Happy New Year Job Seekers?

Although many are still gift shopping for the holiday season, it is not too soon to  work on New Year’s resolutions.  Especially for job seekers!  This month’s Job-Hunt.org article provides many choices for improving the job search process.  Feel free to contribute others by adding comments to this post.

Article:  New Year’s Resolutions for Job Seekers

Interview with Jeff: Daisy Wright’s Show ~ Discussing Working with Recruiters

I had a great opportunity to be on Daisy Wright’s BlogTalkRadio Career Tips2Go Show this week along with Sarah Welstead (both in Canada!).  Sarah and I answered questions from callers that covered a lot of ground in the job search.

Link to the show:  All You Ever Wanted to Know About Recruiters, But Were Afraid to Ask.

Topics covered:

• What makes a recruiter take notice of your resume.
• Contacting a recruiter directly.
• Managing your references and professional reputation.
• Importance of “fit” with a company.
• Dealing with a “hiccup” in your history during the interviewing process
• Being honest and forthcoming with a recruiter to build a stronger relationship.
• Checking backgrounds on candidates using Social Media.
• Managing your Social Media brand.
• Answering the “Tell Me About Yourself” Question
• Making a recruiter your champion.
• Approach to interviewing.

Related previous posts:

An Interview with Jeff- Answering the Question Why Should We Hire You-

Interviewing is Easy…if Done Right!

Tele-Seminar Recording- Working with Recruiters

Interview with Jeff: Being Marketable While Job Hunting

I was recently interviewed by Kristi Daeda on the topic of marketing yourself in the job search. 

Here’s the link to the short article:

How to get a job in IT, Project Management and More – Interview with Jeff Lipschultz

Topics covered include:

• Current job opening trends and types of roles
• Common traits of successful candidates
• Certification and training

The Interview is Done–Will the Phone Ring?

When the phone doesn’t ring within 24 hours of an interview, many job candidates start to assume they didn’t get the job.  The waiting game is worse than the interview itself for some.

Read what to do and NOT do during this stage in process in my latest Job-Hunt.org article:  Post-Interview Waiting Game.

How Much Is Your Resume Worth?

Today I listened to the Recruiting Animal Show as he hosted quite a few Resume Writing Professionals.  One of the key questions raised centered around cost of service and its value.  As a recruiter who often helps his candidates improve their resumes, I know many need help in this area.

Why don’t more job seekers invest in their resume and get professional help making it better?  Especially knowing this is a critical part of the job search process.  It may come down to cost.  Here are two surveys which I hope shed some light on Resume Services.  Please leave your votes and feel free to comment at bottom of this post.

Author’s Note: After posting this article, I’ve had numerous comments submitted below.  Any job seekers questioning the value of professional resume writing assistance (and related services) should read through the comments by the experts below.

Are You Keeping It Real?

Recently I was asked for some advice by a job seeker about what to say about being let go from his last job.  He was told by a friend to say he was “caught sending his resume out to recruiters and got canned.”  This was not what happened.

Some folks who are let go start up “consulting agencies” to show activity during the employment gap.  When I ask them how much revenue they have generated, many tell me they don’t even have any clients.

These are tough times.  There are good people who are out of work.  In the past, the “currently employed or passive candidate” might have seemed to be more qualified for a job opening than an out-of-work candidate.  However, in this era of the Great Recession, the “unemployed” label is not necessarily a stigma.  Many good employers know there are good candidates out there who have been victims of times.

With this in mind, job seekers, I implore you to KEEP IT REAL.

Lying or misinformation can often lead you down a bad path.  It is easier than you might think these days to connect with those who can confirm/dispute your past. Even if your “untruths” are not discovered until after being hired, the employer most likely will opt to fire you for this lack of good judgment.  This would only compound your resume detractors.  A very short tenure is even harder to explain, isn’t it?

Present your situation factually, and highlight the positives of your last employment.  If you were fired, you’ll need to share what you’ve learned from the experience and how it has shaped your career decisions going forward.  If it was a bad fit, then explain what a good fit for you looks like (it should be a perfect match if you’re doing your homework).  And if you were laid off, realize this is not uncommon right now.  You might be asked what prompted the layoff and/or why you were included.

