How to Respond to an Online Job Ad

from WebWorkerDaily by Celine Roque

Written by Celine Roque.

I've noticed that many new freelancers tend to be nonchalant when responding to online job ads. Maybe online applications appear more instant and casual when compared with the traditional alternative of showing up for a series of interviews. Even though applying for a freelance job online is fast, it doesn't mean it's easy. You need to consider several issues before rushing your application for a prospective project.

Learn how to read between the lines. Job ads often give away more information than most people see. Be diligent when it comes to finding any clues about the type of freelancer that best suits the job, as well as the best way to apply.

Know exactly what they are looking for. Spend some time researching the company (or the individual) that posted the ad. Doing this helps you choose the appropriate tone and approach for your application. When I applied as a blogger for WebWorkerDaily, I knew from the tone of the blog that I shouldn't be too formal or serious, so I kept my cover letter brief and casual. Also, your research can help you select the best items, case studies and web site links to include in your portfolio.

Follow directions. This might seem like common sense but, as someone who's been on the hiring end, I've noticed that many applicants still fail to follow directions.  If you don't follow directions from the ad, you're telling your potential client that you will have a hard time following job instructions as well.

Get a name, if you can. "To whom it may concern" is never a good opening line. Most job ads include the name of the contact person, and it's a mistake not to take advantage of that. If there's no name attached to the ad, look at the company web site or call them to get the name of the person you'll address the application to.

Keep it as short as possible. Even if you're required to answer several questions, keep the text concise. You're competing with dozens of applicants, most of them writing paragraph after paragraph about their unrelated work experience and maybe even their life story. As someone who prefers receiving short but clear messages, I do my best to keep outgoing messages that way as well. It pays off, too. Many of my clients have replied to my applications by saying, "What a breath of fresh air! I was getting tired of reading 40 long emails about this job."

If you're worried that you might not be saying enough about yourself, remember that your portfolio and work experience will speak for you.

Have a template ready, but always modify it before sending. Templates are useful for freelancers, but sending these without customization gives off the wrong impression. Unmodified templates indicate that you're sending the same application to several other potential clients, showing that you're not that committed to a particular job or project. Whenever I hire contractors, the template applications go straight to the trash bin.

Know how to follow up. When I was looking for a researcher two years ago, one of the applicants immediately emailed me the day after, "Do I have the job?" I politely told her that I'm still going through applications and, as I mentioned in the ad, I will contact all applicants within the week. Again, she emailed me the day later, as well as the day after that. While I understand how excited and anxious one can be during the application process, it's best to keep these feelings to yourself. Constantly following up on your application can drain your energy and annoy your potential client.

Still, you have to be responsive when you're asked to submit additional requirements or to schedule a phone interview. One of my friends is so afraid of phone interviews that she doesn't reply to such requests. If you're not comfortable with some of the requirements, communicate with the prospective client. Don't leave them hanging.

Although you have to keep several things in mind when responding to online job ads, it gets easier with practice. Don't get intimidated by these things, as they're part of the reality of online freelancing. After all, it's still easier than wearing out your shoes by rushing from building to building and spending long hours in the waiting room for an interview.

Do you have any special tips for freelancers responding to online job ads?

Sell Your Inner Suit, i.e. Project Management Skills

picture by yeleyko | article via lawandmore.typepad.com

The world always needs suits, that is, those paid to be in charge.  And usually they are paid much better than the non-suits, including brilliant litigators, genius writers/bloggers [like myself], popular performing artists.  In addition, we humans seem hardwired to want to remain in our comfort zone and suits provide that zone of comfort.  That's exactly the reason successful maverick boutiques have as front-people a suit or more.  Myriad times I have been counseled by BigFoots in the field of communications, "Jane, get a suit to go with you and your ragtag team on sales calls."

In the June 2009 edition of THE ATLANTIC "Do CEOs Matter?" the article confirms that it takes a suit to keep organizations and projects on-track.  No, it probably doesn't even require a leader, never mind a charismatic one.  The current conventional wisdom is that probably, given the macro picture then and the internal resources, a monkey could have profitably run GE during the Jack Welch era.  Welch was a nice brandname to have but a private-label one might have done just as well.  Current conventional wisdom also has it that it might have been those outsized CEOs with their equally outsized egos who got the global economy into the pickle we're in.

