The Job Search, Reconsidered | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

While monitoring a lot of chatter on Twitter recently regarding the usage by companies of social networking to fill jobs, something struck me that I had not processed previously: not everyone is doing it!

Talk about a revelation.  I am aware of the slow adoption of social networking for some companies, but this week something was really clarified for me.  While having many conversations (don’t worry I won’t name drop), it became obvious that the “old school” recruiting mentality is still a big deal for many recruiters to either accept and use or get their organization to approve.

But what does this mean for you as a possible job candidate?  For one, don’t exclusively use social networking to find your next position.  Yes, social networking is important to get you in contact with the right person/people within organizations.  However, you still need to continue to use more traditional job searching tools. 

Ideas about where to focus today:

• Social Networking – You MUST be here and you have to be an active participant.  On Twitter, follow the hashtags of #jobhuntchat or #tnl to get insights from the HR and recruiting world.  Do not make social networking your sole strategy to find a job, incorporate it into the big picture!

• Work the Referrals – Referrals, referrals and more referrals.  You must treat every event like a networking event.  When you are job seeking, you need to be engaging in conversations anywhere.  It could be at your local Panera Bread or Atlanta Bread or Starbucks or wherever!  You need to be on your toes to connect with anyone that you have the potential to bump into.

• Company Career Pages – A must-do activity.  Everyone has a company they would like to work for, be it a global brand or a local organization.  No matter the company, you need to create a profile in their careers section and register for openings.  Most company careers systems will allow you to create a search string (based upon keywords and/or title) and have new positions emailed to you.  This is the way to get in-the-know of immediate opportunities.  Why?  Companies post to their corporate pages before external job boards.

• Job Boards – You must continue to use job boards.  Did you know that in the Monster.com resume database that 72% of resumes are from people currently employed?  Staggering fact, but it continues to highlight the importance of a job board.

The best advice I can provide is to have a blended job search strategy.  Sure, it is partially about who you know.  But who you know may not always think of you.  Treat a job search as your full time J.O.B. (thanks Eric!), create a plan and work the plan.

Image Credit to AfterCollege.com

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Keith McIlvaine manages the recruiting social media strategy for a Fortune 500 company and is an avid networker.  He is a corporate recruiter, social media advisor, coach, speaker, blogger and an all around fanatic.  Connect with Keith on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or on his blog at the HR farmer.  (The statements posted on this site are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer)

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How to Create a Searchable Resume Profile | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

From Brand-Yourself.com

Today we have a special guest post from Ozzie Saunds.  Ozzie is an experienced Career Specialist who has worked with North America’s largest job board and the world’s second largest international recruitment firm. Currently the founder/owner of a successful recruitment
organization, he is committed to continuing his efforts of maximizing the potential of every career professional he works with by consulting them through the job search process. You can visit his blog at WriteMyResumeNow.com

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A typical approach to a job search includes creating resume profiles on popular job boards, such as Careerbuilder, Monster or Yahoo Jobs, and then targeting professional social media websites like LinkedIn, Google Profiles and Brazen Careerist. Perhaps the very ambitious job seeker takes it a step further by creating a blog which showcases all of their qualifications.

While searching for employment, job seekers can improve their chances of being hired by being more visible on the internet. But being visible does not always mean being registered on every job portal imaginable; being visible means having searchable resume profiles that get noticed.

Utilize SEO to Create Resume Profiles

Chris Perry, personal branding expert and the founder of one of the largest career blogs, Career Rocketeer, suggests that the structure of the internet does not always allow the best job candidates to be visible. In order for a resume profile to be found on the internet, it must be searchable. In order for it to be searchable, resume profiles must include keywords that correspond with search terms that hiring managers and recruiters use to locate top talented job prospects. Furthermore, not only do resume profiles need to include important keywords, but the placement of these keywords is also important to search engines.

The world of employment is competitive and involves many job candidates, all with similar skills and qualifications, just like how the world of business includes many organizations all with similar products and services. The manner in which organizations fight for prime positioning, aiming for the first page on Google, is the same manner in which a job seeker must fight for prime positioning on job boards and professional social media sites such as LinkedIn. The reality is that the best company does not always climb to the top of the search results of an engine, just like how the best job candidate with the most qualified skills sometimes gets placed after the person with little experience. So just how does a candidate implement a SEO approach to creating their resume profile?

