Info helpful for your Job Search - My way of giving back :)

racco · 11 June 2012 19:50

Dear All,

This forum has been helpful to me in more ways than I can imagine. Most of the people here are helpful, nice and funny

I have been searching 120 % since September last year and was full time unemployed since January this year. It has been a difficult, no doubt. However, EF helped me a lot.

I just want to provide some info for English Job Hunting EFer's out here.

Most of the info might be found on other thread. But I am just going to mention all my research here which might be helpful.

Here are a few pointers which helped me to stay on the track of finding a job.

1. I maintained an excel sheet with dates. Each day I search for anywhere between 5 to 10 companies and applied for jobs which appealed to me.

2. If you have about 120 odd companies or website to search. You can finish 1 round of research, say about in 3 weeks or so. After that you start all over again, just to see if any new jobs were added or not. This excel sheet kept me in line and made me periodically check websites for jobs.

3. Try to enroll/subscribe yourself on the website to receive email alerts whenever a job is added. This keeps you in check and makes you apply for that job when HR is expecting interviews. At times candidates are selected well before the expiration date and such alerts help you from missing out on a job.

4. Whenever you apply for a job, on another page or excel sheet or which ever tool you are using, make a note of the position, name of HR contact. Try to call them 1 week after you have applied and introduce yourself. Make sure to mention politely that you are not pushing them, but rather trying to let them know if there is anything else you can do apart from submitting CV, Cover Letter and the Transcripts. Most of the time, they say they don't need anything, but I think this makes an impression. Try calling anywhere between 8.30 to 10.00 so that you catch them before they go to some meeting/interviews.

5. This might sound stupid, but even if the job advert says, fluent german. And yet you match the job description, try to apply for the job. At times they do call for an interview if you are an excellent candidate. BTW, the job I got now, did mention they needed fluent german. And my german is 4 out of 10. Yet I have the job offer, when the other guy was fluent only coz I had the relevant experience and did well in the interview.

6. Make sure you make edit your cover letter according to the job description. Don't lie, however, notice what is needed specifically for that job and highlight those in your letter. It gives an impression to the HR that you are willing to take some effort for this post, and ur not just applying in bulk.

7. There will be days when you will REALLY hate to be in the situation. At those times, just get our of the routine. Take every sunday off and reward yourself with some off days in between if you feel down. However, consistency, discipline and hope will surely get you through. My butter half ( yup, I mean bUtter )did keep me company during my bad days, and motivated me at times being my sports partner or chess buddy. Try to find something which will get you out of that mood. What works for me is talking to people close to me and sharing a laugh or two. . Remember, even if you have hit rock bottom and your are doing ALL that you can, then you WILL rise

Here are the list of the companies I have used.

ABB

JTI

Syngenta

Pepsico

P&G

Nestle

Novartis

Cisco

Google

Roche

Abbott

Philips

Alstom

Actelion

Bayer

Mars

Siemens

Kraft Foods

Bombardier

HP

Dupont

SR Technics

JnJ

Microsoft

Oerlikon

IBM

GE

Oracle

Covidien

Genedata

Unilever

Electrolux

Logitech

Dell

Newell Rubbermaid

Dow

BASF

Biersdorf

Canon

Dupont

www.mccann.ch

Biogen

Stryker

Fedex

SICK

NetApp

Novozymes

Novo Nordisk

Medtronic

Hilti

Hugo Boss

Zuhlke

Eli Lilly

Baxter

Grünenthal

Sensirion

Lonza

K+N

Reckitt Benckiser

Zurich

www.deloitte.ch

Yahoo

Loreal

Orange

www.amazys.com

www.elcompanies.com (SG)

www.epiphany.com

www.switzerland.emc.com

Leica Geosystems

Alcon

Leica Geosystems

Alcon

BASF

Panasonic

Mercer

Panalpina

Givaudan

www.jobscout24.ch

www.jobs.ch

Agilent

Straumann

Ebay

Synthes

Sonovo

SC Johnson

Selectus SA

Interiman SA

NNIT

www.morganstanley.com

Mundipharma

Nextira One

Apple

Here are some of the Job Search Websites I have used,

Oprandi

Mercuri Urval - HR

www.sas.com/switzerland

www.jobsuchmaschine.ch

www.mercerHR.com

www.jobup.ch

Serendi

Actitalent

http://www.universal-job.ch/

Thomson Reuters

www.cattaneo-consulting.ch

www.jobserve.com

http://www.analytik-news.de/Jobs

http://www.chemiekarriere.net/

Wenger

AMAG

Aplina Watches

www.jobrapido.ch

www.audatex.ch

www.ch.attachmate.com

www.accenture.ch

www.michaelpage.ch

www.manpower.ch

I hope this helps some1 out there.

P.S Kindly take a note, that all that I have mentioned above is from my prespective. Please use any other means necessary to get a job, if you think what I mentioned is incorrect.

