DIY Job Search Part II

DIY Job Search â€" Part II Let me match the five things I listed on Friday to five things I should have done each of these points coincide with the point below (in other words, first here matches first on Fridays post, etc.): First my resume was bad. While I had some people check it out, these were not people trained in resume development. I didnt want to get professional help because I knew how to navigate Microsoft Word and I am a smart guy I could figure it out on my own gosh, Ive read enough articles on how to do it! What I didnt realize was that a resume expert does more than cool formatting. If I had professional resume help early on I would have had a set of resumes and cover letters from the beginning that would have got me into more interviews. I was never getting to the interview stage because my resume sucked. Second my job board strategy was incomplete. There were certain criteria in my profiles that I may have not completed (for privacy reasons) and hiring managers and recruiters were looking me over. I should have spent more time assessing those questions and answering them completely. I now realize that recruiters and HR search on candidates by what their profiles are, and then go look at the resume. I thought my resume would get me the interview, but no one was even getting that far. Third I put too much trust in the recruiters. One huge recruiting firm had me believing Id have a job by the time I got back to my car sign this paper, here are the benefits youll be getting, etc. When I called back the next week the recruiter didnt even remember my name! As Ive mentioned before, my favorite recruiter said youll find a job for yourself before I find one for you. It was then that I began to understand the nature of my relationship with recruiters. Even though I reached out to 29 recruiters I had not one looking for a job for me. My background was too general, while they were looking to fill very specific roles. It is critical to understand how valuable you are to a recruiter if you are not valuable then dont spend too much time chasing them! Fourth I relied completely on their internal systems and ignored the idea of networking into the back door. Ive heard that you cant get around their formal posting process. Cool post your resume. But, find someone that works there and network your way in. Getting an internal endorsement to accompany your application will go a long ways! Even if it doesnt work for a particular application, you will now have contacts in that company that may play out later. Fifth My metrics for success were flawed. I was measuring the wrong thing number of jobs I applied to. According to the what color is your parachute book, Id need to send out almost 1,500 resumes before I got a job. There is a better way! So thats what I did wrong. My advice in a nutshell: 1. learn to network and do it at least 60% of your job search time. If you want a quick 20 minute primer listen to this podcast interview: Never Eat Alone Author Keith Ferrazi 2. Get professional help. You can get it for free or you can pay for it depending on your needs and urgency. I hope this gives you an idea of how NOT to go about you job search even if you do like to Do It Yourself. DIY Job Search â€" Part II Let me match the five things I listed on Friday to five things I should have done each of these points coincide with the point below (in other words, first here matches first on Fridays post, etc.): First my resume was bad. While I had some people check it out, these were not people trained in resume development. I didnt want to get professional help because I knew how to navigate Microsoft Word and I am a smart guy I could figure it out on my own gosh, Ive read enough articles on how to do it! What I didnt realize was that a resume expert does more than cool formatting. If I had professional resume help early on I would have had a set of resumes and cover letters from the beginning that would have got me into more interviews. I was never getting to the interview stage because my resume sucked. Second my job board strategy was incomplete. There were certain criteria in my profiles that I may have not completed (for privacy reasons) and hiring managers and recruiters were looking me over. I should have spent more time assessing those questions and answering them completely. I now realize that recruiters and HR search on candidates by what their profiles are, and then go look at the resume. I thought my resume would get me the interview, but no one was even getting that far. Third I put too much trust in the recruiters. One huge recruiting firm had me believing Id have a job by the time I got back to my car sign this paper, here are the benefits youll be getting, etc. When I called back the next week the recruiter didnt even remember my name! As Ive mentioned before, my favorite recruiter said youll find a job for yourself before I find one for you. It was then that I began to understand the nature of my relationship with recruiters. Even though I reached out to 29 recruiters I had not one looking for a job for me. My background was too general, while they were looking to fill very specific roles. It is critical to understand how valuable you are to a recruiter if you are not valuable then dont spend too much time chasing them! Fourth I relied completely on their internal systems and ignored the idea of networking into the back door. Ive heard that you cant get around their formal posting process. Cool post your resume. But, find someone that works there and network your way in. Getting an internal endorsement to accompany your application will go a long ways! Even if it doesnt work for a particular application, you will now have contacts in that company that may play out later. Fifth My metrics for success were flawed. I was measuring the wrong thing number of jobs I applied to. According to the what color is your parachute book, Id need to send out almost 1,500 resumes before I got a job. There is a better way! So thats what I did wrong. My advice in a nutshell: 1. learn to network and do it at least 60% of your job search time. If you want a quick 20 minute primer listen to this podcast interview: Never Eat Alone Author Keith Ferrazi 2. Get professional help. You can get it for free or you can pay for it depending on your needs and urgency. I hope this gives you an idea of how NOT to go about you job search even if you do like to Do It Yourself. DIY Job Search â€" Part II Let me match the five things I listed on Friday to five things I should have done each of these points coincide with the point below (in other words, first here matches first on Fridays post, etc.): First my resume was bad. While I had some people check it out, these were not people trained in resume development. I didnt want to get professional help because I knew how to navigate Microsoft Word and I am a smart guy I could figure it out on my own gosh, Ive read enough articles on how to do it! What I didnt realize was that a resume expert does more than cool formatting. If I had professional resume help early on I would have had a set of resumes and cover letters from the beginning that would have got me into more interviews. I was never getting to the interview stage because my resume sucked. Second my job board strategy was incomplete. There were certain criteria in my profiles that I may have not completed (for privacy reasons) and hiring managers and recruiters were looking me over. I should have spent more time assessing those questions and answering them completely. I now realize that recruiters and HR search on candidates by what their profiles are, and then go look at the resume. I thought my resume would get me the interview, but no one was even getting that far. Third I put too much trust in the recruiters. One huge recruiting firm had me believing Id have a job by the time I got back to my car sign this paper, here are the benefits youll be getting, etc. When I called back the next week the recruiter didnt even remember my name! As Ive mentioned before, my favorite recruiter said youll find a job for yourself before I find one for you. It was then that I began to understand the nature of my relationship with recruiters. Even though I reached out to 29 recruiters I had not one looking for a job for me. My background was too general, while they were looking to fill very specific roles. It is critical to understand how valuable you are to a recruiter if you are not valuable then dont spend too much time chasing them! Fourth I relied completely on their internal systems and ignored the idea of networking into the back door. Ive heard that you cant get around their formal posting process. Cool post your resume. But, find someone that works there and network your way in. Getting an internal endorsement to accompany your application will go a long ways! Even if it doesnt work for a particular application, you will now have contacts in that company that may play out later. Fifth My metrics for success were flawed. I was measuring the wrong thing number of jobs I applied to. According to the what color is your parachute book, Id need to send out almost 1,500 resumes before I got a job. There is a better way! So thats what I did wrong. My advice in a nutshell: 1. learn to network and do it at least 60% of your job search time. If you want a quick 20 minute primer listen to this podcast interview: Never Eat Alone Author Keith Ferrazi 2. Get professional help. You can get it for free or you can pay for it depending on your needs and urgency. I hope this gives you an idea of how NOT to go about you job search even if you do like to Do It Yourself.