Mini Background: Live & Work in Burlington. Employer will be moving the work related to my job to Toronto and closing our office here. Empolyer also has different divisions with operatios in Toronto and Burlington and another town within an hour commute of Burlington. Oh and not to mention all over the world as well. So.... I'm currently waiting it out to see how it goes, if at the end they give me any job outside of Burlington and I don't want it, I will get a very nice severance package.
So... I'm thinking I'd like to get back out on the job market a little in advance of all of this (as ideally I'd like to coninue to work in Burlington). But... I'm very new to this whole job market thing... I've only ever really had to find a job once (7 years ago) and I would consider that just a fluke/lucky.
I'm pretty sure the first step is updating a resume... any suggestions? resources?
I then plan to throw my name out to some industry contacts to let them know that I'm casually looking. Then start monitoring jobboards (monster?)...
Any suggestions? Experiences you can share?
(I know there's a 9-5 board, but I feel more comfortable here)
Re: Advice? How to get back into the job market?
Focusing on networking is probably the best you can do right now. I'd ask your contacts if they have a preferred head hunter or contract agency and set up a profile with them as well.
I was just at a discussion that said a lot of employers are using Twitter and LinkedIn now. So search for networking groups in your area on LinkedIn and sign up but also see if companies you may be interested in working for have LinkedIn profiles and start monitoring their profile/message boards/ etc. Some will post there if they're looking for people, getting involved in discussions will get you on their radar and you never know. This is especially big for RIM and IBM.
Twitter sign up for alerts from http://www.twitjobsearch.com/ based on what you want.
They also mentioned use of Monster, Workopolis and the like are declining, mostly because of the cost while the two above are low/no cost for the employers. Just Google has become a big job search resource.
I've lost my other train of thought so I'll come back
I know here in AB they have provincial centers that have professionals that will coach you on updating your resume. They will also coach you in interview skills and do mock interviews with you. I found this extremely beneficial since I was always very nervous about going into interviews and this made me feel alot more confident.
The one I went to here in AB is called Bredin Institute. They are government funded. I imagine they would be under a completely different name in your area though.