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5 steps to let your dream job find you

Posted by Mario Sundar in web 2.0 marketing, blog conversation, marketing tools. trackback

Just earlier today, I read this interesting piece on the changing face of today’s barrier less digital economy (a la “World is Flat”) on CNN. The article highlights how the CV/resume has evolved over the past few years from a paper based resume to the online version, and made it easier to find you that dream job.

So, let me highlight five steps to announce to your dream job, that you’ve arrived! Gone are the days, when you found the perfect job when you wanted one! The task is made infinitely easier for those who obsess about their favorite topic of interest and have an online brand that defines that.

1. Start networking today — Off line events

What started off as a necessity while I was into business development - networking with fellow marketers, led to a passion towards attending events on topics that enthralled me (web 2.0 related), and slowly towards finding a community of like-minded peers. For e.g. If your primary area of interest is web 2.0 marketing there is no dearth of events that you can attend. Here are probably three primary sources: Upcoming.org, Meetup, and the Web 2.0 Expo.

Although resumes posted on the Internet has increased the job-hunting prowess for many, traditional approaches — such as old-fashioned, off-line networking, is still a powerful job-seeking tool. “You need a blended approach — you can’t put your eggs all in one basket,” Alan Whitford says. (Source: CNN Article “Interactive CVs…” dtd. 4/7/7)

2. Start a blog on your favorite topic — Online presence

In order to find that dream job, let’s face it, you’ve got to have a dream! If you have a dream, you’ve got to announce it from the rooftops and the present-day equivalent of that would be for you to start a blog. For e.g. When I started my blog, I knew I loved marketing but it helped me evolve towards specific topics I closely identify with (such as customer evangelism and community marketing), fueled by friends in that space (Mack, Jeremiah, Damon, and others).

Blogging, I realized was a great way to effectively share thoughts, energize, and converse with my friends. I think an important first step was finding that community of marketers. In my case, I’d have to thank Mack and Ann for welcoming me into the circle of marketers. But trust me, your circle will find you.

3. Engage with those who share your enthusiasm for the topic

Let your “circle of interest” find you. And once they do, the conversations that ensue will be worth all the effort. There are many tools to accentuate that behavior. A case in point: Twitter, which everyone’s been talking about, helps you connect with your audience/circle of hyper passionate individuals you call your online network. In a recent TIME article, “The Hyperconnected“, Lev Grossman talks of how ubiquitous technology like Twitter and iPhone are going to make things worse or better to engage with your trusted network, depending on how you look at it.

4. Find a tool to sustain both kinds of networking (online/offline)

Now, when I started off networking, I initially tried out an online networking service and felt handicapped by the fact that most of my friends weren’t on those networks and then I moved to LinkedIn (LI). The good news with LI then was that I was able to establish a virtual connection with my friends from high school, college, professional colleagues, the contacts I’d made networking - offline and online, and I was accumulating them all into one single repository (Disclosure: I’m the Community Evangelist at LinkedIn). Now there could be other online resources that you swear by. It doesn’t matter, just have a single easy-to-use repository of connections, and most importantly a tool that enables conversations. More on LinkedIn (via CNN):

Other user-to-user Web sites have conversely been a boon to job seekers: LinkedIn, a Web site dedicated for networking among job seekers, has gained acclaim for matching people together for business purposes.

“LinkedIn has gone a long way to recreate informal social networks for job seekers,” says Alan Whitford, who has written extensively about online recruitment and runs Abtech Partnership, which consults companies about using online tools for hiring. (Source: CNN Article “Interactive CVs…” dtd. 4/7/7)

5. Craft your online presence around your favorite topic

If you follow the above four rules, I’m sure you’ll definitely find yourself continuously among “birds of a feather” and that’d definitely solidify your presence among your “Circle of Interest”, meaning those who are as passionate about your area of interest as you are.

Whichever way you think of it, a blog or an online professional networking tool is an essential component to your online brand and let’s face it, companies are increasingly searching for you on the web. What’s the easiest way to find you on the web? Yes, just Google yourself and see how your web presence defines you. For e.g. here’s my online brand - here.

