Becoming visible in your job search and your career
Learn the skills of communication, career and confidence.
Becoming visible in your job search and your career
1. The Conventional Job Search is Dead
Goodbye to the old job boards and methods of the past. It's time to do things differently.
To learn how to ace the interview take the Boost Your Confidence Course BeConfident.me
The conventional job search is dead. Typically you would start with the conventional job boards and postings on Indeed and LInkedIn. While these sites are still important, there are so many other places to look now, and so many other ways to connect with employers.
Don’t take the approach that you only want to look at jobs that have active job openings. You want to think about what companies you want to work for first.
You can take advantage of other search filters on LInkedIn like searching on individual profiles that have the purple Hiring filters for jobs. Make a list of all of the companies and people you want to reach out to. Typically you will look for the hiring manager or a talent acquisition manager or ta coordinator who would be in touch with the job openings. It is also a great idea to reach out to employees that work at the company to make connections and try to set up a quick informational calls. Having an inside connection can help if they refer you into the hiring team and they can also provide a good amount of insight on what the culture is like and other things you would want to know about the company and the position.
Do not be shy to reach out. People generally want to help. Even to the CEO! Use the LInkedIn connect option and send a personalized message. The worst thing that can happen is that they won’t accept your connection or reply. Most savvy job seekers land jobs by going the extra mile by making connections and talking to people at the company. You need to do everything you can to establish visibility to stand out from the crowd and take yourself OUT OF the conventional application process.
You can also take advantage of recruiting agencies. Many recruiting agencies represent candidates and are always on the lookout for great talent. If you search on “recruiting agency” in your location you can go to each of the websites and submit your resume to their database. Reach out to the recruiters on the agency team that focus on the job area you are interested in and try to set up a meeting. If you can get in with one or two recruiting agencies they will actively represent you, recommend you and keep you in mind for jobs they think you are a fit for.
In preparing to apply for different roles you want to ensure that your social media accounts are up to date with a professional headshot, an appropriate title and populated LInkedIn account. Ensure it is up to date but also reflects the skills and keywords that emphasize your skills for the position you are looking for. Recruiters will do job searches using keywords and you want to make sure you are findable within LinkedIn. Also ensure your portfolio or attached documents like your resume and other samples of your work and credentials are reflective and consistent of what is in your linkedin profile. Make sure you are posting regularly to LInkedIn. Ideally three times a week with articles and insights or updates that keep your feed relevant and active. If you are volunteering or have participated in a recent activity or workshop, take a picture and post it!
You will do most of your searching and networking on LinkedIn and that is where people will find you and check out your profile. If your linkedin profile is not consistent with your resume it is a red flag to the hiring team.
Obviously it goes without saying that your resume should be up to date, well written and following the standard format without use of graphics. Your resume will need to be readable by applicant tracking systems when you submit it and when excess graphic layouts and formatting is used it will sometimes make your resume unreadable by the resume scanners which are what recruiting teams use to automatically assess the content of your resume.
And while you are at it, refresh your facebook and instagram profile making sure that you have a picture that you would be comfortable with if someone was looking at it.
We will be sharing more specifics of applying for a job in our next lesson.
This brings me to job boards. If you are only looking on LInkedIn and Indeed you are missing out on job opportunities. Keep in mind some job boards are region and job category specific, for example, some focus on tech jobs, others on non-profit jobs, so you will use the ones that relate to the job roles you are targeting.
Here is a list of job board websites that you should take a look at and be aware of. Select the ones that are most relevant for you.
Indeed
Glassdoor
Ziprecruiter
Dice
Stackoverflow
Theladders
Wellfound
Flexa.careers
Workinstartups
Ratemyplacement
Hackajob
Welcometothejungle
Efinancialcareers
Lensa.com
Levels.fyi
useMassive.com
builtin.com
idealist.org
Working remotely:
Virtualvocations
Flexa.careers
workingnomads.com
Remotejobs.io
Okay so that’s a long list. And that’s the point. You don’t want to rely on just one job board because employers use a range of job boards. It is going to take a little more time to add your profile and resume to each of these but it will pay off. Don’t skip the LinkedIn networking and reach outs. Remember, LinkedIn is going to be your jam for a while and the more conversations and connections you have here the more likely you will be to break through the application process.
So what are you waiting for !! Get going. See you in the next lesson.