Commanding officers and enlisted service people in every branch of our military often strategize and live by an interesting and sound concept whose adage advises, “If you want to eat an elephant, eat it one bite at a time.”  Unless stranded on the African veldt or the jungles of India with the barest of supplies, our armed forces are not advocating initiating a giant barbeque featuring a pachyderm as the main menu item.  Rather, the United States military recommends that, when confronted with an enormous task, one should break it down logically and methodically into manageable parts and then tackle each portion one step at a time.

Thrust into this plummeting economy, job seekers can derive genuine benefit as well as emotional relief from this military strategy.  The task of job-hunting, when viewed in its entirety, appears overwhelming and even insurmountable.  When it becomes patently clear that the search for a new position is itself a full time job, many applicants press the panic button.  They immobilize themselves with fear, making little progress toward their goal or worse, running on an ever-spinning hamster wheel by approaching their search via tried and no longer always true methods.  If you number among the swelling ranks of the unemployed or soon to be unemployed, consider that these counterproductive methods include leaping directly into the job market the way that a person who cannot swim may jump into the deep end of the pool.

Viewed systemically and logically, the proper steps that you will wish to take in your job search include the following:

• A genuine, unbiased evaluation of one’s background and skills
• Understanding that your career has been marked with accomplishments, even if you were a member of a large team striving toward common objectives
• A true understanding of the state of the industry in which you may have maneuvered for many years
• Creatively assessing how and where your existing overall skills and strengths can dovetail and have true value via a new job title or a different industry
• Deciding upon the direction or directions of your search; meaning, knowing where you would like to see yourself
• Resolving what you will and will not do in order to achieve placement in a new job.  Will you pull up stakes and move to another State?  Will you accept a position that you may have held prior to your latest promotion(s )? Will you perform the same or similar functions of your last job for a notably lower rate of pay if the salary is bolstered by the provision of benefits, which you may have lost when your former job went away?
• Designing and preparing the strongest resume, cover letter, and follow up letter that you can either craft yourself or contract a well-established professional resume writing service to generate
• Networking, networking, and networking through every viable source, even the ones that you may feel uncomfortable, at first, accessing.  Networking opportunities include the following -
  - Internet job boards both massive (highly generalized) and niche (industry-specific or company-specific)
  - Business networking sites such as LinkedIn
  - Independent, recruitment-oriented sites
  - Social networking sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace
  - Expanding the scope of all potential leads by joining a charitable organization, connecting with former schoolmates and faculty at alumni events and whenever possible, employment-oriented meetings, and becoming a member of pertinent industry associations.
  - Alerting virtually everyone you know that you are seeking a new position. This includes vendors to whom you give regular business, as well as your priest, deacon, minister, or rabbi, your neighbors, and the parents of your children’s friends, to name a few.

Approaching your job search by way of this manageable, step by step approach, you will not only ingest the elephant more easily, you will see better results, and more of them, faster than you would have if you view the pachyderm as “biting off more than you can chew.”

1.  Where to go and how to get there 

Typing the name of a specific business into a search engine, such as Google (http://www.google.com/) or Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com/), will deliver choices that include direct access to the company site.  The same procedure provides wider options for entire industries.  A more focused quest is achieved by asking for a particular State or region of the State in which you are seeking employment.

2.  Compiling company information

Once you arrive at the site of your choosing, you will be provided with data options, which usually entail:
-  The company’s mission statement
-  The history of the firm, including information concerning its founders
-   Annual sales volume
-   Press releases and news articles regarding recent accomplishments, such as new technological or clinical advances, and changes in structure
-   Client base.  Although a corporation may not list the names of its accounts, you will gain a sense of the markets and industries that it services
-   Career opportunities, displaying entire job categories as well as openings for specific positions

Because of the need to encapsulate data into a site, much of this information will be broad.  However, you will gain an overall view of the company, thus facilitating your decision to apply.  Should you become a candidate for employment, your search will have yielded valuable information allowing you to appear knowledgeable and formulate meaningful questions during an interview. 

3.  The monster of this world 

You may also locate your future employer through the online job boards.  These are sites specifically designed for employers to attract new staff by posting openings for available positions.  Monster (http://www.monster.com/), Yahoo Hotjobs (http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/), and Careerbuilder (http://www.careerbuilder.com/) are some of the major boards devoted to this pursuit.

4.  Applying online

Each is unique.  Some will require a simple “cut and paste” of your resume while others will request that you complete a detailed application.  Still others will insist upon a cover letter.  Providing your potential employer with its exact requirements will ensure that your application is accepted and processed.

As an expedient and far-reaching instrument for serious job-seekers, the Internet has become perhaps the most viable tool through which you may achieve job placement and career advancement.