Being a user group leader, I (we) lately have been getting more and more people saying they are looking to fill .Net positions.  So of course at the beginning of each meeting we discuss jobs (hiring or looking), but lately it seems to be mostly hiring.  One of the topics of discussion this last Thursday was: how do you find a job? how can we help (each other)?

In order to help the most people (hiring or looking), the problem seems to be how to reach everyone in a timely manner.  The different possibilities that we came up with are:

• Emailing list for jobs or all members
• Web site page for jobs
• Group leaders blogs

Email doesn't seem to live as long as web pages or blog entries, so the timeliness seems to work the best with email ... but email limits the readers to only those on the list.  Of course, since I found my current job through Chris Pels' blog I tend to favor the blog postings idea like Julie Lerman does for jobs in her area.  Honestly, I feel that putting the jobs on my blog would also limit the readers to the 50 or so subscribers I have (not all in the Boston area) which might be worse than using the emailing list approach (posting the jobs on Sam's blog could cause the opposite problem of too many people like a jobs posting site).  The other possibility is a jobs web page on http://www.beantowndotnet.org/ but the URL is not know to everyone and would cause another problem ... stale job listings.  Maybe a combination of these 3 would be the best idea?

This morning I was thinking about Thursday night's discussion and how to actually comminicate this message in a blog entry when I came across SQLDiva's Job Hunting Hints entry (which of course reminds me of the great advice I find on JobsBlog and Heather Leigh's Blog).  So now I would like to know how do you find a job? Or how did you find your current job?  What would have made it easier?  or if you are a hiring manager: How do you find good hires?

To start the conversation, here are my answers to those questions:

1. How do you find a job? Or how did you find your current job?
About 2 years ago when I was thinking about changing jobs, I started with the normal items (update the resume, get some cover letter wording, etc.).  When the time came to actually find a job, I used http://www.monster.com, http:///www.craigslist.org and some blogs (Chris Pels being one of them) to find jobs I was interested in applying for.  I sent off cover letters and resumes as requested by the job postings and followed up by email or phone if possible ... and then waited. 

My experience was not good with the job boards - their response rate was really slow and low.  Of course, I know employers who use the job boards and know they are swiming in a sea of resumes and cover letters from their job postings - which is why their responses tend to be slower.  I think I ended up just getting lucky with one of the job positngs from Chris' blog.  I heard back frcommunicateom the hiring manager within minuteswimmingpostingsbogs of sending my email to him, had a first interview the next day ... a second the following day and started 2 weeks or so after that.  Everything just seemed to fit with what they needed and what I wanted ... lucky!

2. What would have made it easier?
I think 100% response in a timely manner from hiring managers would have helped, but it is hard to looking back now.