Finding a Job Using the Net to Your Advantage
A modern job hunting campaign is by nature quite Byzantine. While the internet has offered a variety of new channels, it also creates increased competition for choice jobs and possible challenges for job hunters.
Job hunting needs to be thought of as a personal, very targeted marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network of contacts is your source for information.
So where does the internet fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on a popular job site and got over 650 applications in a week. For one opening. That’s increased competition for jobs.
Had a strong person called us before we placed the ad, they could have landed the job prior to running in to all that competition. How? By knowing someone at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew about of the job for at least 9 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?
Be sure to check your application matierials carefully! When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily taken out with a quick triage process. How? The same way any HR professional would. By eliminating resumes where the objective didn’t match our job posting. By rejecting candidates whose cover letters gave us reasons not to engage them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating prospects whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by rejecting job hunters who didn’t bother to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.
So the good news is that job boards give you a feel of who is hiring, and for what kinds of positions. But once those positions are posted, the competition is intense. You can still compete, if you have a well written 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 downside to be aware of is how easily you can be checked on on the web. As we Googled several job hunters, we ran into some pictures and comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing insane, but enough to sway our thinking 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!
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