As
this section is being written, the warp
speed changes in Internet career search
technologies and strategies make this
section’s content instantaneously
out of date. The core information and
principles behind the content are solid,
but you will need to continually watch
for new career websites, modifications
to existing career websites and, in
some cases, removal of career websites.
Keeping yourself current in these emerging
technologies is not easy, but it is
worth the effort.
In this section we will explore ideas
to effectively post your resume online,
how to find job opportunities, and how
to respond to those opportunities. We
will also review techniques to research
companies and individuals within those
companies.
There are literally
thousands of websites where you can
post your resume. They range from the
giant resume search engines like CareerBuilder.com
and Monster.com to
small “mom and pop” companies
that accept resumes for local jobs.
A common question is “Which is
the best website for posting your resume?”
There is no easy answer to that question.
Each resume-posting website typically
has its own unique characteristics such
as industry specialization, job type
specialization, or location.
To make your search for resume posting
websites easier, in the “Members
Only” section of our
website, you will have access to a database
of over 900 website categorized by type
of career website and industry or functional
area. Most of these websites are also
profiled for your easy evaluation. Remember,
these types of websites come and go
on a regular basis. We update regularly,
but it is never perfect.
When posting, you must use a “text-only”
formatted resume—do not include
the accomplishment summaries or insights
documents. A text-only resume cannot
include bullets, graphs, or any special
formatting. You will see samples in
your workshop or during your personal
coaching.
To create a text-only document, open
your MSWord resume
document. Go to “File-->Save
As” on the menu bar.
A “save as”
dialog box will appear; use the “Save
as type” drop-down box
to select Plain Text (*.txt).
You have the option to select the name
of the file; we recommend you use your
last name only as the file name (for
both the MSWord and
the text-only documents).
When you click “Save,”
another dialog box will appear to ask
which encoding you wish to use. Select
“Other encoding”
and choose “US-ASCII”
from the selection box. When you save
the file, you will get a warning box
that some formatting will be lost. Continue
with the save.
Close the document; it will still be
showing with MSWord
formatting. Use Windows Explorer
to navigate to the “yourname.txt”
file in the folder where you saved it
and double-click to open it. It will
open in Notepad.
Edit the document in Notepad
to add lines between headers and paragraphs
as you see fit (see the sample
file). The bulleted items should
display with asterisks instead of bullets.
You will need to eliminate any reference
to graphs or visuals that appeared in
your MSWord version.
You will also need to use the “Find”
(Ctrl-F) function to find all
the question mark characters—dashes,
apostrophes and quotation marks will
appear as question marks. Change each
question mark to the appropriate character
and move through the entire document
with “Ctrl-F”
and the “Find Next”
button on the dialog box to make sure
you get them all.
Tips for Maximum Hits
1.
When you post,
your resume will appear in chronological
order based on the exact time
of day when you post. When an
organization or recruiter conducts
a search by keyword, the resumes
will appear in the chronological
order based on date or time. People
who post after you will have their
resume appear ahead of yours.
TIP: To keep your resume as close
to the top as possible, purchase
the "Upgrade" if offered, and
if it is within your budget. If
not within you budget, then every
few days, do an edit to your resume;
i.e. take out a word and then
put it back in. Your resume will
then move back to the top of the
postings.
2.
When you are
posting your resume, there will
also be a box where you are expected
to type your function title; i.e.
sales person, admin manager, network
engineer etc. What most job seekers
don't realize is that frequently
that box allows you high character
count. Therefore, you can put
more then your functional title.
TIP: Include a powerful one-liner
to generate interest. For example,
a sales person might add "hunter,
killer, sales strike force leader.
An admin manager might add "committed
to streamlining operations and
cutting admin costs. A network
engineer might add "implementation
of state-of-the-art systems for
maximum cost effective performance."
Guaranteed you will stand apart
from all other job posters.
3.
If you are willing to relocate, even when you select "Worldwide" or "United States", that does not mean that your resume will appear in every regional search across the country. Some resume posting websites will allow you to post multiple resumes. With each of these resumes, select a different metropolitan area of your choice. That is the only way to guarantee that your resume will appear in those cities.
4.
If you have a
resume website or portfolio, many
sites will not allow you to type
in the link. Their computers are
programmed to recognize either
"http" or "www" as a web address.
TIP: Refer to
your resume website as "yoursiteaddress.com."
Do not include the http
or www. It will
not appear as a link, but everyone
today know that a name ending
in ".com"
is a URL and can be copied and
pasted or typed into the address
bar.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of job leads posted on the Internet.
Maybe millions. And finding them is actually becoming easier and easier.
The standard approach to find leads is
to search the big job boards like CareerBuilder.com
and Monster.com as well
as the hundreds of smaller job sites.
When you search these sites, you will
frequently see the option to sign up for
their free "job agent." If this service
is offered, be certain to sign up for
it. After you enter your information,
on a daily basis, you will receive emails
with job announcements that match your
search criteria.
There are also websites that conduct "spidered" or "meta" searches. These sites
usually have a nominal fee. When you sign up, the meta search engine will search
multiple career websites for jobs that match your search criteria. While there
is a fee, it can save you hours of search time.
As previously indicated, go to the Members
Only section of our site to view
over 900 job search websites.
The method of response to Internet job leads depends on how the procedure for each individual job board. Some companies will ask you to attach your resume to an email reply. Some companies do not accept attachments, so they will ask you to copy a text only version of your resume into the email.
