80% of jobs available are not advertised. Pick companies, study their company online, call and get the name of the BOSS [b]NEVER EVER[/b] deal with HR, have a written list of your experiences (in brief) and how YOU can provide what they need. Customize a PROPOSAL, not a cover letter or resume, you can deal with that (resume) at your interview.
Ask people to meet with you, it's not as hard and impossible as SOME people think it is, you will be surprised, maked that STUNNED by the reception you get. People will be happy to meet you, ask them for help, as them if they know OTHER people who would benefit from your skills. THIS is networking, not weekly meetings with peers, not the internet, not the newspaper.
I have a feeling you have based your statement of a poor market, on the results of recruiters (useless), newspapers, 2% success rate and what people here say about NEEDING certs, which is pure crap if you have the right skills and develop better resouces for yourself.
You WILL get 2 or 3 interviews from every 10 or 20 contats, you WILL get 1 or 2 job offers from 5 - 7 meetings. Don't APPLY, PROPOSE, that's the difference. Applications and resumes are forHR staff to wade through, proposals are what excites owners and c level employees.
I have had contacts meet me for lunch, who I was told would NEVER take my call by their own receptionists, and say "We need to find you the right company." WE, they junp onboard and HELP you, tell their other peers (which in their case are other c-level employee and owners)and you WILL get that job you want and at a MUCH higher salary than the guy next door who answered an 'ad' and got a job based on certs. When you propse to a company, they NEGOTIATE salary, it has been proven time and again, in Canada, the US and UK markets that you ALWAYS make more money when you make propsals instead of sending resumes.
Best of luck to you, and NEVER give up, or else you will only prove yourself right in saying that you CAN'T find that dream job.
Just some free advice, that costs nearly 4 grand from a career management agencies. :)
I used to teach a job finding club and was a motivational speaker for Dale Carnegie Programs, believe me, THIS DOES WORK, almost every time. IN those cases wher it hasn't it was only due to people not following through or deciding to make career choice changes in mid step.
YOu can find ANY job this way, just choose what you want to do, sales, Market development, IT team management, Network Admin etc. You pick it and you seek it. When you deal with only top level decision makers, you will find that more often than not, THEY haven't been to college , they have NO degrees, but they have drive and recognize it, as well as having a keen eye for determination and goal setting. HR is completely cluseless when it comes to these winning traits, they are stuck in the dead end role of HR afterall, they wouldn't know energy and diversity it hit smacked them in the face.
