What are the best ways to find/land a job?

I would say your field is a hard one to get a job in, at this point, with this economy but don’t despair…besides the sites, I’d say you should look at websites of large companies, sometimes they have ‘careers/jobs’ buttons you can check out..you can also send them letters (probe cover letters) to see if they have openings or anything…

You might want to explore being an independent contractor. My son designs webs from home. He gets referrals from word of mouth, mostly. The best way I know of for getting a job with a company is when somebody you know who works there tells you about a job opening before anybody else finds out.

Find the companies you are interested in and make friends with the workers there.

Looking at the hiring process from the view of the employer, the whole thing is actually driven by emotional and relational motives. I think @YARNLADY had a good point about referrals; in fact, more experience will make your portfolio of sample work and your references give an emotional connection to you.

If your plan is to work for an employer, over-the-phone and in-person introductions will land you a spot in the employer’s mind (which is the preceding goal to getting a spot in the company). You can rely on job-bank sites such as Monster, but you must back it up with further contacts directly to the employer (do not skip that step… employers will only pay attention to persistence, along with your portfolio and resume).

If entrepreneurship is your plan, you must have an advertising plan for your skills. Be diverse; if you are good enough, you can develop products that will suit the spectrum of large corporations down to the individual.

And, while you persist, keep this in mind:

“When you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb,
it’s well to remember that
Things Take Time.” (Piet Hein)

I just went through this experience.

First thing that helped me was taking another look at my resume. Now I had a resume I adored but after taking another look at it I realized it could still use some work. Also my resume was quite long so I had to shorten it quite a bit. Since the economy is in a tough position right now employers are receiving TONS of job apps for each posting. If they see that your resume isn’t perfect it’ll likely be thrown in the “not good enough” pile. Same if it is too long, since they have so much to read.

Second thing that helped me is creating job specific cover letters. Do not use a form letter.

It also helps to use your resources to connect you to jobs. Have great references. Sending resumes in mail works better than online (from my experience). Make sure you are clear that you have open hours (employers tend to choose people who have schedules that are more open and flexible).

(also when you do get an interview be prepared. seriously. there are several websites online that will give you the most frequently asked job questions. have answers prepared for these. this will also help with the stress of being interviewed.)

Don’t give up. It can get quite frustrating but you will get a job.

Good luck!