Well if you're looking for a job this coming year (2011) then you're not alone. Most of you that are in the job market have already noticed that finding a job in this market is slightly different than years before. Is it the economy? How do you prevail? I'm going to walk through the job hunting process in the job market today, and hopefully reveal some tips and actions that help you land the job you're looking for.
The first step in finding a job in today's economy is to know what you're looking for. Most of the job hunters in the market today have an idea of what industry or even position that they are looking for. It's imperative that you have an exact idea of the industry you'd like to work in, and even more so, the position you'd like to have. If you're in the job market because you have a lousy job and are simply looking for something better, you'll need to narrow down your search to something more tangible.
If you have several positions that you would like to have based on your education and experience, it would be wise to treat each position you are looking for as it's own job search. Human resource managers or recruiters (whichever apply) are very organized in their search for candidates, and so you must be. It's easy to jump on the internet and check out a few job sites, fire off a resume, and then wait for a response. If that's your approach to finding a job in today's market, plan on looking for a long time.
Make sure that for each position you apply for that you customize your resume for that specific position. Here's an important detail, DO NOT LIE on your resume. However, there are a few areas that you can customize to help your resume jump out to the person (or software program) reviewing it.
1. Make sure key terms match up
If at your last position you were a "sales executive" and the company that is hiring is looking for a very similar position but has it titled "account executive" then you're going to want to change the terminology to have it match the company's. Job titles often vary from company to company and are virtually the same thing. You want to make sure you customize your resume to the company that you're applying for as much as possible. Additionally, make sure you review your bullet points. If the job posting specifically lists skills and achievements they are looking for, and if you have those accomplishments, list them in your bullet points under the corresponding job. Again, make sure to use their terminology whenever possible.
2. Keep relevant information only
It makes more sense when sending over your resume to have only the most relevant and important information in relation to the job that you're applying for. If you had a job ten years ago that has no relevance to the position that you're applying for, move it off your resume. Need to fill the extra space? Add another bullet point or two to your most recent jobs; and try to find tasks that are in the job posting description that you've already got experience performing.
3. Check, double check, and triple check
It doesn't take a hiring manager or recruiter much time to spot an error on your resume, and when they do it's the end of the line for you. As a rule of thumb, errors on the most perfect resume usually didn't get overlooked. When working as a hiring manager who only had to sift through a few hundred resumes each month, even that small exposure to misspellings, grammatical errors, and punctuation blunders had my eyes trained and looking for those sorts of things to "rule out" the resume sitting in front of me. That might be a part of the process that job hunters need to be most aware, recruiters and hiring managers are looking for ways to eliminate your resume from the pile. It would be great if it were the other way around, but that simply isn't the fact.
LOOK FOR THE NEXT BLOG POST ... about how to find the job postings that you're looking for. What search engines and job boards are the best, how to make sure you are in the right place at the right time, and making sure you know how to sell the product of 'you'.
