Tag Archives: Job Boards

Polar Bear Testicles and your job search

Posted on September 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

CNN had a story on shrinking polar bear testicles.  They went into detail about how it was an indicator of global warming destroying the earth.  I would hate to be the scientist with a bag of bear treats trying to make that measurement.  Then there was a brief blurb about the lowest SAT college exam scores in 30 years.  The SAT scores were just barely worth mentioning.

Which of the two stories caught your attention?  Shrinking polar bear testicles.  It was improbable, bizarre, and got you worried about vague worldwide problems.

Which story was really the most significant for your personal prosperity?  The SAT scores.  It affects every company in the USA.  More money, focus, worry, and concern are being focused on polar bear testicles than on why SAT scores are dropping.

Everything is not of equal importance.  The biggest problem that most job seekers have is that they are very focused on the wrong thing.

Are you focusing on these things?

  1. Finding jobs on job boards
  2. Sending out resumes
  3. Perfecting your cover letter
  4. Creating one perfect resume
  5. New ways to search Indeed.com
  6. Sending out more resumes

They are the wrong thing. Sorry.

You should focus on….

  1. Talking to hiring managers
  2. Talking to the bosses of hiring managers

Those are the only things that count.  If you are talking to one hiring manager a day, you are outperforming someone who sends out 50 resumes to qualified jobs every day.

Networking is the most effective way to talk to hiring managers.

No. Asking someone to introduce you to a hiring manager is not what I mean.  That is great,  but it is also a distraction.  The IMPORTANT networking you can do every day is to find hiring managers, ask them for some help they can easily give, and then stay in touch occasionally.

I haven’t got time to go over the details today.  I’ve done seminars and a hundred articles on how to do that.  I’ll try to publish a slew of them in the next couple of weeks.

Don’t get distracted by polar bear testicles.  Focus on talking to hiring managers every day and staying in contact with them until you have that new job.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Perseverance, Resumes, Time management

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Reverse Resume Blasting

Posted on August 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

Reverse engineering is taking something that works and figuring out 10 ways it can’t possibly be done.

Us recruiters do a lot of reverse lookups.  We have paid for training in how to get information from the wrong source.  We x-ray websites.  Yes, that is what it is called.  We use social media sites to find companies.  We use resumes to find job openings.

How to use ResumeRabbit without paying for it

You may get more good from ResumeRabbit by not paying them a cent.

Here’s how:

They like to brag about the 85 websites they can send your resume to for you. They list them.  They send your resume to the sites that are the most popular with hiring companies.  Almost all those sites will show you lists of jobs and employers for free.  Go take a look at them.

And in case you haven’t heard, my favorite website for finding jobs is www.indeed.com .   They are an aggregator.  They go out to company and job board websites and scour them for jobs.

Go take a look at every website you are on today.  See if there is a way to get unintended information.  Like the list of job boards ResumeRabbit posts to.  I bet you can find a job opening in a way you never tried before.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards

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Resume blasting – job boards

Posted on August 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

Water from a hose can make plants grow or blast them out of the ground. Planning and aim make the difference.

Should you put your resume out on one internet job board?  On 50?  It really could get you a job.  But there’s a down side too.  Consider:

Your boss calls you into his office and closes the door.  “Two days ago you posted your resume on an internet job board.  Why are you quitting?”  Are you looking forward to that conversation?

Want even more fun?  You may not have posted your resume on the internet for 6 months.  A job board you never visited may have bought your resume and posted it without permission.  That way they can attract employers.  I know one guy who got called in by his boss 2 years after he first posted his resume.  The funny thing was that 2 years ago that posting got him his current job and the boss who was cross examining him.

One way to avoid this problem is to post a confidential resume.  It isn’t foolproof, but it will keep you from being recognized by all but those who know your background in detail.  The problem is that you will get fewer responses to your posting.

Recruiters and resume blasting are a two sided coin.  Putting your resume on a website may get you calls from a lot of recruiters.  However, some recruiters refuse to work with candidates who have posted their resumes.  The ones who refuse to work with you because you posted your resume online are far fewer in number, but tend to have the more exclusive job openings.

