The Voice of Job Seekers

Job Search News, October 20, 2017

This is your job search news with articles and resources so enjoy! I’ve read them, and you can feel free to comment on them in any form you’d like. Leave a message on the “send voicemail” button on your right. I’ll try to keep it short, fresh, and informative. If you have some news I need to know about, tweet me @MarkADyson!

Happy Birthday!

My youngest son, “Kato!” is officially an adult! Very talented, hard-working young man who is enjoying his special day in South Carolina.

via GIPHY

GaspInformational Interviews

If you don’t know how I feel about the term “informational interviews” then listen to this episode where I discuss why it’s not the best term. I prefer “business discussion.” Having said that, these meetings should be brief, as in 10-15 minutes. If you ask for 10 minutes of someone’s time, rarely will they schedule it in. If it goes beyond 10 minutes, that’s great, but be more conscientious of the time than the other person. This article is good to start using as a guide.

The career transformation!

Bill Withers is a legendary musician who is a Navy veteran and clean toilets on aircraft carriers decided one day to make records. Nothing unusual except he was 28 when he started. Those stories from entertainers often highlight the grit, grind, persistence, and perseverance needed to achieve our dream careers. In this article, 14 entertainers are featured in where they started.

🔥 🔥 What’s 🔥 🔥?

Maybe Facebook wants to be like LinkedIn in its own way.

“The social media giant is currently testing a new Resume / CV feature that lets users share their work experience with their friends. The new addition expands on the standard ‘Work and education’ section, but won’t publicly display all information about your credentials.”

The Next Web

The details are sketchy right now, but is this necessary? There would be a lot of lousy resumes online. But in the long term, the good ones stand out. This means you’ll need to revise the cliches inundating your current resume.

What’s❄️ 🌬 💨 ⛄️⛄️ ?

We can use other people’s uncomfortable job interview experience to see the signs we need to avoid this job! Check out the twitter hashtag #MyWorstJobInterview for what not to do and a laugh or two!

Walked into the hiring managers’ office unnoticed. When she looked up and saw me she screamed #MyWorstJobInterview

— Jonathan Blumberg (@YoniBlum) October 19, 2017

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers," career consultant, job seeker advocate, career writer, and founder of this award-winning blog. I help the employed, unemployed, underemployed, and under-appreciated find jobs using job search strategies to navigate the new job market. I aim to give a safe place online to those with different needs, cultures, and ethnicities to find their voice in the job market. Thousands have read my career advice throughout the web as I write about everything from job search strategies to the mobile job search. I have published more than 400 articles on this blog and some of the largest career sites such as Recruiter.com, YouTern, and Come Recommended. I've been quoted in major online publications such as Monster, TIME/Money, Fortune, Business Insider and MSN. FlexJobs, JobMonkey, Aerotek, Career Pivot, and CareerSherpa listed my podcast as one of the top podcasts to help your job search. Love for you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I share the latest articles I've written, new podcast episodes, and answer any questions you may have. The new job search is scary and if you need help, I am here for it!

by Mark Anthony Dyson Leave a Comment

Facebook: Please Create a Job Search Mobile App

Dear Facebook,

You have charmed billions. You are a daily fixture in the lives of at least hundreds of millions of people. You’ve introduced so many to the seasoning of chicken, pet adoption, polarizing politics, and fake news.

Facebook is where the people are. We are obsessed with you. You know our dirty secrets, lies, medical conditions, and family news.

You also know our career aspirations, plans, and goals – even if you don’t know our talents or training. You know our travels, but you don’t know our itineraries. We tell you the great news about our careers.

Recruiters hang out here. Employers do, too. Job seekers are active here as well – not all, but many of them. And we’ve all heard you are the next place to look for a new job, that you may be even better than a job board. That would be cool because I trust my Facebook connections collectively.

I bet you would make an excellent job search app.

Click To Tweet

It would be great if the capabilities of a mobile job search on the Facebook app would mirror the search on your desktop/laptop page.

Read 8 Cheap Apps That’ll Make the Entire Job Search Process Easier

1. I Want to See Not Only What Companies Post, But Also the Jobs My Friends’ Friends Post

Not only would this expand my network, but it would also give me a better shot at landing the jobs I see. A company’s job post will attract thousands of fans who might share it, but I could easily contact the employer through someone I know.

2. Give Me a Longer History of Hashtags Than LinkedIn Does

Facebook hashtags have been used for many years now. Because people often use their Facebook pages to post Twitter hashtags as well, I can quickly follow postings and career conversations on both networks. Both also house unique content that is helpful to me.

Facebook, you have a variety of hashtags related to both job postings and advice. To have access to all this within an app would be glorious.

3. The Casual Environment Can Be More Comfortable for Networking

“Professional” conversations aren’t always the most comfortable for me. Facebook, you offer more casual conversational threads for me to follow and engage.

4. I Could Make Myself More Personable to Recruiters

I know recruiters and employers lurk to see how employable I am. Years ago, this was taboo because Facebook was for family and friends only. Now, I want to lead employers and recruiters to my page so I can show some personality and professional acumen. It’s the best of both worlds.

5. I Could See If Recruiters Were Human!

I could use your mobile app to see who recruiters are – to see if they’re a “fit” for me. Is he friendly? Does she have a friendly personality? Values are important to me, too! Integrity matters just as much to me as it does to them!

Read 16 Ways to Enchant Job Seekers to Use Your Job Search Mobile App

6. I Could View Company Culture Through the Lens of an Employee – Without Anyone Knowing

Sometimes, I want to see how employees feel without the branding filter. I can do this more on Facebook than on LinkedIn. I can also find other employees who may feel the same and gather intel on culture both positive and negative.

7. My Friends and Intimate Connections Could Be More Transparent With Job Postings

I appreciate job postings from contacts, but when there is no contact person to whom I can direct communication, it’s just as challenging as applying through a job board. Since my connections on Facebook are more intimate and natural, I can gain much more information and better present myself to employers.

–

Overall, Facebook, your mobile experience is king – except for when it comes to job search right now. Most of us have dropped the desktop and laptop for the mobile phone when it comes to you. You can make the mobile job search much more fun than it is now!

And Facebook, you can also help make the job search a little more comfortable, thanks to your casual environment that attracts employers who value personality. I can be fun within reason and attractive to like-minded companies. That’s what we all want, right?

This article was originally published on Recruiter.com!