Finding a Job Using the Internet to Win
Closed Published January 4th, 2010 in Hall Of Websters, Sales + Marketing, Self Improvement HallA modern job search campaign is by nature very complicated. While the internet has offered a variety of new channels, it also creates increased competition for choice jobs and potential challenges for job hunters.
Job search needs to be thought of as a highly personal, very aimed marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network of colleagues is your source for information.
So where does the internet fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on a popular job site and got 600 plus applications in a calendar week. For a single position. That’s increased job hunting competition.
Had a strong candidate contacted us ahead of our posting that ad, they could have landed the position before having all that competition. How? By finding someone who knows someone at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew about of the job for at least 8 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?
Be sure to check your application matierials carefully! 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 fast triage process. How? The same way any manager would. By passing over resumes where the objective didn’t match our position description. By eliminating prospects whose cover letters gave us grounds not to engage them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating job hunters whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by eliminating job hunters who didn’t trouble to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.
So the great news is that job boards give you a feel of what companies are hiring, and for what kinds of positions. But once those jobs are posted, the competition is intense. You can still compete, 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 potential problem to be aware of is how quickly and easily you can be investigated on the internet. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some personal web pages that were in questionable taste. Nothing illegal, but enough to rock our thoughts about who to employ.
AA-Careers provides a encompassing 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!
