Tips to Accelerate Your Job Search
Greetings Motor City Connect!
As a new member, I have learned a lot by reading your posts and I am excited to jump into this group with both feet and see how I can help. There have been some great posts for developing a great resume, but I would like to talk about some strategies I have crafted for getting an employers attention. I would like to share a few of these strategies here for anyone else who feels their job search could use a boost. Because I can often be long-winded I will post these tips in four parts.
Part 1 - Who are you replacing?
The internet has given us more opportunities for research than we are aware; use all of them to your advantage. While googling the company is always a great start, why not search LinkedIn for employees that have held the position you are applying for at the firm? You can learn much more about a job by reading a description of daily duties and activities written by someone who has actually performed the job. This will often be more insightful than HR's posted description.
For larger firms you can also track where employees have come from before they were in that position and what roles they advanced into. Also take time to read the job description of the position's manager. Identify any common skills and traits that are useful for the position and be sure to include those in your letters and resume. Connect with these individuals and ask for their insight, direction and feedback on any questions you have.
While your there look for and take time to get to know the key department leaders and hiring mangers who you may meet at an interview.
Hope this helps, another great tip coming tomorrow!
-Jeff Duguid
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Part 1 - Who are you replacing?
Part 2 - Land on the top of the pile
In marketing it is important to make sure our message is clear and reaches our target audience. When you are selling yourself to an employer, recruiter or HR professional who is being bombarded with competing resumes you need to make sure yours lands on the top of the pile. After all their attention span will be greater for the top of the pile and they may not ever make it to the bottom of the pile.
If you know the contact person who will be reviewing the resumes why not hand deliver it or send it to them directly using FedEx or UPS. While their email inbox will be overflowing with resumes that all blur together in their mind, or faxed resumes that literally do blur together, a crisp, clean resume on heavy cotton paper delivered by personally or by currier will stand out. This will also give you a slight edge by being able to introduce yourself and provide a face to go with the resume.
Everyone loves to receive interesting mail at work and it doesn't get much more interesting than an unexpected courier delivery that needs to be signed for!
Hope this helps, another great tip coming Monday!
-Jeff Duguid
Part 1 - Who are you replacing?
Part 2 - Land on the top of the pile
Part 3 - Create a visual impression, 24 hours a day
Do you have a portfolio? If you answer no and don't think that you could benefit from having one, you are mistaken. A resume is a boring document and we live in an entertaining age, find a way to express your qualifications, skills and interests in a visual way that will create a lasting impression.
An online portfolio is great because it can be accessed anytime, possibly even before a decision has been made to grant an interview. You can create your own website, use a service like WordPress's pages, or a profile on LinkedIn or Facebook, just make sure that the important information is professional and available to anyone, with or without a login, another great service is VisualCV.com
You can double your exposure with a physical portfolio to present and leave behind at an interview. This will help your contacts develop a personal connection with you. Even if some individuals don't have the time to look at a website they will most likely be interested in glancing at a portfolio left behind. Your portfolio may have writing samples, letters of recommendation, awards, training documents, licensure certifications or any other type of documents that are appropriate for your line of work. If you choose to leave a portfolio with an employer, include an addressed return envelope with the required postage to return the portfolio. This will allow them to effortlessly and QUICKLY return your materials.
Hope this helps, another great tip coming tomorrow!
-Jeff Duguid
Part 1 - Who are you replacing?
Part 2 - Land on the top of the pile
Part 3 - Create a visual impression, 24 hours a day
Part 4 - Remember to quickly say, "Thank you"
While many job seekers often forget to send a thank you note, you may always remember, but is it received as quickly as it should be? Our lives are filled with distractions and even a slight delay in sending out a thank you note, adding in the time for postal delivery, can mean that your thank you note was received to late, or worst, last. By this time the decision may have already been made and your note's message is falling on deaf ears.
Here is a great idea, bring your thank you notes with you and write them out in your car after the interview. Like always, highlight anything you want the contacts to remember, then mail it, in person, at the closest post office before the last pickup. Mailing it locally can cut out a day or more of processing time. This means that the employer will receive your note the next business day (using only a single stamp), keeping you very fresh in their memory.
I hope my ideas will help you quickly gain the attention you need to succeed!
-Jeff Duguid
Jeff,
The best way is to know someone who knows the hiring manager and have that person be an advocate and hand deliver for you. Thus the necessity of "networking".
Trish Sutter, PMP
586.722.4555
Trish, great comment. Today it is all about NETWORKING!!!!
You need to work with as many recruiters as possible to get your resume placed on the hiring managers desk. In these economic times, you never know when one of those recruiters will land a job order that is a fit. Keep in contact with these recruiters on a regular basis so they are fresh in your mind.
Joining a professional association boosts the power of networking to greater assist in your search.
Be positive and sell yourself to everyone! You never know when someone who has a job to fill (or knows someone who does) might remember your positive attitude and qualifications.
I have found many of my hits are a result of my resume being public on the job boards. Make sure your resume is a marketing tool for you - not a bland historical document. It is the "key" to the internal contact which leads to the interview.