So here we sit at the county fair, talking to people about CoosJobs.net and showing them our website and explaining how we do things, and it got me thinking (I do that occasionally, even if it hurts) – Thinking about networking.
Networking is so much more important than most people realize in a job search. Have you been networking? Networking is not a process of cold calling a bunch of people you don’t really know. Networking is talking to those you do know, letting them know that you are looking and what you are looking for. It’s talking to them about what they know, who’s hiring and who isn’t.
Networking is an art of building alliances. It’s not contacting everyone you know and saying “Hey, I need you to help find a job!.” Networking starts long before a job search, and you probably don’t even realize you are doing it.
Friends, acquaintances, your buddy that serves you that latte every morning, your neighbors, and those former co-workers are the best networking resources especially in a market where there are more people out of work than job openings.
So when you’re out here, visiting at the fair, look around, talk to people you know, talk to friends, and co-workers, stop by and check out the trade show booths (like ours!), don’t force it on them, but make it a part of your answer when they ask “Hey, what have you been up to?” It never hurts to see what someone else knows!
Archive for July, 2009
I got a Job at the County Fair
Friday, July 31st, 2009MYSPACE, FACEBOOK…FRIEND OR FOE?
Friday, July 31st, 2009
So here it is. The great advance in social networking, the Internet. It all started with “IM-ing” and now it has grown to full networking sites. I know you are all familiar with them; Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The real question is did you realize just how quickly they can derail that job-seeking train?
More and more companies everyday are moving themselves into social networking and more and more of them are using it as a way to look into the habits and personality of the potential employees they are looking at. So I thought we should look at a few ways to prevent your Facebook or Myspace from keeping you standing in the unemployment lines.
First lets look at last weekend. Did you go out with your friends? Have a few drinks maybe? Did anyone have a camera in hand? How many of those pictures with that little umbrella drink in your hand made onto Facebook? Did your best friend send you a comment talking about how stupid you looked when you fell down the stairs and got kicked out of the bar?
What about those silly surveys? Take any of those lately? The questions can be deadly in their apparent innocence. When was the last time you called in sick cause you were drunk? How many times have you lied to your boss? Remember those questions?
How about your layouts on Myspace? How many half naked people are in the background? What about drug or violent images? And lets not forget about the apps that appear to promote drinking, gang warfare, or those cool little joke bumper stickers.
“Ok, Ok…. I get it,” you say “now what do I do about it?”
Fix it! There are many things that these sites allow you to do to help from getting too much of your personal life out there. Try typing into a Google search “Myspace hide your friends code”. You will find a very simple cut and paste code to make your friends invisible. Look at your account settings. Maybe those pictures, which are meant to be shared with family and friends, should be set to only be viewable by friends. Most social networking sites have these controls. You can even go as far as setting the entire profile private, which you should definitely do if you have ANY concern about it.
After you do this, there are two things left for you to do; 1- go look at your profile while not logged in (maybe even ask a trusted friend to do the same) and see if there is anything left viewable by the general public that could be of concern. 2- Do a Google search of yourself. Type in your name and location (city and state) and see what comes up on the Internet. See if there are other things out there you may have forgotten.
The Internet is a great tool, and when it comes to job searching, don’t let it become your nightmare. Be vigilant…be smart…don’t let you be the reason you don’t get a job!
Cover Letters….From the Horse’s Mouth
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009A Word on Cover Letters:
From the Horse’s Mouth
Writing a cover letter can be a daunting task, and it is a task that I am asked to speak on frequently. I can go on and on about writing a great cover letter (I can go on and on about a great many things, ask my wife!) …but today I am going to keep it short and sweet. I am going to address only the biggest area that makes or breaks you on your cover letters. The most important part of what I am about to tell you is, that it is NOT my words (although I agree strongly), this came straight from several employers who have had this discussion with me.
Many recruiters have told me that the first thing they do when sorting through cover letters is to glance at them briefly to see if the person writing it refers to any of the specific skills listed in the original help wanted ad. Many say they find ones that people are nicely spotlighting many things, but those things have nothing to do with the position being offered.
If an employer has taken the time to write in that they need someone with knowledge of a particular accounting or software program, then you should be taking the time to write your cover letter to highlight your past working knowledge of those things – not how well you did in school, or how many dogs you have.
That last thing leads me to an extra point I will throw in here. It is the other thing recruiters are telling me that they use to sort through cover letters. If the opening talks about family members or martial status…they are getting read last, if at all! Use the cover letter to highlight skills not listed on your resume, or to expand on them. Never, never, never, and I mean never even think about putting the number of kids, cars, dogs, cats or spouses you have (or have had) in there.
Simply put, according to employers, straight from the horse’s mouth, the tiny percent who take the time to craft their cover letter to look like they are answering what was described in the job listing are the ones getting called for the interview.
What NOT to Wear!
Thursday, July 16th, 2009What Not to Wear
So there I was, leaning back watching What Not To Wear (It was my wife’s fault honest!), and I started thinking about our first blog – Top Ten ways to make sure you don’t get Hired. Many people commented to me about this blog – I am going to have to explain to them about how to make comments on the web so I quit getting phone calls at 6am on Sunday – it was repeatedly the same comment; “was appearance at interviews really that bad?” My answer, no wait, the answer of nearly EVERY single employer I talk to about this is YES!
