When Should I start sending out resumes for potential jobs?

Question

I will have my masters degree this Summer 2007 when should I send out my resume to potential jobs? I have applied for numerous jobs but only 1 response. I think I am shooting the gun too early.

Answer 1

i would send out my resume a month before you graduate b/c if you start to early, the employer may want you to start right away and if you dont graduate for a while they may not want to wait. I started a month before my graduation date.

Answer 2

HELPFUL TIPS:

No you aren't shooting the gun to early. It depends what your master's is in, but in general companies are always looking to hire good talent if they come across it.

A master's isn't going to be enough on it's own. You should have been searching the Alumni list and attending in social mixers you could go to. You still have time though so it's not all lost.

Your resume needs to be sent to the attention of an actual person, not a blind HR department where a high school grad paid 6 bucks and hour will drop your resume into a big file holder along with 10,000 other resumes.

Resumes when given the option between FAXING and emailing a potential employer, FAX (both is another choice). Because when they are emailed that means that they have to be printed up and lets face it. The receptionist can take her dear sweet time with that.

If you had a shot at internships then you would have been wise to take them. Even if they don't pay any money, they equate to a job or a bump in salary almost every time if chosen correctly. Ask the people you work for names of HR people to call or talk to. Ask them if they know of any jobs or hiring going on.

If you have experience before the masters and want some help getting a job, my recommendation is a real headhunter. One that get's paid for finding a match by someone other than you!

Some headhunters will place you if you are new, but promising. In short, they place you so that they can place you again when you want to leave in 2 years (and make money on that in the future, cause who will you call other than them).

One tip, work with only one good headhunter. It's a professional courtesy and much more effective.

Insofar as not getting responses, check for typos on your resume and cover letter. If it's not perfect you are hosed. I knew one guy who didn't get hired because he wrote "a lot" as "allot" and "there" instead of "they're" it wasn't picked up by spell checker.

Also, about a week after sending an unsolicited resume... call them to ask if they recieved it, then follow up with asking if there are any current/future openings in your field of interest that may not have been posted.

Good luck, and you can never shoot the gun to early. If no response is received, then follow up always works to your advantage.