Job hunting through the Net? 7 tips to help lift your optimism
The job market is good, the Internet is buzzing, and optimism is high.
Still, the best jobs require talent before you walk in the door -- you need to know how to search. Here are seven tips to help you:
1. Navigate the online labyrinth. Only 3 to 5 percent of job seekers find employment through online job sites. The ease of e-mail means big companies receive thousands of applications and so often use a computer tracking system to sort applicants by skill. To catch the computer's eye, you need to tailor your resume to the keyword searches these systems use. ``Sending a resume to a big company's website is like sending your resume into a black hole," says John Sullivan , human resources consultant and professor of management at San Francisco State University.
Sullivan tells of a study where researchers took a job opening and wrote 100 perfect resumes for that opening. Then the researchers added 10 percent more information to the resumes. Of those resumes, only 12 percent were picked up by the tracking system as qualified. This means that even if you are the perfect candidate, if you submit your resume blindly to a large company, there is almost a 90 percent chance that no human will ever see your resume. But you can increase your chances by knowing how to use keywords in your resume. ``Recruiters locate individuals based on a certain skill set of the job they are looking to fill," says recruiting adviser Matt Millunchick .
So try to imagine how someone else would use a search box to find you, and be very specific about your skills. These rules also remain true if you post your resume to an online database . The mass of resumes on job sites is so unruly that human resource staff are paying people in India $20 an hour to sort through resumes to find the good ones, according to David Hanley, the owner of recruit'n, an online recruiting service. So, even in this case, keywords are your best friend.
2. Don't depend on your resume. The typical resume is linear, which makes people without linear careers look like a mess. The resume highlights work gaps in a negative way and leaves little space for achievements and experiences that did not somehow contribute to corporate life. ``The marketplace is changing and the life experience that informs the work people do is changing," says Anne Burdick , information designer and professor at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. The static, linear resume is not an effective way to convey this new experience, so don't lead with it.
Dana Zemack , a publicist, got an agency job by abandoning the conventional resume: She wrote a letter to the agency about how she had been throwing large, elaborate chocolate-tasting parties and charging admission. Zemack explained that at first, she publicized the parties to make sure she'd make enough money to pay for the party.
But then she realized that she had talent as both a party planner and a publicist, so she started planning bigger parties. ``I used my own endeavors as an experiment to see how far I could go as a publicist," she wrote. On a second page, she listed the publicity she was able to generate for the parties. She got the job.
3. Go local. Smaller companies posting on smaller job sites look for employees who may not have a resume optimized for a computer screening. This is how Zemack found her job.
Another way is to join online professional groups, such as those at MySpace. These people know where jobs are. Millunchick says recruiters search through these groups for marketing and technical people.
4. Focus on the referral. Many available jobs are not posted on job boards. But people who work at companies know what positions are available. And employers love referrals, because referral employees have low turnover. In fact, many companies pay employees thousands of dollars for a successful referral.
Pander to that carrot system by offering yourself to an employee at one of those companies. Find people to refer you by looking on sites such as MySpace, Friendster, and Linkedin. Do keyword searches to see if your friends have jobs at firms that interest you. Offline networking works, too. It's just slower. There is no keyword search when you walk into a party. But once you've made the acquaintance, you can Google the person to find their connections.
6. Stalk your dream job. If you don't have connections at your dream location, identify someone there and use the Internet to get in touch with them: Find an e-mail address, phone number -- a conference your target is speaking at. Then ask for an informational interview.
You are far more likely to get a job from an informational interview than from blindly sending resumes. Most people will be flattered by your request. Remember, though, an informational interview is not when you ask for a job. But often, if you make a good impression, the person will help you get a job.
7. Make your own job. Zemack's career really took off when she created a job for herself: throwing the chocolate parties. And in the end, she discovered something that is not a new rule at all: That believing in yourself and creating avenues for your own success attracts a magnificent network of supporters.
