Networking Ideas For Your Job Search

The right person, at the right time or place can really impact your ability to find great job opportunities in the Carolinas and then get your foot in the door, one step closer to that desk, office, or being in the field representing that company.

Some people call this timing luck. I like to think of it as strategic networking. The people you meet over the course of your life have all the impact in the world as to how you live and navigate your life.

Someone at an event telling you about a website or resource. A friend telling you about an opening at their firm or business. Running into an old buddy that puts your mind back into a certain state that changes your direction or motivation.


So where do you go about looking for people to add to your network?

You can 100% start online. Its called social networking, isn't it. Get started on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to find like minded professionals.

Then take your networking offline. Meet recruiters and search firms. Get their insight and leverage their networks.

Venture out to live events in your local scene. Look for events both in and out of your niche or industry. If you are looking for a marketing position, look for marketing, advertising, public relations, online marketing, social media, business development, sales and other related meetups and events. Go out and meet someone and deliver value to them and it will come back to you.

Head on out to a local job fair, conferences, trade shows and other big time events where people are paying good money to meet people like you and talk shop.

Under30CEO recently published a great article on the after part of networking that centers around ways to follow up. From writing on the backs of business cards to sending links and news to these people that add value to taking new contacts out for coffee.

Lastly, take advantage of job boards and connecting with the people behind the job postings. We have a great video that goes over some strategies to doing just this.

So, what are you doing to be in the right place at the right time?

-Greg

From The Eyes Of Someone Looking At Your Resume

photo by skobo

I was reading the Evil HR Blog today when I saw a comment that really stuck out to me. The post was about visual resumes and whether they helped or hindered your application process.

While it seems the majority of the readers were against the idea of a flashy resume, one commenter, an HR professional, Lisa, had this to say:

I look at 100s of resumes everytime we post a job. The cover letter is my first cut: is there one? Does it read well with no obvious mistakes? Does it give me information that makes me want to look further? A 'no' to any of these questions leads to a 'thank you, no' response to the candidate. Only then do I look at resumes.

Since I look at resumes through Outlook, heavy formatting can really muck with my ability to read the info presented. So, plainer is better.

As you are applying for jobs, remember that you are trying to get the attention of a specific person who is looking for specific qualities and skill sets. Ensure that whatever format you do use is easy to locate and matches the needs of the company and the person from the company doing the looking.

I can see a few heads turning as you read this - that means you need to take a look at your resume and cover letter and whip them into shape.

Happy hunting Carolinas and please leave your comments, questions and ideas below and be sure to follow CarolinaJobs on Twitter.

-Greg

Ask a Recruiter: What can I do if I don't have alot of experience in the job I want?

Ask the Recruiter! We're hopefully going to have a series of blog posts along this lines where we ask recruiters, the very people who are going to be looking at your resume and asking you the interview questions, what they think. So first up is Todd Petzold. Todd is a Division Recruiter for the Southeast for Orkin Pest Control. We asked him a few questions based on candidate who don't have experience.

This can be a tough thing, especially with downsizing, sometimes it forces people to uproot and change careers. So if you decide to change what do you do about the lack of experience? Here's what Todd Petzold had to say:

EmploymentGuide: As a recruiter, what advice do you have for job seekers who are seeking employment in an industry where they may not have a lot of experience?

Todd: Companies with great training programs don’t typically just look for people who have a lot of experience in their industry. Those companies are looking for transferable skills. Examples of transferable skills are customer service, enthusiasm, leadership and being a team player. These skills are not industry specific. Take a look at the job ad you are applying for and your resume, are there any similarities? No, then it is time to get to work. Put similar key phrases that you see from the job ad into your resume (only if they apply to you and your work history, of course!) Remember that different jobs/companies call for different resumes.

EG: What attributes should they highlight that can help the lack of experience be overlooked?

T: It goes back to transferable skills. Just because you don’t have “experience” in a field doesn’t necessarily mean you are not a fit for the job. You need to show the recruiter/hiring manager that you have talents that will overcome the lack of experience.

Some examples of transferable skills:

• Enthusiasm - What gets you excited/motivated to work?


• Trainability - How easily do you pick up new information?


• Leadership - Do just think about managing other people, think about à have you trained others or managed a process/project?


• Customer Service - How do you treat customers- both internal (co-workers) and external?


• Adaptability- How you deal with change in work load, boss, add responsibility?


• Analytical Ability – How do you solve problems or issues that come up?
  
  

When thinking about changing industries or jobs think about what knowledge and skills you have already that could be of value to the potential company. Market yourself with those skills!

Thanks Todd for participating, and hopefully that helps a little for those out there trying to answer the question about experience. For more tips on answering this question check out the following related posts:

Writing a Resume that Recruiter Will Love
I have no experience? What can I do?
The Interview: You're Overqualified for this Position

If you have questions to ask, please email them to me and we'll ask our recruiters to answer them. All questions will be kept anonymous.

