Continental Shelf

I had quite a long interview yesterday, and a good one, I think. I spoke to a dozen people, some in person and some on conference call from other branch offices. I sent thank-you notes to each today; all of them were interesting and helpful — and some asked sharp, insightful questions. And today I received travel arrangement information for another interview next week, in Northern California.

Although I have not yet finished my job search, I have at least a glimpse of the end. Perhaps it’s premature to make such a list, but here are the four tools or sources of information that have been most useful in my search, starting with the most effective:

1. Martin Yate’s Knock ‘em Dead books. Extremely useful advice on job search, interviewing, negotiating offers, resume-writing, and letter-writing, delivered in a no-nonsense tone without ever being condescending.
2. Jason Alba’s JibberJobber site, a tremendously helpful tool to track job search contacts, activities, etc. I don’t know how I would have kept track of all my leads without it. When my friend Jen first mentioned this site, I felt I was already well organized in my job search, but after only a few days of trying JibberJobber, I realized it had already helped me by reminding me to respond to contacts I had nearly forgotten after filing them.
3. The Monster.com job board. Some others have better management tools, but Monster.com, has yielded the highest real-contact-to-spam ratio for me.
4. LinkedIn, the professional online networking site. I’ve been contacted by recruiters through it, and I also use it to keep in touch with people I’ve met in interviews. I don’t bug them, but it is a useful reminder of my existence when I send a polite request to add them to my network after we have talked. (I never contact them online before we’ve had a chance to talk.)