Be Your Own Headhunter

Research Strategies to Prepare for the Interview

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Christina Archer

You've submitted your resume to a prospective employer, and they've called you to schedule a face to face meeting.  This is what you've been waiting for!  Being prepared for your interview, and armed with information to ensure you stand out from your peers is an essential goal.  Performing research in advance of the meeting is the most effective and efficient means to achieving this objective, and landing the job.

Here are the top five tips to help any job seeker uncover information about a potential employer.

Four Reasons You Might Be Bummed If You Aren’t Working And What To Do About It

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Dorothy Tannahill-Moran

What do the following people have in common?

•    Retired engineer

•    Laid off project manager

•    Stay at home parent

•    Newly graduated student

•    Trailing spouse to a military soldier

•    Injured and recovered worker

•    Out of work actor

These people have much more in common than you probably realize.  The commonality is what they are missing.  All of these people are missing the many benefits we get from working.  Of course, we all know that they are missing the paycheck, but there are other aspects to work that most of us take for granted, until we no longer have them.   When you are in the work trenches it’s kind of hard to think you would miss anything.  You probably think the idea of not working sounds like a dream, and it can be, but not without recognizing what things you are missing and taking action to replace them.

Jobs from the Fortune 500 Vol 11

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: CareerAlley

“Go for a business that any idiot can run - because sooner or later, any idiot probably is going to run it.” - Peter Lynch

Excellent quote, and I'm sure we've all known an idiot or two. I'd like to think that any company that makes it to the Fortune 500 is run by an intelligent person, but I'm also sure that this group of companies has seen its fair share of idiots as well.

That being said, the Fortune 500 is a rich field for job search (no pun intended) and these companies are generally the best placed for bad times and many have strongly recovered in the current recession. Of course, some also did not do well and some are no longer with us (not to say they were run by idiots, I'm sure there is some correlation).

How to Find Hidden Jobs From Last Year’s Job Applications

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Lorraine Russo

How many of you applied for dozens, if not hundreds, of jobs last year? If you’re like most people, chances are pretty good that your resume went into the stratosphere, never to be seen by the overworked eyes of our nation's recruiters.

But what if some of the jobs you applied for are still open?

It's possible when the company originally posted the job, there was a reasonable expectation that they would fill it. However, consider that the last quarter of the year is typically when department heads submit their budgets for the following year.

It’s entirely possible that hiring for certain positions was put on hold until the budget was finalized.

Who Is Looking For Your LinkedIn Profile?

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Laura Vezer is an IT recruiter and creator of the blog, IT Matters Canada! The blog contains resources and advice for IT Professionals looking for work in Canada.

Recently, the Recruiting Animal had a LinkedIn specialist on his online radio show. Neal Schaffer spent the hour analyzing various LinkedIn profiles that were sent by courageous volunteers through Twitter.

This got me thinking. Who do you think is looking for YOUR profile?

There are recruiters out there who conduct searches through search engines like Bing and Google, to find their candidates. They can even key in search commands to search LinkedIn beyond their own networks. When you come up in one of these searches, it is the information that you have on your profile, is it going to sell your capabilities in the most effective way?

Here are a few points that came up during the show.

Uncover Hidden Jobs Through Federal Business Opportunities

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Lorraine Russo

At any given time, the Federal Business Opportunities website has tens of thousands of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) that allow vendors to bid on the opportunity to provide goods and services. By law, the government is required to conduct an open and competitive bidding process for any purchases meeting certain criteria. (The federal regulations for government contracts are known as the FAR: Federal Acquisition Regulations.)

A provider that has registered at fbo.gov can bid on any opportunity. Also, subcontractors (which include small and minority-owned businesses), can add themselves as an Interested Vendor for any posted opportunity. Go to any new opportunity and you’ll see the Interested Vendors List tab. Click here for an example.

Jobs in Marketing & Advertising Vol 1

"Advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on." - Jerry Della Femina

Closing the sale. That's what it is all about in Job Search, selling yourself, closing the deal, elevator speeches, etc. Intuitively, you would think that someone who is good at marketing and advertising would have an easier time selling themselves at a job interview than non-marketing types would have. And, that may just be the case.

But it doesn't make the search process any easier and closing a deal for a product is very different from closing a deal on yourself.

So what are the basics? Well to start, review some sites that focus on exactly this topic - Market yourself. There are plenty of these sites (two are listed below). Most have similar information, although a few have a slightly different slant.

Talent Management? I Just Want a Job in HR!

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: CareerAlley

"We’ve all been blessed with God-given talents. Mine just happens to be beating people up." — Sugar Ray Leonard

Talent is many sometimes subjective. Who is to say who is talented and who is not? And, like everything else, talent comes in all shapes and sizes. Some people are talented at losing their jobs, others are talented at being CEOs and most of us fall somewhere in-between.

Entry Level And College Grad Jobs Vol 4

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: CareerAlley

"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." - Benjamin Disraeli

Action is the key word for this post (as well as your job search). It may seem like an endless job hunt with no end in sight, but there are many things you can do to help your search.

Job Seekers Creating “Black Lists” Of Employers

The blow back at employers for not being able to reply to job seeker inquiries has finally hit a level of frustration where quite a few job seekers are creating lists of companies they will never talk to again.

No doubt most employers are receiving more resumes, email and phone calls than they can handle and no doubt many have downsized their HR and Recruiter staff. Why keep these folks when there is no hiring right?

WRONG!!!

If there ever was a time to be creating those talent pools) it has been the past 18 months but most “C-Level” decision makers have their head in the sand.