Job Hunting? Results Oriented Search Secrets / Tips
Last month, I was talking to my ex-HR Manager, now an independent recruiter. She used to work for Fortune 500 Companies. These days, each job that is being advertised on the cyberspace, gets hundreds of resumes. I asked her how much time she invests on each resume. The answer was startling: 15 secs. at the most! Dumbfounded, I asked her, “Can you separate wheat from the chaff?” She replied, “Yes, if it gets my attention”. What it means is that you need to first get into the bucket, which will be scanned. The discussion lasted for an hour and I gathered some info which might be useful to people planning to make a move or find a job.
Here are some of the tidbits:
· The software(s) these days pick applications that match closely with the keywords included in the job description. In other words, it’s similar to google searches we do everyday. When you have a want/need that can be searched on web, the word(s) you type are the keywords.
· Make sure your resume has the keywords when you put it on a website. Some people just put a section called skills, which includes soft skills as well.
· If you are using a job board, put a “Keywords” section in your profile.
· Use as many keywords as possible in the Summary section; however, be pragmatic.
· IT professionals are better off with software/hardware skills section.
· If you are in business liaison, then don’t forget to tag your business skills. Keywords for a Financial Analyst could be – risk analysis, trend reporting, budgets, variance analysis, excel, aggressively worked on CFO’s ad-hoc needs, Insurance industry experience and banking, to name a few.
· Use crawlers instead of specific websites to search for a job. Try www.indeed.com and www.simplyhired.com . They go over to different job boards and get you info based on keywords. Moreover, use the email feature on these websites – they will send you emails with the job listing with predefined frequency.
· Register with job boards like www.careerboard.com, www.monster.com; and if you are in IT, try out www.Dice.com. Registering helps recruiters find you if you end up in the scanned bucket.
· Try www.linkup.com to search jobs that are advertised on a firm’s career site!
· Try www.linkedin.com for job search. Click on the search on the top left corner. There is altogether a different job search strategy using this site. Go over here to see to know about the usage of the website: http://imonlinkedinnowwhat.com/
· If you are an executive, try www.ritesite.com; its cheaper than www.ladders.com or www.bluesteps.com.
· Do not use the mass-mailing feature given by different websites – IMHO as well as the HR professionals and career coaches I spoke to agree they are useless!
More to come….

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