Get a leg up when job hunting

By Joyce Lain Kennedy Tribune Media Services

Are you looking for ways to get the upper hand in these tough economic times? Here are some tips to help promote yourself to potential employers. These are relatively new ideas, or ones that are gaining traction, in the world of self-marketing. Go ahead and try them out. What do you have to lose, except maybe the position you’ve always dreamed of?

Promote yourself with blurbs A collection of letters that employers and others have written about your qualifications, experience, education, character traits and employability can be a cool tool, but sometimes it’s just too much information for a potential employer to digest. You may be better off crafting a compelling “reference commentary,” a document containing about a dozen blurbs, which are brief praise statements similar to those that appear on book jackets. Each blurb should highlight one of your strengths, such as being a top performer, reliable, punctual, cheerful, intellectually curious and so forth. Each blurb should be attributed to a former employer, coworker or other person who has a basis for knowing how wonderful you are.

Keep track of Internet job sites No one does a better job of tracking all the new job-related Web sites than About.com’s jobsearch guide, Alison Doyle. Among this year’s start-ups she notes are: -- LinkUp.com, a search engine bringing to your screen job openings from more than 11,000 company Web sites. -- Alltop.com, a kind of industrial-strength RSS reader pulling together both jobs and career news. This site is handy when you need to bone up on an industry or career function fast. -- Read about the other digital newcomers on jobsearch.about.com; search for “Best Job Search Sites of 2008.” Don’t pressure, prospective employers Put together a list of names of people in companies and industries that interest you. Then, suggests expert Ron Krannich, write a brief letter asking for a meeting without putting recipients on the spot. Most important: Your message should leave no doubt that you are asking for career advice, not for a position. Before leaving a meeting, ask for additional referrals, a process that gathers weight with each interview. A bonus benefit: If your search turns out to be lengthy, the snowballing referral gigs keep your interviewing skills sharp. The technique’s nuances are explained in a 2008 book Krannich wrote: “You Should Hire Me!: Interview Secrets to Get the Job You Love” (impactpublications.com).