Be Your Own Headhunter

3 More Job Search Tips from 1938

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Kevin Donlin

I've written before that, if you want to find a job in today's Great Recession, it makes sense to study what got people hired in the Great Depression, when times were even tougher.

So I dug out a job-search book published in 1938.

Titled, "We Are Forty And We Did Get Jobs," it's by C.B. Thompson and M.L. Wise, two forty-year-old women who spent 10 weeks perfecting a job-search system by looking for work -- and getting hired -- in cities across America.

If you'd like to know three actions you can take to get hired today, tested and proven in the worst job market of yesteryear, read on ...

Job Search Sites Revisited Vol II

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: CareerAlley

"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." - Vincent Van Gogh

Job search can be tedious, especially in this market. It is easy to become discouraged and to lose focus. But, similar to the quote above, successful job search is a series of tasks/approaches applied over a period of time. While you could get lucky and quickly find a job, this is unlikely in any market. The best approach is to split your time across a number of job search activities:

November 2009 LinkedIn, Job Search And Social Media Seminars

For those not familiar with me and are wondering if a session(s) would be a good use of your time I am an IT Recruiter with 12 years of experience and have been speaking to groups of all ages and skill sets in groups of 20-200 and now online for 7 years.

Here is some background on presentations and interviews I have been a part of and recognition as a Minnesota Social Media Innovator:

• Presentations
• Interviews
• Minnesota Social Media Innovator

While Be Your Own Headhunter is under going a facelift this is how to stay in touch with upcoming seminars on MN Headhunter:

• MN Headhunter RSS Feed
• MN Headhunter RSS Via EMail
• MN Headhunter Newsletter

All presentations are 60-90 minutes with a Q&A that follows.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are unable to attend the sessions during these times (or are seeing this post after sessions have been held) either click MN Headhunter Blog or Be Your Own Headhunter where you will find a calendar of upcoming events or register anyway so you can get the slides via email.

Why You Don't Stand Out From The Crowd - Here's A Tip, It's Your Resume

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Jessica Holbrook

Ultimately your goal is to create a resume that will garner the right attention and eventually the right job. Problem is – your resume is getting you absolutely no hits, zero feedback, and not so much as one call from a prospective employer. Sound familiar? Keep reading to figure out why.

– Your career summary is boring. It sounds like every other job seeker out there and is a large blanket paragraph that could describe half of the known workforce. Solution: Customize your career summary so that no one else could possibly use it for themselves.

Twitter Lists As A Networking Tool

One of the most frequent questions I get from (new) users of Twitter is who I should I follow. A great question and I would usually forward them to a directory like Twellow (for categories and/or location) or Twitterholic (for location and number of followers). There are lots of Twitter apps for this but they are for me the easiest to use and describe and they can get immediate results.

But Twitter rolled out Twitter Lists and it has become my new best friend of the moment. Rather than go through the many, many followers of someone I like, respect, follow, or find interesting to see who they follow I can take a bit of a shortcut and see who of their followers they are listing. Sure they have missed some cool folks to add to a list but I will rely on them to point out their favorites.

Here are some examples of Twitter Lists (click photo to enlarge):

Is Lack of Focus Dragging Your Resume Down?

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Jessica Holbrook

How many of you can honestly say you know exactly what you want to be when you grow up? Maybe you already have it figured out, and maybe you are already living and working it. If you are, does your resume know that?

I work with clients every day and speak to hundreds of job seekers every week that have no idea what they want to do. I ask, “Well, what do you want to do?” Then I receive the blanket, “I just need to feed my family.” Or, “I just need a job—I don’t care what it is.” I understand the current market and economy. But folks, having no direction or focus for your career and job search are going to get you nowhere fast. When I look at your resume, I need to know in the first three seconds: who you are, what you do, and why you’re good at it.

Do you know who you are... on paper?

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Jessica Holbrook

Do you know who you are ... on paper?

Thanks to an amazing membership with Career Directors International, I had the distinct pleasure of hosting a booth at the most recent National Careers Job Fair.  Three hours of job seekers pouring in through the doors and my assistant and myself providing free resume analyses.  I spoke to 100+ job seekers and found one common thread among them all—they had no idea who they were … on paper.

I must have repeated the phrase, “What do you want to do?” a hundred times.  I know I asked all but two job seekers that question.  I remember the two I didn’t ask because their resumes stood out from the rest.  They had professionally branded themselves, and it was obvious to me exactly who they were and what they wanted.