From National Geographic

Spring time means that another class of our young bodied generation will be graduating and looking for jobs soon. You’ve already conquered the difficult part of educating yourself for the last 4 or so years, so why is looking for a job one of the biggest challenges you have to face? It’s a combination of things of course: the pressure to get the big money, the anxiety of rejection, lack of industry knowledge, compromising your happiness in a career, and overall inexperience among other things.

But, you have to do it anyway so you  might as well learn some tactics to be stealth about your job hunt. I’m going to avoid some cliche tips like spiffying up your resume, branding yourself, cleaning up your Facebook profile, and getting on LinkedIn. You should know these things from a simple how to get a job 101 google search. These are my strategies below:

1. Survey the Environment

From National Geographic

First, if you aren’t already aware of all your industry networks, you need to get on it. You have to do your research on the people, companies, and happenings in your field. Join forums and networking organizations that you can get on an emailing list and get updates. More than likely, there will be a ‘job posting’ or ‘opportunity’ section of the organization where you are going to get job tips. It’s like knowing what time the fish are feeding. What’s the point of going fishing at 3PM, when the fish are only biting at 8AM?

For example, in my field I’m on the following networks:
Interaction Design Association
Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association
Rhizome http://rhizome.org/

I should also note that the different organizations are really quite different from each other and will give me insight into different types of opportunities. IXDA provides professional practice tips and opportunities, AIMA is a more local focused network, and Rhizome is geared towards art practice. If I were looking for a job right now… I’d feel anything but insecure because of all the combined opportunity listings I hear about alone from these networks.

2. Set the Trap

From National Geographic

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you didn’t even have to go about searching for a job, but was just recommended? Stealth tip #2 is to act like a tree. Just kidding, but you know the types of predators that blend in with their environment, then when the prey least expects it, they are already inside the belly of the beast. Not saying you are evil, but the tactic is to attract your prospects to you. This means setting up a series of flashing pointing arrows directing back to your head and providing multiple points of contact. No really! You need to set traps everywhere that is going to be relevant to getting your name and information to people in your industry. That means have a personal website hosting your resume and portfolio, set up a blog with personal insights pertaining to your industry, a professional twitter account where you tweet smart things, oh and you know those industry networks I made you join already? Make sure you are participating in forums, asking questions, posting advice, etc. Companies have human resource departments and are actively recruiting new talent. If you have those flashing arrows, someone is going to eventually follow the path that leads straight back to you.

3. Catch them off Guard

From National Geographic

If you are cocky, like me, then you don’t even wait for job postings. You find the companies you like, and you send them your resume with a cover letter! You’d be suprised, at how many companies don’t even know they need to hire you. If they really aren’t hiring, they will let you know and will file your resume for a later day. But, once in a while you are going to spark some interest by catching them off guard alone. The main point is to be proactive. The more times your resume gets in front of a prospective employer, the more times you interview, well all the more times you develop stealth about the job search. Also, you never know in this economy when job loss is going to catch you off guard. So being proactive also means maintaining your stealth and always being on the prowl, even when you already have a job. You should always have your resume up to date and invest some time in those industry networks to know the current state of things. When you decide to go back on the hunt, the best type of prowl is one that is not rusty.

Good luck