How did you get your job?

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If you are currently employed, how did you get your job? Or, if you're a consultant, how do you find clients?

(Feel free to ignore the highly relevant poll.)

I've had the best luck with employment agencies... they get their cut and I get a decent job... works for me.

My current manager found my resume on an employment website and called me. I was interviewed on the following day (Wednesday) and hired on the following Monday. It was a standard interview; she asked me questions about my life, education and previous jobs.

P.S.: I did not reply to the poll because you did not specify the weight of the potatoes.

I was lucky to have two people in the company I am with now speak up for me and recommend me for the job and told my now boss that he should hire me and he wasn't going to and I had two advocates helping me-after I got hired I got a very nice first raise because I was able to fix things I had never seen before.

Which weights more, 10 tons of feathers or 10 tons of lead? Sorry.

Anyway, I've found my past jobs in person. I went into the places I was interested in working, asked them if they were hiring, filled out the application, and sat home waiting for their phone call.

At this time I'd like to add that all jobs bring pain, misery and suffering to me. Thank you.

Mostly I got lucky. I applied to be part of a pool of applicants for any opening of the position I currently hold in the city where I live. (I work for a gov't agency)
They gave all the qualified applicants personality and skills tests (problem solving/IQ as well as typing and computer literacy) and my scores placed me fairly high in the pool. I don't interview well, but I tried to use that to my advantage a bit. I have a good work history and, while I'm not at all charming, if you want a job done and need it to be done by someone who is minimally supervised... I'm your girl. I basically emphasized that I'm a good investment. Plus I had some pretty good references from past bosses.

My wife's father owns his own business, I unfortunately work for him lol

I found a job listing for a big corporation on an employment website and applied. It turned out the company did all their hiring through a temp agency at that time and, although I didn't pass all of their office skills assessments, they needed a few more people to fill the next training class, so I got the job.

Luckily, the place turned out to be a good fit for me. I've held a few different positions and have been there for more than five years.

I played with computers as a kid, went to college and got a job at the student help desk, got 4 years experience, and was able to move into a full time position.

I was also interviewing for a position as a cop; but the IT job came first.

My current boss was my childhood psychologist, who now does education consulting. She heard I was looking and asked me to work for her. Funny how life works.

I've never had a successful job application or interview.

I had two jobs ever. One was a paper route. I called and gave my name and address and when a route was available in my area they gave it to me. The other one was a cleaning job and they must have been hard up for workers because my friend told them about me and they hired me without my doing an application or interview.

I still don't know how I got my current job. I applied on line for it (public sector) and gave it no thought or effort. Since I couldn't get a $10 an hour job, what chance did I have? To my surprise, I got a call MONTHS later to interview. I did and to my shock was interviewed by 5 (yes five) different people. to my surprise I actually felt very comfortable. I couldn't even remember what job I applied for but went ahead with the interview anyway. The questions were right up my alley (essay style) but I just treated it like practice. To my amazement, I got the job offer and that was 5 years ago. I later was told over 400 serious applications were received for that position! Funny how I put my heart and soul into my job search and was getting nowhere yet didn't give a $!@# and got the job. Go figure!

I should mention that I was having MUCH, MUCH better luck after getting in contact with a professional recruiter. I honestly told him about myself and what I was after and while he didn't quite have what I was after he was getting closer every week. If I had to take that route immediately I would have done much better. On paper or in a first impression nothing other than my height stands out but employers quickly find out how loyal and conscientious a worker I am: a true diamond in the rough. Let's hope that leads to similar success in the world of relationships!

I quit/retired from my last job a little over two months ago and had a great summer off. Whilst enjoying myself, I also put out a lot of official job aplplications and never even got a phone call ... most likely because I was overqualified. Finally got talking to a former co-worker, who knew "a guy" and, BAM, I have a new job all lined up pending the approval of some paperwork. Didn't even want a resume or references. And it's totally legit. Go figure.

Most every job I have gotten has been through personal connections. Usually I followed one friend from job to job.

In the cases where I got photography work with magazines, I researched the market and made contact with art directors. I had been told over and over that you should never bother art directors with phone calls because that will only annoy them and discourage them from hiring you, but I strongly feel that it is personal connections that get you work. I either left messages or briefly talked with the art directors after sending them samples of my work. And I think the proof that I was right was that the only work I ever got was from art directors that I had called.

Of course if I wasn't a pretty good photographer, I would not have gotten the work, but they way I see it is this; if a person has to make a choice between hiring one of two people, both of whom are equally qualified, they are more likely to hire the one they have already spoken to (assuming the conversation went well). Making the slight personal connection of a phone call can tip the scales in your favor.

I hate making phone calls, even to people I know, but with practice, I learned to get through it without throwing up too much. I started out by calling some magazines that I wasn't as interested in working for so that i could fail on my first tries and build up some experience for the magazines I really wanted to work for.

The first job I had (at a small store), my mom knew the owner of the store. The second job I had (big grocery store), I think they felt sorry for me and possibly thought I was ret*d, because they put me in a position shared by an actual ret*d girl. Both horrible jobs for someone like me, my suicidal ideation went through the roof when I worked at those places.

Father-in-law. The place I work only hires friends and family because it is written into a union contract. They sometimes need additional people, so then they'd go more on experience.