After almost a year of blogging and 2 years of being on LinkedIn, here’s how I stack up (in order of search results on the first page of my vanity google search):

a. My blog, focused on customer evangelism and community marketing

b. My blog contribution on MarketingProfs (Thanks, Ann) - on corporate blogging and Top CMO Blogs

c. My LinkedIn Profile

d. My Image (Profile) on Flickr

e. My Events

f. Video announcement of my most recent job

g. MyBlogLog Community

Interviewing and Landing the Perfect Job!

Interviewing, occupational, and customer service skills are not something you are born with – they are usually learned by watching others. The interviewing process can be extremely uncomfortable and sometimes even scary to those that are unfamiliar, but here are some great tips in learning how to “land that perfect job”.

Prepare a resume. Have a well-constructed resume (preferably one page) ready to hand to the prospective employer. Most word processing programs have good outlines you can use. Be sure to have someone review the resume for grammar and typos. Visit the prospective employer’s website to gather as much information about the place of business. Once you feel informed, go in person to ask the prospective employer for an application. This will be their opportunity to form a first impression of you so plan your attire and appearance carefully. For example, refrain from wearing nose, mouth, eyebrow jewelry or heavy make-up; wear clean and pressed clothing; and be freshly showered. Remember, this is not the interview but it is still important. Since the employer is not having a conversation with you, how you present yourself is the only impression they will have to set you apart from other job seekers. Once you have the application, inform the prospective employer when you will return with the completed form. Give yourself time to copy the application so that you can practice writing a draft. You do not want to have to return to the same employer and ask for a second application. Once you are sure the draft is complete copy or type the information in ink on a fresh application.

Return to the prospective employer at the time you said that you would be returning. This shows them your ability to manage your time and to be punctual. It is fine to politely ask if the person doing the hiring is available. If that person is unavailable DO NOT PRESS to talk to the manager. If you are too persistent or annoying to the person accepting your application, that information will surely be passed on to the hiring manager. Treat everyone that you come into contact with as if he or she was the one making the decision to hire you. Hopefully you will be selected for an interview. The interview can be stressful for even the most experienced job seeker; it’s completely natural to be nervous. Don’t start the interview off on the wrong note by arriving too early, i.e. 15-20 minutes early or too late. A great trick would be to arrive early and wait in your car, or in the vicinity, until just about 5 minutes before the interview is scheduled. This will keep you relaxed and calm before the interview instead of anxious and running around. Be prepared for the interview by learning as much as you can about the business and job you are applying for. Remember to sit up straight and make eye contact; listen to the questions being asked and respond honestly; and most importantly try to sit still—don’t fidget or play with your hair—keep your hands relaxed. If you do not understand a question, don’t try to answer it; ask for clarification so you can answer it appropriately.

Looking for a job is always stressful, no matter how long you have been in the workforce. However, knowing how to present yourself to an employer helps to open doors for you, and the more these skills are practiced the easier it will get. Good luck.
For anyone needing help with their resume or other related issues please feel free to e-mail us – we are here to help!

A Simple Way To Increase Your Job Search Success

If you’re feeling discouraged about your job search, you might achieve better results with one simple change to your process: diversify your approach. Polls indicate that more than half the people who employed only one strategy to look for jobs lost their momentum and abandoned their search after two months; while those who incorporated several strategies stayed the course until they found an acceptable position.

It may seem like an easy path to your next job to sit at your computer and surf the Internet. But, I’m sorry to say that a computer-based job search is typically not very effective if it’s your only course of action. Furthermore, it is an approach that keeps you isolated and out of touch with individuals who could encourage you and keep you motivated in your efforts to find new work.

I suggest spending no more than an hour each day reviewing on line job postings and perhaps another hour with resume submissions and researching prospective employers’ websites. Divide the rest of your day into a variety of activities, including ones that could have an indirect impact on your jobs search success by lifting your spirits or helping to relieve stress.

Below is a list of the primary ways people find jobs, with the first four by far the most effective. Select one or two to add to your job search process—doing that just might increase your success rate as well as improve your outlook.