Posting your resume online can absolutely energize your job search.  It can also be a long term problem.  It is easier to post your resume than to get it off the internet.

If you decide to post to as many places as possible you may want to consider a service like ResumeRabbit. It can submit you to up to 85 sites instantly.

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Something To Do Today

Go to ResumeRabbit and look at the places they will post your resume.  Whether you use the service or not, you may want to look for job postings at some of those sites.

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Posted in Job Boards, Resumes, Uncategorized

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Referrals vs Monster

Posted on August 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

Even a fox can get a job guarding a henhouse if he has good enough references.

 Internet job boards fill 13% of jobs, recruiters fill 4%, and referrals fill 26% of jobs according to one survey.     So where do you want to concentrate your job hunting time?

But there are so many jobs on Monster, Dice and Career Builder, shouldn’t I try to get those jobs? 

Absolutely!  But that doesn’t mean you should automatically send a resume through those services. 

22% of jobs are found on a company’s own website.  Gotta like that.  Still, don’t even apply at the company’s own website until after you have tried to take advantage of this country”s main job finding system: Networking into referrals.

Print out the jobs you want that you find on the internet.  Make a list of the companies.  Next to each company, make a list of people you know who work there.  Include people who know someone who works there.  Add a list of recruiters who can get your resume past HR (Human Resources) and directly to the hiring manager.  Get into www.linkedin.com and see if you can find someone working at that company.  (Link to bryan@dilts.us to expand your network.) Add the people at companies your are targeting to a list.

Your objective is to find someone who can drop your information on the hiring manager’s desk.  Look at your whole list before you make a move.  Who has the best chance of helping you?  Who is the best connected?  Is it a professional networker–a recruiter?  Is it your friend’s wife?  Get your resume in there and follow up.  If you don’t get a call within a week, try again through another person.

26% of jobs are being filled by networking.  13% are being filled by recruiters.  Shouldn’t networking and recruiters be your main job search tools?  

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Something To Do Today

Get into www.linkedin.com   Link to bryan@dilts.us

List where everyone you know works, their spouses too.  Keep adding to the list whenever you find out where someone works.  Keep track of coworkers who leave.  Start making a list of where everyone who knows you works. It may be worth more than gold to you now or in the future.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Networking, Recruiters

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Where recruiters find executive candidates

Posted on May 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

A large survey done by Execunet shows that in 2010 executive recruiting companies like AGI are finding their candidates:

  • 44% Networking
  • 21% in their database
  • 14% using online research (LinkedIn, forums, company websites, etc.)
  • 9% from online job postings (Company website, Monster, CareerBuilder, etc.)
  • 9% searching resume databases (Monster, CareerBuilder, etc.)
  • 3% advertising

So if you want to find an executive job, you had better focus on more than just the ads you see.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Networking

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The right sources of job leads

Posted on January 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

Knowledge is power and enthusiasm pulls the switch.  (Droke)

Only 6 2 % of workers found their current jobs on the internet according to a 2005 survey. That may be up to 10% in 2009.  The 4 biggest internet job boards only filled 2 2 % of the jobs says the Wall Street Journal.  That means that company websites, Monster, CareerBuilder and Google should only be the start of your job search.

About 17% of jobs are filled by recruiters in agencies.  Better than the internet, but where else can you look?  A whopping 70% of jobs are filled by networking.  The rest are filled by newspaper ads, radio, TV, schools, etc.

The internet is a great place to find companies that may want to hire you.  But, don’t just look for perfect jobs already listed.  Look for companies that could use your skills.  Then network your way in to the 70% of jobs that never make it to a company website or internet job board.

If you were a manager, would you like to hire someone recommended to you by your top engineer?  Sure!  So make a list of companies that could use your skills.  Then put your networking list beside it.  Your networking list should include agency recruiters you trust to help you with their 17% of the jobs.  Who in your network knows someone in those companies? 

Now, call up those people and ask them what they know about XYZ company.  What have they heard?  Do they know someone working there?  Does that person like it there?  Can you call the person at that company to see what they have to say?  Can they forward your resume?

