Author Archives: Resume Footprint Team

How to Advance Your Job Search

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binocularsguyUnderstand the NEW Job Market

Research shows that if you are introduced to the hiring decision maker through a mutual contact your odds of securing an interview and ultimately a job offer improve by over 80%.

 

Although developing a resume and cover letter are essential for a successful job search, the days of only submitting them via corporate sites and job boards is over.  Social networks are now an integral part of an effective job search.

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Spend 10% of your time applying for jobs and 90% of your time connecting with your network – either through social networking or in-person networking.

 

Sharpen your Personal Brand

Jobs are scarce and candidates are plentiful. Avoid the pitfall of brand vagueness by re-evaluating your personal branding; this comprises your entire career image.  Start by differentiating yourself from the stack with a resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile that expresses your value, knowledge, skills and accomplishments. Then perfect your job search elevator pitch. To learn more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/03/29/how-to-craft-a-job-search-elevator-pitch-2/

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Take into consideration your clothing and appearance.  Does it support the culture of the industry, company and/or position you are targeting?  Remember, the gateway to many of your opportunities is found within your personal contacts that you see locally.  When  you are out-and-about, put your best foot forward!

 

Get up to Date

More and more companies are asking newsworthy interview questions to test applicants about their global awareness. As the world becomes more interconnected companies are looking for individuals who are up-to-date on current affairs with a strong general knowledge base. Keep up with news and trends.

 

In closing, job searching isn’t easy but if you are looking for career advancement it is inevitable.  Get back in the hunt, you may just find the opportunity of a lifetime.

 

by:  Marilyn Maslin @ Resume Footprint

 

 

Six Reasons Your LinkedIn Profile Matters to your Career Development

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LI bigYour LinkedIn profile, managed or unmanaged, tells colleagues, recruiters, and companies much about you.

 

If you are one of the countless individuals who have an out-of-date, undeveloped or unattended LinkedIn profile, be aware, it could be affecting your career.

 

Use your LinkedIn profile …

 

1)    As you’re personally branded resume.  The proper management of the profile shows your attention towards your career development. Whether you are actively or passively looking for employment your LinkedIn profile is your professional brand.

 

2)    To find a job.  The real power of LinkedIn is in your ability to easily contact and leverage your network.  It provides you access to introductions to thousands of 2nd and 3rd level contacts companies, jobs and opportunities.  For a simple breakdown watch this 3 minute “How to Find a Job Using LinkedIn”:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eTDnSnDMgE

 

3)    To apply for jobs.  Apply for jobs through LinkedIn using a one-button submit or by customizing and uploading your cover letter, resume and portfolio.  Also, when applying for employment a candidate can use data in their LinkedIn profile to complete numerous application fields thus streamlining their applicant process and ensuring work history consistency.

 

4)    To attract recruiters and hiring managers.  Draw traffic by populating your profile with relevant keywords and showcase special skills, certifications and licenses. Receive business opportunities, interview invitations and pre-market job prospects through a well-developed LinkedIn profile.

 

5)     To project your subject matter expertise.  Post interesting, relevant content to your network on your areas of expertise.  If you are looking to advance, build a book-of-business or grow a SMB LinkedIn can be an effective and cost-efficient advertising and marketing channel. Promote your products, services or core competencies by showcasing your company website or posting a blog.  Announce upcoming events, speaking engagements, publications and/or accomplishments.

 

6)     To build meaningful connections.  Commit to participating regularly with a group and contributing comments.  Use the LinkedIn group feature to engaging in conversations with your target industry or client-base.  This can be an especially powerful tool to connect with the global community. Join up to 50 groups but for best results focus on a few groups with at least 200+ members.  Meet and build-out your network.  Develop credibility within your industry and subject area.

 

Four Job Searching Tips for New College Graduates

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You’ve done it! You’ve done your homework, passed your classes and walked across that magnificent stage and claimed the prize that you worked so hard for — a college degree. But now that you have your diploma in hand, it is time to begin your first REAL job search.

 

Now you’re probably thinking, “I’ve applied for tons of jobs and internships, I got this!” The quick and simple answer to this statement is; no, this time it’s different…this time you are applying for that BIG, FANCY job; the one that comes with the big pay check so you can begin your life as a young adult and financially support yourself.

 

Luckily, I have some tips that will help you look like “the one for the job” to those big time hiring managers and recruiters and help you land that job that will give you the start you want in today’s competitive job market.

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NETWORKING

Now the first and most important piece of getting a great job starts long before you actually start applying — start networking. Networking is a crucial piece of finding employment because it provides for references and recommendations that may provide you opportunities that seemed out of reach or that you wouldn’t have known about otherwise.  So go out and be proactive, go to social networking meetings and gatherings and actually talk to people. Make it your goal to cultivate a relationship with three people per week so that you can add them to your network. This goal will help you create a broad range of contacts who will be able to help you in your job search by providing helpful tips and insights. Connect with your new peers on LinkedIn and follow up with them in order to foster and develop the relationship.