1. Get clear on what you do well and what you enjoy doing. Then identify where in the marketplace those skills are needed. Conduct informational interviews with people who have these jobs to determine if there is a match for you. Ask for names of more people to speak with who are in this field.
2. Make cold calls and/or knock on doors of organizations or companies of interest to you and where you could add value to determine if they have openings.
3. Ask for job leads from family, friends, former colleagues and acquaintances.
4. Attend a group organized for people in the job search where networking is encouraged and practiced.
5. Apply for jobs advertised in the newspaper, trade journals or seen on line.
6. Go to private employment agencies.
7. Send out unsolicited resumes to random employers. (It is estimated that only one job offer results from sending out 1700 resumes.)

Spring cleanup of your résumé will be helpful

In order to help you “spring clean” your résumé, Dear Sam will be presenting client case studies all month to provide readers with strategies to make their résumés more effective and yield stronger results in their own searches. To view the before-and-after résumés, please visit www.dearsamonline.com/cincy.

CLIENT BACKGROUND

Jennifer had a strong administrative and customer service background and wished to secure a position in the administrative, customer service or medical billing/coding arena. She had held nine positions since 1985, all of which were listed on her original two-page résumé.

Jennifer did not have a degree, although she had pursued a B.A. for three years and one class toward a degree in human resources.

RÉSUMÉ STRATEGIES

When I first opened Jennifer’s file I knew we would be transitioning her résumé from a functional to a standard reverse chronological résumé. Functional résumés are only effective when you have little chance to get your foot in the door if you present your experience in the “preferred” format.

For Jennifer, there was no need to resort to a functional résumé. She felt that she had changed jobs frequently, a reason she chose to use the functional format, but when transitioning focus from her post-1985 to her post-1994 experience, there was no such concern.
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Five ways to do better in phone interview by Penelope Trunk, Brazen Careerist

The last phone interview I did was for my job at the Boston Globe. And let me just confess that I wasn’t that great in the interview, and I stressed a lot afterwards about not getting the job. But, of course, I did get the job, which I think might be evidence that I write so much about career advice that I am becoming way too hard on myself.

At any rate, I have done tons of phone interviews — on both sides of the hiring equation — so when Sia asked me to write a post on how to do a phone interview, I was surprised that I hadn’t written one already. (Although I have written a bunch about interviews.)

So, here are five tips for doing well in a phone interview:

1. Attend to your surroundings.
If you have an interview scheduled, take precautions beforehand to get in a good spot physically.

Don’t take the interview when you are at your desk and can’t talk freely. Don’t take the call when there is too much noise in the background. And don’t be walking from one place to another because the breathlessness that comes from walking and talking at the same time subconsciously conveys lack of authority to someone who doesn’t know you.

If you did not schedule it beforehand, feel free to ask the interviewer if you can call back at a better time. You will not sound disinterested, but rather, you will sound concerned for managing your life organizing your commitments.

2. Dress for the part.
Consider getting dressed up for your interview, even though no one will see you.

The emails you write to a hiring manager are different than your emails to your friends, You can’t talk to an interviewer the same way you talk with your friends. You know this, but the shift is difficult without practice. And if you are not practiced at talking about business on the phone it’s hard to get into business mode for the call.

A way to compensate for this is to dress for an interview even though the interviewer can’t see you. In the 90s when people debated the virtues of dumping suits at the workplace in favor of business casual, there was a fair amount of research to show that people took their work more seriously when they were in a suit. Makes sense. Girls act more like a princess when they’re in a prom dess than when they’re in running shorts, and the same changes happen with people in work clothes.

I’m not saying you should wear a suit all the time. i’m saying that when there’s a risk of you sounding too casual or unprofessional on the phone, dressing up a little can actually change how you sound.

3. Stand up.
No kidding. You’ll sound more self confident and dynamic if you stand while you speak than if you sit. Walking around a bit, but not too much, also keeps the call going smoothly. If your body is confined, your speech sounds different than if you have run of the room. It’s one reason that the best speakers walk around instead of standing in one place at the podium.

Using hand gestures is very natural for talking, so allow yourself to use them, even though you’re on the phone. You don’t have to force it. They will just come, as long as your hands are free. And you want to sound natural on the phone because authentic is more likeable than stilted. So walking around a room with a headset will actually give you the freedom to be more of yourself on the call.

4. Prepare for the most obvious questions.
A resume is to get someone to pay attention to you. An in-person interview is to see if people like you. Somewhere in between those two events, people need to make sure you are qualified and you don’t have any huge red flags. So in a phone interview you can expect people to focus on those two areas.

