My Hints for the Unemployed

1. I’ve heard from multiple sources that potential employers can and WILL access your accounts with MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Don’t post anything you don’t want your momma to read. Make sure your Profile Picture is actually a picture of you, and it is a decent head shot. Any pictures of you should portray you as decent and respectable, so delete any that would suggest otherwise. If someone has tagged you in a photo that is unbecoming, ask them to remove it, or at the very least remove the tags yourself. Remove crap like “William just completed the `60’s folk icons quiz” and other things that make it look like you spend WAY to much time at those sites.



2. If your personal address is something like, oh, wookieeengineer@emailsrus.com, or worse hottarheelmama69@imaditz.com, get a second email just for your job search that is a little more serious, preferably a derivative of your name, IE william.turk4@emailsrus.com. (PS, all these emails are fake, so don’t try them).



3. If you are like me, there are thousands of people who have the same information on their résumé that you do. For example, mine has a bullet point that says “Several years experience with AutoCAD, SolidWorks and Excel.” Any idiot can make that claim, so I needed a way to show the extent of my skills. There are sites like http://www.webs.com/ that let you create your own site for free. I created http://www.williamturk.com/, which allows me to expand on my claims, particularly as they pertain to SolidWorks. I have stories about how I used SolidWorks to improve the efficiency at the last place I worked, and a series of pictures of some of my projects. I also plan to add samples of my technical writing. I list my website on my résumé near the top; I have also purchased a $5 ad in Facebook and got several hits from it.



4. You can get free business cards at http://www.vistaprint.com/. These are great to hand out whenever you meet someome. Think of it as a 2x3" résumé.



5. Prepare your "elevator speech." Imagine if you met someone in an elevator and you had their atention for the next 15-20 seconds. What would you say?



6. Uae your local library. It's as easy as going up to the person at the research desk and saying, "Hello, I am trying to find a job; can you help me?" Any librarian worth his or her salt will sieze this as a personal mission.


7. Go to local support meetings and seminars. You never know who you are going to meet, and you will probably learn something. Here’s some for people in the Queen City. (Charlotte, not San Francisco).
   a. The Dowd YMCA has a series of seminars from 7-9 pm Thursday nights, but it’s not every week. Go to http://www.ymcacharlotte.org/eventscalendar.aspx for more dates.
   b. St. John’s Episcopal on Carmel road hosts a group called “Job Hunters” from 7-9 pm every Tuesday. http://www.saintjohns-charlotte.org/go/Rainbow/3333/en-US/DesktopDefault.aspx.
   c. I have been told that CPCC has some classes that are free to the unemployed, specifically 6004 “Job Seeking Skills” and 7000 “Career Assessments and Exploration.” I’ll post more on these as I check them out.
   d. If I come across any other groups, I’ll post them as well, but you may want to check with the chamber of commerce.
   
   Good luck, I hope this helps!