- Rosie Reilman
Photo by cervus

Guest Post: What employers want from Online Resumes?

The way business is turning to everything electronic it’s time you learned how to market yourself online when looking for your next job. Employers often look to their internal databases before even advertising a job to the public to see what kind of resumes they’ve already gotten in the past. Then they’ll look to external databases to scan the web for posted resumes. With this monumental shift in the way companies are hiring, it’s time to make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle. Consider these tips for making your online resume stand out from the rest:

1. Keywords are crucial. When you look something up in a search engine you’re most likely going to type in a keyword to make your search easier. Hiring managers employ the same tactic when using Monster to scan for resumes. Consider the industry you’re in and come up with a list of words that are unique to it. Take the list and integrate the words into your resume.
   
2. Stay up to date. Besides searching resumes through a keyword search, employers will only pay attention to newly posted or modified resumes. If you feel that you’re not getting any bites on your resume, then go into whatever database you’re using and update your information. Employers won’t waste their time with old resumes.
   
3. Exposure is crucial. Employers must pay to use employment websites to advertise jobs and to search for resumes. Accordingly, they will only subscribe to a couple. Make sure that you post your resume on as many professional employment websites as possible to reach a greater cross section of potential employers.
   
4. Be tenacious. Searching for jobs can be tedious and exhausting. If you dedicate just one day to making your resume look great and searching extensively for jobs then you’re just scratching the surface. These employment websites constantly update their information. Don’t miss out on any opportunity just because you feel like you’ve done all you could at the very outset.
   
5. First impressions only happen once. This is your chance to impress a potential employer so don’t blow it. Just as you would pay meticulous attention to your appearance in a live interview, apply the same principles to your resume. WackyGuy@CoolGuy.com may be funny to your friends, but supply a professional email address on your resume. Eliminate any grammatical or spelling errors on your resume as well. The worst thing you can do is let a silly mistake cost you the chance at your dream job.

Heather Johnson works with JobProfiles.org and is a regular commentator on the subject of how to become a pharmacist. She welcomes your feedback and potential job inquiries at heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.

Submit Your Resume for the Job Fair Database

One of the great things about our job fairs is that we like to make sure that you reach all of the employers who attend our event, so we're allowing those interesting in attending to pre-register. Send us your resume and it will be included on a CD that will be distributed to all of our participating employers at the event! Not only that, but we also understand that not everyone can make a 4 hour window for our job fairs, so if you can't stop by on your lunch break, you can still submit your resume.

Check and Double Check
Make sure your resume is ready for submission! It does you or your future employers no good if you submit an unfinished, unpolished resume. Here's a couple of posts containing tips on writing a well put together resume to submit to employers.

Subject Line and Naming Your Document
For our CD, I always ask that when submitting your resume you put your desired industry in the subject line. This way I can place your resume in a folder so employers can go to that folder and don't have to sort through the hundreds of other resumes from industries that they have no interest in. So when you pre-register or submit your resume for our job fair, make sure you put your industry or job title in the subject line.

Then when you name your document, save it as your name or a job title such as SocialMediaSpecialist.doc or maybe 10YearsExperienceEngineer.pdf This way it can catch the attention of someone browsing the files in the folder and yours can stand out. Make sure it's appropriate and still professional. Most programs sort files by alphabetical order so you can keep that in mind by using numbers or letters at the beginning of the alphabet to get your document at the top of the list.

Send the Resume' Over!

Once you're ready, send it over to ncjobs@employmentguide.com. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I'd be happy to answer.

We look forward to seeing you if you do plan on attending. Here's a little of what to expect.

- Rosie Reilman
Photo by Rosemary Reilman

Should I Include My Hobbies and Interests on My Resume?

On doing some resume research, it seems there is some debate over whether it's ok to include personal interests on a resume. Does listing interests or hobbies on your resume really show you are a well-rounded candidate or does it just add extra unneeded information on your CV?

According to AttourneyResume.com, a resume writing service for attorneys, say this:

Your resume needs to present you as a qualified candidate for a job. Even if you are fluent in Swahili and a gourmet chef specializing in white truffles and the interviewer happens to have those exact same talents, he/she is not going to give you a job for which you are completely unqualified.

Their stance is that most recruiters will assume that you have other interests besides what you do for work. A company generally doesn't really care what you do outside of work and even if it makes for good conversation, just because you can converse well with the hiring manager or recruiter doesn't mean you'll necessarily get the job. All good points.

Let me offer this example: one of my hobbies is learning HTML and other website coding. I don't do it professionally but I like learning and my newest venture is PHP. So that I have added as a skill set on my resume, because in this case, my hobby or interest was relevant to the profession I was trying to find work in. In fact now that I find myself maintaining a blog that interest has become a great help to me!

