III. Replace the words and phrases in italics by those from the text.

1. Increased workload requires increasing the personnel. 2. A requirement lists skills, knowledge and experience required of and desired in a candidate. 3. Most employers do not want their competitors to know information on openings. 4. Then decide which specialty within your chosen career you like most. 5. But be selective if you do not want to fill too full your dossier with less important items. 6. The dossier also contains your biographical information, a listing of your job experience and your student's record in school or college, listing courses, credits, grades. 7. You have the right to request the prospective employer to respect your assurance of secrecy. 8. Ask permission of all people whom you are going to list as a person who can offer recommendation.

Text 2

On the job market: Networking, Recruiting Agencies, and Job Fairs

 

There are several ways of approaching the search: answer newspaper ads, place newspaper ads, respond to ads in professional journals in your major, attend job fairs and company open houses, mail blind letters and resumes, sign (register) with a professional employment agency, contact a job clearing house, read special business employment publications, etc.

One of the most successful techniques is networking, which involves contacting people you know, as well as people they know, to gather information and leads for the job. Employers ask their friends who ask their friends, and eventually a suitable candidate is found. This candidate is interviewed first, given preferential treatment and usually hired. The moral of the story is that no one likes to hire strangers, who are shot-in-the-dark. The business world is suspicious of strangers - there is too much at stake.

Another source to fill the recently vacated or newly created position is an inter-company move when one of the current employees already on staff, rather than a complete outsider, is promoted or transferred to fill the new opening. The benefits of internal hiring improves employee morale, reduces orientation time, reduces turnover and thus the company is able to better use of its human resources. But there is a potential set back to this: hiring in-house limits the number of potential candidates. Also, the lack of "new blood" can result in insular thinking and stagnation. There is also a domino effect. As one person leaves the position to fill another, a new vacancy is created.

A networking jobseeker cultivates the people already successful in the field and asks for mentorship and advice. Begin with your own contact network. Do not be afraid to ask people in your field for an inside view and practical advice. Establish contacts. Trade shows, conferences, symposia, etc. are a very effective way of meeting people in the field. Come, bring some resumes, make acquaintance, but do not give out the resume unless requested. Just prepare business-like cards that say "Looking for an entry-level position " where an ordinary business card has a job title, and pass these around. If you are an entry-level candidate, seek the advice of faculty in your major who do outside consulting, or who have worked in business, industry, or government. If you are an undergraduate student, take those steps well before your senior year, it will help you learn what specific courses make you more marketable.

Networking can be effective though it does require some effort. You need to talk with people, share your interests and experiences with them so that they may be comfortable offering your employment suggestions. You should also feel comfortable asking for their recommendations and even for introductions to other people.

Employers interested in hiring entry-level candidates typically send their reqs to the placements offices of reputable colleges who make them available to their students and alumni.

Employers interested in more advanced candidates sometimes send their reqs to selected recruiters. Recruiting agencies are third party recruiters hired by an employer to help fill a position. They get requirements from employers, then find candidates to match these requirements through advertising in newspapers, on Usernet, and within their internal databases of resumes. They also use networking to find candidates. Most blind ads are placed by recruiters. They save company's time and advertising expenses by screening resumes and conducting preliminary interviews to select a few that are most likely to make a direct hit with specific needs of the client and be qualified candidates to handle the job. But they do not work for the job seeker. The recruiter represents the employer, so it's not recruiter's job to find you a job. However, a good recruiter can smooth the interview and hiring process, assist in negotiations, and prevent problems from becoming dead breakers.

Job fairs (career fairs) are gatherings where many candidates meet with recruiters from one or more organizations for brief interviews. Most job fairs involve face-to-face contact, but Internet job fairs are becoming more common.

Do not forget to bring along many copies of your resume, a list of recommendation letters from your references, your business cards, and books to refer to if technical questions arise. Bring many copies of any materials you plan to give away - it is better to have extra copies than to run out. You will also need a briefcase (not a knapsack, not a plastic bag) to carry all of the above, plus the materials and business cards you will collect from the recruiters.

Before you stand in any lines, walk around the entire fair, see who is present, and plan which recruiters you want to talk to. Pick up the literature from the companies you are interested in: these often run out early, and make useful reading while you wait in lines. As you stand in line to listen to a recruiter, try to listen carefully to what s/he is telling the candidates in front of you. The same questions will probably be posed to you in a few minutes and you will have more time to think about the answers. You may also hear another candidate being told that the company is not currently interested in his skill set, which happen to be similar to yours. It may mean that you should not waste your time standing in this line, or it may really mean they did not like only this particular person, but might be interested in you.

Whatever strategy you follow during your job campaign, remember two things. First, employers almost always have a shortage of good, qualified employees. Second, there is an answer to every career problem if you solve your problem not by focusing on your own needs and frustrations, but on the ways to help others and how others will benefit from you.