Job Search Using the Net to Succeed
The Internet offers huge opportunities for a job hunter, but also presents several possible challenges. It also adds many complexities, and a lot more matters to think about…and be wary of.
Job hunting needs to be thought of as a personal, very directed marketing operation where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network of contacts is your source for job information.
So where does the web fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on a popular job site and got 600 plus responses in a calendar week. For a single opening. That’s increased competition.
Had a strong candidate contacted us before we posted the ad, they could have landed the position before getting all that competition. How? By finding someone at our office who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew of the job for at least 7 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?
Be careful to check your application materials thoroughly before submitting them. When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily removed with a speedy triage process. How? The same way any HR professional would. By passing over resumes where the objective didn’t match our job. By passing over prospects whose cover letters gave us reasons not to hire 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 passing over job hunters who didn’t bother to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.
So the great news is that job boards give you a feel of what companies are hiring, and for what kinds of positions. But once those positions are posted, the competition is intense. You can still try, 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 downside to be aware of is how quickly you can be checked out on the web. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some Facebook comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing illegal, but enough to swing our thinking about who to hire.
AA-Careers provides a encompassing 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!
