Showing posts with label job hunting. Show all posts

Monday, August 1, 2011

Posted: 31 Jul 2011 07:44 AM PDT

As BNET's sister site MoneyWatch pointed out recently, in a climate where it takes the average job hunter more than seven months to find their next position, big job boards like Monster and CareerBuilder are of only limited use.
The post's author Eilene Zimmerman writes:

Forget CareerBuilder, HotJobs, and all the other mass job sites. While these boards seem like a good place to start, how many people do you know who actually found a job that way? Even hiring managers don't want to sort through the hundreds and hundreds of resumes they get for each position they list on these sites, so they're increasingly turning to industry-specific job portals, says Debra Yergen, author of Creating Job Security.

And Zimmerman isn't the only person pointing out that job boards are often a waste of time. Everyone from the WSJ to Ask the Headhunter's Nick Corcodolis has written posts advising that there are probably more productive ways to spend most of your job search hours. But if job boards are on the wane, how are companies and recruiters finding people to hire? And how can you best position yourself to be found?
Writing on recruiting blog Fistful of Talent recently, Kelly Dingee, a "professional stalker" with Staffing Advisors, lets the cat out of the bag and offers up seven things employers should tell job seekers about how to get considered. Dingee isn't convinced job boards are totally over saying, "there will be people looking for you on there.
At least for a little while longer." But overall Dingee agrees with consensus opinion that too much time on job boards isn't productive and offers tips to help you get hired in a post-job board world, including old standbys like networking — "Find someone who works at your targeted company who can pass your resume along" — as well as less well known advice:

Make yourself findable first. Google yourself right now. Did your LinkedIn profile come up? No? Build one, make it public. If you have a preferred method of contact, note it. Use inmails. Use a separate email.
Make yourself even more findable. Post your resume, or your bio, or whatever you want to call it. Use Posterous, use WordPress, use a .me site, use doctoc or slideshare… use something.
Make sure when you build those profiles you use every keyword that applies to you. I like to say I'm a researcher but my title is Strategic Recruiting Manager… and if I was anticipating a job hunt and tweaking my profile I'd make sure every word related to recruiting and research both are enmeshed in my online profile.
Respond to recruiters. Third party or corporate I don't care. If you don't deal with contingency staffing firms, fine, send 'em a quick note of thank you/no thank you, get removed from their mailing list. But do your due diligence, because you want to work with a retained search firm…. There's a significant difference between retained and contingency search firms. You can go around me and apply directly through our client, but they are still going to route you my way because our firm has been hired — and already paid — to alleviate their staffing burden.

What's been your experience — how much time are mass job boards worth?
This post originally appeared at BNET.
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Monday, July 25, 2011

How to Fast-Track Your Job Hunt with InsideJobs

ResumeBear Blog

How to Fast-Track Your Job Hunt with InsideJobs

Posted: 25 Jul 2011 05:20 AM PDT

Job hunting is tough, no question. And the hardest part can be figuring out where to begin. With career exploration sites like Inside Jobs, you can find that direction, replacing the uncertainty of change with the clarity of knowing what you want to do and how to get there.
EXPAND: Career exploration sites allow you to do just that…explore. They can open your mind to a range of possibilities, which increases your chance of finding a job that's costume-tailored to your skills and situation.
At Inside Jobs, we've written thousands of job profiles and How to Become articles you can search by keyword, career type, or salary level. Each job description links to other similar roles, so you won't spend hours online trying to find information on related positions. Plus, we've tracked hundreds of thousands of resumes and job posting to figure out general career trajectories—i.e., which jobs most commonly precede and follow a given position.
Love your job, but need to make more money? Or want a more social work atmosphere? Our "Show me Jobs…" tool allows you to enter a job title you're interested in, then search for positions that use similar skills, but are more lucrative, more interactive, etc.
This in-depth database is a great way of figuring out what specific opportunities are out there.
FOCUS: Once you've found an area you're interested in, dig deep. Using our job profiles as a jumping off point, learn as much as you can about the specific position you want. Why? If you're only looking at the surface level of an industry, you'll only find the most visible opportunities. That means you'll be competing with the maximum number of other job applicants. As such, the more specific your job hunt, the better your chances are of securing an interview.

NEXT STEP: When you've identified where you want to go, we'll show you how to get into the field. For instance, if a degree could help you gain a competitive edge, we'll point out schools that offer programs in your area of interest.
Job searching can be a hard process—but with the right tools, you'll gain in-depth knowledge and career clarity that will put you on the fast-track to landing your next position.
Annie Favreau writes and works for Inside Jobs, a career exploration site "where people can explore what opportunities exist and learn what paths can take them there."
Where all to find the latest about/from InsideJobs.com:
Check out our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Job Hunting Success Tips

ResumeBear Blog

Job Hunting Success Tips

Posted: 20 Jul 2011 06:03 AM PDT

We do know what a struggle the job market is and how competitive the market has gotten lately but don't despair! Keep your eyes open, be flexible, and there are still opportunities out there. Here are some of the things I found that really helped me to secure a highly sought after position and actually get a pay raise in this economy.
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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Monday, August 1, 2011

Job Hunting Secrets From A Top Recruiter

ResumeBear Blog

Monday, July 25, 2011

How to Fast-Track Your Job Hunt with InsideJobs

ResumeBear Blog

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Job Hunting Success Tips

ResumeBear Blog

Career Igniter