Job Hunting Using the Web to Succeed
The Internet offers huge opportunities for a job hunter, but also presents several potential challenges. It also adds some complexities, and a lot more things to think about…and be careful of.
Job hunting needs to be thought of as a highly personal, very directed marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network is your source for information and opportunities.
So where does the web fit in? At AA-Careers, we recently posted a job on Craigslist and got more than 650 applications in a week. For a single job. That’s increased competition for job openings.
Had a suitable candidate contacted us ahead of our posting that ad, they could have secured the position prior to getting all that competition. How? By finding someone who knows an employee at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew about of the job for at least 13 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?
Be sure to check your application matierials carefully! When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily removed with a quick triage process. How? The same way any employer would. By passing over resumes where the objective didn’t match our job description. By passing over prospects whose cover letters gave us reasons not to engage them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating job hunters whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by passing over prospects who didn’t bother to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.
So the good news is that job boards give you a sense of who is hiring, and for what kinds of jobs. But once those positions are posted, the competition is intense. You can still compete, if you have a well thought out resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing – so you don’t stumble at a critical point.
Another issue to be aware of is how quickly and easily you can be checked out on the web. As we Googled several job hunters, we ran into some pictures and comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing illegal, but enough to rock our thoughts about who to choose.
AA-Careers provides a broad set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.
Be careful out there, and good hunting!

