Looking for a Job Using the Net to Win
A modern job hunting campaign is by nature very complicated. While the net has offered a variety of new channels, it also creates increased competition for choice jobs and possible challenges for job hunters.
Job search needs to be thought of as a personal, very aimed marketing operation where you are the product. Your resume is an advertisement. Your extended network of colleagues 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 650 applications in a week. For one position. That’s increased competition for jobs.
Had a suitable candidate contacted us before we posted the ad, they could have gotten the position before running in to all that competition. How? By knowing an employee at our office 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 taken out with a quick triage process. How? The same way any HR professional would. By rejecting resumes where the objective didn’t match our job. By rejecting prospects whose cover letters gave us causes not to engage them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating candidates whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by rejecting prospects who didn’t bother to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.
So the great news is that job boards give you a sense of what companies are hiring, and for what kinds of jobs. But once those jobs are posted, the competition is intense. You can still compete, if you have a well honed 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 potential problem to be aware of is how quickly you can be investigated on the net. As we Googled several job hunters, we ran into some pictures and comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing crazy, but enough to rock our thinking about who to choose.
AA-Careers provides a broad 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!