virtual assistants
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I Need A Job – So I Outsourced The Job Hunt!
I Need a Job! And I’m willing to get really creative to get one!
Let me share with you how I used Outsourcing to get a list of a few hundred useful contacts.
Think about how, after calling them up and sending a non-generic job application, I drastically increase my chances of finding my dream job.
And because I wanted to stay near my loved ones, I needed my dream job in a city where getting a job is notoriously difficult:
Munich (Germany)
How I started: useless use of job search websites
To be honest, my first job search efforts were more than sub-optimal. You should only use the lessons I have learned from my mistakes…
- Check out my best advice on using free job search websites here!
What did I do wrong? I sent out many generic application letters. I did not call before sending them. There was no personal contact. I was poorly organized.
All that made me realize: big trouble ahead! If you read a bit around my site, you can imagine what I thought of next…
The experiment: My outsourced job hunt
Note:
This was not a project where I outsourced my whole job application to specific services that spam hundreds of poor HR employees!
The aim of this project was to get a researched list of possible employers that I could call up, one after the other, without worrying about needing to research more places.
The results?
Were pretty good, in my opinion!
- Over 200 places researched in my town of preference
- All places are reachable by public transport.
- Money spent: 40$
Learn the same skills to outsource your job hunt!
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More Related Job Hunt Articles
TOP TIP FOR THE JOB HUNT
If I could go back in time to the day when I said:
“I need a job, and I better start sending out dozens of application letters!”
I would give myself a good whack and say:
“The number one way to get a job is to establish personal contacts!”
This is the number one tip to take away. Click here to read more Tips on Job Hunting.
I NEED A JOB, BADLY. SHOULD I LIE?
Never lie when it comes about working out your professional future.
The lies will come haunt you in the end. And in the age of everyone becoming more and more transparent due to the internet, this is true more than ever.
Although you need to develop some skills in framing certain situations and presenting you in the best light possible, you should never be lying on job applications!
Do Your Research About Your Potential Employer
There is a very useful site out there that shares anonymized reviews from enterprises you might want to work in regarding
- Salary levels
- Work conditions
- The interview process
Check out Glassdoor and it’s power as a job search engine as well as a enterprise review site!
Got A Job Interview – How To Prepare
Finally got that Job interview? Congrats! I know how hard it can be just getting there.
Now you have your big chance. Don’t blow it!
Don’t worry, if you think of my tips about preparing for a job interview, then you will have a better chance at finally getting this job!
After The Interview – Be Sure To Follow Up!
Making a good last impression is as important than the first impression. By writing a job interview follow up letter, you will set yourself apart from your competition!
It’s time to nail that job!
Job Search For Chemists And Biochemists
Als a chemist, providing certified knowledge about GLP (good laboratory practice) is crucial if you want to land a job in the area of pharma.
Here’s a short article about my biotech job search.
Learn How To Handle A Newbie Full-Time Virtual Assistant
Full-time virtual assistants is part-14 of an interview with Eric, a fellow entrepreneur interested in outsourcing his work to virtual assistants all over the world.
Follow along to learn from our experience on working with VAs!
Click here to read part 13 of this interview – Part-time vs full-time virtual assistants
Summary:
- Learn how to get started with full-time virtual assistants to do general tasks for your online business
- Learn how to avoid wasting time on repetitive question and answer communication with full-time virtual assistants.
- Learn how to train and work effectively with full-time virtual assistants.
Start of the Interview:
Francis
And since my assistant has worked with me for a long period of time, he knows me. And also, can give her feedbacks. So he said okay, he really wrote that. They were chatting and since I can see the screen captures from my main assistant work diary, I saw what they were talking about sometimes.
And you are saying, okay, so first of all Francis is a nice guy and he’s really patient and he will give you great instructions via video. So, that’s what my assistant told the full time candidate.
And then he was explaining the system. How SBI! works, what my sites were all about, and where my goals are at. I didn’t have to do that anymore. So, this saved me a lot of time explaining.
And I knew about this because I am reviewing regularly the screen captures from oDesk. So, that’s I guess a pro for the project based assistants.
Eric
You’re right. And I think that when you’re first hiring your first assistant, I think that you have to kind of hire that person as a General VA, you know.
You don’t want to think that they can do everything. You kind of hire them as okay, check emails, check I don’t know whatever things, doing research, different things like that.
And you hire a person to basically just do general tasks for you. And then as you start to evolve and your business starts to grow then you can kind of be like okay, well now I’m ready to add people to my team.
Then you can promote that person and then they can start like you said doing the hiring and kind of be the middle person between you and the other assistants. And they’re kind of like the team leader and, you know what I’m saying?
Francis
Yes, I believe — I agree and that’s what I’m actually doing.
Eric
Because, I think as business owners when we first start getting into the whole concept of virtual assistants, I don’t think that we understand the idea of building the team. We look at it as, “Oh we’re just hiring individuals and they’re just going to work for me and do specific tasks.”
But, I think if we really want to live the dream of having a virtual assistant or being able to sit on the beach and not do anything, you know what I’m saying?
You have to build a team. You have to create certain rules that you want for that certain project. And then hire people to fill that role rather than just having a bunch of random stuff going on in your business. Does that make sense?
Francis
Yeah, it totally does make sense. And also if the team is synergetic, so working with each other to complement each other. That’s much more efficient than if everyone has sort of the same set of tasks and are not talking to each other. Then a lot of potential stuff can be lost.
Continue reading part 15 – How to outsource tasks with a team of virtual assistants?
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