Now that you have a better idea of who you are and the type of employment you are seeking, it is time to move into researching your field, locating the job and internship openings that meet your needs, researching specific companies you would like to work for, and creating a system to keep track of important details of your job search.

Research Your Field

Familiarize yourself with job titles and keywords in your field to increase your chances of a productive search. It is important to know what specific job titles are used for entry level positions, and what key words or skills employers in this field are typically searching for.

When I graduated from college, I wasn’t familiar with entry level job titles. As a new graduate looking for positions in public relations I applied for a lot of positions as a PR Coordinator. The title sounded appropriate, and I felt qualified for the positions. But what I didn’t know did hurt me. I found out later that “coordinator” is not an entry level position in PR. Instead, I should have been searching for PR Specialist positions. I wasted a lot of time, and my ego was severely bruised when I didn’t get calls for interviews. I could have easily avoided this misstep with a simple google search of “job titles for entry level positions in PR.”

Spend some time experimenting with searching on sites that post job openings and familiarize yourself with open opportunities in your field. It is a good idea to look at both jobs you are qualified for, and jobs you would like to get in the future.

Take note of the keywords and skills employers tell you they are looking for in their job postings. These are words or phrases you see repeated on multiple job openings (and you probably also saw them during your google search for keywords in your field.) These keywords should be included in your resume and your cover letter to demonstrate that you understand your field as well as current employer needs.

I like to highlight the keywords and phrases right on the original job opening. That way as I am creating my resume for this position, I don’t have to keep rereading the listing. This also comes in handy later if I am called in for an interview because I can easily review the listing and don’t have to search for the keywords and phrases again.

As you review multiple job openings you will see that some keywords are repeated, but it is important to cue in on what is unique about the specific opening you are applying for. You will find that each job posting is unique, and to have the best chance and being called for interviews, you will want to make each resume you create for each job opening unique, as well.

While a lot of information can be repeated from resume to resume, each resume should be unique for each opening that you apply for and include the key words and phrases they have demonstrated are important by including them in their job posting. Save all the resumes you create, eventually tailoring your resume to each unique posting will get easier as you can copy and paste from previous versions of your resume to create new and unique resumes that meet the needs of every job opening you apply for.