Finding a Job Using the Web to Your Advantage
A modern job hunting campaign is by nature very involved. While the net has offered a variety of new channels, it also creates increased competition for choice jobs and potential challenges for job hunters.
Job hunting needs to be thought of as a personalized, extremely aimed marketing operation where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network of colleagues is your source for information.
So where does the net fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on a popular job board and got 600 plus applications in a calendar week. For one opening. That’s increased competition.
Had a strong person called us before we ran the ad, they could have landed the position before having all that competition. How? By finding an employee at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone was aware of the job for at least 11 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 quick triage process. How? The same way any employer would. By eliminating resumes where the objective didn’t match our job description. By rejecting candidates whose cover letters gave us causes 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 eliminating prospects who didn’t trouble to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.
So the good news is that job sites give you a feel of what companies are hiring, and for what kinds of positions. 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 downside to be aware of is how quickly you can be checked on on the internet. As we Googled several job hunters, we ran into some pictures and comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing larcenous, but enough to tilt 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!
