Job Search Using the Net to Win
A modern job hunting campaign is by nature quite complicated. While the internet has offered a variety of new channels, it also creates increased competition for choice jobs and potential challenges for job hunters.
Job search needs to be thought of as a personalized, very directed marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network of associates is your source for information and opportunities.
So where does the web fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on a popular job board and got over 650 applications in a week. For one opening. That’s increased competition for jobs.
Had the right person gotten ahold of us before we placed the ad, they could have secured the position before getting all that competition. How? By knowing someone at our office who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew 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 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 eliminated with a fast triage process. How? The same way any HR professional would. By rejecting resumes where the objective didn’t match our job posting. By rejecting candidates whose cover letters gave us grounds not to hire 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 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 try, 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 thing to be aware of is how easily you can be investigated on the net. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some MySpace comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing illegal, but enough to swing our thoughts 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!
