Many safety professionals are uninformed about what it takes to carry on a successful job search. This lack of preparation can seriously damage their chances of winning a new job. If you're thinking about a job change or are currently engaged in a job search, here are 10 hints.

1. If You're Out of Work, Consider the Search Your Full-Time Job

Get out of the house and force yourself to spend at least eight hours per day looking for work. Don't wait for somebody to call with a job offer. If you're too passive, that phone won't ring. Go out and fight for a job. Attack the marketplace. For example, I remember when I was looking high and low for an Emergency Response Coordinator. Just as I was about to put an ad in the newspaper, my door went knock-knock. It was an old colleague with a résumé in hand. He was a perfect fit and I hired him immediately. His taking the initiative had saved both of us a lot of trouble.

2. See At Least 10 Potential Employers Per Week?

This tip applies if you're presently out of work. Getting a job is a matter of numbers. The more interviews you do, the better your chances of landing a job. Try to see the person you want to work for but settle for the HR director if necessary. See people even if they tell you in advance that they don't have an opening. Eighty percent of the good jobs don't exist until someone is hired for them; these jobs are created because the employer likes you.

3. Ask Friends for Help

Friends are the best source of new jobs. See everyone you know. And see them in person. On the phone friends tend to be pleasant and say they're amenable to helping you. But they're much more likely to actually do something if you're sitting right there next to them.

4. Prepare a Résumé but Try Not to Use It

Résumés lose more jobs than they win. If the résumé does not say precisely what the employer wants to see, he or she will assume that you are not the right person for the job. So before handing employers a résumé, try talking to them about yourself. Get a sense of what they're looking for. Then you can prepare the kind of résumé most likely to impress. No, I don't mean you should fabricate a résumé for each employer. Your skills and experience are your skills and experience. But knowing what the employer wants can influence how you highlight them. Keep a generic résumé on hand in case people insist on seeing something on the spot.

5. Remember that the Employer Is Always Right

Always remember that you are a seller in a buyer's market. This is true even in times of low unemployment. The typical employer feels that at any time he can find six to 10 qualified people for a job. That may be wrong but that's the perception. And don't tell the employer that what he's looking for is wrong. The employer knows better than you what he needs and doesn't need.

Conclusion

Tick, tick, tick, BUZZ. That's the clock going off. The SafetyXChange people are telling me that the tips limit is five per issue. And since they're the employer, they must be right. (You see, I do practice what I preach, even though, strictly speaking, SafetyXChange is not my employer.) So I guess that means I'll have to list the final five tips next week.

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