Dating Sites and other sources
Ironically I was on one of the dating sites for a bit, Though I didn't find my future husband, my profile resulted in two interviews rather than dates. Lesson? You never know where you'll find your next lead. Everything is a potential wellspring of introductions. Apply this same idea to any associations, social clubs, online groups you belong to.  All are potential lead sources.

Phone Interviews:
This time around most employers I've spoken with are using phone interviews to qualify and disqualify. These come at all times of the day from early morning to as late as 8:30PM so watch the entertaining and alcohol consumption, even after business hours. If you're not good on the phone, find someone to coach you.  Practice speaking into a tape recorder. Your voice and how you handle yourself may very well be the first and only contact and impression you have with a new employer.  Use it wisely.

Maintain a hardcopy record of your letters
and contacted company dossiers with you.
Keeping good records, off the computer, is also necessary. Most of the calls I get are when I'm not online so I really have to do some fancy footwork to recall what position and company it is I'm speaking to. I now keep an index card of these in my car and in my purse along with two pens and a pencil...because it never fails my pens run out of ink just when I need to jot something down.

Overall it was the webfolio really that took my job search from the slow lane into express.  It did disqualify me for a couple of positions but I discovered it was being passed on to others because people were impressed with my work and even if they didn't have something, they knew of someone who did. Essentially, it became my own little sales team out there working for me. Targeted marketing at its finest.

What doesn't work? Posting up on Craig's list (or other job boards) that you're 'looking for work'.  If you do, you'll get lots of responses...from con artists like this:

Hello,

I see you have posted looking for a job here and thought I would reply to share something that has worked out well for me and hope you will take a look....
 

The con artists goes on, using improper punctuation and offshore e-mail and URL to direct you to this miracle job site. Rather interestingly, the ad I posted wasn't for a job on Craig's List.  It was for this book, directing people to an article detailing what steps you need to take when you lose your job. I posted it in 10 cities and received over 100 scam e-mails from it, many the exact same e-mail with a different name.  I did not receive a single legitimate e-mail from anyone requesting information or having questions, though server records show ten people did visit the article that day.

Chapter 11 in Laid Off Now What, The Recession Edition is all about the Top 10 Scams targeting job seekers and how to spot them.  The above is one of many.

The bottom line is this: If you are looking for a job that pays well and requires any level of skills, you must be on one of the career social networks and you must update and constantly add to your profile.  If you are not, you're missing most of the good jobs out there and your best opportunity to reach the hiring manager directly. Everything else helps.  Neglecting to create and work your career networking profile however, will guarantee one thing: it's going to take you a lot longer to find a job and you'll miss out on many of the best opportunities.
 

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