January 2, or as soon as the bowl games are over, a tsunami of people jump into the online job market.
New Year = New Job Hunt = Crush of Competition
As someone who has been working in and observing the online job market since 1995, I know that shelving a job search during November and December is a mistake because of the plentiful holiday networking opportunities and reduced level of competition. However, “taking the holidays off” is a common November/December job search strategy.
So, use this “time off” to advance your job search without doing the hard stuff – resumes, cover letters, interviews, etc.
How?
Well, if you aren’t going to use December to actively job search, like most job hunters, why not use December to improve your job search tools so that you’ll be better positioned in January. How?
1. Create your LinkedIn Profile if you don’t already have one! REALLY! More important now than having your resume registered at 1,000,000 job boards!
2. Polish your LinkedIn Profile so you’ll be found by – and impress – recruiters and hiring managers searching LinkedIn for good job candidates:
- Complete your Profile, if it isn’t already at 100%.
- Make sure your Profile Headline describes you and the job you want.
DO NOT USE “Currently Unemployed” – that’s your temporary status, not who you are. You are “Web eCommerce Expert | Experienced Team Leader and Manager” or whatever best describes you and your target job. See Marci Reynolds article – How to Be Found on LinkedIn for more details. - Be sure each job listed in your Experience section uses an industry-standard job title.
It’s not really relevant that the employer entitled the job “Staff Assistant IV.” The rest of the world doesn’t know what that is. Senior Administrative Assistant means the same thing and is recognizable to people outside of that employer’s world. Also more likely to be found by a recruiter searching through LinkedIn. - Be sure each job listed in your Experience section has at least one accomplishment (NOT task or responsibility!) listed that supports your qualification for the job you are seeking.
- If you have more than a few connections, see if any of them would be appropriate and able to provide you with a credible recommendation.
Then ask for recommendations from those people, and be prepared to reciprocate. You don’t need 100 recommendations, 5 or 10 good ones will probably be plenty. More might look like overkill unless you have thousands of connections.
[If you don't have more than a few connections, keep reading.] - Review the LinkedIn Applications to see if any provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise, experience, and qualifications for your next job – SlideShare, etc.
If you use something from a current or former job, be sure that it doesn’t violate that employer’s confidentiality – don’t annoy a former employer at the same time you demonstrate to a potential employer that you can’t be trusted. Lose/lose! - Create content that demonstrates your expertise.
For example, research and write an ebook (they can be short) on a relevant and timely topic – “Resolving the [whatever] Green Issue in the [whatever] Industry” or something else interesting. Pull together a relevant presentation, and publish it on SlideShare. Link them to your Profile via the Applications. - Search the Groups for any that are relevant to your field, join them, and participate in the Discussions.
Start a Group if there aren’t any appropriate ones. - Answer a few questions in LinkedIn Answers.
Don’t do shameless self-promotion. Be relevant, on-topic, grammatically correct, etc. Demonstrate your knowledge and reasoning. - Ask a few questions in LinkedIn Answers, too.
Again, don’t do shameless self-promotion. - Unless you’re already a LION, use this time connect with a few more people – maybe you met them at a holiday party or maybe you found them with LinkedIn’s help through a People search or by clicking on the “Add Connections” button on your home page.
AND – IF the opportunity arises during the holidays, at a party or other event – don’t hesitate to expand your network. Share networking/business cards with interesting people you may meet. Whether you are job hunting now or in 2020, your network will help you succeed, and you will help them. It’s a good thing.
For more information on using social networks and social media for your job search, visit Job-Hunt’s Social Media and Job Search section.
About the author …
Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter @JobHuntOrg.
Email This Post
Loading ...
The Holidays can be stressful to the unemployed. Money not available like it was to celebrate the holidays. Getting back to revamping the resume and landing that next job in the new year, is not easy, but necessary. Published articles such as this one reiterates the need to pick yourself back up and land that job.