Companies usually insist that you only respond to the email within the ad. They will not accept phone calls or resumes sent by "snail mail." The email may be a corporate email, typically going to HR, or it may be an anonymous email that goes into a black hole somewhere.
When responding to these leads, do not include
a long cover letter unless requested to do so.
Keep your email response short and to the point.
For example:
"Good morning. My sales leadership
and commitment to driving accelerated growth
will be an asset to your organization. I will
not accept anything less than to be the best
in your organization. My resume is copied
below for your review."
Of course you should respond in the format that they request.
But don't hesitate to try to get through the
"backdoor." If you can determine the identity
of the employer, send a snail mail resume to
the head of the department where you would most
likely be working. If you cannot determine the
name of that individual, just send it to the
appropriate title. For example, if you are seeking
a position as an accountant, then address the
resume to the attention of the Manager of Accounting.
It will usually get to the right person.
No question about it. We all know that you should conduct research on a company before
you go in for an interview. The problem is that almost everyone does some superficial
research, so you really haven't gained a competitive edge. Let's take a look at how to conduct
in-depth research that will set you apart from all other candidates.
First, you should conduct comprehensive Internet research on the company and its competitors.
Second, you should research the people who will do the interviewing, and third, you
should do some field research on the company. Through your research, you will learn about
products, services, management strengths (or weaknesses), financial condition, competition,
corporate culture, and community reputation.
You are right! This is going to be a lot of
hard work! But how serious are you about landing
the job? Here is a concise list concise list
of 12 tips to launch your research developed
by Randy Guffey, senior partner of E-Clarity
(www.e-clarity.us).
Most of the resources are free, but in some
cases there are nominal fees.
Obtain
basic information from directory listings
such as Hoover's www.hoovers.com,
Standard & Poor's www.spglobal.com,
or investment advisory websites. This will
give you information on the type of company,
size, age, number of employees, and revenues.
2.
If
the company is privately owned, look for local
news and business sources in the area of the
company’s operations. Your local newspapers
typically have Internet archives that can
be searched easily. In difficult cases, find
state corporation records at www.nass.org/sos/sos.html,
then select regulatory, county, and city sources.
3.
If
the company is non-profit, start with Guidestar,
where most results are free after registration:
www.guidestar.org.
Some information can also be found in the
Better Business Bureau site www.bbb.org
for all types of companies, including non-profits.
Be
sure to use the Google "Groups" tab and Yahoo
"Web Site Directory" section to find information
on the company's products or services. To
learn the best way to use search engines,
look at www.searchenginewatch.com/facts/index.php.
View
industry publications at www.yahoo.com,
selecting Business & Economy, News and Media;
under "Categories" select Magazines, and then
select Trade Magazines. Also view major industry
news in the menu bar on www.msnbc.com
in the pop-up window in Business, Tech/Science,
Health, Multimedia, or Local News.
8.
For biographical information on those who are interviewing you, see if the company website provides a profile of your subject. Also use all search engines and news sources using variations of the name or combining the company name with the person's name. Typically you want to put the name in quotation marks for effective search results.
Three of the top overall information sources
(newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters,
market studies, etc.) allow free searching
but payment is required to retrieve articles:
www.factiva.com,
www.lexis-nexis.com,
and www.dialog.com.
To
research a position, check out: (1) www.bls.gov/oco/oco20054.htm,
(2) http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/43-9051.02,
(3) visit popular sites for job posting like
www.monster.com
and perform searches for the job title or
similar ones, and (4) consider visiting professional
associations for the client's industry. Ask
the client if there is a professional association
for his/her industry/specialty, or go to www.asaenet.org,
click on "directories" and then
"associations" to search for a match.
While Internet research is imperative and extraordinarily valuable, nothing replaces good old-fashioned field research. Get out in the marketplace and learn about the company's products or services. Visit stores or distributors to view the products and see how they compare to their competition. Talk to customers or people in the distribution channel. Write up summaries about what you learned and develop questions from your research to use during your interview.
To illustrate the power of effective research, here are a couple of real life examples:
A lady with about six years of merchandising experience wanted to become a merchandise manager for a major premium coffee franchise company headquartered in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to contacting the company, we had her conduct in-depth field research by visiting several franchise locations, observing their current merchandising activities, and interviewing the store managers. She developed a three-page summary of her results and submitted it with her resume directly to the Vice President of Merchandising. It generated an immediate interview and she landed the job in two weeks.
A recent graduate was seeking an entry-level position with a company doing laser technology research. His first step was to research and identify all companies conducting pioneering research in laser applications. He followed tradition and applied to HR with zero results. We then had him research articles on emerging laser technologies. He wrote a letter to the authors that basically said:
"I recently read your article on laser technology.
As a recent graduate with a science degree,
I am seeking the opportunity to learn from
the best and contribute to the industry. I
would consider it an honor and privilege to
join you in your ground-breaking research."
Within a few weeks he had multiple offers.
Research can be the key to securing a challenging opportunity. Take the time and effort to conduct in-depth research in order to become the candidate of choice.
As
this section is being written, the warp
speed changes in Internet career search
technologies and strategies make this
section’s content instantaneously
out of date. The core information and
principles behind the content are solid,
but you will need to continually watch
for new career websites, modifications
to existing career websites and, in
some cases, removal of career websites.