Therefore, there is a hunger for management types, yeah, the suits, those old-line Organization Men which are frequently underestimated today and dismissed as being way too in the box.  However, because of all that celebration of the mavericks like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, too many have attempted to sell themselves as non-suits.  That has led, I have found over and over again in my coaching, to lost opportunities in job searches, transitions to another field and lobbying for promotions.  On resumes, all versions of them, in cover letters, on the phone, and on in-person interviews they position and package themselves as not enough organization man and woman and an excess of visionary. 

How to gain access to and sell your inner suit?  Here is what I advise those I coach and my virtual team before we call on a prospect or attempt to cross-sell to a current client:

• Management skills are inherent.  Otherwise none of us would have made it through adolescence.  Beneath even the worst outer chaos there is wiring for putting at least the important things in the right boxes.

• Analyze the organization man and woman in your circles.  What mindset and behaviors do they have?  Describe those in terms or keywords that belong on resumes, cover letters, blogs and Tweets.  Which of those can you integrate into your menu of skills, with just a bit of fine-tuning?

• Drill down into your own past, including childhood chores and paid jobs.  What have you managed?  What have you accomplished?  What of that can be quantified, such as "assisted senior management in restructuring processes, resulting in 34% cost savings" or "researched and implemented technology, saving Firm X 34% on data storage expenses."  Yes, it can work to include managerial homeruns from years back.  My earnings as an 11-year-old selling Wallace Brown holiday cards nailed me one account.

• Distill from law school and legal jobs the managerial aspects and accomplishments.  Quantify those. 

• In applying for anything, take on the role of a team member.  Using that platform, gently but confidently make suggestions for improving operations.  Do that briefly, offering a more detailed free proposal, upon request.

• Always underscore cost savings.  That's what it's all about and will be for a long time.

• Err on the side of presenting yourself as relatively buttoned-down.  They can always loosen you up. 

Society must be conservative.  If it weren't we would be careening from one banana republic to another.  There is only so much disruption it can absorb.  That's why there are very few who make it to where Steve Jobs, Christopher Hitchens, and Cirque du Soleil members are and manage to hold on.  Being a suit who knows how to smoothly speak the language of innovation is a better earnings bet.

Reflection: Jones Day Managing Partner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Laura Ellsworth probably is a better organization woman than a litigator.  I've observed her in both roles.

Social Networking Etiquette: How to Introduce Yourself and Others Politely

Improve your social networking etiquette IQ with our expert advice on some sticky situations. How can you politely decline friend requests? Effectively introduce yourself to someone who doesn't know you well? Thoughtfully connect two contacts? We've got answers.

 

By C.G. Lynch via CIO.com

May 20, 2009 — via CIO — One of the most fundamental rules of social networking etiquette: You must carefully consider who you "friend" or "connect" with on services like Facebook and LinkedIn. According to career experts, the people with whom you associate, in many ways, reflect upon you.

picture from kikolani.com

Deciding who to connect with, however, can be a tricky endeavor, since social networks have grown to include people from your personal and professional lives. Some people choose to connect with colleagues on Facebook, while others decide that they want to keep that network for just friends and family.

When it comes to social networking etiquette, the building block is having a consistent policy and then communicating it clearly to current and prospective contacts who connect with you on social networks, says Kirsten Dixson, a reputation management and online identity expert, who co-authored the book Career Distinction, Stand Out By Building Your Brand.

Here are some tips Dixson told CIO.com for crafting an online contact strategy that works for you, and how to handle the sticky questions that can arise around introductions.

1. Decide on a Friend Strategy for Both LinkedIn and Facebook

Before you establish criteria for "friending" people, you should look closely at the social network and the content of yours that flows through it. For this article, we focused primarily on LinkedIn and Facebook. Twitter, the emerging social network, allows people to follow you whether you like it or not (by its default settings).

On LinkedIn, users don't trade the same types of personal information as they do on Facebook. But you should realize that the LinkedIn contacts you make do matter, Dixson says.

"Everything has to do with the company you keep," she says. "So you really do want to think about who you accept or let in to your network, whether it's on Facebook or LinkedIn."

On Facebook, some users brush aside the need to be discerning about friends. Because of the social network'srobust privacy settings, they argue, you can friend anyone and give the person limited access to your content. So you could allow friends to view your party pictures, while blocking them from your boss's view.

Dixson warns against relying solely on such a strategy. For one, career experts will tell you that privacy settings are hardly foolproof. The cardinal rule: Somehow, someway, all information may be accessed. Secondly, because Facebook is a more closed-off network, the friend list that you garner there seems even more significant to people because it tends to be more exclusive.

