There are many different ways to find work in New Hampshire!

Job Search Sites

Several different job search websites are listed in the first table below. These sites help you search & apply for jobs, and also let you upload your resume so that companies can search for you. Most are fairly straight-forward, but if you have any questions, please contact the jobs coordinator.

Network With Fellow Porcupines

Go to the NH Jobs section of the FSP Discussion Forum and ask who knows something about the local job market in your field. Find good companies to work for, but more importantly, find the names and email addresses of supervisors and other people in a position to ask their company to hire people. It doesn't hurt to learn the name of the human resources manager, but bear this in mind: the purpose of HR people is to weed out applicants, not find to them. In an ideal world, the first time an HR person hears your name will be when a hiring manager comes to her and asks, "Can we get this person?" Also consider joining the email lists of the NH FSP group in your NH target area, or one of the FSP communities that shares your special interests. Finally, the Liberty Forum and Porcupine Festival are great networking opportunities.

Post Your Resume on the FSP Discussion Forum

The NH Jobs forum also serves as a porcupine version of the regular job search sites. You can post your resume and browse help-wanted listings here, but it will be less heavily trafficked than the regular sites. This is a good place to look for odd jobs with titles like, "I'll pay a porcupine $30 to plow snow from my driveway in Manchester next storm." While handy, posting a resume here is not a substitute for the regular job search sites or networking with porcupines.

Direct Application

The second table below has links to the "career opportunities" pages of dozens of great New Hampshire companies. These links are also great places to start for researching companies to find a good fit for you.

Cold Calls

Some of the best jobs never get posted anywhere, and people find them with cold calls. To make one, find a company you like and call to ask about work even if they don't have anything listed. Hiring managers usually recognize the need for a new person well before posting a job listing, and by making a cold call, you can beat the rush and come across as a go-getter at the same time. Again, it helps a lot if you can find the name of a potential hiring manager before calling, so you can talk to him or her instead of an HR person.

Job Hunting Tips for Newbies

Your first real job is often the hardest one to find. There are many great books out there to help, though - check out Amazon.com, search for "job hunting" and note which books have large numbers of 5-star reviews (such as, "The Unwritten Rules of the highly effective Job Search", "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters", and "What Color is Your Parachute?"). Once you have book names you can buy online or find them at your local library or bookseller. Also, try Googling "conducting a job search" or "researching companies" to get started.

Recruiters

If you're not having much luck, try working with a NH recruiter - there's one listed as our last link on this page. Recruiters can be helpful with their behind-the-scenes contacts, but bear in mind that they earn their living by charging fees to the companies they supply, so companies are often able to pay less for people found through recruiters than for people found without them. Recruiters are an invaluable resource if you're stuck and new to the area, however. At the very least, talking to them about the state of the current local job market is usually helpful and free.

Remember!

Job searching takes work, so keep at it constantly, consistently, and be patient. If you don't have a good resumé, see if you can get some help revising it for free through your local Unemployment Office, a recruiter, or a college Career Resources Office. The job market season tends to run from February through October, with the best month being March. September and October are good months, but opportunities tend to slow down with the onset of the winter holiday season in November. That's no excuse to slow down your search, though, because you want to be ready for opportunities when they do pop up.

NH Jobs Coordinator