[HISTORY] - [JOB SEARCH TIPS] - [NEXT MEETING] - [MEETING NOTES] - [RESOURCES]

• Career insurance: hedge career bets by keeping up with latest trends, review trade pubs as well as business journals.
• Be open to opportunities, take calculated risks.
• Assess your skills, your needs, and your desires.
• Spend time on personal PR; self-promotions can be in the form of direct mail.

• Talent, training and experience. The last two variables are the ones that will give you an edge where everybody else has talent.
• Get trained. Plan on adding to and growing your skills.
• Go back to school. Advanced training will always help you. (Joe Zizzi)
• While in school, you have greater access to the contacts that will keep you moving forward: students...teachers. They are your reference point

• In a competitive situation, the advantage goes to the person who knows the most people; however don't fall into trap of using people coldly, relationships are reciprocal. Be prepared to give back.
• Don't skimp on business cards. Give 3 or 4 at a time. (Andre Angelantoni)
• Use the reverse side of your business cards. Bullet out your skill set. (Mike Campos)
• Join professional organizations, user groups, training centers.
• Keep in contact while you're still working, while things are great. (Mimi Sale)
• Look into Marin Professionals. (David Snyder)
• Follow up on every lead. (Linda Jay Geldens)

• Don't audition for a job; you audition potential employers. They may not be suitable for your maximum future potential. You are worth more than you can imagine.
• Position yourself differently for different markets. (Joyce Davis)
• Set up informational interviews for yourself. Find a company you think you'd like to work for (or a person you whose work you admire) and ask to meet in order to discuss the field in general, not any particular job there. You chances for an offer are reduced, but you might learn something and be referred elsewhere.
• Identify 50 companies. Attempt to meet the managers beforehand. (Sarah Chase)
• Think really creatively. People hire because they like you. Review who you are, your skills, your field of interest. Do the informational interview. (Suzanne Lindenbaum)
• In preparation for your interview make up a list of items you need to get you through (i.e., resume, brochure, business cards, portfolio pieces, references sheet, clothing, etc.).

• Put your resume on Dice: HiTech DICE (or other Technical search engines).
• A resume can always be updated. If possible have a professional look it over (HR person or career consultant). You'll be surprised at what you've missed.
• When e-mailing, put resume content into body of e-mail. Include urls. Attachments are iffy.
• Have a multiple number of different portfolios and use a numeric IP so can set them apart without raising any flags. (Chas Blackford)
• Keywords! 1. Identify relevant key words (research desireable postings). 2. Use top 35 words in summary statement. 3. Group related skills into categories. 4. Prioritize skills.

• When asked to quote on a contract job, ask "what's your budget" before giving a quote.
• Network creatively. Find a place to work part-time, such as Kinko's, in order to find new clients (who need the content). Networking with other content creators only lets you know who else is also out of work. Diversify.
• What works and what doesn't is a matter of one's experience. There is no replacement for meeting potential employers face to face. Face-time, phone-time...anything you can do to get yourself speaking with the hiring manager can make all the difference.
• Think about Tactics vs Strategy. Do an awful lot of listening. Research what they're excited about. (Allan Monroe)
• Move closer to your client. (John Crowell)
• Make a long and short list of target companies (i.e., advertisting agencies, etc.). Focus on short list then work back through the long list.

• Be selective, show only your best work. Noone much cares that you've improved.
• Show best work first, not in progression.
• Give impression of breadth and depth. Show variety/different material if possible. Pro-bono work can always be used to round things out.
• Make contact info easily available.
• Put a demo together for your peers that is designed to blow them away. Build the extra special portfolio piece sure to make you stand out from the crowd.

Have input on this topic you'd care to share? Check on the next scheduled Job Connections SIG meeting. Alternatively you can send an e-mail to add your content to this list.