Job Search Using the Net to Succeed
The Internet offers huge opportunities for a job seeker, but also presents several possible challenges. It also adds some complexities, and a lot more matters to consider…and be careful of.
Job hunting needs to be thought of as a highly personal, extremely directed marketing operation where you are the product. Your resume is an advertisement. Your extended network of associates is your source for information and opportunities.
So where does the net fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on Craigslist and got 600+ responses in a calendar week. For one position. That’s increased competition for job openings.
Had a strong person called us ahead of our posting that ad, they could have secured the job prior to getting all that competition. How? By finding someone who knows someone at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew of the job for at least 12 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?
Be sure to check your cover letter and resume carefully! When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily eliminated with a quick triage process. How? The same way any manager would. By eliminating resumes where the objective didn’t match our job. By eliminating candidates whose cover letters gave us causes not to employ them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating job hunters whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by eliminating job hunters who didn’t bother to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.
So the great news is that job sites give you a sense of who is hiring, and for what kinds of positions. But once those jobs are posted, the competition is intense. You can still compete, if you have a well thought out resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing – so you don’t stumble at a critical point.
Another issue to be aware of is how easily you can be checked on on the internet. As we Googled several job hunters, we ran into some Facebook comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing crazy, but enough to tilt our thoughts about who to choose.
AA-Careers provides a all-inclusive set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.
Be careful out there, and good hunting!
