10 Job-hunting Tips from Ellen Gordon Reeves

The author of Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview? dishes out 10 great tips to jump-start your job hunt.

1. Stop looking for a job and start looking for a person.  The right person will lead you to the right job.
2. Stop sending your résumés into cyberspace. It’s a black hole.
3. Get your parents and relatives off your back and on your side—they’re in your network, too.
4. Get a business card—looking for a job is your job now.
5. Don’t waste valuable résumé real estate on useless conventions like an objective, a GPA, a summary of qualifications, or lines like “References Available Upon Request.”
6. Always dress for a phone interview. If you feel more professional, you’ll sound it.
7. Never say yes to a job offer right off the bat; accept the offer of employment, then negotiate the terms.
8. Create more than one résumé. Tailor each one to the job at hand, with specific categories correlated to the stated requirements.
9. If you want help, be specific. Don’t say “I’ll do anything”—people won’t know where to start.
10. Being young and inexperienced doesn’t have to be a liability: You’re flexible, relatively cheap, and willing to work hard to get ahead.

For more job-hunting tips, click here to listen to Ellen on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

Ellen Gordon Reeves started helping her friends with their résumés in high school and now consults to individuals and institutions in the U.S. and abroad. She currently serves as the résumé and job-hunting expert at the Columbia Publishing Course. More about Ellen Gordon Reeves