Using Alerts to Help Your Job Search
March 8th, 2011 @ 05:03am
Whether you are in a job and looking for another, or between jobs, using alerts will help you.
How they are helpful: In discovering new target companies, positions, and info in your industry.
What kind of alerts? Google Alerts are a good start. There are others, such as Twilerts, which alert you to your topic when found in Tweets on Twitter.
Google Alerts are found on the Google home page under "More". You list the topic, tell it when to send you the alerts, tell it if you want all alerts or only "the best", and give your email address. It's very easy.
Set up alerts based on:
- Target company name (for up-to-the-minute news about the company)
- Your target job title (to be alerted to discussions including this title, or actual positions themselves)
- Topics vital to your work (for the latest in news, thought, issues, etc. -- keeping you open to problems YOU can solve)
With the overwhelming flood of information that comes your way each day, there are now ways of sorting it out so that it's useful to you. Embrace this new technology: it's your new friend.
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Are you using new media to get the word out about what YOU bring to a new employer? Work with Joanne to get new-media-savvy: call her at 612-807-0258.
Posted by Joanne Meehl | in Social media in job search, Uncategorized, | No Comments »
The End of "Generalism"
April 18th, 2011 @ 02:04am
So often, candidates try to hedge their bets by writing their resumes in a way that aims for jobs in two, three, or four areas, figuring they'll get a bite in one of them.
Or they think they're showing flexibility by listing various options.
Or they hope that if not this job, then the next one at this employer will fit them and their resume will be remembered and dug up for the new job.
Sorry - wrong.
Wrong. And wrong.
To talent sourcers -- that is, recruiters, HR, and hiring managers -- this array only comes across as confused and lacking focus. Recruiters say, "This is a 'menu resume', and this person wants ME to pick one to make up their mind?! No way. Don't they know the one thing they want? Next resume, please."
The fallacy is that being a "generalist" will have appeal. Not today. Sure, a company will appreciate that you can do other things in addition to your main internal driving force. But two, three, or more things all at the same level? It's impossible to be effective doing so, given the structure of today's jobs which are more and more laser-focused themselves.
In addition, good marketers will tell you that unless you focus on the benefits of the one "product" you are offering, your message will get lost. You must focus to get noticed, focus to do what you say you're going to do, and focus to grow to the next level.
A colleague of mine in the D.C. area does only interviewing prep for candidates. Not only that, she does interviewing prep only for certain government jobs. And she's doing very, very well. Why? She has spent her time becoming an expert in that one thing, so she's good at that one thing and has become known for it. So everyone goes to her for it.
Unless you focus, you are not considered an expert in any one area.
Put another way: Focus means you have expertise.
Employers today want experts.
So choose among your strengths the one that shows your value to a future employer and stick with this one. Do your resume around it, your LinkedIn profile updates, put it on Facebook, tweet about it, network with others about it, blog about it.
"Generalism" is gone. Being specific will change things for you.
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Is your message unfocused? Is the market ignoring you? Contact Joanne Meehl at 612/807-0258 to change that.
Posted by Joanne Meehl | in Job Search, job search strategy, Social media in job search, | No Comments »
THE Biggest Mistake You Can Make on LinkedIn
September 6th, 2011 @ 09:09am
So often people ask me to "Take a look at my LinkedIn profile", and then request feedback.
I've done this so much now I can almost predict what I'll see, because so many people do the same thing:
- Their headline -- that line right after their name -- will have either their exact current title and company name, or it will say something like "in transition". (It should be your title. You may have been laid off, but they didn't take away your profession.)
- Their Summary will be a paltry 4-5 lines. (You have up to 2,000 characters, so use 'em. Just keep each section very short.)
- The Specialties section will have some keywords but will need more. (It's all about keywords. Content, not "pretty".)
- They will not use any of the apps LinkedIn offers, like your reading list courtesy of Amazon, or WordPress, or Twitter. (LinkedIn loves it when you use an app or two or more, and rewards you by finding you more readily in searches.)
- And jobs back to the 1980s will be listed, with lots of detail but too few accomplishments or keywords. (Just focus on the last 10 years. Too much has changed with your older jobs. Recruiters want to know what you've done lately.)
- The Interests section will be all personal. (Minimize the personal, accent work interests, so that you repeat keywords.)
- There will be a handful of groups, most of them "job search"-related. (Choose a majority of professional groups, with only a few job-search groups. This shows career orientation, not "I'm in job search.")
- And they'll have no recommendations and maybe 50 connections. (Shoot for at least 5 recommendations: That's what people want to read about you. Add connections: your network grows geometrically instead of "just" by, say, 10 or 25.)
In other words, too many are making the biggest mistake you can make on LinkedIn: not using it to its capacity.
And therefore, they are not being "seen" online.
Every day now, clients are landing interviews because they've been "found" on LinkedIn.
Make the changes suggested above, and you'll be on your way to getting noticed -- and interviewed -- as well.
LinkedIn is a great tool. Now use it to its maximum potential!
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Having trouble doing your LinkedIn profile, especially the Summary? Not getting any hits on LinkedIn? Contact Joanne for help.
Posted by Joanne Meehl | in Job Search, LinkedIn, LinkedIn for job search, Networking, Social media in job search, | 1 Comment »