You will probably get questions asking you to show that you actually have the skills to accomplish the goals for the open position. Be prepared to give organized, rehearsed examples of how you have performed at work in the past in order to show your skill set.

Also, be ready for a question about the most obvious problem on you resume — often frequent job changes or big gaps in work. These are answers you should practice. Even if your answer isn’t great, a good delivery can make the difference between getting through a phone screen or not.

5. Don’t forget to close.
An interview is about selling yourself, and the best salespeople are closers. Your goal for a phone interview is to get an in-person interview. So don’t get off the phone until you have made some efforts to get to that step. Ask what the process is for deciding who to interview face-to-face. Ask for decision-making timelines, and try to find out who is making the decisions. Don’t barrage the interviewer with questions in this regard, but the more information you have, the more able you will be to get yourself to the next step.

And don’t forget a key component of a successful interview — even for a phone interview: A thank you note.

A resume that pops will give you a big lead in the job hunt by Ted Pincus

Looking to step up? Step out? It’s about time somebody told you that you’re probably doing it wrong. It’s ironic that the one thing in life that truly stands between a person and his or her career goals is nothing more than a flimsy typed piece of paper. But that’s a perennial fact of life, whether you’re a college senior now about to seek job one, or a veteran CEO who wants a change. The first, and sometimes the only, thing between you and the big decision-maker about your life is your resume.

Oh, of course there’s the job interview, the diligent preparation and the brilliant presentation you’ll make before the screening committee. But almost inevitably, you’ll never get to first base for a live appearance unless somebody somewhere scans your resume and likes it.

The funny thing is, I’ve never had to write one because I’ve had my own business. But over 45 years I’ve screened and rejected thousands of them for five- and six-figure positions I’ve had to fill for my firm. And in that time, I learned a lot about why most resumes are D.O.A. and end up in the round file in a twinkling.

Forget what you think you know
So to any of you who are about to put yourself on the market, I say: Forget what you’ve learned about preparing resumes, and listen to this gospel. I’ve seen what wins jobs. Focus on these 10 principles:
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How Long Should Your Resume Be?

To each job seeker who has struggled to cram his resume onto one page: I hereby give you permission to exceed that limit. The “one page” caveat is outdated and unnecessary….unless of course you don’t have enough experience or accolades to spill onto a second page, in which case one page is sufficient. On the other hand, resumes of senior executives can be – and often should be – 3, 4 or 5 pages to sufficiently convey the depth of their experience and skills, both tangible and intangible.

Then how long should a resume be? Remember it’s a brochure, and it’s selling you as the product. So it needs to be long enough to tell what you’ve done, sell what you can do, and be inviting to the eye. It needs to be tightly written with bulleted accomplishments and not bore the reader with unnecessary details. Information needs to be distinct and easily located. Don’t leave out relevant information or squish things together, especially because you fear your resume is too long. Somewhere in there is the length of your resume.

Some of the worst sins candidates use to save space and keep their resume to a perceived proper length are block paragraphs or a microscopic font. Both are immediate migraine inducers that land your resume in the trashcan. You need that white space in there, no matter how much it increases the length.
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BBB warns of job scams

The Better Business Bureau issued a warning advising job-seekers to beware of misleading online job postings and employment arrangements aimed at stealing money and identities.

Online employment scams generally target the increasing population of workers wanting to work from home, but also impact those looking for second jobs, and young people looking for part-time employment.

Complaints to the Better Business Bureau span dozens of sites, to include employment advertisements listed on well-known, legitimate job sites such as Monster, CareerBuilder and Yahoo Hot Jobs. New fraudulent offers seem to appear as quickly as screeners for these and other online job posting services can remove them.

A common denominator in all online job scams is the employer’s lack of interest in meeting the employee. There is no job interview and the job applicant is not invited to the place of business.

A job seeker should refuse any employment opportunity that involves:

Using your personal bank account, paying money out of your pocket, re-shipping products, divulging private information, offers from entities located outside the United States and Canada are typically suspect.

To further guard against identity theft, the BBB advises job-hunters to refrain from including their Social Security number, birth date, or college graduation date in resumes that are posted online. Consider posting you resume anonymously, and providing an e-mail address as your primary contact rather than your home address or phone number.