One other way to talk to the right person at a company is to call in and ask.  Ask the receptionist, “Who is in charge of programming?”  Sometimes you’ll get that manager.  Often you’ll be put through to Human Resources (HR).  That’s fine.  Send them your resume.  Just remember, HR is the last to know when there is an opening.  So ask for the manager of the area you want to talk to first.  You may get lucky.

Use your 30 second commercial when you talk to HR or a hiring manager.  What’s a 30 second commercial?  I guess we had better cover that tomorrow.

The other thing you can do is to network for information, giving and getting.  That will have to be another day.

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Something To Do Today

Remember that networking list?  Better take a look at that again.  Contact three people you want to network with.  Do it today.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Networking

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Six Ads For One Job – part two

Posted on December 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

You see 6 ads for one job you really want.  It is so good you would quit you’re your current job just to apply.  What do you do?

High Priority Jobs

Getting your resume into the hiring manager’s hands is your quest.

First gather information. 

Is there anything that makes you think the writer of one of the ads knows the hiring manager personally?

Check the date on all those ads.  When were they posted?  What day did they appear?  List when the company and each agency first advertised.  Did an agency advertise before the company itself?  They may have a close tie to the hiring manager.  Have the ads been going on for months?  The company is either getting a little desperate, has decided not to fill the job, or the job is full but recruiters haven’t bothered to pull the ads yet because they are still getting lots of calls. 

How are the ads different?   Does one include a lot more in-depth information?  Is another extremely short?  Look closely.  Do any of them make you feel like the writer talked to the manager?  You want to talk to someone who has the hiring manager’s ear.

Second work your network.

Call the people you know at the company, or invite them out to lunch.  Call up recent employees.  What can you find out about the job?  Is there someone who can personally take your resume to the hiring manager?  How about to the hiring manager’s boss?  This is still the research phase.  Don’t give anyone your resume yet.  You only get to submit it once.

Is there a recruiter you trust?  Find out what information they have.  If they can bypass HR (Human Resources) or have other great connections then work with them.  For instance, there is one company I work with that requires all recruiters to submit resumes through their online system.  But I call the HR manager and tell her when my candidates go in so she can immediately extract them.  She is afraid of missing a truly hot candidate.  Other people who submit themselves are first sorted through by the receptionist. 

You really do have to quiz recruiters about their connections.  If you answer a particular ad when there are 6 ads out there, you have a right to ask why you should send a resume in through them.

Third decide how to apply.

If the job is not exciting, it doesn’t matter how you submit your resume.  Just do some quick cosmetic changes and submit it through an agency or the HR department.

For the job that really turns you on, figure out who should submit your resume.  For any company it could be you, a friend, recruiter or acquaintance.  Choose in this order:

  1. Someone who can hand your resume to the hiring manager and personally recommend you.  It doesn’t get any better.
  2. Whoever can get your resume past HR and talk to the manager.
  3. The person that can talk to the HR manager or screener and get you past the first cut.
  4. At this point all submissions really are equal. Do it yourself, have an employee there submit you to HR or let a recruiter you trust and who gets back with you do it. 

Fourth get your resume perfect

Put the bullets on your resume in order of importance.  Put a few key words in bold to make sure the screener and manager sees them.  Get rid of bullets, lines and sentences that do not apply to the job!!  A two page resume is fine for most jobs, but the second page may never get read.

Do the 10 second test with several people.  Hand your resume to a few friends and ask them to read it for 10 seconds.  Time them.  Take it away in 10 seconds.  Ask what they remember.  Do they mention your most important qualifications and accomplishments? If they do, it’s a winner.  If not, change it.

The 10 second test is critical because most screeners and managers give all the resumes a 10 second review to try to find the best ones first.  They will probably throw out your resume without further reading if they can’t see what they want in that first 10 seconds.

Fifth submit and follow up

Submit your resume.  Call up and find out what happened two days later.  Did your resume arrive there?  Did the manager see it yet?  When will he decide? 

You really want that job? After your two day follow up call send a thank you note. Give them a nudge, short and friendly.  It is amazing how a thank you note can get someone to personally try one more time for you.

