The Internet – Help or Hurt to Job Hunting?
A current job hunting campaign is by nature really complex. While the net has offered a variety of new sites and ways to communicate, it also creates exaggerated competition for superior jobs and potential challenges for job seekers.
Job searches need to be thought of as a highly personal, highly targeted marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network is your lead generating engine.
So where does the Net fit in? At AA-Careers, we recently put up a job on a popular job search site and got over 500 answers in a few days. For one opening. That’s extreme competition.
Had the right job seeker contacted us ahead of our posting that ad, they could have secured the job prior to getting all that competition. How? By knowing a person at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone was aware of the job for at least 10 days before it was posted. Who in your extended network might know of a job that’s coming on the market soon?
So the good news is that job websites give you a sense of who is hiring, and for what kinds of careers. But once those jobs are posted, the rivalry is strong. You can still compete, if you have a well honed 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 problem to be aware of is how easily you can be looked up on the internet. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some pictures and comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing larcenous, but enough to sway our thinking about who to hire.
AA-Careers provides a comprehensive 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!
