I’ll keep this post short and simple. The online job market isn’t very complex and should not consume and be your only source of daily activity. To get a job, in this economy you need to both think like a marketer and build a personal brand around yourself that cannot be stopped.
(A) Keywords
Understand on a deep level the position that you are looking for and before you post your resume to sites like monster and career builder make sure your resume has the keywords in it that fit the job description that you are looking for.
I know this sounds elementary and logical but for some it isn’t. Résumé’s are found through sites like monster.com and careerbuilder based on keywords that’s why if you are looking for a job as an “affiliate manager” put “affiliate manager” as the title of your resume and you will have a better chance of being found.
(B) Resume Match
A little secret here, recruiters/head hunters aren’t the most intelligent species on earth. As some employers can attest, recruiters are known to look at candidate’s resume and forward over that specific candidate to the companies hiring manager purely based on the matching of keywords to the job description in the resume. If they don’t forward you over right away you will get at least get a phone call from that recruiter showing their interest.
Please take the time to match the job description as much as possible to your resume and or cover letter word for word if possible as most recruiters don’t understand various phrases and terminologies that fit your specific industry. Try to complete this task without embellishing, as you if you do embellish you will just waste both your time and the recruiter’s.
(C) Direct Contact
I can’t say how important the terminology of “direct contact” is during the hiring process. Lots of people will send in what you call blind résumé’s to companies instead of doing their homework and finding out who the hiring manager is.
If you do your homework you will find that the hiring manager is on Linkedin,Facebook, and Twitter as well as their email is accessible through the search engine. Instead of submitting a resume through monster and being thrown in with all the other resumes, you could contact this hiring manager directly.
You also have the option of digging deeper and reading the hiring manager’s blog and taking an active interest in getting to know he/she on a personal level. At this point, you could move forward and send your resume to the hiring manager along with a message targeted toward this hiring manager’s personal interests. This action will instantly develop a personal repoire with them. Remember you are dealing with human being’s here, compliments go far.
(D) Attach a Picture
This might sound like an off base idea but the whole goal of applying for jobs is standing out. As a person who has worked in a hiring manager’s capacity I could tell you that less than 10% of the people who applied with us actually sent in pictures of themselves. A picture is personable, now they can attach an actual face to a resume. This might not get you the job but it will definitely put you over the top if you are going neck and neck with another candidate.
(E) Always Have A Job
You’re probably scratching your head at this statement. Let me clarify this, I don’t understand why but companies like to hire people who are currently employed with other companies. I guess it’s similar to that analogy that as a guy other girls seem to only hit on you when you have a girlfriend. When you’re single it is increasingly difficult to find a date.
I have had the luxury of always having some sort of consulting job while on my job hunt even if it was small amount of pay. Even if you put down you still work for your old job they won’t contact your old job out of fear because you are still currently employed there and they don’t want to be looked upon as poachers.
