How to Conduct an Effective Job Search

Looking for a job is an extremely exhausting and time-consuming process. You send out tons of resumes, fill out multiple job applications, and constantly alter your cover letter to better fit each new position. And at the end, you don't even remember what you have applied for, when and why.

I will take a bold guess and assume, that many positions within your interest probably essentially focus on the same set of qualifications and have very similar job descriptions, but their fancy names sometimes can throw you off and turn you away from applying completely.

How not to let your dream job (that you deserve and definitely are qualified for) get away?

To make your life easier, I decided to share my approach to job hunting that I took after graduating from college.

The heroine from the Sex and The City show couldn't be more right. Within almost 10 years of living in New York I have lost count of the resumes sent and interviews completed.

This time I have decided to keep track!

So I created a Google Spreadsheet and started documenting my efforts.

I took down positions i applied for, names of the companies and their websites, and sources where I saw the job listings on. I consider the last one important. On a numerous occasions I've been asked how did I hear about the position. And when you don't know what to say, it becomes obvious that you have applied for too many jobs and probably are desperate. No one wants to hire just to fill the spot. Employers are looking for the perfect fit regardless of the level of the position.

It takes a little bit of patience having to record your every effort but I believe by doing so you can become much better at interviews and actually develop a sense of what you want in life aside from the monetary compensation to pay the bills.

Fast-forwarding my story, in less than two months and five interviews later I scored a job.

If I were to look for a job now, I would add to my existing job hunting spreadsheet two more fields such as:

- The questions I was asked and wasn't confident I answered well;
- My answers that were accepted favorably;

We learn from our mistakes, and You can improve upon referring back to your experience 

Another important part of your job hunting process is to keep prepared 3-5 questions to ask at the end of an interview. A job interview is a two-way-conversation, and asking questions makes you look engaged.

Here are some of the questions that will make you sound generally interested:

- How will my performance be evaluated?
- What do you expect from a person in this role?
- What are the top three skills an employee should have to succeed in this role?
- What are the opportunities to grow within the company?
- What kind of training does the company offer?
- Does the company offer mentoring?
- Who is successful in the company and what does he do different?
- It also doesn't hurt to ask about the career path of your interviewer!

And of course, the general questions about the hiring process such as:

- How does the recruiting process work?
- When will you hear from them?
- What are the next steps?

Here are your top 10 job websites you should look into especially if you are in communications like me:

1. http://www.indeed.com/
2. https://www.findspark.com
3. https://thecreativeham.com/agencies/new-york/
4. www.mediabistro.com
5. http://wbrcareers.com
6. http://jobs.nyama.org/jobs/?keywords=marketing&place=new-york&sort=
7. http://www.sempo.org/networking/opening_search.asp
8. www.craigslist.org
9. https://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm
10. https://www.themuse.com/jobs

And last but not least, don't disregard joining various topical Facebook groups. In my case, I am a member of NYC Ad Jobs & Networking, FindSpark Community, and my college alumni group.

Here is my final advice to you summarizing everything above - keep sending resumes, keep the notes in the spreadsheet, and keep improving upon reviewing your efforts.

Hasta Luego, España, You Taught Me a Thing

Here is the long-awaited post about my return to NYC from a two-week-long vacation.

It was a full house on the board of Barcelona - New York flight. Vacation - exhausted and maybe slightly reminiscent travelers sat quietly down covering under the big black shades their long - suffering eyes, the eyes that have seen so much and have been through a lot within the past couple of days.

I quickly screened through the crowd wondering what were their stories, and my attention was picked by a few people wearing t-shirts with prints that spoke for themselves: "Holy Ship" and "Pasha Ibiza".

What did it tell me? These were the hardcore party-goers who enjoy electronic music as i do; who have the thirst for adventure and are ready to hit the rode and wander the globe searching to satisfy their appetite. 

What it also tells me that these guys work flexible schedules that allows them to travel, mostly in creative industries. 

The border line is, with a little bit of context you can create a whole profile on a person and become a much better communicator before a conversation even starts.

By picking on the little details like a t-shirt print you can learn a whole different story about a person and use it in your advantage. Nonverbal communication is an extremely important life-hacking skill.

Paying closer attention to your surroundings you will take your communication skills to the next level and start having a much more personal conversations leading to a better and stronger relationships with people.

You think you are not good at communication, start screening the room at work. Pick up on small details that paint a bigger picture, and start striking deeper conversations. You will notice right away how pleasantly surprised the people will become, once you start asking the right questions. Who doesn't like to talk about themselves?

A photo posted by Ksusha (@kseniantn) on Jun 16, 2016 at 5:05am PDT

Are You Challenging Yourself?

Challenge.

What is challenge?

Challenges are hard. I tried to do the #SoberApril challenge and swore I wouldn't drink for the next 30 days to prove myself and others there is a way to socialize without drinking.

My month of April was all scheduled-up with events and meetings leaving very little time for having second thoughts.

 And you know what?

I have failed the very first day but didn't regret. 

I learned a good lesson that a lot of the time drinking can stitch the relationships you could have never built otherwise. And, no, I'm not encouraging You to drink however I do want You to look at the bigger picture. Sometimes being a little bit more flexible and susceptible of the environment can bring you from point A to point C skipping the B all together - something you could have never accomplished had you chosen not to adapt to the change or the circumstances.

The challenge that I'm trying to do now was born in accordance to the masterminds of marketing such as Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin, and Ann Handley whose book "Everybody Writes" I just finished reading and totally loved. 

These marketing gurus claim one and all that one post a day can go a long way adding value to you as a professional and establishing your reputation as a thought leader.

So, my challenge of this month is to publish one blog post a day or try to do so and see where it takes me. And if I fail, it's a learning experience. 

As you may know, the hardest part in writing is the start. The fear of writing the first line and for it not to be perfect has stopped me (and maybe you too?) many times in the past. But this time I believe I found a way to overcome my writing fear by speaking out my mind on the Google Voice app that types it all up for me, so i don't lose the train of thought. All i have to do is edit. 

I believe through trial and error we get where we want to be, and failing from time to time is what creates a character and makes us stronger as individuals and professionals.

So let the challenge begin, and I will see you tomorrow!

To hell with Sober April. Just Live Your Life

The Sober April wasn't meant to happen, and i have failed on the very first day of the month - Friday, when upon screening the crowd at one of the Bushwick night clubs I sighed and declared that I need a drink, now.

While alcohol is not particularly healthy; it is indeed a social lubricant, a melting - sharp-communicational - corners substance, and the key to understand and to be understood in the foreign environment should that be a different industry or a different country.

My Serbian friend once told me a tale about a foreign general who came to Serbia to sign an agreement only to learn that he must drink with the Serbian army chief before signing anything. The chief's reasoning was very simple, "I can't trust someone who can't drink with me."

Many of my European friends have shared with me their version of this story adding that they also wouldn't be too comfortable in a company of a person who doesn't drink. " What is he hiding? Is he trying to take advantage of me? Is he sick? Does he take medication? And overall,  what's his story?"

This post is not to agitate you to run outside and buy a bottle of something and make it a day. It is to make you understand the different psychology behind everything, and how having one social drink can turn things in your favor.

Enjoynig the last day of the #OFFCAMPUS week by @generalassembly, @makewavesworks, @tastingtable, @sweetshotminis, @eathomemade, and @spoonuniversity with @martinmillersginus fantastic gin cocktails!

A photo posted by Ksusha (@kseniantn) on Mar 25, 2016 at 4:12pm PDT