Archive for the ‘Job Search’ Category

Did I Get the Job???

January 28th, 2012 by Susan P. Joyce

Over in the discussions on WorkCoachCafe.com, a common question and concern from many job seekers is “did I get the job?”  Things sounded promising at the end of the interview, but the call that was supposed to happen the next Monday didn’t happen.

Confusion about a job offer is understandable:

  • The supervisor who was supposed to be round #3 of the interview process, spent an hour showing the candidate around the offices, going into very specific details about how to do the job.
  • At the end of a group interview, several potential co-workers said, “See you soon!”
  • At the end of the interviews, the hiring manager told the job seeker that he or she was the top candidate  and that HR would be contacting the candidate with the official offer the next day.

Were any of those job offers? No.  They weren’t.  They were very promising and encouraging.  But not job offers. (more…)

The Craigslist Killings: Is Craigslist Safe for Job Search?

December 4th, 2011 by Susan P. Joyce

Do a Google search on “craigslist killings,” and Google will show you over 100,000 search results.  Yikes!  And the most recent event in the USA appears to have been related to a job posting on craigslist which has apparently resulted in at least 3 deaths.

Human predators have existed for millions of years, and they have adapted well to the Internet.  Like some people gifted with a talent for music or computers, people gifted with a predator’s ”talent” adapt to their environment and adopt the new tools available, modifying their approach to fit with the opportunities the new environment provides.

Right now a lot of people are job hunting, and that has attracted the human predators.  The unemployed are sometimes desperate which can make them more vulnerable.

So, is craigslist unsafe for job search?

Sponsor:
what where  
job title, keywords or company
Employers: post your jobs
city, state or zip jobs by Indeed

(more…)

Helpful Holiday Table Talk with Unemployed Friends – 3 Key Questions

November 18th, 2011 by Susan P. Joyce

People get together for the holidays, often seeing friends they haven’t seen since the last year’s year-ending holidays.  So, holiday parties are a wonderful time to network and to connect with jobs, before the new year starts.

If you have unemployed friends (most of us do), help them leverage these holiday get-togethers to advance their job search.  What a great way to start the new year – a new job!

Do NOT –

Even sympathetically, don’t ask “So, still job-hunting?”

If you’re unemployed, you face the reality of job hunting every day, and it isn’t fun.

So, when you meet with unemployed friends, be sensitive to your friends’ feelings, and don’t ask awkward questions.  People seem to flounder around trying to be helpful, often making everyone feel uncomfortable.

Instead -

After you’ve exchanged the usual pleasantries, look for concrete ways you can help your friend with their job search.

Ask these 3 questions: (more…)

Indeed Resume: Great News for Job Seekers & Employers

September 19th, 2011 by Susan P. Joyce

 The world’s # 1 online job search destination just became even more important!

On Sept. 14, in response to requests from job seekers (and probably employers), Indeed.com announced the launch of Indeed Resume, a new function that will help both job seekers and employers, and could be the next must-do for job seekers.

As of September 14, Indeed now provides:

  • Resume posting for job seekers (free, of course) with many different resume formats accepted, including PDF.
  • And, free resume searching for employers, although a cost to employers will probably be coming. 
  • A personal URL for the job seeker (customizable by the job seeker) to use for their Indeed Resume.

I’m happy to say that Indeed is a Job-Hunt Sponsor, but I see this as an important new development benefiting both job seekers and employers regardless of that relationship.

How Indeed Resume Works

(more…)

Growth of Social Media – Infographic

September 4th, 2011 by Susan P. Joyce

I ran into this very interesting infographic on LinkedIn today, thanks to David Merzel‘s post on the Job-Hunt Help LinkedIn Group, and it’s worth sharing.  This graphic was originally published on SearchEngineJournal.com in late August, so it’s current, comparing 2010 and 2011 data.

You will see it includes some of the impact of social media on recruiting and job search, particularly how employers research in social media and the impact of that research.

It’s long and global.  I recommend that you read the whole thing. The data sources are at the bottom of the graphic.  If you click on it, you can see a larger version of it.
(more…)

Don’t Send Me (or Anyone Else) Your Resume!

August 15th, 2011 by Susan P. Joyce

“Spray and pray” resume distribution (sending it to every email address you can find or posting it in every job board you can find) is a waste of time, and makes you look desperate and dumb.  Don’t do it yourself, and don’t hire a resume distribution “service” to do it for you.  

