Knowing WHERE/HOW to look

bermovick

I've been putting off asking this for a while, as I expect to receive a lot of flak from people. Before you do, consider I grew up in a town with 200 population. I've moved up to a 6000 population town - but not growing up in a metropolitan area means I don't really have the ... I guess situational awareness of those who do, and the type of jobs available there means looking for / applying for is entirely different. I finally decided that not asking was never gonna provide me with information, so here I am, ready to weather the storms of your scorn.

Up until now, I've let job boards (indeed, dice, etc) and the recruiters that poll them do my job hunting for me. I LOOK, but my "look" is a handful of key words I search on indeed every day or two, and I know I'm missing out because of that - and it has to change. Especially since it seems my searches are finding entry-level or senior positions; nothing in the 'about 2 years experience, looking for a junior but not entry-level spot' that I'm in right now.

Now, I'm an hour from a decent sized (to me) city (117k population), and 2 hours from St Louis - both are reasonably in driving distance. Assuming I were to print off a score of resumes and hit the road, how does one know what businesses to target? Or are there better methods of being more active in your searches?

I feel like a damn yokel with some of these questions (just wait until my "how do you accept jobs that are too far away to drive? You're homeless until you can save up enough money to start looking for a place big enough for your family!" thread.) But like I said - if I don't just put myself out on the line and ask, I'll never grow in THAT direction, and at the end of the day, it's all a matter of growing yourself.

bermovick

Oops; I meant to put this in the IT Jobs/Degrees area. Can a mod move it please?

Qord

Just a few opinions/ideas: I'd say to expand your job board interaction. Add simplyhired and craigslist to your regular "look" routine. Check out newspapers (online AND in print) from other areas as well. Look around for any semi-local user group mailing lists; I know a handful of people who have gotten jobs as a result of being part of a local Adobe users group and a Unix enthusiasts listserv headquartered out of a nearby university.

pakgeek

Do you have a LinkedIn account, if not I would highly recommend you make one, its a very easy place to market yourself. You can even follow the companies you are interested and can search for job openings near you. Just my two cents.

bermovick

I occasionally look at craigslist, but there's literally nothing there. Simply hired looks kindof like indeed - but no harm starting to check that as well.

Yeah, I have a linkedin, but again - I don't really see anything there either. Considering my search radius everywhere should include st louis (it does for indeed), that led me to the conclusion that the low-mid level stuff just isn't posted there or something.

dave330i

Make sure you have your certs listed in the certification section. . I've been getting regular hits from linkedin even though my profile isn't set for job offers.