Finding a Job Using the Web to Your Advantage

12.24.09 |

The Internet offers huge opportunities for a job hunter, but also presents several possible challenges. It also adds some complexities, and a lot more matters to think about…and be careful of.

Job search needs to be thought of as a highly personal, very targeted marketing operation where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network of contacts is your lead generating machine.

So where does the net fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on a popular job site and got 600 plus applications in a week. For one opening. That’s increased competition for jobs.

Had a suitable candidate contacted us before we ran the posting, they could have landed the position before running in to all that competition. How? By finding an employee at our office who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew about of the job for at least 8 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?

Be careful how you submit your application as well. When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily taken out with a speedy triage process. How? The same way any manager would. By passing over resumes where the objective didn’t match our job. By passing over prospects whose cover letters gave us reasons not to employ them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating candidates whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by eliminating candidates who didn’t trouble to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.

So the good news is that job boards give you a sense of who is hiring, and for what kinds of positions. But once those positions are posted, the competition is intense. You can still compete, if you have a well thought out resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing – so you don’t stumble at a critical point.

Another issue to be aware of is how quickly you can be checked out on the net. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some MySpace comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing illegal, but enough to swing our thoughts about who to employ.

AA-Careers provides a encompassing set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.

Be careful out there, and good hunting!