Keep calling back at least weekly.  Sometimes it does take a couple of months to fill a job.  Keep your candidacy alive until it is pronounced dead by someone who knows.

Take Your Best Shot

If you really want a job.  Go all out.  There may be 100 applicants.  In some cases there may be 1000.  Use personal contacts to set yourself apart from the herd.  Make sure your resume instantly says, “I’m qualified.”  And follow up in case you somehow get missed.

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Something To Do Today

Start prioritizing all the jobs you can apply for.  On your written list make sure the jobs you crave stand out.  Treat them differently.  It is worth the extra effort.

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Posted in Job Boards, Networking, Perseverance, Resumes

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Six Ads For One Job – part one

Posted on December 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

You see 3 job board ads with almost identical wording for a job in the same suburb.  You go online and find 3 social network ads that are almost identical from 3 more different companies.  It has to be one job, not 6 different ones. What do you do?

First decide how much you want the job, then give it the time it deserves.

You have to set your priorities first.   Would you quit your job just to apply for it?   Then it will be worth a few phone calls and some research.   Is it so marginal you would NOT quit your job if it paid 5% more than you are earning today?  Treat it differently.

Low Priority Jobs

Look at all the ads.  Are any by a recruiter you know and want to work with?  Give them a quick call.  Often you can get more information from a recruiter than from the company itself.  Ask them if you have a chance at the job.  Do you want the job?  Commit the recruiter to submitting you for the job.  Then call up in two days and ask what they have heard back. 

If you can figure out who the primary employer is and don’t want to work with any recruiting agencies, just apply directly.  For low priority jobs it isn’t worth stressing out about whether an agency or a direct submission will work best.  Call the company in two days to see what happened.

High Priority Jobs

This is more involved.  We’ll talk about it tomorrow.

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Something To Do Today

Look online and find a job with more than one ad. Figure out which ones are from agencies and which is from the actual hiring company.  Make this a habit.

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80% of jobs are hidden – How To Find Them

Posted on November 30, 2009 | 1 comment

The webinar on how to find the 80% of jobs that are NOT advertised can be seen here.

The cheatsheet can be downloaded free here.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Networking, Perseverance

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Tricks To Get Past The Screeners

Posted on November 25, 2009 | Leave a comment

First of all, apply for every job you are qualified for.  It is impossible to tell if the job is real.  You may as well take 5 minutes and apply.

Did you notice I did NOT say take 15 seconds and apply?  Internet job boards let you send off a resume without thinking.  You can send off a hundred in an hour.  That just assures you of 100 failures.  If you take 5 minutes and send off an effective resume for each job, you’ll do better than if you spam every employer in your area.

Most resumes are screened out electronically for large companies.  Every company then uses a clerical screener to throw out 90% of the resumes that are left with only a 10 second glance.  The remaining resumes get a 45 second read through and often only 5 out 100 original resumes are seen by anyone outside of HR.

Machines only care about one thing….a perfect match.  You have to have every requirement.  Look at the job order.  Does it have an acronym like “MS Word”?  Then have “MS Word” and “Microsoft Word” in your resume somewhere.  Does it ask for “PC experience”?  Then put the words “PC experience” somewhere.  You may want to put a “Technology Experience” section at the end of each job or the end of the resume.  You can put PowerPoint, Access, SAP A/R, Lawson GL and other cryptic requirements there.  The machine will find an exact match and you will get to the clerical screener.

The clerical screener really wants to throw out as many resumes as possible.  Every one he keeps means more work.  Look at the job listing.  What are they asking for?  Don’t bury your most important experience in a paragraph.  Screeners do not read paragraphs.  They read

  • The first 5 words in bullets and paragraphs.
  • The first 3 bullets only.
  • Job titles that are in bold type
  • Words that are in bold type. 

They may read italicized words, but not as often as bold.  Warning:  Don’t camouflage your qualifications by bolding everything YOU think is important.  Only bold the things asked for in the ad.

Make sure a screener who doesn’t want to have to read your whole resume sees you match the job.

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Something To Do Today

For every job you are applying for, create a resume that will get past the screeners.  Bullet and bold everything the job ad asks for.

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Posted in Job Boards, Resumes

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