics on how Americans find employment:
35% -- Found job through a friend, relative or other associate
30% -- Contacted an employer directly, without answering a classified ad
14% -- Answered a job classified advertisement
08% -- Found job through on-campus recruitment or job placement office
06% -- Employment agency or search firm
05% -- State-run unemployment office
02% -- Other
The above percentages indicate that 65% of people who are employed found a job that was never publicly advertised. This isn't surprising since studies have found that less than half of all available jobs are ever advertised. And studies also reveal that a significant number of people persuaded an employer to create a job just for them! There is no reason an employer couldn't create a job for you.
Developing a plan and a network of contacts to help you find a job is referred to as networking. Networking involves all of the following activities:
(1) Searching for advertised job openings in newspapers and on the Internet
(5) Searching for jobs at area college career centers
(6) Contacting trade associations and your area chamber of commerce
Networking also involves developing personal and business contacts. The best way to get started is to list the names of everyone you can think of in the following groups:
(1) Your family members and relatives who are employed
(2) Your friends, your friends' parents, your parents' friends, neighbors, and casual acquaintances
(3) People with whom you have business relationships, such as service providers (insurance agent, banker, etc.)
(4) People you know through your place of worship
(5) People in professional associations, alumni associations, and clubs in which you are a member. If you don't belong to any, now is the time to join
(6) Present and past co-workers, and former bosses
(7) If a student or recent graduate -- your teachers, professors and instructors