Resume Keyword Approach

1.      Repetition: Read a good amount of job postings that are related to the industry that is of interest. Keep a close eye on the required qualifications. Include them in the personal profile/summary section. Repeat these words in the “core competencies” or “area of expertise” section. Repeat them again, varying the terminology, within the body of your resume. For example, say a job seeker uses sales in the personal profile section and negotiation in the core competencies section – it would be effective to repeat sales and negotiation in the body of the resume and add business development, account management, bargaining and consulting too. But also keep in mind if the job posting says sales experience required instead of business development experience required, place greater emphasis on repeating sales throughout the resume profile.

2.      Placement: Use the keywords early on in the personal profile/summary section of your resume profile. Keep in mind that the search engines will value the keyword terms you used first at the beginning of your resume profile over ones you used later. So if a job posting lists experience in engineering design, function analysis, and solution implementation as a minimum requirement and has testing and subcontractor management as additional benefits, put the three minimum requirements in the personal profile section and follow it up with a core competencies section that includes the two additional benefits.

3.  Showcase: Attach powerful action words to the qualification keywords to illustrate how skills were effectively used to accomplish organizational goals. For example, using the job posting qualifications listed in the placement resume keyword approach, a job seeker could say, “Achieved a 100% output growth rate within a 6 month time period by implementing (qualification keyword) an automated performance review solution (qualification keyword) leading to the escalation (action word) of department productivity.

Strong Resume Profiles are Keyword-Rich

In order to develop an exceptional resume profile a candidate must not only have great qualifications, but must also have a strong keyword strategy in place to ensure that all their outstanding qualifications become visible. If a job seeker incorporates SEO techniques into their resume profile development process, they will be one step closer to finding a job. With repetition, placement, and a showcase keyword SEO strategy in place, a resume profile not only becomes exceptional but searchable.

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Take Your Personal Brand beyond the Web | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

Building a personal brand is a marketing process. The hallmarks of a well-constructed brand include consistency, authenticity, specificity and all the brand parameters we discussed last week. Following on that lesson, let’s remember the first law of marketing: perception is reality. What this means in the context of branding yourself is that success is more about how others perceive you than what you say about yourself.

In the arena of personal branding, there’s too much talk about the technology. There’s scarcely any talk about content. The technology is fine. We all need to understand the technology behind social networking and social media.

Moreover, we should leverage the opportunities afforded by social technologies. Build a great Web presence—absolutely! And by all means, use social networks to connect with people who can inform, advise and amuse you.

But technology is just the medium. And what really matters when it comes to branding yourself is the message. I’m talking about the content behind your personal brand. A personal brand is just a front, or a façade, if it’s not solidly backed by content. From the perspective of your audience (those important individuals whose perceptions truly matter and can affect your career and your future opportunities), those who are truly interested in you (to hire you, to evaluate you, to reward you, to recommend you, to promote you and to include you in exciting projects and cool, new ventures) will drill down beyond your branding into your content. Back to the first law of marketing, the practice of telling is largely ineffective because people learn by discovery.

So, what will people discover when they drill down into Brand You? Invariably, they will examine the following:

Your traits – are you reliable, likable, trustworthy, motivated, driven?

Your credentials – degrees, professional certifications, GPA

Your accomplishments – what have you completed, led, generated, invented, improved?

And what if you are already employed? How does personal branding translate in your workplace? In my opinion, it matters greatly—as much or more so than when you are seeking a job. If you worked for me at my marketing firm, you would be evaluated annually on your performance across several key measurements including: reliability, teamwork, productivity, leadership, communications, concern for customers, creativity and community service. All of which is about content. I invite you to learn more about this in the new, “How-To” book that I recently co-authored, Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out and Move Up at Your First Real Job.

Use personal branding to attract favorable attention. Have a great content to back up the branding. If you want to succeed in your career, don’t stop with the technology. Focus intently on goal-setting, striving, improving and achieving. That’s what truly matters.

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HOW TO: Determine and Sell Your Differentiation | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

Employers and clients are looking for ways in which you are different from everyone else – your unique selling proposition (USP). And if you don’t know your USP, there’s no way you’re going to be able to articulate it and sell others on your abilities.

What do you bring to the table others can’t?

That’s the question you need to ask yourself. Try this exercise: Write down every skill, piece of knowledge, ability, and characteristic you have. I find it’s often hard to evaluate yourself, so ask friends and family to add to the list once you’ve given it a first shot.

This list becomes your “unique you.”

What do you need to market your “unique you”?

• Professional website or online portfolio
• Presence on relevant social networking sites
• Business cards
• Elevator pitch
• Accomplishment stories

What are “accomplishment stories”?

When you’re applying for a job, employers want to hear about the results you’ve had in the past and how you could repeat those results at their organization.

