If you are tired of traditional job searching without results, don’t conduct a traditional job search. Instead, conduct a company search. This way you solve two problems in one go – new job + better job! Let me explain. Read more
Everyday, you and thousands of job hunters and professionals network online, but very few actually observe the basics to secure valuable and lasting connections or opportunities that can bring new business or a new job. Read more
You are an interview veteran. You’ve charmed and impressed hiring managers, recruiters and even whole panels with your personality and spot-on answers. In a nutshell, you’re a confident son of a bitch and you know that you’ll walk into any interview and leave with a new job offer. Surprise!! Your invitation for the 1st job interview is this time on Skype or Google Hangout. Ooops… Read more
Job hunting sucks. We all know that. The usual job search experiences range from seemingly unending rejections to permanent communication black holes from job sites or recruiting firms. The whole experience is definitely no fun, particularly if you are unemployed with bills to pay. Read more
If you have been following the advice on this blog, you’d be very precise with your job application. It’s never a good idea to ‘spray n pray’ a standard resume and cover letter. That’s just wasting everyone’s time, including yours. Instead, you should be extremely precise with your applications by only applying for jobs that are a good fit for you. But how do you really know if a job is a good fit? It’s not enough to say “yeah, I think I could do that” or “I’ve done that before” – you need to be specific and thorough with your analysis of the job. Read more
I am sure you have heard this adage before: “It’s not what you know, but who you know”. I think it’s old fashioned. This phrase may be spot on for business, but if you are in job hunting mode what you should really be thinking is: It’s not who you know, it’s who wants to know you. Read more
Welcome and Happy New Year! Are you dreaming of getting a new job in 2015? Someone once said to me in my career that people who have dreams have goals. I agree, but if you dream too much and have your head in the clouds, then you will never get anywhere. I suggest you get real and let go of some or all of these typical job hunter dreams. Get them out of your head if you want to get a job in 2015.
If you want to get a job in 2015, I suggest you get real and let go of some or all of these typical job hunter dreams: get them out of your head now!
Seriously, when did you last apply that practice in your own world? Get real. For realistic people this is simply not how it works. I know, because I hear this at least 20 times each week and it is pretty clear to me that it’s hard for so many job hunters to let go of this dream. If you can manage to think differently about finding work and accept that it really means that you have to get a job and do a job, and that they are two different things, then you will get interviews and jobs.
There’s only one definition of a good resume—it’s the one that gets you the interview. The vast majority of submitted resumes have evolved into ‘data dumps’ and in doing so, what’s been lost to the is the time tested value of telling your story. It’s the story, not the data, that engages the reader and communicates your value. Get it wrong and the reader will not consider you. Facts, figures and numbers, only matter when they form part of a larger story.
This is probably the most evil and most common of all the job hunter dreams, because it can lead to blaming the victim. Not a single week goes by when I don’t read or discover yet another encouragement from self-professed recruiting experts, who tell job hunters to “just work harder.” This unspoken judgment that hard work is all that separates the employed from the jobless is absolute nonsense. Never mind the irrational system we have in place for connecting people and jobs. Never mind luck, chance, connections, age, sex, race, disability, experience or sometimes even talent. Just work harder. Simplistic solutions like ‘work harder’ can feel good because they create the perception that the problem is solved. But it’s not. The dream remains. What you really need to do is search and apply smarter, not harder. That’s how you get job interviews. Call me if you want to know more; simply follow my blog or contact me during our Pro Bono Friday sessions or attend our seminars.
Ask any job hunter or hiring manager what networking means and you’ll get a different answer each time. The word ‘networking’ has become so overused, that it has started to lose its real meaning for so many job hunters. To them, it actually means NOTHING because no one has an outright answer. Networking isn’t everything and it certainly is not wrong; it’s just not enough. And when it’s put forth as ‘the answer’ it becomes a dream. What’s worse is that it becomes a focus on the wrong thing. Networking is not the magic key to a new job.
Oh, and while we are on that subject, just knowing someone, or knowing someone who knows someone, will not get you a job either. You need to do much more than just ‘know someone’. This is probably the weirdest and hardest job hunter dream to challenge or even to dispute because sometimes it’s true! But more often than not it’s really just a start, especially if the connection is only online or simply weak. What’s weak? For starters, so many LinkedIn users believe that networking via their mouse clicks is a connection or a lead to a new job. Need I say more?
What’s even more important than knowing someone via a few mouse clicks or Facebook connection tabs, is actually being a part of something.
Being an active, visible and regular contributor to a community—any community— is real networking. Because it’s from these communities that the genuine connections required to find work are found. You have to put something in to get something out. A mere endorsement or a commentary post in a LinkedIn group does not make you a valuable networker.
We are all for honesty. The problem is the job hunters who confuse including EVERYTHING in their application versus simply including what matters. No small task. And it means something different to every individual. Most job ads are short and simple. So many jobs today are very narrowly focused. That means that the focus in your application has got to be on what matters, NOT on telling your life story. I just looked at another 8 page resume. I am not kidding. 8 pages?!
Telling what matters is what counts. Bottom line? Instead of a focus on being honest and including everything, change the focus to reading and LISTENING and speaking to what’s needed and what matters the most. Less is More!
It is like saying, “Google Translate will solve your language problem.” Get real—LinkedIn is a database. As one of many tools, it might help you find work. But it’s a database, not a magic online kingdom. There are at least 10 alternative sites who do more for you depending on your industry and job search segment.
There are lots of published speculations on the percentage of time job board’s lead to jobs and they range from 5-15%. Is that really true? Maybe. Maybe not. What’s consistent is that the numbers are never more than 20%. What is larger than 20%? The dream that online job boards will do the work for you. Approximately 70% of all job hunters focus their job search energy on online job boards hunting for less than 30% of the actual job opportunities.
