The Definition of Insanity in Your Job Search

Face it: job searching right now is a bear for nearly everyone. It is harder for some than for others but by and large anyone looking for a new job is struggling to find one. We can analyze why; fewer jobs, employers are more selective, etc. Many job seekers turn to job boards and social networking as tools for their job search. There has been a lot of negative feedback from job seekers about the use of job boards and the lack of response from employers using these job boards. “Are they real jobs?” “Why don’t they respond?” “I feel like my resume goes into a black hole!”

By the same token, employers complain about the lack of quality applicants on job boards. Job seekers fail to follow application instructions or reply to positions for which they aren’t qualified. Employers become complacent about responses from job board applicants, likely thinking they aren’t going to find the candidate they want to hire in that stack.

It goes without saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If we truly want to change the landscape of job searching and recruiting we have to change the approach. Job boards can be a very useful tool for both employers and job seekers, if utilized properly!

Job Seekers, consider this: Do you think you have a better chance of getting that job by submitting a good cover letter and targeted resume to a job posting? Or do you think you’d have a better chance by doing all of that and making a social connection within the hiring company? What if you were the hiring manager? Would you be more interested in interviewing someone you know nothing about, or someone with which you have made a connection and know something about? Making that connection helps make you a real person instead of just a personality-deficient resume.

Here are some quick do’s and don’ts for Job Seekers:

Do use job boards. All of them, any of them.

Do use targeted resumes. (modified resume containing job key words)

Do use cover letters when applicable.

Do use social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to connect with potential employers and recruiters.

Do use the power of Google to help you learn about the companies you want to work for (or the ones that are advertising openings).

Don’t be afraid to make those connections! You don’t catch a fish with an empty hook!

Don’t be a pest! It’s unprofessional and makes you look desperate. Calling multiple times a day or sending more emails when you haven’t yet received a response guarantees you won’t.

Don’t complain. People are watching you on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. Complaining about how much your job search sucks doesn’t make you a more attractive candidate.

Don’t give up! Job Searching can be tough on the self-esteem. Don’t feel sorry for yourself, it won’t help you. Treat your job search like a job and make sure you take off 2 days a week like you are supposed to. You need that time to recharge.

I’m sure we have some readers that can contribute more to this list of do’s and don’ts. We encourage you to list yours! As for how we can get employers back into shape with regard to using job boards properly, well that’s another blog post. Stay tuned!

- Robin M. Eads, Co-Founder & President, JobShouts.com

How to search for a job…not where…but HOW

A lot of focus is on the job market these days. Much is being said about how to search for a job. What sites to visit, where to look, how to network. What is missing from this? How to input the correct search strings into the search boxes of Google, Twitter, or any job search engine you might encounter during your job search.

That’s just about as important as where to look. If your search phrases are not specific enough, you’ll be wasting your time sifting through jobs that are not relevant to your skills or profession. If you’re too tight on your search specifics your results will be too small to work with.

Each person will go about this in a slightly different way. Dependent on your skill sets your search phrases will vary. However, the logic behind search queries will be fairly consistent across almost any profession.

Boolean Search operators are very useful when conducting a search on google. Setting up google alerts to do this for you should be a integral part of your job search arsenal.

Before you begin your search, first make a list of keywords related to your chosen industry. Also make a list of cities, or geographical locations that you will be searching for jobs in.

When you enter your keywords into search fields, you can search for either a specific word or string of words. This can prove useful when you wish to enter multiple criteria e.g. software developer Tampa Florida. If your job requires a particular skill or qualification you may also wish to include this e.g. C#, PHP, Java, SQL etc.

Do not enter words that are not keywords, a, an, the, at, on etc. There is no need for them and they could throw your results off. You might just end up with movie titles for results. Not what you are looking for.

Use the Boolean operators  AND, OR, and NOT.

You can also combine words using AND, OR, and NOT. For example, network AND engineer will search for jobs which contains both the words network and engineer, although not necessarily next to each other.

Sales OR manager will search for jobs which contain either the word sales or manager.

Sales NOT manager will search for jobs which contain the word sales but not manager.

You can also search for a phrase by typing it exactly as you wish it to appear. E.g. typing “Quantity Surveyor” would return jobs containing the phrase ‘quantity surveyor’. placing your search phrase inside of quotes will return result that only match what was put into the quotes.

Try this search string (without the quotes) in Google and see what you get.  “(job, tampa, fl) network OR engineer -Novell”.

Parentheses ( )If you are sure about one search term, but not so sure about the others, you can group them together with parentheses. For example, I know for sure I want to search jobs in Tampa, fl. I also told Google to narrow my results to postings that contain network OR engineer but not Novell. Since I don’t know squat about Novell, why would I need to see search results that need filtering further?

Just try to keep in mind that Google automatically inserts the AND statement automatically anytime you enter multiple keywords. Most job search engines do as well, but if your not getting results use the AND statement. See if it helps; each person should get comfortable using operators, and search phrases that are relevant to their own careers, and goals.

Searching for jobs on twitter.

This is where your search takes on a different spin. Twitter and job authorities on twitter make use of what is known as hashtags. Hashtags are preceded by the ‘#’ symbol. e.g. #jobs or #seojobs, or #prjobs.

Here is an example search phrase to put into a search window in tweetdeck or twhirl. #jobs tampa .net developer. Not using a 3rd party client like tweetdeck of twhirl? Well if you’re serious about your job search you should be.

Using a tool to manage your search on twitter, such as Tweetdeck or Twhirl will put your search on autopilot. You wont have to sit in front of your computer waiting for the perfect job to come along. Leave your client running in the system tray and check it periodically.

Good Luck with your job search I hope this helps. If you would like to contribute more information to this article feel free to contact me @tall_geek on twitter.