Amy Lindgren

Today’s job market is deeply challenging for those seeking work, requiring job seekers to be more efficient and effective than ever before. Here are my top 10 best practices for job search, updated for a tight market.

• 1. Know your target. When you’re searching for something, it helps to know what it is. The most effective job search target includes a title or work area, an employer type (large, small, nonprofit, etc.) and an initial list of organizations known to employ people in roles like the one you want.

• 2. Know your audience. As a general rule, the person who would be your boss is your audience. What does this person need? You may not know the specifics, but you can make educated guesses and then highlight that information in your materials and interview answers. (Don’t forget about your relevant soft skills.)

• 3. Balance your approach. Or, more directly, limit your online applications. You already know why: Some postings aren’t real, some systems won’t recognize your materials, some jobs attract hordes of applicants … if you’ve already sent out dozens or hundreds of applications without effect, you’ve run the experiment. It’s time to mix in a higher percentage (at least 50-50) of person-to-person contact.

• 4. Keep good records. If you meet someone through networking, will you remember later who introduced you or what branch of their company the new contact works in? You probably won’t, particularly if you’re talking to multiple people a week. Best-practice recordkeeping retains those details, giving you the tools to follow up and build relationships.

• 5. Capture the posting. Keeping the posting itself is the gold standard for tracking online applications, whether that’s via hard copy, copy-and-paste, or a screen shot. If you rely on copying only the URL, the link could be broken by the time you’re invited for an interview — in which case, you’ll be interviewing “cold,” with no record of what the employer requested.

• 6. Track your numbers. Job search is best measured by output, not time. Job seekers often report searching for months or years, but without knowing how many applications or contacts they made, the metric is hollow.

• 7. Focus on employer conversations. With very few exceptions, no one gets hired without talking to their potential boss first. Thus, the goal of every outreach is to find and connect with the person who would be your boss in any particular organization. Misunderstanding this principle is why networking can sometimes feel fruitless. When it comes to direct outreach, you’re probably not expediting your search unless you’re focused on meeting the boss or someone who can lead you to the boss.

• 8. Analyze your numbers. Data only helps if you use it. In job search, that means a monthly review to see which methods are sparking meetings with potential employers. The lower the number, the more you need to improve either the quantity or the quality of your outreaches. In the latter case, the idea is to improve the process until you hit on something that results in those conversations.

• 9. Search every day. An hour each weekday is better than five hours once a week. Best yet is starting at the same time every day. Why? Because consistent, daily effort builds momentum, helps create a job search mindset, and improves your sense of control. As a bonus, limiting to only an hour or two each session will also make you more efficient.

• 10. Set an end date. Job search should be a project, not a life sentence. If you’re unemployed now, set a three-month deadline for your search. Then, increase your daily regimen to three hours while checking your numbers every two weeks instead of monthly.

If you’re not seeing an increase in the number of quality conversations by the third check-in (six weeks), you need outside assistance and a fresh perspective. You may end up changing your approach or shifting your job goal, rather than doing more of the same.

If this kind of focused, deadline-driven job search sounds intense, you’re right. But it’s still easier than an unfocused search lacking checkpoints or data. The former is a best practice because it allows (demands) action based on real-time results and keeps you moving forward on a daily basis. The latter process is soul-sapping because it consigns job seekers to endless rounds of online applications without control or measurable success.

Come back next week and we’ll take a deeper dive into finding contacts and potential employers offline, which is the key to a best-practices job search.

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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.

You visit an open house for a stately old Victorian on a quiet street. It has a wraparound front porch and all kinds of vintage charm … but you can’t help but wonder if that sudden cold draft is the result of poor insulation, or a past occupant dropping by. And the lights on that stunning chandelier are flickering in a way that might foretell an expensive visit from an electrician — or an exorcist.

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You want to ask the listing agent if they’ve heard about any paranormal activity on the property. But do they actually have to tell you?

That depends on where you’re house hunting. In most states, the seller doesn’t have to disclose anything. For example, according to Massachusetts state law, whether the home “has been the site of an alleged parapsychological or supernatural phenomenon” is not a material fact that has to be mentioned in a real estate transaction. However, the seller or agent are also not allowed to lie about it.

Minnesota has a similar code, which says that sellers don’t have a duty to disclose whether the home “was the site of a suicide, accidental death, natural death, or perceived paranormal activity.”

Still, a disturbing history like murder can affect the value of a home, said Ryan Dossey, co-founder of the house-buying service SoldFast in San Diego, in an online exchange. He points to search services like DiedInHouse as an example of how prospective borrowers can research a home’s past, uncovering details that a seller might have chosen not to divulge.

A gruesome case of buyer’s remorse

One such incident led to the 1983 court case Reed v. King. Dorris Reed purchased her California house from Robert King, who did not disclose that a woman and her four children were murdered in the home ten years prior. King had even requested that a neighbor not tell Reed about the killings. Reed’s attorneys claimed that while she had paid $76,000 for the home, it was really worth $65,000 because its history seriously damaged its value and desirability.

The courts ruled in Reed’s favor, finding that the home’s reputation affected its property value. Such homes are sometimes called “stigmatized properties.”

For some, a colorful history is a selling point

Not every buyer feels as Reed did. While an oversized skeleton decoration in the front yard is about as creepy as some home buyers are willing to get, others are drawn to the novelty and mystique of certain listings.

“A lot of buyers I’ve worked with love when there’s a deep or haunting history,” said Joe Luciano in an online exchange. Luciano is a Massachusetts Realtor who has shown historic homes in Salem.

