kutulu

So we have a baby coming and I'm looking for a new job. I've had no sucess at all and it's quite frustrating. I'm a Chemical Engineer (graduated with a 3.0) and I've been working in a field that's not directly related to ChemE since graduation (May 2001). When I was in school I never really made a lot of friends, since graduation I've only kept in touch with one of them. Since my entire office staff is less than 15 people, there aren't many outside connections for me to network with. Although clients I work with might have some connections, I feel it would be very unprofessional for me to go that way and at worst, it could cost me my current job.

As a result, I'm left with shitty websites like monster.com, etc. where you're just another email sent to some guy that gets 200 other emailed resumes.

I want a way to personalize my approach, but it's hard to do that when at best all you have is the name of the corporation you're applying to. There's never actual contact info other than an email address. When there is an actual email address, I always write a few paragraphs introducing myself and telling them why I want the job.

A couple of times I tried contacting the HR department but the receptionists I've talked to have never let me get past them, much less actual HR people. Should I just keep trying? Say I actually get to talk to a HR person over the phone, will that annoy them because they probably would have put that info on the ad if they wanted calls or will most see that as me "going the extra mile"?

I've had my father look at my resume, his boss look at it, random recruiters, and a person who looks does resume editing for a living and they all liked it and suggested changes for anything they didn't like. I haven't put anything on it that I can't back up.

I also wonder about cover letters. I usually don't use them unless I really think my skills match that job. Do people actually read them and if they do, does it really make a difference?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.