Tuesday’s Tip
You’ve got an awesome resume you had developed by a professional resume writer and now you’ve posted it on Monster, CareerBuilder, Indeed, and Simply Hired. Feeling very confident you’ve even signed up to LinkedIn and developed a pretty savvy profile. Now it has been 3 weeks and all you’ve gotten are hits on your postings that don’t fit your goals or even your resume at all. Starting to feel a little less confident in your current job search strategies, you begin searching through Google looking for ways to improve your job search.
You will discover that between your resume and your interview, what you must Do is search. The word search is a verb, an action word. The only way you will be successful in finding a job is by being a verb, an action word, searching, researching, connecting, contacting, prospecting, asking, talking, doing…all verbs – all action words. Get the point? You have to take action in order to find a job.
The more curious and bold you can become, the faster and more successful you’ll be. Monitor your postings, develop your contact list, search companies, connect with LinkedIn contacts, go to networking events but then take it all one step further. How? Let’s look at what the next step might look like.
Well let’s start with monitoring your postings. If you find a posting that looks really interesting – start investigating to find out if there is a way to get your resume directly into the hands of the hiring manager other than going through the online application process. Who do you know at that company?
Check out LinkedIn, your networking groups and your contacts. Do you know anyone directly or indirectly at the company you are targeting? Find out – make the extra calls, be polite and gracious but find out! If you can find someone to hand deliver you or your resume to the hiring manager, imagine the dozens or even hundreds of resumes you’ll bypass. It is worth the effort.
Stay connected with your contacts, your networking friends, your twitter, Facebook and the 10 other social networking sites you’ve joined. Follow up on any and every lead you receive. You never know where your next job will come from. It may be through someone in another state or country, and you think…this is just a waste of time – you are wrong. The world is getting smaller every day. People know other people from other areas of the world and so distant contacts can be very effective – I’ve seen it happen first hand!
When you are researching a company or industry read, make calls, join organizations but keep searching. Don’t stop at just one contact, look for more. Find out what problem needs to be solved, what product needs to be developed, what market needs to be penetrated and see if you can be a solution to them. If so, let them know.
Be creative – follow leads, make up a few moves of your own. Talk with others, help other job seekers find work, or volunteer your talents. Look into new possibilities too, don’t be so pigeonholed that you miss an opportunity that isn’t what you expected – might be the best thing you ever missed!
Remember that the action you take is what will make you a success in finding a job. Your resume and other documents only count for about 15% of the effort that is needed to make your search successful. Be a verb – do more – you’ll be glad you did.
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