The Multipronged Job Hunt

The Multipronged Job Hunt
The other day, Monster interviewed Dick Bolles, author of the annual bestseller, What Color Is Your Parachute. The interview itself is still in production, but in the interest of all you new year’s job hunters out there, one point is worth highlighting prior to the interview’s posting: The more job-hunting methods you use, the more successful you will be, up to a point. Use more than four methods and success rates start to fall.





Job hunters have many methods from which to choose. Bolles reports 16 in total. Among them are: mailing out resumes; answering local want ads; going out to private employment agencies; using the Internet; and asking friends, family or people in the community for job leads.




As if in recognition of that fact, Monster too has added another method for job hunters -- newspapers. Just last week, Monster and the Times Publishing Co., owner of the St. Petersburg Times, announced the introduction of combined online and print recruitment services for employers and job seekers in the Tampa Bay area. That agreement is one of several recent strategic media alliances. To date, Monster has forged relationships with seven media companies that represent 45 daily newspapers and eight television properties.





Yes, Monster’s actions seem to tell us, job-hunting's going back into print.





But Monster’s move is an indicator less of the stand-alone value of print and more of the value of multiple methods when job hunting. After all, it’s not just through print and online listings that Monster helps job seekers. Monster’s community boards can act like job-hunting clubs, Monster users can provide job leads, and Monster Career Advice articles can assist seekers in figuring out what they want and how to get it.





And if you’re a smart job seeker, you’ll follow Monster’s lead and start taking a multipronged job-hunting approach yourself.





Bonne Chance.