Not only do you look desperate, spray-and-pray may send your resume into the wrong hands, for example, to:

  • Your current boss, if you are employed, or someone else you work with, which can result in loss of the job you have.
  • Someone who will use your information for their own purposes completely unrelated to job search – selling your contact information to mass marketers, for example.  Need more spam, junk phone calls, or junk mail?
  • Someone intent on identity theft or other nasty action.

(more…)

Network Like a Top Headhunter: 2 Lessons

July 10th, 2011 by Susan P. Joyce

In early June, I attended the Fordyce Forum in Las Vegas at the beautiful, relatively smoke-free M Resort - tough duty!

Billed as “a conference for search and placement professionals from the publishers of the Fordyce Letter,” the Fordyce Forum brought together over 120 independent recruiters (a.k.a. “head hunters”) to network and to learn new things.

These independent recruiters are a very interesting universe that most of us glimpse very briefly - if at all - in our careers.  They make their living by finding appropriate job candidates for their clients (employers) who have high level opportunities.  Not an easy way to make a living, but it can pay very well, apparently, if you are successful.

As described previously on Job-Hunt, head hunters, like all recruiters, work for employers, not for job seekers, because the employer pays them.  They are paid a fee either when a job is filled by someone they referred for the job, or, on a continuing basis  (a.k.a., “retained”), they are paid by their client employers to keep a look out for good potential employees.

Head hunters are relentless networkers.

Fordyce offered several unstructured networking opportunities in the 2-day Forum, and they were all very well attended.  These people definitely understand how to leverage networking opportunities, and watching them in action was quite educational.

(more…)

Be on LinkedIn or BeKnown? No Contest!

July 4th, 2011 by Susan P. Joyce

Frankly, I’m amazed at all the good press about BeKnown, the new Facebook app for professional networking and job search by Monster.  The privacy implications for employed job seekers are terrible!

If you currently have a job, DO **NOT** USE  BeKnown!

Be warned!  When I joined BeKnown to look around so I could write this blog post, BeKnown published this announcement on my Facebook Wall:

YIKES!  Good thing I’m not a job seeker with a job to protect and an employer or co-workers checking out my Facebook Wall!  My “secret” would be out!  Yes, you can delete that first post, but what about BeKnown’s next one!  And the one after that…

When an employer finds out about an employee’s job search,
that job seeker is frequently terminated! 

Employers are, often rightly, worried about loss of clients, business secrets, insider information, etc. when an employee leaves  So they pull the plug on that job-seeking employee as soon as they find out about the job search, sending them out the door quickly before much damage can be done.

(more…)

Demand for Social Media Experience Is Booming!

June 20th, 2011 by Susan P. Joyce

If you spend a lot of time in social media venues like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, or writing your blog, you may want to see if you can convert your hobby/interest into paid employment.

These jobs range in salary from $30,000/year to well over $100,000, depending on the level and the employer.

BEFORE YOU APPLY for any of these jobs, read the requirements!

If you don’t meet at least 80% of a job’s requirements, don’t waste your time applying.  Find another posting that’s a better fit.  Or, if there isn’t one that fits you, use the job descriptions to see where you might need to acquire skills and experience to fill any gaps – then launch your own self-improvement and education program.

Indeed!

A quick search through giant job aggregator Indeed.com shows some very interesting things happening.  Type “social media” as your search term, and Indeed finds over 27,000 jobs in the USA.

Sample employers:

Employers included in these results range from the tip-top of the current Fortune 500 (Walmart) to “lesser” employers like NBC Universal; Associated Bank and CitiGroup; Time Warner and USA Today; Symantec, EMC, and Intel; Boston Scientific; Saks and Sears; Mashable; Aetna and Experian;  recruiters and job boards of all sizes and locations, and more.

(more…)

Find Jobs Using Google

May 15th, 2011 by Susan P. Joyce

Just typing “jobs” as your query in Google will give you nearly 3 billion results – a little time-consuming for you to check out each one, and not very practical or useful either. 

So, you need to do three things to help you find the job postings you want:

  1. Know the job you want. 
    An unfocused web search on Google is as useless as an unfocused job search, “IRL” (“in real life”).  “Anything” seems easy to find, but it really is not because no one describes their job opening as “anything.”  So figure out the job(s) you want to do next to have terms you can use in Google and also in your answer the next time someone asks.
  2. Modify your Google search so the results are more useful to you (see the tips and example below).
  3. Analyze pages like the pages you want Google to find for you.  Look for terms that are repeated on those pages, and then use those commonly-used terms in your search to find similar pages.

Tips for Effective Google Searches for Jobs
(more…)

« Older Entries