ResumeBear Blog |
Posted: 20 Jul 2011 06:03 AM PDT  It took me a while to figure out that if you are unemployed, looking for a job is more than a full time job in this economic market. You have to be flexible, open to anything, and ready to do more than the other 10 qualified people that they interviewed that day….just to get a final interview! I went for months posting my resume on careerbuilder and monster and any other job board. I applied to any position that seemed like I wouldn't mind doing. I did what everyone else is doing… They are saying, " I have experience, and marketable skills, I will make a great resume and blanket every employer in the nation with it." The sad reality was that I had little to no success securing interviews using this tactic. I really started having success getting interviews when I figured out that employers are so flooded with resumes that they don't read many of them… they don't have the money to hire people just to read resumes. They put them through a "keyword scan" program and when a resume has the keyword density, or "relevant experience" they actually read it and then you have a chance at getting a call for the interview. What I started doing was going through the job postings on monster, careerbuilder and whatever sites I was a listed on then browse jobs for what you want. When you come across the job ads you like and qualify for read them carefully for keywords and make a list of all of those keywords. Spend a few hours doing this and really browsing for similar positions and looking at job postings. The better your keyword list is… the more responses you will get. Once you have the keywords from the positions you are seeking, rework your resume to use those keywords as much as possible and show your experience relevant to what they are seeking. I know, your resume is great already, but if you take the time to even rebuild it from scratch thinking about what your potential employer really wants to see chances are you will have much more success. Upload the new copy of your resume to the job listing sites making sure to view it and that it looks *perfect* and is formatted correctly(which is hard to get right…don't use the tab key building the resume, you have to use the little bar on the top in Word to set the formatting for each line or it wont come out right when you upload it). One major thing I found was to keep re-uploading your resume at least 2x a week. If you don't subscribe to monster and careerbuilder's pay service for exposure… you mysteriously stop getting calls after about 4 days from your last posted resume. Maybe they use algorithms or maybe employers just see the top of the stack of resumes first, either way you definitely get a lot more calls from employers by updating your resume constantly. Even if you just upload the same resume with the text color of your name changed you start getting calls again. Don't be afraid to use some color in your resume to help it stand out in a sea of black and white! I had lots of success using bold bright colors to make my resume stand out too. I found that bright blue, bright red, and deep green worked well for emphasizing experience and other important points. I noticed a lot more calls once I put the color in too. I know how brutal the job hunt is now, but dont get down. Know that there are good jobs out there like always, you just have to work for them… I started working smarter, not harder. Don't waste time blanketing your resume out to every employer. Find what you want to do and build your resume to sell yourself and your experience as what those employers are looking for. When you do get the interview, I found that using all of the interview prep questions and other help documents on ResumeBear will help Make sure you prepare and do your homework! More good advice and tips can be found here: http://blog.resumebear.com |
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