Job Search
Everything You Say Online Can Be Used Against You
Like many of your peers right now, you find yourself unemployed, and having a hard time making ends meet. You’ve looked online over and over again for a job, but you’re getting no leads – not even any interest in what you can do. You’re utilizing every avenue you can find: Monster, Craig’s list, and even turning to social media outlets, like Facebook and Twitter. But throughout it all, you keep getting turned away.
You have looked over your resume time and time again, looking at everything it has telling about you and offering your amazing skills to the world. You’ve talked about the awards and accolades you’ve earned, the achievements you’ve made throughout your career, and you are even attaching examples of your work to show what you are capable of. You have investigated every reason why you wouldn’t be getting a job…except for your online presence.
At the top of your resume are your name, contact information, and e-mail address. Guess what employers are doing with that information now? They are taking your name and e-mail address, and running them through Google. Try it for yourself sometime – you would be surprised what one search engine will dig up on you…especially that information on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace you thought was for your friends only.
Employers are now running “pre-background” checks with information you are volunteering for all of cyberspace to see. Those pictures of you having too much fun with friends at the bar that are posted on your best friend’s Facebook come straight back to you – and not in an entertaining way. What you post (or what is posted about you) online is a direct correlation to your judgment skills in the real world. And if you have offensive, racy, and questionable pictures or content on your networking pages online, employers are going to think twice before considering you as a viable candidate for their openings.
The good news is that this can be corrected with less than an evening’s working. First off, go through everything you have on yourself online: load up Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, and look through what you have posted. Would your grandmother be proud of the content you have there? If not, you need to remove it – because your future boss won’t like it, either. Secondly, make sure everything shows off the best qualities you have. If you have heavy skills in IT, use your social networking skills to show off what you can do with a simple profile. If you are in sales, use your tweets to sell yourself, and your sales skills.
For those of you even further technologically skilled, make friends with professional networking items, including LinkedIn and Google Profiles. LinkedIn serves as the MySpace for professionals – allowing you to present your resume online, as well as examples of what you do, and what you are currently working on. Plus, you can connect with your colleagues, friends, and experts in a completely professional manner. Google Profiles give you the chance to sell yourself when your next employer comes to call – why not have them see who you are on Google, instead of everything else about you? Simply search the term “Me” in Google, and follow the instructions.
In the job search, everything you say or do online can be held against you. By knowing and controlling the information out there, you will be better able to sell yourself as a professional in your community, as well as in your private life.
Finding the Energy to Network
It’s an interesting phenomenon that often occurs among many job seekers. Everywhere you go, you hear the call to “network, network, network.”And statistics continue to show that the old adage: “It’s who you know”still rings true. Depending on whom you believe, networking in one form or another can account for anywhere from 60% to 80% of all job placements.
Wow! Those are pretty good stats! So why, then, does it seem so hard for all of us, job seekers especially, to find the energy to do it?
I’m not sure anyone can give you exact reasons, but here are a few that I have compiled after having coached hundreds of job seekers each year through the job search process:
1. Networking isn’t linear. You know, when you apply for a position online, it’s pretty straightforward. The company posts an ad; you submit your resume. Never mind that more times than not you will never receive a response from that company, it still feels like progress to you. You can check it off a list. Pat yourself on the back. You did something!
Networking, however, is completely different from that. You show up at an event, have coffee with an old friend, or start up a chat on a social networking site. The experience may be pleasant, but you often walk away feeling like it didn’t do much to further your cause. You talked about the weather, your kids, the latest American Idol winner, etc. How does any of that lead to a job?
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Face it: job searching right now is a bear for nearly everyone. It is harder for some than for others but by and large anyone looking for a new job is struggling to find one. We can analyze why; fewer jobs, employers are more selective, etc. Many job seekers turn to job boards and social networking as tools for their job search. There has been a lot of negative feedback from job seekers about the use of job boards and the lack of response from employers using these job boards. “Are they real jobs?” “Why don’t they respond?” “I feel like my resume goes into a black hole!”
By the same token, employers complain about the lack of quality applicants on job boards. Job seekers fail to follow application instructions or reply to positions for which they aren’t qualified. Employers become complacent about responses from job board applicants, likely thinking they aren’t going to find the candidate they want to hire in that stack.
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A lot of focus is on the job market these days. Much is being said about how to search for a job. What sites to visit, where to look, how to network. What is missing from this? How to input the correct search strings into the search boxes of Google, Twitter, or any job search engine you might encounter during your job search.