Perhaps this is common sense to most.  That’s good.  For those who need the reminder, do your best to present yourself in the best light.  There is something to be said for good character and integrity.

Author’s note: This may be a topic that prompts your own thoughts on the subject.  Feel free to leave a comment for others to learn from.

Six New Rules of Executive Job Search

Guest blogger:  Meg Guiseppi, CPBS, MRW, CPRW

I was commiserating recently with Jeff Lipschultz of A-List Solutions about how overwhelming the new world of executive job search can be for those facing one.

With fewer jobs at every level, when faced with a layoff or when considering a career transition, executives may find they’re not in demand the way they used to be. In the past, they were probably approached as passive job seekers by recruiters who slid them into their next great gig. They can no longer rely so heavily on recruiters to place them.

So much has changed in just the past year or so. Several factors deeply impact landing  an executive job today − personal branding, the need for a strong online footprint, the rise of social media, the fact that recruiters and hiring decision makers source candidates on social networking sites such as LinkedIn, and, of course, the current state of the economy, resulting in much more competition in the job market for fewer top-level jobs.

Jeff shared his advice on connecting and working with recruiters in a Q&A with me on my Executive Resume Branding Blog, “Working with Executive Recruiters.”

Senior-level executives who come to me for help are all at sea when it comes to understanding what they need to do first, what they shouldn’t do, and that they need to build a different kind of job search strategy.

Here are six tactics that will help you get a handle on and excel in today’s new world of executive job search:

1. Personal branding to differentiate and strategically position you.

In brief, personal branding links your passions, key personal attributes, and strengths with your value proposition, in a crystal clear message that differentiates your unique promise of value and resonates with your target audience.

One of the many powerful things about branding is that it generates chemistry for you and helps hiring decision makers connect you with and see you in the jobs they’re trying to fill. Branding shows them how you make things happen.

2. Portfolio of career marketing communications for your personal brand toolkit.

An executive resume, career biography, covering letter or email message, and reference dossier are must-haves.

But you may need other documents such as a Leadership Initiatives Profile, Achievement Summary, One-page Networking Resume, Performance Milestones, Product Launch Chronology, Project Management Highlights, Technology Skills, Training & Certifications, Speaking Presentations, Publications, Patents, Commitment to Community Service, etc. Name the document to fit the content and target.

Get ready to transform these documents into your online identity-building strategy.

3. LinkedIn profile and strategy.

Did you know that recruiters and hiring decision makers routinely search LinkedIn for talent and even have special applications designed for that purpose?

If you do nothing else online, you have to have a great LinkedIn profile. But don’t stop there. Get busy making connections, joining clubs, and leveraging all this site boasting over 45 million professional members has to offer.

Go back to your executive resume and career biography and copy relevant content into the appropriate sections to create your LinkedIn profile. Download a copy of my FREE E-book, “Executive Branding and Your LinkedIn Profile: How to Transform Your Executive Brand, Resume, and Career Biography into a Winning LinkedIn Profile.” The book takes you through building a branded profile, step by step.

Optimize your profile and make it searchable using the relevant key word phrases hiring decision makers will be looking for in candidates like you.

Once your profile is together, be sure to include a link to it in your email signature and at the top of your resume, along with contact information.

4. Tap into the hidden job market with targeted industry and company research.

Track down warm leads at companies of interest to you, identify the challenges they’re facing, learn about the company culture, and pinpoint how you can help.

Circumvent the gatekeepers by identifying and connecting directly with top decision makers through LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other online social networks.

Your research also arms you with market intelligence, serves as your due diligence for companies, and positions you as an informed, engaged candidate in interviews.

5. Face-to-Face Networking Strategy

Along with online networking, in-person networking is still one of the best ways to land a job. Many executives neglect their networks when they’re not job seeking − a serious mistake. You’ll need to revive your connections and once again start practicing “give to get” networking.

Leverage the Internet employment portal Job-Hunt.org to connect or re-connect through professional associations & societies, company, military & government alumni groups, and networking & job search support groups.