I wish all the best for my fellow job hunters.

Cheers

Cremme · 11 June 2012 21:27

Inspiring post, thanks for making the effort to share.

Point 7 is the hammer.

Valexefsta · 11 June 2012 21:29

singabhadur, a great summary!

Here's wishing you success in your new job.

Sundingjanen · 11 June 2012 22:20

Hats off to you!!!!!

Thanks for sharing this info.

racco · 12 June 2012 09:34

You are most welcome

Thanks a lot for the wishes

Thanks a lot

Point # 7 was the most important for me as well. I am glad the post is helpful

Hondon · 12 June 2012 09:34

Thanks for the advice. I moved here in November last year with my partner (who has a job!). I have not had joy in finding a job yet and find it so frustrating day in day out getting rejection emails!!

Thanks for the help

Longbyt · 17 June 2012 12:17

That is a brilliant post. Many grateful thanks for taking the trouble to put it all together (and to give it a title that tells us what it is about!)

I'll request it be linked into the Employment Multi-Sticky so that we can recommend it more easily to others who are having the same difficulties.

zerajeanther · 18 June 2012 12:51

For job searchers read What Color Is Your Parachute as its damn essential

the basics of it are

vary the methods you look for work dont just do online dont just reply to ads do spec letters network etc etc

expect your job search to be LONG - most people underestimate how long it takes and get demoralised after 2 or 3 months and they OVER estimate how much efort they are actually applying to their job search

KNOW your skills KNOW why you want to work

USE your new found spare time to improve yourself - take a break you probably deserve it too

Have a plan B - what happens if you cannot find a job within a year (no fixed period just an example) YOU MUST HAVE SOMETHING ELSE PLANNED

beccarnina · 18 June 2012 19:51

This helps puts my job search into perspective. I'll keep looking!

Thank you for taking the time to post.

racco · 20 June 2012 10:37

Thanks a lot for the responses . I am glad that many of the Efer's took a look at it and this thread is helpful enough to assist in job search.

I was out for a week and hence couldn't reply. However, there is one more part of the info that I missed out earlier, which is HR Questions.

After you are called for an interview, you will be asked various questions, some of those can be basic like strengths and weaknesses or some could be seriously tailored for the position you are applying for.

I have googled many of these questions and I am sure most of those who are invited for an interview do it too.

I have attached a document (HR Questions), which really helped me. There are answers to these questions which can be helpful to prepare you own answer. And then there are list of other questions as well. Just take a look incase you want to get prepared for HR questions.

It is always a good idea, to use these answers as a guideline to prepare you own. In the end, you want to come across as unique

There are many websites out there which provide similar info, do take a look elsewhere as well. However, this document was suffice enough for me to think about the kind of responses I will give.

Good Luck

Cheers

S

Longbyt · 20 June 2012 10:49

Someone dug up this older thread again this morning. There are a couple of points in there which might also be worth reading.

Still looking for a job but no response - why?

Rison · 26 June 2012 14:42

Many companies I never even heard of before here, thanks, could prove to be quite helpful!

Kriztipoloki · 10 July 2012 09:49

Thank you so much for these awesome posts. Very clear explanation! (for some reasons I can't explain I can't leave a "Thanks" mark.)

Ladianceth · 10 July 2012 19:47

such a nice one !! any chance you would like to send me the super excel sheet ??? thanks a lot !

abridabita · 11 July 2012 11:00

I would also suggest that if the websites you use for job searching have RSS functionality, try and subscribe with an RSS reader (Google Reader is a good one) so that the lates updates are on your desktop which may save you time when searching for jobs.

earchris · 15 July 2012 18:06

Just Perfect!!

If it is possible I would like the excel sheet too

racco · 16 July 2012 15:01

You are Welcome

I have tried to upload the Excel Sheet as requested, however I was not able to do so since .xls files are not allowed to be uploaded. Hence I have saved PDF versions of each sheets I had in the Excel Workbook. Please feel free to use it and edit/structure it as per your needs and requirements.

I hope the sheet is easy enough to understand, and in case it confuses any one, kindly PM me and I will try to clear it up.

Regards

S

emmart_ling · 17 July 2012 15:47

Thanks for your valuable insights.

May I ask you which documents did you include in the application apart from the CV and Cover letter?

Knighton · 17 July 2012 20:18

Shamelessly ripped off another thread

http://www.manpower.ch/en/advice/the...he-cv-content/

racco · 18 July 2012 05:11

Your are welcome

I included 3 attachments

1. CV (2 paged with a Photo - I used was ''Swiss/European'' format

2. Cover Letter (altered and changed key words as per job responsibilities I applied for)

3. Transcripts ( All Professional experience letters, Previous Manager's / Professors / Thesis Mentors recommendation letters, Professional Awards, Professional certification apart from Education, MBA Degree and MBA mark sheets)

Hope this helps

S