That’s just about as important as where to look. If your search phrases are not specific enough, you’ll be wasting your time sifting through jobs that are not relevant to your skills or profession. If you’re too tight on your search specifics your results will be too small to work with.
Each person will go about this in a slightly different way. Dependent on your skill sets your search phrases will vary. However, the logic behind search queries will be fairly consistent across almost any profession.
Boolean Search operators are very useful when conducting a search on google. Setting up google alerts to do this for you should be a integral part of your job search arsenal.
Before you begin your search, first make a list of keywords related to your chosen industry. Also make a list of cities, or geographical locations that you will be searching for jobs in.
When you enter your keywords into search fields, you can search for either a specific word or string of words. This can prove useful when you wish to enter multiple criteria e.g. software developer Tampa Florida. If your job requires a particular skill or qualification you may also wish to include this e.g. C#, PHP, Java, SQL etc.
Do not enter words that are not keywords, a, an, the, at, on etc. There is no need for them and they could throw your results off. You might just end up with movie titles for results. Not what you are looking for.
Use the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT.
You can also combine words using AND, OR, and NOT. For example, network AND engineer will search for jobs which contains both the words network and engineer, although not necessarily next to each other.
Sales OR manager will search for jobs which contain either the word sales or manager.
Sales NOT manager will search for jobs which contain the word sales but not manager.
You can also search for a phrase by typing it exactly as you wish it to appear. E.g. typing “Quantity Surveyor” would return jobs containing the phrase ‘quantity surveyor’. placing your search phrase inside of quotes will return result that only match what was put into the quotes.
Try this search string (without the quotes) in Google and see what you get. “(job, tampa, fl) network OR engineer -Novell”.
Parentheses ( )If you are sure about one search term, but not so sure about the others, you can group them together with parentheses. For example, I know for sure I want to search jobs in Tampa, fl. I also told Google to narrow my results to postings that contain network OR engineer but not Novell. Since I don’t know squat about Novell, why would I need to see search results that need filtering further?
Just try to keep in mind that Google automatically inserts the AND statement automatically anytime you enter multiple keywords. Most job search engines do as well, but if your not getting results use the AND statement. See if it helps; each person should get comfortable using operators, and search phrases that are relevant to their own careers, and goals.
Searching for jobs on twitter.
This is where your search takes on a different spin. Twitter and job authorities on twitter make use of what is known as hashtags. Hashtags are preceded by the ‘#’ symbol. e.g. #jobs or #seojobs, or #prjobs.
Here is an example search phrase to put into a search window in tweetdeck or twhirl. #jobs tampa .net developer. Not using a 3rd party client like tweetdeck of twhirl? Well if you’re serious about your job search you should be.
Using a tool to manage your search on twitter, such as Tweetdeck or Twhirl will put your search on autopilot. You wont have to sit in front of your computer waiting for the perfect job to come along. Leave your client running in the system tray and check it periodically.
Good Luck with your job search I hope this helps. If you would like to contribute more information to this article feel free to contact me @tall_geek on twitter.
In 2008 America shed a record numbers of jobs (over 2.5 million) The largest decrease since the end of WWII. With more losses looming on the horizon, and no slowdown in site, many people are wondering when will it end. This is an unprecedented time for workers in the US, with many people losing their jobs through no fault of their own. This will cause a ripple effect globally. No one is really safe. JobShouts.com wants to offer some ideas to help you in your search.
2009 marked the beginning of a new era in America. A new president is in the oval office. Social media is taking center stage in the web 2.0 movement. Job boards are getting a lot of attention from job seekers. This article is designed to assist the job-seeker. It includes ideas and information gathered from a variety of resources. It details the specifics of using LinkedIn to build your career network, and ideas on how to grow and develop your social networks.
It’s not the be all, end all guide that will guarantee your immediate success. It takes time to build and develop a network. There is no 30 second microwave networking class that actually works. JobShouts.com wants to help by providing ideas and solid advice. Please share this by passing this information along to your peers, friends, family members, or anyone affected by the current employment crisis.
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Competition is stiffer than ever these days; with many more qualified candidates fighting for the same job, what can you do to set yourself apart? In addition to some of the tips given in “10 Ways to Be Competitive in Your Job Search“, here are some tips for the actual interview, which can sometimes be the most nerve-wracking part for job seekers. Take consideration of the following tips to assist you in your next interview:
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With recent unemployment and layoff numbers, it seems there aren’t enough jobs to go around for all of those looking for work. There are things that you can do to improve your odds when competing for a job opportunity; no matter what that job may be. Take these steps to ensure you remain a “top candidate” for consideration during these tough and competitive times.
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