Job Search Using the Net to Win
The Internet offers huge opportunities for a job hunter, but also presents several potential challenges. It also adds great complexities, and a lot more matters to consider…and be wary of.
Job hunting needs to be thought of as a highly personal, extremely directed marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network of colleagues is your inside source for information and job leads.
So where does the net fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on a popular job site and got over 600 responses in a calendar week. For one position. That’s increased competition.
Had a strong person called us before we posted the ad, they could have secured the job prior to getting all that competition. How? By finding someone at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew about of the job for at least 8 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 fast-paced triage process. How? The same way any hiring manager would. By eliminating resumes where the objective didn’t match our position description. By passing over prospects whose cover letters gave us grounds not to employ 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 passing over prospects who didn’t trouble to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.
So the good 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 thing to be aware of is how quickly you can be checked on on the web. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some Facebook comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing illegal, but enough to rock our thoughts 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!