Try including association membership or leadership roles that you have taken on. Personal interests that showcase your leadership skills or some other skill set that can translate into your ability to do a job and do it well. While these may not fall under the interests category, it will fall under Groups/Professional Associations or Community Leadership Roles. But your resume should only display information that shows your qualifications for the job you are applying for. The fact that you are a dog lover or love to watch Carolina Panthers football is not usually relevant (unless you're looking to become a vet technician or a sports writer.) Even then I think that information is best suited for your cover letter where you can explain your qualifications.

I don't think that employers are going to think because you don't list crocheting or that you dress up every year for the Star Trek convention you are not a well rounded individual. Just remember, the purpose of a resume is supposed to show your professional qualifications, show your mad skills and help the recruiter to know why you're the best person in Charlotte for the job.

Live Long and Prosper... and Good luck!

-Rosie Reilman
Photo by greggoconnell

Resumes in Action! Writing an Active Resume

The hardest thing for me when I was on the job hunt was writing the resume and cover letter. I guess I felt so pressured to put on paper everything that a recruiter could possibly want to know about me and why I was qualified for the job. So when I recently came across a post on UltraJob Blog about action words to use on your resume, I thought this was a great idea to add some flare to your resume (and cover letter) without getting too crazy.

The whole purpose of a resume is to address and showcase your skills and abilities. A great question asked by Christopher in an interview with Rachel and Jon, authors of Resumes from Hell really showcases this:

Christopher: How can the job seeker personalize their resumes without making them too informal or becoming a parody of themselves?

Rachel: The only type of personal information a hiring manager wants to see on your resume is information that demonstrates how your skills will impact their bottom line.

And Jon agrees and adds,

I think people need to let go of the resume as an opportunity to "express themselves." Every resume is personalized because every person is different. But beyond that, the focus on a resume is presenting your experience in the best possible light. There is a level of creativity in that, but a resume is not meant to be as much fun as writing a poem or playing a guitar solo. The best resumes are written by people who accept that there are rules of the job search that are to be adhered to.

However, I think that adhering to good writing techniques, such as using action verbs instead of passive verbs will not only sound better but can better convey what you actually DO and can do. (Plus it's better grammar.) Here's a great list to help you get started.

- Rosie Reilman

Lying on Your Resume

It doesn't pay, even if you're a top executive. Jim Stroud has posted 6 stories of executives who have been caught in the act of lying on their resume. Read here.

Learn from their mistakes and do it right! Here are some articles that will help:
7 Secrets to Writing an Online Resume, The Right Resume, and Making a Video Resume

7 Secrets of Writing an Online Resume

With the outbreak of security issues when it comes to personal information being online, as well as the increased use of online job boards, many job seekers may be wondering how to post their resume and information for employers to find without compromising their privacy.


Well, we found a helpful article on JobSearchSecrets.net written by Matthew Keegan, owner of CorporateFlyer.net, aiding corporate flight attendants by providing information and tips on finding employment in the industry. He points out that for security reasons online resume copy should be handled differently than a hard copy. Here are some of his suggestions for successfully posting a resume online while safeguarding your privacy:

1. Leave out certain personal information. Include your name, your city/state [or region, such as Greater New York], a contact phone number, and an email address. Keep in mind that your phone number can reveal more to people about you than you want. Featuring an unlisted phone number is best; give out your cell number only if you can reasonably expect an advantage in sharing that information publicly. Identity theft and sexual harassment are growing problems; take care that your resume encourages neither.



2. Your photograph. This is optional and not nearly as commonplace in the U.S. as it is in Europe. Still, in some fields it has become a necessity. Make sure you are photographed wearing appropriate business attire. Your picture should be cropped and in most cases be a headshot only. A JPG or PNG extension file looks much nicer than a GIF.



3. State your objective. A one sentence statement outlining what type of position you are desiring is best.



4. Work experience. Okay, now for a dilemma. Do you really want to list information about an employer online? Instead of mentioning companies by name and listing specific employment dates, why not consider substituting that information with general details such as: "Seven Year Position as a Restaurant Manager for an Exclusive Sicilian Restaurant in Manhattan." You can then follow that statement up with the usual "duties and accomplishments."
   


5. Education. List all pertinent information with or without dates. Any training that is related to the position you are seeking warrants a mention.



6. References. Only list "furnished upon request." Better yet: leave that line out as it is a "given."



7. Layout and Display. Your online copy should also feature: a border, an attractive background, a decent font [Arial or Times New Roman], font size should be 12 pt., your name should be listed in bold, and hyperlinks must be active [especially for your email address]. Incorporate "Flash" if you desire.

Remember, what you post on a resume, online or hard copy, will be quickly scanned by a hiring authority. They will decide whether or not to contact you based upon what they will read in the first ten to fifteen seconds. If you'd like more tips on how to write a resume, please see our previous post: Finding the Perfect Job: Right Resume.