ARGH!

I'm frustrated. Job hunting is a nightmare when you're doing it full time. And I have to confess, I have found it nearly impossible to job hunt full time. I mean really, there is only so much time I can spend on the internet looking at HotJobs, Monster, etc. And the whole process of online job hunting just baffles me.

Take the common "mistakes" I've read about at least a dozen times (to the tenth power) in the last several months: 1) Attending a job fair is a waste of time. The jobs are dead-end, entry-level and hard to fill. Ok - fine. So if I can't find a good job at a job fair, where else can I make contacts? 2) Don't pay a headhunter to find you a job. It's a waste of money. Again, Ok. But when I contact the placement agencies and give them my background and qualifications, I'm told "Wow - we only have entry level positions. You should contact a headhunter". Really?! 3) Don't send out a resume online without calling the company, even when the ad says "no phone calls". Honestly, I have NO problem calling a company, but can anyone tell me who I'm supposed to ask for and what I should be saying? All I've found thus far is the internet is FULL of mistakes to avoid and lists of things I should not be doing, but I can't find anything that tells me how I should be doing it. At least not that doesn't sound iffy. I've subbmitted hundreds of resumes, and get the "while your qualifications and background is impressive, we've decided to go in another direction" email. Which is just a nice way of saying tough luck, loser.

Well, blow me.