Take the top 5-10 bullets in your unique you list and write stories surrounding them.

Some questions to ask yourself about each skill:

• How and why did you obtain it? (Describe the entire situation, start to finish. You can always make your stories more concise later.)
• How can the skill be applied to situations other than the one in which it was first obtained?
• How have you continued to develop the skill since you obtained it? (For example, have you taken additional courses or applied the skill to an after-school job?)
• What makes it important to have?

Some questions to ask yourself about each characteristic:

• Is there an example (or two) of a time when this characteristic came in handy? (Again, describe the entire situation to the best of your ability.)
• How does this characteristic help set you apart from other candidates? (For example, would having a team member with this characteristic help the employer in some way?)

An alternative to accomplishment stories: case studies

If your goal is to land clients rather than a job, you can write case studies. These should contain the following sections:

• Problem/Situation
• Solution
• Results

Again, notice the focus on results.

So, what do you bring to the table that others can’t, and what is your plan to tell potential employers or clients about it?

Author:

Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder & president of Come Recommended, an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. She is also the author of #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.

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Job Search Ideas to Fast Track Your Job Search - Secrets of the Job Hunt Career Podcast

Reposted from CareerAlley

"New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!" - Arthur C. Clarke

If it helps you get a job, it must be a good idea. Now I won't go as far as to say there are no bad ideas in job search (there are plenty - see below), but the good ideas are all time tested. Some are basic, like "Prepare for your search" while others are more complex like "create an elevator speech", but all of these are essential to finding a new job. Even if you've been on the job hunt for awhile, some of these basics may help jump start your search. As an example, have you leveraged your college career center (it doesn't matter how long ago you graduated)? What about professional associations? Broaden your approach and follow these tips.

• LOOKING FOR A CAREER, NOT JUST A JOB - This article, from The University of Akron, provides all of the basics for your job search. From "what do I want to be when I grow up" to the basic steps (resume, cover letter, references and interviews). The article includes job search etiquette, how to use phone and voicemail as well as pointers on what to do (an not to do).

• Fast Track Your Job Search - Ten Steps to Find a Job Fast - About.com's Alison Doyle provides this article which provides the basics for fast tracking our job search - job search plan, resume, cover letters, websites and more. There are embedded links throughout the article for each of the main categories as well helpful links at the bottom of the page.

• Fast Track Your Job Search Through a Professional Association - Professional associations can be a great resource in your job search. This article, from search firm Spherion, reviews what you should do to connect and leverage professional associations.

• Job Hunting Tips: Strategies for Finding a Job Online - This article provides some job hunting tips along with embedded links. The best websites, networking, how to prepare your searches and more.

• Job Search Strategies - A great list of resources, this site leads with a list of quick guides (each of which leads to a detailed page) like "ask the employer", "interview effectively" and more. Below this are links for FAQs such as - "How do I use Site Search?", "How do I find jobs to apply for on the internet?" and so much more. In addition to this there are numerous links to additional resources on the left hand side of the screen.

Okay, what about those bad ideas? There are plenty, read below.

• True Job Search Blunders - This article, posted on Careerbuilder.com has some pretty funny (and sad) blunders. Now many of these are hard to believe, but all are true. Hopefully you won't need this advice, but it is certainly worth a read. Once you are done, check out some of the great links on the left hand side of the page.

• 3 Phone Blunders that Can Hang Up Your Job Search - A few more for your review. This one is provided by pongoresume.com and, while not as funny as the prior link, this is worth a read as well. So often we don't have job search in mind when it comes to our personal lives, but you never know what others will find annoying.

Good luck in your search.

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Networking: How to ask for a favor - Secrets of the Job Hunt Career Podcast

The other day I received an email asking me to do someone a favor. The request made me feel uncomfortable and I pondered for a day on how to respond. As an active networking job seeker, I am fairly certain you
run into these kind of scenarios as well.

"Could you introduce me to..."

"Would you give my resume to..."

"Can you call your contact and ...."

If my dear friend, past colleague, family member or someone else close to me were asking for this type of favor, I wouldn't think twice. Would you? (well, in 99% of the cases). I
probably wouldn't have a problem telling them why I couldn't do it
either.

The problem lies when the person making this request in a virtual unknown. Maybe you've met them once before, maybe even a couple of times. However, you feel uncomfortable being able to carry out
their request.

Being the straight forward, no-nonsense kinda gal I am, I emailed him back and explained to him as nicely as possible that his request was a tad unreasonable.

