Free Job Seeker Resources

GENERAL JOB SEEKER TIPS & ADVICE

Looking for a new opportunity is exciting and scary. Fortunately, there are many free tools and resources available to you that are listed below. We also offer periodic low cost workshops to help you figure out your passion, structure a search, or enhance your job search tools.  Also, be sure to "Subscribe" in the upper right hand corner of this website to receive our newsletter of current job postings and other job seeker related information.

JOB BOARDS

If you know what you want to do, check out these sources for Michigan jobs!  Other job boards that you might want to check out include Indeed.com and Craigslist.com and your college alumni career resource offererings.

CAREER SUPPORT

There are lots of organizations and tools that can be very helpful in your job search.  Here are a few of our favorites:

  • Michigan Works! Your local service center might have programs such as resume reviews, job seeker clubs, social media programs and other support to help you find your next opportunity. http://www.michiganworks.org/job-seekers/
  • Center for the Education of Women (CEW). Free career counseling and resume reviews for men and women. http://www.cew.umich.edu/
  • Career Transition Center at Washtenaw Community College (WCC). Whether you’re transitioning from school to a career or find yourself in transition due to a layoff or other circumstance, the Career Transitions team can get you pointed in the right direction. We are committed to providing students, employers and the community with a point of contact to assist with career step transitions. http://departments.wccnet.edu/careertransitions/
  • Note from a successful job seeker:  "I highly recommend JibberJobber.com to organize a job search and keep yourself on track. It is much better than a spreadsheet and allows you to associate people with companies, opportunities, keep notes, schedule reminders, etc. The basic level is free and useful enough that it’s all I’ve ever used. Really helped me through the Great Recession."
  • Michigan eLibary Career Center. Here is a wide range of career tools and resources: http://www.learningexpresshub.com/productengine/LELIndex.html#/center/career-center/home

RESEARCHING MICHIGAN TECH COMPANIES & REGIONS

We highly recommend proactively identifying the companies that would hire you to do what you want to do.  This puts you in the driver's seat, instead of just waiting for a job posting to pop up.  Here are a few websites that have nice summaries of neat companies in Michigan!

RESUME TOOLS AND RESOURCES

There are lots of tools and resources out there for resumes.  Remember, there are lots of different formats that are acceptable, although we have a personal bias towards a "chronological resume" over a "functional resume."  And don't forget the cover letter!

CAREER ASSESSMENTS

These are quick ways to get some initial ideas about careers that are a good fit with your personality and interests.

NETWORKING EVENTS

Don't spend all of your time sitting behind a computer screen sending out resumes.  Get out there and meet people!  60-70% of jobs are found from networking and employee referrals.

ONGOING JOB NEWS & UPDATES

Subscribe (upper right hand corner) for our weekly updates which includes a summary of our posted job openings.  EVERYTHING that we are working on is posted, so you can let us know what is of interest.

Plan to spend around 10% of your time looking at websites, 10% of your time going to career fairs and other events and the other 80% of the time out there networking with people to proactively identify the type of work that you would like to do, and finding the employers that would hire you to do what you want to do. Statistically, more than 70% of the jobs are filled through networking! - Good luck!

SPECIAL WEBSITE FOR INTERNATIONAL TALENT

  • http://www.migtri.org The Global Talent Retention Initiative is a great resource for international students that are at a University in Michigan and would like to work in Michigan upon graduation.