Finding a Job Using the Web to Win
A modern job hunting campaign is by nature often intricate. While the web has offered a variety of new channels, it also creates increased competition for choice jobs and possible challenges for job hunters.
Job search needs to be thought of as a highly personal, highly aimed marketing operation where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network is your lead generating machine.
So where does the web fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on Craigslist and got over 600 applications in a calendar week. For one job. That’s increased competition for jobs.
Had the right person contacted us before we ran the ad, they could have secured the position before having all that competition. How? By knowing someone at our office who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone was aware of the job for at least 13 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?
Be careful how you submit your application as well. When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily taken out with a quick triage process. How? The same way any employer would. By rejecting resumes where the objective didn’t match our job description. By eliminating prospects whose cover letters gave us reasons not to employ 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 passing over candidates 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 jobs. But once those jobs are posted, the competition is intense. You can still try, if you have a well thought out 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 quickly and easily you can be checked on on the internet. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some Facebook comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing illegal, but enough to rock our thinking about who to hire.
AA-Careers provides a all-inclusive 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!
