????重返校園：學習相關課程不僅能夠獲得目標領域的相關知識，結識新朋友，而且“可以把這項經歷作為相關經驗寫入簡歷，因為這是學習此領域知識的證明，”馬克?多里奧說。馬克?多里奧是一位有著豐富咨詢經驗的人事管理專家，著有《完美傻瓜指南之求職》（The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting the Job You Want）等多部求職類書籍。

????多里奧在這方面頗有經驗：起初，作為天主教神父的多里奧同時兼任天主教一所高中的主管。后來，他重返校園，攻讀組織行為及工業心理學碩士學位。這些資歷以及他掌握的團隊組織及咨詢等通用技能讓他成功地進入一家咨詢公司工作。如今，多里奧開辦了自己的指導和咨詢公司，擁有眾多客戶，其中不乏《財富》（Fortune）500強企業，如默克公司（Merck ）及強生公司（Johnson & Johnson）等。

????人脈，人脈，還是人脈：史黛絲?希爾頓回憶說，一到羅利，“我就開始給人打電話，盡管我們從未謀面。從公關公司到警察局媒體關系團隊，包括某些沒有任何招聘計劃的公司，無一例外。不管怎么說，只有這樣才有機會見到負責招聘的人，親手遞交求職簡歷。我希望當這些公司出現空缺職位時，他們能想起我。”

????這種做法確實聰明。但同時還有一點不容忽視——也許在你的身邊就蘊藏著大量機會。史蒂芬?凱默若還是西雅圖華盛頓大學（University of Washington）的實習生時，就以網站開發者的身份開始了自己的職業生涯；然后，在此領域全職工作了三年時間；直到大約一年前，他終于意識到這份工作并不適合自己。“整天坐在電腦前并不符合我的性格。我更喜歡與人打交道。”

????于是，他開始考慮跨行從事銷售工作。當時，凱默若的家鄉帕洛阿爾托對辦公場地的市場需求正在迅速擴大，而他的幾位家人和朋友就在當地的房地產行業工作。一位親戚的朋友了解到全球房地產公司仲量聯行（Jones Lang Lasalle）在當地辦事處有一租賃專員的空缺，就立即通知凱默若前去面試。

????最終他獲得了這份工作，并且樂在其中。“我當時所做的只是向周圍的人打聽了一下有沒有相關招聘信息，”他說，“有時候，求職完全取決于你所認識的人以及你們之間的熟悉程度。”

????不選大的，只選對的。卡洛琳?休斯指出，大公司里準備跳槽的員工往往會忽視小企業的價值，如初創企業等，這種做法是錯誤的。她說：“大公司的招聘條件往往更加嚴格。員工規模在100至300人的公司是首選，這樣規模的公司能夠提供足夠多的機會，同時員工個體角色的定位相對來說也更加寬泛、多變且靈活。”

????馬克?多里奧對此表示贊同，并補充道：“企業老板的想法五花八門。一些老板希望員工具有某特定領域的背景及相關經驗；而另一些可能對職位的定義更具創造性，對求職者如何展開工作更感興趣。”多里奧曾指導過一位財務分析師，現在就職于一家市場研究公司。他之所以能獲得這份工作，是因為“他具有較高的財務敏感度，而且有意將之運用到市場研究領域。這種思路拓展了市場調研的維度。”

????事實上，還存在著這樣一類雇傭者，他們更青睞于缺乏經驗的求職者，因為這類求職者顯然還未沾染上業內的某些壞習慣及陳腐思想。“是否具備行業經驗并不是我們關注的重點，”肯尼斯?維斯尼夫斯基說。“我們會把他們培養成為我們需要的員工類型。”肯尼斯?維斯尼夫斯基在美國新澤西州月桂山市創辦了自己的搜索引擎優化公司WebiMax，并擔任CEO一職。

????勇于不斷嘗試。“不要畏懼，要勇敢地主動上門，，告訴雇主你對他們的價值所在”史黛絲?希爾頓建議。“我的老板告訴我，正是我當時的堅持最終征服了她。記得當時，我每周都會打電話向她確認他們是否在招聘新人——當然也不能做得太過火，否則就該被當成是騷擾了。”

????譯者：李淑玉/汪皓

????Go back to school.Taking courses in your chosen field not only teaches you the business and introduces you to new people, but "the classes count as experience on your resume, since you're learning the business," says Marc Dorio, author of several career books including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting the Job You Want.

????Dorio knows a thing or two firsthand about changing careers: He started out as a Roman Catholic priest and superintendent of Catholic high schools, before returning to college for graduate degrees in organizational behavior and industrial psychology. Those credentials -- plus his transferable experience in team-building and counseling -- led to his being hired by a consulting firm. He now runs his own coaching and consulting company, with Fortune 500 clients like Merck (MRK) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

????Network, network, network. When she first moved to Raleigh, Stacey Hilton recalls, "I started cold calling anyone and everyone, from PR firms to police department media relations teams, even if I knew they weren't hiring. It was a chance to meet people, hand off my resume, and hope they would remember my face if an opening came up."

????Smart. But don't forget to look close to home as well. Steffan Kammerer launched a career as a web developer while still an intern at the University of Washington in Seattle, then worked full-time in the field for three years before deciding about a year ago that it just wasn't for him. "I have the wrong personality for sitting in front of a computer all day. I like human interaction," he says.

????So he started thinking about a sales job. Several family members and their friends were in commercial real estate in Kammerer's hometown of Palo Alto, where the market for office space is booming. A friend of a relative knew of an opening for a leasing associate at the local office of global real estate firm Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) and referred Kammerer for an interview.

????He got the job, and loves it. "All I did was ask around to see if anyone knew of anything," he says. "Sometimes it really is who you know, and how well you know them."

????Look for the right match. Big-company denizens looking to change careers often overlook smaller firms, including startups, notes Carolyn Hughes. That's a mistake. "Big companies usually have more rigid job descriptions," she says. "Your best bet might be companies with between 100 and 300 employees, which are big enough to have opportunities but small enough that individual roles are more broad, fluid, and flexible."

????Marc Dorio agrees: "Employers are not all the same. Some want a specific background and set of experiences, but others define jobs more creatively and are interested in how you present your own approach to the work." Dorio coached one former financial analyst who was hired by a market research firm because "they liked the way he proposed to apply his financial acumen to the role. It added a different dimension."

????Some employers actually prefer people who, lacking industry experience, are also free of the bad habits and stale thinking that experience can engender. "We don't pay much attention to industry-specific experience," says Kenneth Wisnefski, founder and CEO of WebiMax, a search-optimization company in Mount Laurel, N.J. "We train them to become the type of employees we want." WebiMax has more than doubled its headcount so far in 2011, from 70 to 150.

????Keep trying. "Don't be afraid to knock on doors and tell people why you would be valuable in their company," Stacey Hilton says. "My boss tells me that what finally won her over was my persistence. I would call her every week to see if they were hiring yet -- but without crossing the line into being annoying."