6. Online personal brand-building and online brand identity management.

What will recruiters and hiring decision makers uncover when they Google “your name”? Checking out candidates’ online presence before even considering or contacting them is pretty much standard practice now.

If they find nothing about you online, you probably don’t exist to them. Conversely, if they find information that discredits you, you’ll probably be out of the running. You’ll need to run damage control and start building up accurate, on-brand results to push down the negative ones.

Here are a few places to build a presence online and increase the number of positive search results associated with you:

• Create a VisualCV and Google Profile.
• Blog in some way − your own blog and/or guest blog and comment on other relevant blogs.
• Create key word-rich profiles on Twitter and Facebook and get busy leveraging all they have to offer.
• Write book reviews on Amazon and other online book sellers.
• Publish articles and/or white papers online.

For more strategies, see my series of blog posts, Top 10 Best of C-Level Executive Job Search Strategies

 

© Copyright Meg Guiseppi, 2009. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

A C-level / Senior-level Executive Branding & Job Search Strategist and CEO of Executive Resume Branding, Meg Guiseppi loves collaborating with forward-focused corporate leaders to differentiate their unique value proposition, demystify today’s world of executive job search, and strategically position them for success. A 20-year careers industry veteran, Meg has earned multiple certifications ― Reach Certified Personal Branding Strategist, Master Resume Writer, Certified VisualCV Creator, and Certified Professional Resume Writer.

Meg works one-on-one with clients to define their personal brand, craft interview-generating documents ― elite resumes, career biographies, cover letters, and collateral documents. She transforms these documents into a strong online footprint with LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networking profile creation, VisualCV creation, and other online identity-building strategies.

For a wealth of insider tips on personal branding and executive job search, visit her Executive Resume Branding Blog/Website. View Meg’s LinkedIn profile. Follow Meg on Twitter.

Bad Credit + Interviewing = No Job Offer?

As if finding a job wasn’t hard enough, job seekers with a poor credit rating are now finding an extra hurdle to getting a job offer. 

More and more companies are starting to use credit rating as a filter when considering candidates, both at the start and end of the selection process.

Read my latest article written for Job-Hunt.org to learn how to manage this issue (so it doesn’t manage you).

Setting Goals: Do It or Get Passed

Whether managing your career, your job search, or even your personal life, goals play an important role is achieving new heights. 

I recently wrote a blog post as my alter ego, The Bike Whisperer, on setting goals in cycling.  The parallels to life “out of the saddle” seem pretty clear to me.  Take a look at the post and see if you agree: The Secret is Setting Goals.

Take a Ride at a Carnival for Career Help

There is a fairly new concept in career/job search circles that is coming to your town–the Carnival!  Alas, there will not be any cotton candy or ring toss (or two-headed camel).  But, there will be a lot of advice on how to approach selecting a career path and finding a new job.  Career Carnivals are a collection of blog posts by different experts shared in one place on the Internet (usually someone’s blog).  It’s a great idea.

Certainly, the traditional approaches are still a great resource, too.  I recently was on a four-person recruiter panel speaking to a group of over 100 on one topic:  Working with Recruiters.  It was very helpful to many.  However, it was limited to one hour, one topic, and available only to those who could make the session.

Recently, one of my blog posts was included in a Carnival started by Ben Eubanks and hosted by Jacqui Barrett-Pindexter. In this post, there are over 15 different topics covered by over 15 experts including:

• Tips and tools for the job search process
• Resume advice for clearly communicating about your talents
• Managing through the interviewing process
• Sharing your job leads with others to increase your own likelihood of success
• Career development
• And my post: “Ten Reasons to Take Up Biking During a Job Search”

Once again, Social Media has found a way to virtually link a group of experts together resulting in a one-stop shop for information that a lot more than 100 people can use.  Another advantage of these Carnivals is increased accessibility to the experts.  Most of these authors appreciate feedback and like to help.  Your support network can grow very fast by visiting the Carnivals.

Most of us have been a little nervous about jumping on some of the attractions at the Carnival, but don’t worry, this one is safe and the ticket is free.  Enjoy the ride!