Also, how much energy do you really want to commit to setting all those Facebook privacy controls?

2. Communicate a Clear Policy to Potential Contacts

On LinkedIn, some people will connect with anyone and everyone, while others only connect with personal contacts. On Facebook, some people decide to friend their personal friends, but not their colleagues or customers. Conversely, others decide that they don't put anything scandalous enough on Facebook to warrant keeping anyone out of their network.

The key is to communicate your policy clearly and concisely when people try to friend you on Facebook or "connect" with you on LinkedIn. Dixson recalls requesting a colleague become friends with her on Facebook, and being politely turned down. The friend responded that while she valued her working relationship with Dixson, and considered her a friend, she didn't friend anyone from work on Facebook.

"And it totally wasn't a problem for me at all," Dixson says. "She was clear, up front, and I totally respect that. Others will too as long as you are clear."

3. Don't Ignore Friends, or Friends of Friends

While it's acceptable to reject a person based on your social networking friend criteria, you should always respond to the person if he or she took the time to write you a personal note in the friend or connection invitation.

"Etiquette is about making people feel comfortable, not ignoring them," Dixson says. "Especially if it's a colleague or a friend of a friend, if you just ignore them, that's problematic."

On the other hand, you will also find "friend spammers" who want to connect with anyone and everyone. If someone like this sends you a canned invitation, or provides no indication of how he or she might know you, Dixson says you can feel free to ignore it.

4. If the Answer Is No, Offer Alternatives

For the people you do reject, it's nice to offer alternatives. So, for instance, if you say, "I do not connect with work contacts on Facebook, but please connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on Twitter," that might be a nice option, Dixson says.

5. Be Specific When Sending Invitations

We've discussed friend etiquette with the presumption that you are the one in the position to choose, but what if you're courting a new friend or connection whom you think might be on the fence about accepting? In this case, Dixson says, you should explain how you know the person. It will make a world of difference in having that person accept your request.

Sometimes, a well-intentioned friend or connection request may be turned down because the person receiving it honestly can't place the person based upon memory.

"I might have met someone who saw me speak at an event or read my book, but if they don't say so in the request, I definitely ignore it," Dixson says. So include a personal note when in doubt, and be specific.

6. Give a Heads-Up When Brokering Connections Between Friends

In the business world, many people like to play professional matchmaker on social networks. Both Facebook and LinkedIn offer the capability to "suggest a friend" or "introduce" one through a mutual connection, respectively.

If you are introducing two people who don't know each other, you must realize that you have put one of your friends in an tough position — you have made it very difficult for him or her to say no without feeling like a jerk. As a result, unless you're 100 percent sure that the connection will be a no-brainer for the two people, you should alert your friend ahead of time, via phone, e-mail, IM or a private message on LinkedIn or Facebook, Dixson advises.

"That will happen a lot on LinkedIn," Dixson says. "Again, the key to good etiquette in this case: Don't make people feel awkward."

C.G. Lynch covers Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social and consumer Web technologies for CIO. You can follow him on Twitter: @cglynch.

Build Your Personal Brand (by working for Free)

from Stepcase Lifehack by Dan Schawbel

After reading that headline, you may think I'm insane or tell yourself that working for free is out of the question.  There have been millions of layoffs since the end of 2007 up until now and for college graduates, the competition might make you comatose.  The NACE reports that 41% of students haven't even started the job search and 27% of graduates are going to graduate school because of the bad economy.  Of course, going to graduate school is going to put you in more dept and you're betting on the economy coming back in two years.  If you're trying to get a job right now, you'll notice that many employers are cutting down salaries of current employees and offers to new hires.  Although, your education is a factor in you getting a job, what's more important is your workexperience.  Just like content is king on the internet, your experience is king when it comes to getting a job. Today, I'm going to explain why you might need to work for free for at least part of your time each week.

When interviewing, experience trumps income

Have you ever noticed how resumes don't have salaries next to each job you've had?  You'll ies ever find a resume that lists salaries or internshipcompensation.  Salaries are negotiated if there's a job offer that doesn't meet the applicants standards.  Corporate salaries are based on job title and you can salaries at various companies by doing to Glassdoor.com.  Since, salaries aren't listed on resumes, your experience becomes the most important element in getting a job, aside from how you present yourself online and in an interview.  I took two non-paid internships while in college to gain more experience, thus building my personal brand to become a stronger applicant.