When I was growing up I remember my father, school, my grandmother even, explaining to me about how I should look when trying to get a job. What has happened to us? I though back to the last 5 people I have interviewed – Here, let me share with you:
The first was a guy wearing 1986 acid washed jeans with a hole in the knee, and a T-shirt that was 2.7 sizes to small. Number 2 was a lady somewhere around 40-45 years of age in a short skirt, and tube top (Did I step back in time here?), I am also pretty sure she was on something, and I don’t mean Prilosec either.
Number 3 at least re-entered this century with the clothing, but I really had no need to know that he wore Fruit of Loom boxers, and maybe he should have washed the shirt (it was a nice shirt, kind of wished I had one like it, you know LIKE it, a cleaner version). For number four, I was whisked away with my time machine again, going all the way back to 1969 with the tye-dye T-shirt and fringe leather jacket – they had the best application (and they appeared to be showered) however, so I was forced to consider this one.
Finally the fifth one made me cry. Tears of joy came streaming down my face when a young lady walked in wearing something akin to a pantsuit. Not really sure if that was what it was supposed to be, I’m not a big fashion guy – I don’t care what I said at the beginning, I don’t mean to watch What not to Wear, but it was clean. She didn’t have strange undergarments hanging out. Her application was second best, but she put forth the most effort – ding, ding, ding – Tell her what she’s won Johnny! She was hired!
Reminiscing this way made me think, maybe I should try a do and don’t picture blog to help those out who are unsure about their personal wardrobe choices when heading out to that interview. A picture speaks a thousand words, and since we all know how much I like words, I thought “Hey! I can say like ten-thousand words without typing!”
So here are your examples…. please note that the left column (the examples with the big crossed out red circles) is What Not to Wear, and the ones on the right side, not crossed out, are good choices for your next interview!
I am not even sure what to say about this…
We are running a contest to see if you can guess what color is under the censor spot….. Seriously, is that what a recruiter should be seeing??
Both outfits you can be seen at the Mall in, that would be ok, but only one should ever make it into the interview room…and hey don’t wear that hoody out to fill in applications either, you won’t make it to the interview.
There are only 2 places you should see the one on the left, singles bars that border on strip clubs, or Sunset Blvd.
And Just in case you didn’t get the hint…this is never acceptable, anywhere, ever, please don’t, and have your crazy Uncle committed if he does it!
I would like to thank the various places on the Internet that these pictures were found. They have provided some great examples, I tried to get people off the street here, but no one was really willing once I told them why I wanted to take a picture of what they were wearing – Maybe that should be a hint to them!
Paranoid or Employed?
Monday, July 13th, 2009Don’t Let Paranoia stop you from getting that new Job!
Is someone going to see my private information? Am I at risk for identity theft if I post a resume on the Internet? The Internet has created a haven for the more unscrupulous to find way to victimize us…but some simple forethought can prevent everything. Beside we are talking about finding a new job, bettering ourselves and our lifestyles…are we really going to let paranoia beat us? NO!
Why would I even post a resume on a website that doesn’t currently have a position advertised I like? Well, because the Internet moves at a nearly instant speed. Let’s pretend for a moment…
It is 9:37am Monday and you check CoosJobs.net for new positions. You just checked late last night, and nothing you like is there. You haven’t created a resume profile yet; you haven’t seen anything that fits your career desire. You go away, check another website, then you check another; it is now 9:58am and an employer just logged in to CoosJobs.net to post a job. You turn off your computer at 9:59am. At 10:04am, that new employer (who just happens to have that dream job for you) is done creating a new listing and moves over to the resume search feature. They are browsing through some resumes that are posted. By 11:00am they found two they liked and have put out contacts for them to set up interviews. Both of them will be interviewed the following morning.
You decide to wait a day or two before checking back. On Thursday morning at 8:57am you come back to our website, and look there is the job you want. What you don’t know is there is a person right now shaking hands with the person who just accepted the job offer. They never even applied for the job, at least not directly, and by the time you get your resume to them, they have already pulled the listing and there is no opening available.
While this seems like a bit of an exaggerated example, but it has, and will happen again. I even spent some time explaining this once to a jobseeker who could just not believe that it had happened to them. That darned ol’ Murphy’s Law will get you every time if you let it.
Now let’s look at the protection aspect. Resumes are not just randomly thrown out for anyone to see. Job-posting sites have created this feature to assist employers in their job search – They are the ones who have access to view it. It is these people that you not only want to know about you, but you want them to be able to get in contact with you. Your name, contact number, e-mail, these are things you want to put in their hands. As for the fear of these getting “into the wrong hands”, well folks, there are much easier ways for someone to get this info about you then trying to pull restricted information from a Job-listing website. All jobseekers should (if they don’t already) have a specific e-mail just for their job search. Most of your personal information, such as birthdays, social security numbers and family information, shouldn’t be in a resume anyway (this is a topic we will tackle another day).
Remember being successful in a job search means making sure that anyone who has a job for you can find you. Using the Internet and posting your resume for Employers to view means you are job seeking even while you sleep…and that’s making your resume work!