Giving a Stalled Job Search a Jump-Start

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

After graduating in 2007 from Loyola Marymount University, Rachel Jones was laid off from two jobs consecutively in her chosen field, public relations. In the grueling nine-month job search that ensued, she sent her résumé to more than 130 employers, initially applying for just about any opening she could find—from office assistant to movie-production coordinator. She also sent the same generic cover letter to every employer.

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Janet Park

Laura Perry gave herself a crash course in social media to revitalize her résumé and her job search.

"It's easy to fall into a routine of just copying and pasting in a new company name," the 24-year-old says.
It wasn't until Ms. Jones started focusing on junior positions in her field and writing introductory notes tailored to specific opportunities she was aiming for that things started to turn around. She started receiving more interview invites for jobs she actually wanted. In August, she landed an account-coordinator position at a small Los Angeles public-relations firm.

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For many out-of-work professionals, finding a job in today's market requires far more effort than it did in the past—and a lot more stamina. Last month, the Labor Department reported that it takes unemployed workers an average of 27.2 weeks to land a job, up from 19.1 weeks in September 2008 and 16.7 in September 2007. But career experts say there are several ways job hunters can revive a stalled search.
Taking a highly targeted approach, as Ms. Jones eventually did, is one strategy. Another is to focus on obtaining leads to unadvertised positions where the companies seek out their own applicants. Relying solely on job-board listings, which have been shrinking, isn't enough these days. There were roughly 3.3 million jobs advertised online last month, compared with 4.4 million in September 2008 and 4.7 million in September 2007, according to the Conference Board, a research firm.

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Jon Evoy powered up his networking efforts to land a job at advertising firm, Kaplan Thaler Group.

Many employers have cut back on advertising jobs online because they are overwhelmed with applications, says Bradley G. Richardson, a partner at executive-search firm Kaye/Bassman International Corp. in Plano, Texas. Instead, they are relying on word of mouth and referrals to draw a more manageable number of applicants, he says. That requires more networking on the part of the job seeker—even tapping into people you don't know well.
After getting laid off from a market-research firm in November, Jon Evoy says, he devoted most of his time to applying for positions he found online. "It's easier to sit in front of your computer and just start looking for jobs as opposed to pounding the pavement," he says.
But then a month passed during which Mr. Evoy, 30, says he failed to land a single interview. The lack of interest prompted him to shift gears. He reached out to everyone in his network—even people he hadn't spoken to in years. One was an advertising professional he had met two years earlier at an industry event. Kaplan Thaler Group Ltd., the New York agency where she worked, wasn't hiring at the time, but she agreed to set him up on an informational interview with a colleague who was a director at the firm.
Meanwhile, Mr. Evoy followed another bit of advice career counselors recommend to boost a lagging job search. He made a point of keeping up with news and trends in his target industry to identify potential job opportunities. When he came across an article in a trade magazine about how the firm he did the informational interview with had won a big client, he sent the director a congratulatory email and asked if the firm would be hiring soon to meet the new demands. He received a reply tipping him off to a coming job opening. He applied and got it. Later, Mr. Evoy learned that an employer he did a free-lance assignment for during his job search contacted the advertising firm and put in a good word for him—further proof of the power of networking.
A drawn-out job hunt also can give out-of-work professionals the time they need to fill a skills a gap—which in turn can jump-start a hunt. During her 10-month search last year, Laura Perry says she noticed many openings in her field, communications, required or preferred expertise in social media—something she lacked. "In my previous job, they had not embraced social media at all," she says.
So Ms. Perry, 54, attended a conference on the subject and later volunteered to create a Facebook page for a local hair salon. She went on to build Facebook and LinkedIn pages for the Los Angeles chapter of the Executive Women's Golf Association, of which she is a member. She also created a Twitter account for herself and tweets about the communications industry.
Ms. Perry added that social-media experience to her résumé and says what she learned helped her talk intelligently in interviews with employers—and she was able to point to samples of her work in this area. In July, she was hired as director of communications for the school of nursing at University of California, Los Angeles, where part of her job is to manage the school's presence on Facebook and other social media Web sites.
In a recession, another way to put a job search back on track is to push your boundaries. That means including employers of all sizes and in more cities—even if that requires considering lower-paying positions at small, unknown firms.
Following a layoff from a midsize publishing company in February, Brian Rushton Phillips, 37, embarked on a search for a creative-director position in the Toronto area paying annual salary of $85,000 or more.
"I began lowering my expectations [for pay] once it became clear that the market wouldn't accept it," he says. In August, he accepted an offer for such a job but from a small publisher in New York that pays about $15,000 less than he earned in his last position. But he says he is happy to have a job, particularly one in the field he wants to work in.
If other changes aren't helping refresh a job search, check for something as minor as a misspelled name or grammatical gaffe in your resume or cover letter. Job seekers should bear in mind that in a cutthroat market, employers are less inclined to ignore such errors, says Brad Karsh, president of JobBound, a career-coaching company in Chicago. It's critical for job seekers to take the time to carefully proofread their resumes and every cover-letter submission, or have someone else do it. "The slightest mistake of any component of your job search can destroy your chances," says Mr. Karsh. "This needs to be a flawless process."
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

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