When I applied for jobs, the experience I gained at those companies really made a difference and it was well worth the compensation sacrifice.  Since it's hard to get a job right now, start focusing on building your credentials, enhancing your resume and acquiring skills that can help you in future job searches.  It will pay off and you'll forget that you had to sacrifice compensation.

Work for free so you remain active

The worst thing you can do right now is sulk on your coach, with some potato chips, and a coke.  Well, there could be worse, but the point is that you need to stay active at all times.  Recruiters don't want to talk to people that have been out of the job market for a while, without remaining relevant to their industry or at least trying to acquire some experience. You never want to get into a situation, where you're in an interview and you're asked "so what have you been doing recently, I noticed that your last job ended six months ago," and then not have a good answer.

Find people in your network that can help you stay active, by working for them for free if they can't pay you.  Also, you can do community service or start your own company to at least make it seem like you haven't given up and that you are aggressive and actually care about your career.

Work for free while having a side job

If you work for free to gain experience, you'll still need a side job to make money.  Work for a company for free part-time to gain experience and also work for another company to get paid.  If you want to get money, and things are getting tough, then it's not a bad decision to do retail or work at a restaurant to pay the bills.

If you do that, and you invest time in building your personal brand online, gaining experience by working for free part-time and job searching constantly, you should be in a good position to get a job when it becomes available.  A lot of college students are making these hard decisions right now because they realize that they don't have a choice.  If you want to stay ontop during tough times, you'll have to make tough decisions, but you'll want to make them before everyone else does for yo.

6 Recommended Job Sites

Dice.com provides specific tools and resources to help recruiters and human resources managers improve the effectiveness of their recruitment processes. Our resume database search capabilities allow customers to quickly and efficiently find candidates with specialized skill sets that match desired criteria. Due to our exclusive focus on the technology industry, our customers can find results faster and easier than on other, less targeted services.

About Indeed

Job Seekers

Indeed.com is a search engine for jobs, allowing job seekers to find jobs posted on thousands of company career sites and job boards.

Our tips and tools will help you search jobs. If you have questions, start with our FAQ/Help.

Monster.com inspires people to improve their lives. We are the parent company of Monster®, the leading global online careers property that has changed the way people look for jobs; the way employers look for people; and the way companies connect with their target audience.

SimplyHired.com. Looking for a job shouldn't be a full-time job! That's why we built the biggest, smartest job search engine on the web. We search thousands of job sites and companies, just so you don't have to.
We eat, sleep and breathe job search, to help you find that dream job. Use our nifty tools to find local jobs, identify trends, research salaries, and secure that offer letter.
So what are you waiting for? (www.simplyhired.com)

CareerBuilder.com
Employee-Driven. Customer-Focused.
As the global leader in human capital solutions, we help organizations target and attract their most important asset - their people. We use world-class technology, data-analysis, a comprehensive partner network and superior customer service to match the right people with the right jobs.

BONUS

craigslist.org

Craigslist.org
Local searches for jobs.

GlassDoor Searches and Tags Job Interview Questions

via Lifehacker by Kevin Purdy on 5/15/09

Previously mentioned salary and job review site GlassDoor now lets reviewers peek at the interview process and questions asked by "over 23,000 companies." If you're prepping for your big chance, it's worth a glance.

The site claims that you need to post an anonymous review to see the interviews, but arriving at the site's interview section (with a fresh browser cookie, at least) lets you search by job title or company and see the posts by those who have gone before. As Brazen Careerist's Penelope Trunk points out, it's both reassuring and confusing that so many of the interview questions are similar, or at least cover similar ground—but that works in your favor, really, because you can prepare to talk your way into a job. And GlassDoor's site just might save you the $20 you were about to shell out for one of those "Top 100 Interview Questions" books.

Have another interview question prep source? By all means, tell us about it in the comments.

Interview Questions & Answers [Glassdoor.com via Penelope Trunk]

Sample Resumes, Market Insight and More from Dice News.

From Dice News. One of my recommended job search sites.

-- Andy 

	ARE YOU ON THE HUNT FOR A NEW JOB? Do you need some new ideas to stay motivated? How about free sample resumes, job hunting tips, local job market intelligence? Dice News has what you need to get an edge on the competition. We've made it simple. The Dice News team constantly posts fresh career news & advice and you can use our RSS feeds to automatically see the latest career content.
Copyright 2009 Dice Inc. Dice Inc. | 4101 NW Urbandale Drive | Urbandale , Iowa 50322 | 1.877.386.3323 | Local 515.280.1444