1. Welcome to Virtual Job Coach 2. Plan your job search campaign.
2.1. What job do you want? 2.2. What company do you want to work for? 2.3. How much time will you devote to the search? 2.4. How are you going to divide your time? 2.5. Do you need a back-up plan? 2.6. How will people contact you? 2.7. What to have scripted? 2.8. Support network.
3. Managing your job search campaign.
3.1. Avoid activity clumping. 3.2. Always set a next action. 3.3. Balancing your activities with your availability. 3.4. Do something different, even totally self indulgent. 3.5. Maintain a hobby, or exercise.
4. Dealing with Procrastination.
4.1. Break tasks down to small enough steps. 4.2. Create little successes for yourself. 4.3. Just do it, it doesn’t have to be perfect. 4.4. Practice in a safe environment. 4.5. View each risk as an experiment. Have fun with it.
5. Networking.
5.1. What is networking? 5.2. The aim of Networking. 5.3. Types of relationships. 5.4. Start networking.
6. Generating list of target companies.
6.1. Researching companies. 6.2. Finding contacts at a company.
7. Informational interviews. 8. Interviewing.
8.1. Preparing for the interview. 8.2. Phone interviews. 8.3. Pre Interview. 8.4. The interview. 8.5. After the interview.
9. Prepare your references. 10. Constructing an elevator pitch.
10.1. Using the elevator pitch in an informal setting. 10.2. Using the elevator pitch when you’re networking by phone.
11. Resumes.
11.1. Types of resumes and their use, when and why.
12. The Chronological Resume.
12.1. The Traditional Chronological. 12.2. The Technical Chronological. 12.3. The Prior Experience Chronological. 12.4. The Education Focus Chronological.
13. The Functional Resume. 14. The Hybrid Resume. 15. Resume sections.
15.1. Contact details. (Required) 15.2. Summary statement (optional). 15.3. Objective statement (optional). 15.4. Selected Achievements. (Optional) 15.5. Key Skills. (Optional) 15.6. Technical skills (optional). 15.7. Employer Section. (Required) 15.8. Position Section. (Required) 15.9. Achievement Section. (Required) 15.10. Education and training. (Required) 15.11. Prior experience. (Optional) 15.12. Membership and affiliations. (Optional) 15.13. Volunteer. (Optional) 15.14. Certificates. (Optional) 15.15. Licenses. (Optional) 15.16. Publications. (Optional)
16. Cover Letter.
16.1. Contact Information and Addressee (Required) 16.2. The opening. (Required) 16.3. The first paragraphs. (Required) 16.4. T-style (Optional) 16.5. Bullets. (Optional) 16.6. Closing Paragraphs. (Required) 16.7. The Closing. (Required) 16.8. Enclosures (Optional)
17. Marketing Letter.
17.1. How to create a Marketing letter. 17.2. The target company section.
18. Reference Letter. 19. Thank you. 20. Acceptance Letter. 21. Rejection Reply Letter. 22. Action Verbs 23. Find Jobs Page
23.1. Search for Jobs using VirtualJobCoach 23.1. Adding an RSS feed from your favorite job board
24. Saved Jobs Page
24.1. Add jobs from the Find Jobs page 24.2. Save jobs manually 24.4. Track your progress through the selection process 24.3. Import positions from 'pipe' (|) delimted file
25. Companies page
25.1. Add companies manually 25.2. Import companies from 'pipe' (|) delimted file
26. Contacts page
26.1. Add contact information 26.2. Import contacts
. vCard format (.VCF) . CSV exported from Outlook or Outlook Express (.CSV) . CSV exported from ACT . CSV exported from Gmail . CSV exported from Yahoo . CSV from another source
26.3. Exporting Contacts
27. Calendar page
27.1. Adding a calendar event 27.2. Importing calendar events using iCalendar 27.3. Exporting events 27.4. Adding a To-Do
28. Documents page
28.1. Create a new Resume 28.2. Create a new Cover Letter 28.3. Import a document 28.4. Make a copy 28.5. Preview a document 28.6. Email a document 28.7. Print after download a document 28.8. Show Links 28.9. Delete a document
29. Quick add

6.2. Finding contacts at a company.

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Once you have your list of target companies, you’re going to need to start networking into each company to identify and make contact with the person who has the ability to hire you into that position.

  • Use your network contacts. According to research you are only 4 to 5 introductions away from the person you want to network with. Even if your contacts don’t know anyone directly, they are likely to know someone who would most likely know someone.
  • The company web site will have a wealth of information you can use, check under about us, also look at the press releases and news articles.
  • Sign up to the social network sites to search for names at that organization and reach out to them
  • Your alma mater and the network it provides can be a great resource.
  • Use networking groups you belong to, online and ask if anyone is, or knows of a contact at your target company.
  • Try online forums and groups on Yahoo, MSN, Google etc,
  • Use search engines and search for company and title, or look to add the words “press contact”, “speaker bios” or “announce” with the company name.
  • Use blog search, like technorati, icerocket, to see who is blogging about the company.
  • Local papers and the archives they keep, especially the ones that are available and searchable digitally.
  • Check online for PR announcements from sites such as topix.net, prnewswire.com etc..
  • Where the employees hang out, Most companies have their favorite lunch and after work hangout spots.
  • Call the company directly, and ask for their name.
  • Local stores and vendors. If the company has any street vendors that work outside the company, or dry cleaners, garages that may be close by.

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