For instance, one couple bought a house next to a funeral home. “They pretty much always wore all black, and the first thing they did when they moved in was paint the inside a deep purple color. This home was also right near the Salem Witch House, which, truthfully, was a selling point.”

So you bought a “haunted” house. Now what?

Let’s say you’re not afraid of things that go bump in the night and bought a stigmatized property. Even if you’re not worried about poltergeists, you still may have to contend with human reactions.

“Unbeknownst to me, I bought a ‘murder’ house back in 2021 as a flip that was the site of a homicide inside the property,” Ryan Dossey said.

“We encountered issues with the contractors,” he said, after neighbors mentioned the home’s history. From that point on, the contractors refused to be alone at the property. “It took considerable effort to persuade them to complete the renovation.”

Believer or skeptic, home buyer or seller, it’s important to know your rights when it comes to marketing a stigmatized home, as well as your legal responsibilities. Talk with your real estate agent, be honest with all parties involved, and check your state’s law if it’s relevant.

It’s perfectly reasonable to worry about the effect that such a history could have on your home’s value, but don’t be too discouraged. While some would never dream of buying a home that has a creepy past (real or imagined), you never know when Gomez Addams is prowling the market.

Taylor Getler writes for NerdWallet. Email: tgetler@nerdwallet.com.

The article Surreal Estate: How Hauntings Affect Home Sales originally appeared on NerdWallet.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Gophers cornerback John Nestor has been trending toward a return to play against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the Pioneer Press has learned.

If Nestor is able to suit up and play, it would boost a Minnesota secondary that has dealt with more injuries than any other position group this season. Nestor was listed as questionable with an unknown issue last Friday versus No. 25 Nebraska and narrowly missed the 24-6 win over the Cornhuskers.

Nestor’s official availability won’t be known until 12:30 p.m., two hours before the Gophers kickoff the Floyd of Rosedale rivalry game with the Hawkeyes.

The rivalry game has extra meaning for Nestor. The junior from Chicago played two years at Iowa before entering the transfer portal last spring. He played 20 total games for the Hawkeyes, making 16 total tackles and winning a Team Hustle Award in 2024 and ’23.

For the Gophers, Nestor has a team-high three interceptions and is sixth with 21 total tackles across the opening six games.

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President Donald Trump’s bulldozing of the East Wing of the White House reveals him to have the aesthetic taste of a mildly successful professional con artist. The Oval Office already lacks only the requirement that all who enter the sanctum must wear grills and large jewel-encrusted chains around their neck with perhaps a clock hanging from it, or a crucifix.

Never has there been a more important man in the world with less class.

A 90,000-square-foot ballroom will be built in place of the demolished East Wing, a ballroom. Did we need a ballroom? It is certain to be grotesque, out of character, out of place, out of this world. Early betting favors the opening-night performance of either Kid Rock or maybe a full card of greased wrestling.

The Rose Garden is gone, replaced by a concrete slab and a forest of flag poles. The new Air Force One will struggle to get off the ground with the burden of all that extra weight in gold bathroom fixtures.

You can tell a lot about a guy by his place. You often see Trump-like conversions happen in Minnesota’s lake country. Somebody buys a traditional old cabin with a screened porch and those heavy canvas awnings and a winding old moss-grown footpath down to the dock, and the next thing you know, there sits a mansion loaded with framed centaurs done in purple velvet, life-size Elvis statues and probably a pontoon boat out front with a radar dish and three 200-horsepower outboards hanging off the stern. That misses the point of a pontoon boat, not to mention living on a nice piece of lakeshore. There is no accounting for taste and to each his own, but you look stupid, pal, like you got lucky with a hedge fund and you didn’t have a clue what to do with the money.

There’s a difference, though. We don’t own that guy’s lakeshore. But we do own the White House. And everything Trump does to it he does without permission or consultation and without a note of grace. He apparently knew a guy with a bulldozer and here we go.

Well, yes, but FDR built a swimming pool, to which it might be countered that pools make good palliative care for polio sufferers.

OK, but Richard Nixon built a bowling alley. Wouldn’t you rather have had Nixon go down to the basement and roll a few frames and not be seen by the public walking around talking to portraits? Jacqueline Kennedy installed art and artifacts of history, saying that it would be a sacrilege to merely redecorate. She said there must be a purpose served by the White House.

For Donald, the purpose of the White House is him.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Trump got elected. He was the antidote to the insane ideology of progressives who are systematically ruining cities and universities. Here came a fellow who didn’t buy the DEI nonsense, didn’t believe men should compete against women in sports, wasn’t falling for the ridiculous affectation of multiple pronouns, liked the police and didn’t believe cities should burn at the hands of rioters, and he didn’t hold the military in contempt.

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Trump’s problem is that he takes great liberties with his possession of the antidote. He over-corrects everything. If Trump were to insist, for example, that the Christopher Columbus statue be reinstalled on the Minnesota Capitol grounds, he would also insist that the Capitol should be called the Columbus Building. If he deemed a DEI hire not suitable for a particular job, he would find the same person not suitable for any job. Other presidents have managed to deport illegal immigrants without a display of military strength.

Donald is The Great Over Corrector, even with ballrooms.

They could have knocked down a wall or two in the White House and created a quaint new banquet hall, but The Great Over Corrector doesn’t do quaint. He knew a guy with a bulldozer and there goes the entire East Wing.

Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com. Soucheray’s “Garage Logic” podcast can be heard at garagelogic.com.