Even in the toughest of economic times, there are usually many job opportunities available for those that are willing to work hard and who have the right skills and experience.  However, a good part of the problem is finding those job opportunities in the first place; once you do that, then you can worry about the interview and your resume and all those other things.  But if you can’t find the opportunities, you can’t even get started with your job search!  Often it’s just a matter of knowing where hiring managers are posting their ads for these positions and how to create your own job opportunities in certain circumstances.  Let’s take a closer look at what we mean.

For one thing, many hiring managers these days use monster.com and hotjobs.com but also have expanded their outreach to include sites that are specific to their industry.  For other job opportunities you might even check craigslist.com and local websites such as these.  Employers who need temporary work, entry level work, or just local workers might use these sites that are free to post an ad.  Those other sites and boards usually charge a fee to those who want to post an ad.  You might not find executive or management job opportunities on free sites but if you’re looking for general work or something in the interim, you may do well to check these places.

Sometimes you do need to consider about making up your own job opportunities.  While cold calling on different companies won’t always yield the best results, it can open some doors to you.  Most companies will post job openings on their own website but sometimes they’re just thinking about or considering an open position, and when someone calls up and talks to the hiring manager about positions available, they can be persuaded to consider that person and that position.  Sending in a resume through the mail is also helpful as hiring managers typically don’t want to take time on the phone to talk to people about what job opportunities they may or may not have.

Creating your own job opportunities also means starting your own company or going into business for yourself.  Many people find that cleaning, painting, landscaping, lawn care, snow shoveling and plowing, daycare, and services like these are good ways to get them through the interim while they search for a job that is a closer fit to their abilities.  Or they may find that they like running their own company and stick with this particular service!  Creating your own job opportunities in this way makes you responsible for your own situation and circumstances and you don’t need to rely solely on job openings, interviews, and this entire process.  By making jobs for yourself you are also out there working and earning an income for yourself which can help ward off depression, boredom, irritation, and frustration, all of which are common during a job search and especially during long periods of unemployment.