 

RESUME & LINKEDIN PROFILE

Another key aspect of finding that first “dream” job is to make sure your LinkedIn profile and resume is professional and flawless. Jim Rowland of Jim Rowland Personnel, a nationally recognized job recruiter for many profitable companies globally put it bluntly, “when I read a résumé and find an error, it’s immediately tossed in the garbage.” So make sure that your resume and LinkedIn profile (your professional online representation of yourself) are error free because it is an employer’s first look at you and your accomplishments. A typo or misspelled word can show an inattention to detail and a tendency to make careless mistakes.

 

TARGETED JOB SEARCH

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My third tip is for the actual job application process — only apply for 3-4 jobs a week. When applying for a job, make sure that you are putting your best foot forward — by thoughtfully completing applications, providing a professionally prepared resume, and having a cultivated LinkedIn profile — to get you the next stage of the process, and get invited in for an interview. One major mistake that many new college graduates make is applying for copious amounts of jobs a week and providing minimal and often incomplete information. The problem with this strategy is that there are other people who are taking the time to answer all parts of the application with precision and care. So take your time and put your best foot forward in every application that you send out to a potential employer.

 

THANK YOU NOTES

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Another small tip is if you do get an interview, send a thank you note afterwards and let that person who interviewed you know that you appreciate them for taking time out of their day to see you. This helps you come across as courteous and polite — the kind of characteristics that every recruiter looks for when interviewing people for a job.

 

Now that you have read this, you know that the real work has just begun. But don’t be skeptical or anxious about the job searching process, college taught you how to be an independent person with the ability to think effectively and critically. So take my advice and apply it to your everyday life; go and network everyday whether it be in a professional setting or at the gym. Edit and have other people revise your resume and LinkedIn profile, and make sure to be thorough when applying for jobs. You’ve graduated college, now go and do something with that degree — take advantage of your opportunities and get the job you have been searching for.

 

How Useful Are Sample Resumes?

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How Useful Are Sample Resumes?

If you do a quick Internet search for sample resumes, you will see that there are literally millions of sites out there offering samples and even resume templates. At first glance, this wealth of options might seem like a windfall…after all, a resume is just a description of your skills and training compiled together on a piece of paper. It can’t be that difficult to write a resume, right? And certainly with so many sample resumes out there, you should be able to find one to “borrow” from.

Years ago, that might have been true, but the job market is much more complicated and competitive today. Additionally, during economic downturns like the one we are emerging from, competition for jobs increases significantly. In these tough times, you need your chief marketing tool — your resume package — to work hard for you. Free resume templates and home-made documents, according to Career Services Specialist Linda Domenitz, do not help you stand out from the 200+ resumes employers typically received per want-ad. In fact, she estimates that between 85% and 95% of all resumes end up in the trash.

What Can You Learn?

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The truth is that recruiters and hiring managers receive dozens, even hundreds, of resumes daily, whether or not they have open positions. In an effort to cull the pile down to a reasonable number, they simply toss any resume that doesn’t meet their standards of quality, appearance, content, and sophistication. And it’s estimated that they make this decision within just 15 to 20 seconds. If you want your resume to actually be read you need to do much better than just plug your information into a borrowed resume sample.

You need to have a well-organized, stylistically correct, and visually attractive resume package — including cover letter, thank you letter, social media profile, and other supporting documents — that advertises the best things about you to even get your resume noticed.

Can get this from a random sample you picked out on the Internet?

Chances are that most people can’t. Writing resumes is like any other skill: It has to be learned and practiced before showing good results. While a sample resume can give you a basic understanding of the different types of resumes, what kind of information to include, and maybe even how to organize it, it can’t tell you what will work best for you.

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Instead of viewing all those sample resumes as end products, think of them as a starting point. If like many people, you are a visual learner, looking over a few sample resumes can help ease your mind: You can see how the formats have changed and maybe even start to get a picture of how your new resume will look.

Ultimately, though, your resume package needs to be tailored to your specific challenges:

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No college degree, gap in employment, career switch…whatever your problems may be. Your resume should not be generic like the sample resume from the Internet; it should reflect your personality (creative or technical), take into account your level of seniority (college graduate versus executive), and even the type of industry or company you want to target (fitting into a corporate culture is often the most important thing you can demonstrate).

When it comes to your resume, the devil is in the details. Recruiters get annoyed by small things that you may not think of — like whether or not the text on your cover letter and resume is the same size, if your margins are off, or if your employment dates don’t match up.

Why would you leave all of this to chance with some sample you found on the Internet? Do like you do when your car breaks down; you take it to a mechanic. Take your resume to a resume professional to see why it’s not performing the way it should and to give it, what is probably a much-needed tune-up.