Yep—the gatekeeper used to be the receptionist or the protective ‘HR guy’; nowadays the first gatekeeper can be resume parsing systems and software. The idea is the same. The dream that if you could just get past something, or someone, is a silly idea. Wake up. Job hunting is about doing things smarter—not harder—and with consistency.
If you want to get a job in 2015, get your head out of the clouds, focus on what really matters and remember to hunt wisely!
TheJobSearchCoach
Uli
Twitter is easy and job searching on Twitter is a great way to get ahead! So get started and we’ll show you how to find a job with Twitter!
If you haven’t heard of it yet, or if Twitter is all new to you, don’t get stressed out. Not everyone loves gadgets, plus not everyone wants to be on social media 24/7.
That being said, if you are job hunting or job seeking, then Twitter is the perfect free social media and micro blogging service to promote your personal brand. It’s also the perfect tool to complement your online presence on other sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Just go to Twitter to sign up for your account. Ensure that you create a username that is professional, and that will attract employers you want to tweet with. Not Molly55 if you know what I mean.
If your name is taken, consider any combination of your name and your industry or what you do. As with LinkedIn, you will want to put a nice photo up on your profile, and you might want to customize the background image as well.
Don’t forget to fill in the micro biography – keep it short & simple. You don’t have that many words so be precise and tell the world what you do, how much experience you have, and what your major achievements are. I recommend that the URL link be directed to a professional profile on LinkedIn or similar site while you are in job search mode.
When you make your account private, by definition, you make yourself less visible. I wouldn’t advise it. If you’re worried that your personal tweets will make you lose you a job or stop you from getting an interview, either get a second Twitter account or don’t post personal tweets while you’re on the job hunt. You know my advice when I sign off, “hunt wisely!“
Some industry (social media specific) hiring managers, and some of the more clued in recruiters know how to find great talent by searching for people looking for jobs via social media. We regularly advise our JobSearch clients to sign up for Twitter. One of our most recent clients tweeted “looking for FT/PT/#freelance roles in social media” and was snapped up within days. He had followed and retweeted related content and regularly contributed with his own tweets.
Once the recruiters found him, they knew the role he was seeking by reading his bio, and the rest was easy.
Just like when you first signed up for Facebook or LinkedIn, it’s best if you play around with it a bit to familiarize yourself with the functionalities. The big difference is that Twitter is not as personalized, you can choose to follow anybody and anybody can follow you. You will also find that Twitter is much easier to use than most other social media sites, so you should be able to grasp the basics within a half an hour or so. Twitter is all about reading and tweeting short messages.
Before you follow anyone, make sure you have completed your profile. You don’t want to follow people and create a poor first impression with your profile. Once your profile is complete, start looking for people who might have a job for you. Consider recruitment companies, HR departments, line managers, and owners/operators of new social recruiting sites. They are all on Twitter and will be tweeting new job offers and leads for opportunities.
If you follow them, they are likely to follow you and pick up on your tweets. You can actually search Twitter for tweets containing words such as vacancy, new jobs, requirement, etc. This way you can target the Twitter folks who have jobs available.
TwitterJobSearch.com is a really cool site that compiles all the jobs on Twitter, it is global (yes I am not kidding, they even cover Australia & New Zealand) so just type in what job and location you are looking for, and if you want any other suggestions, check my regular tweets at @ulrichschild.
Tweet about interesting stuff. Share the ups and downs of your career, life, friends, and family. Retweet interesting tweets from others. Embed these tweets in your job search about once a day, just give your followers an update so that they get constant reminders that you are looking for a new opportunity. If you post links, always use URL shortening services. Your followers will love you for it. Naturally, as with LinkedIn, don’t ever spam out any tweets and don’t stalk your followers.
Now that you are up and running, you might want to look at smart applications to help you tweet. After all, you don’t want to waste all day on another social media solution. There are some great Auto Follow and Repost tools. I recommend that you use them.
I always advise my JobSearch clients to start by following the 10 to 15 companies they really want to work for. The rest are added to a “list” on Twitter; these lists are designed to help you organise the people and topics you are interested in, whether you follow them or not.
I always advise clients to follow existing employees, (particularly influencers or recruiters) as it is much better than following the company’s Twitter account. Individuals are much more likely to respond.
Increasingly companies are using Twitter to advertise jobs as well as message boards. The character limitations mean they have to be succinct, but there are tons of jobs every day in every field.
Google searching is very useful, but you can’t filter by location. Twitter’s advanced search allows you to specify a location followed by some keywords.
You can also focus your search by removing keywords or including hashtags. For example, #JobsSydney. This can make finding a local job a lot easier.
If you are in Job Search mode, spend at least 10 minutes every day checking your account, about 1-2 times a day, and tweet your material preferably when your followers are most likely to be online (Tweriod is a cool tool to assist you), also catch up on recent direct messages and tweets from people on your list. Retweet the best tweets, and make an effort to respond to as many open questions as you can.
Remember that Twitter is obviously not a miracle tool for new employment, but it complements your other activities, and if used properly will regularly offer new leads and networking opportunities.
So guys, get out there and do your tweets, please share your experiences with Twitter, and whether or not it’s helped you, and remember to hunt wisely!
TheJobSearchCoach Uli
What should you do when you repeatedly fail the 1st or 2nd job interview? What is the real problem? Is it you?
Email is the universal business communication tool, yet so many emails go straight to the trash or remain unopened. I have 10 easy tips to ensure your name in the ‘from’ field becomes a stress reducer for your clients, colleagues and even your recruiter or hiring manager if you are job seeking.