1) I didn't know him well enough

2) He didn't provide specifics about why he was qualified or interested in the job

3) There was no reason provided as to what was in it for me (WIIFM) to do this

4) He assumed that I knew these contacts well enough to put in a good word

In my email, I also explained what he could do to try and make this an easier request. I listed all four of these things and how to fix them and invited him to
call me for clarification. He did. We spoke. I think he got it.

Here are the two lessons from this post:

1) Learn how to appropriately ask the right people for referral and favors.

2) Teach others the errors of their ways so that next time they will better succeed

I truly believe that each one of us has a duty to help educate and develop one another. Do you have a similar story...how did you
handle it?

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How To Choose A Career Or Job Fair

Career fairs (or job fairs as they are sometimes called) are not created equal.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the pros and cons of going to a career or job fair.  They are not for everyone.

And once you’ve decided to attend one, it is time to get choosy.  Just because you have time, doesn’t mean you should attend them all.

So, how do you choose?  Well, it may be that there is only one game in town.  Your choice is made for you.

But if you live in a major U.S. city, you will likely have many to choose from.  So here’s my criteria to use:

1.  Who is the organizer?

Some events are organized by companies.  Some by industry or local networking groups.  It is important that the organizer be a big enough group to attract quality companies and to pull together a well-planned event.  Look for evidence of “organization” such as agendas, announcements and the like.

2.  Who are the sponsors?

Is someone (a sponsor of the event) hoping to market to you?  Nothing wrong with that really as long as that sponsorship doesn’t get in the way of your objective.  And doesn’t become a distraction.  Determine if the sponsors are related to and supportive of the event’s true purpose.  If not, you may see more of that sponsor than you’d like on event day . . .

3.  What companies have publicly committed to attending?

This is a big one.  And often times, event organizers will not announce companies planning to attend.  Either because they are still working on getting commitments or the companies don’t want to be public about it.  Fearing that they’ll be taking calls and e-mails from anxious job seekers in advance.  If information is available, how many of the companies are on your target list?  And, also important, what types of jobs are available?  At what levels?  And what pay?

4.  Who from each company will be attending?

This is not always easy information to get prior to the fair.  But it will help you in preparation.  And will help you to determine whether the value in attending is there.  Is it a “resume collector” or someone with whom you can actually network and influence?  Some would say that even a resume collector is worth meeting.  And I agree that a nice approach to anyone associated with a target company is worth trying.

5.  Where is the event being held?

Is it at a sponsor’s office?  A hotel ballroom?  Perhaps at a target company’s HQ?  Location matters because you can get a sense for the size of the crowd expected (i.e. how many others will be there trying to influence the same people).  You can also get a sense of the event’s focus.  An event held at your target company’s HQ, for example, will let you get a peek at their culture or allow you to meet a few additional people.

6.  Is there time for networking and is it structured?

Some career fairs don’t have structure.  You simply walk in the door, get a badge and walk at your own pace around the room.  Standing in line at tables that fit your objectives, meeting with someone for a few minutes and moving along to the next table.  A good event will structure your time a little better.  Allowing you to schedule time with reps from your target companies vs. waiting inefficiently for someone to come available.

7.  Are there breakout sessions or speakers?

I like events with multi-dimensional benefit.  Because the prep, drive and attendance time needs to pay off.  So if I can hear a speaker and get a few ideas.  Or learn some new interview or networking techniques via a good breakout discussion.  To me, that’s a bonus.

8.  Is there a fee to attend?

If not, be ready for a bigger crowd and more sponsor messages.  But free events can be a great value.  Do not let this issue drive your decision.  But be conscious of this piece.  If there is a fee, what will you get in return?  Less competition, better speakers, more one-on-one time with each company?  Here you can decide if those are valuable to you.

9.  Has anyone in your network been before?

If the fair is a regular event, the odds are that many veteran job seekers can tell you very quickly if the value is there.  So take advantage of your network here and get the real skinny.  Especially if it is a paid event.  Ask them these questions and the important one: Was it worth it?

10.  What online organization and planning can you see?

How did you learn about the event?  Friends?  From the sponsor?  A good event should have an online component.  A place to go to learn more.  If they don’t and if the only way you can learn more is to refer to the one-page handout, you may be heading to an event that is less organized.  But, again, ask questions.  If there is a phone number, give them a call.

Now, clearly not every event will meet these hurdles.  Some questions cannot be answered based on the data you’ll have.  And I’m not suggesting you eliminate every event by being over-critical.  Or spending too much time deciding.

But I am saying to think about where you spend your time during job search.  It matters.

And so do you.

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