Articles - Page 159 of 258 - The Voice of Job Seekers

How to Use Cold-Calling for Your Job Search

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Cold-calling sounds intimidating and most shy away from it but with the holidays coming up, it could be a passive job search strategy that Kimberly Robb Baker can work for you. There are few people in the office, who will have more time to open mail and actually read it (Mmmmm…)! In this day and age, you could stand out because people are still sending resumes instead of a brief letter as a tease to become interested in you.

Have you tried cold-calling before? Love to hear what you think! Here are a few ways you can provide feedback:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to [email protected]

If you are a career professional who advise job seekers and adds feedback whether it’s advice or a differing opinion, I will include a link in future show notes and read your comments on an upcoming show. Just let me know if it’s OK with you.

Kimberly Robb Baker is back to share with us how to use cold-calling to get responses from employers. Kim is the founder of MovingOnUpResumes.com (@ThisLittleBrand),and an award-winning resume writer who is a master story teller. Her work has been published in many resume publications including JIST and Barron’s. publications including JIST and Barron’s. Her 10 years of sales experience is useful for her clients to use this technique as a way to find job leads and not sound as salesy.

Cold-calling is useful for reaching outside your network
Even for an introvert realizing you have little to lose when you reach to people you don’t know
Kim says that cold-calling is good exercise to learn how to help with speech fluidity and communication skills
You are planting seeds hoping that opportunities will manifest through cold calling you otherwise would have missed
You can create warm calling opportunities through social networking
Cold mailing is also the same strategy. She mentions Cold Bait as a resource for cold mailing
Cold mail letter is a brief way to send to snail mail prospects, no more than 158 words, casual language
Don’t beg, just be specific to the need you provide
Kim provides an example of how a Director or Marketing would position the letter
Try not to sound salesy, try adding quantified results but only one that would attract attention
Think about the positioning the possibility in short rather than pain of the company, not the same approach as a cover letter
Delivery through snail mail will yield up to 3%
Join groups of potential contact through LinkedIn to send them an Inmail
Use a “P.S.” and include your LinkedIn profile link, sign off respectfully

Have you subscribed to this show on iTunes? If you haven’t, please do so. iTunes is a great place to write an honest review and increase the show’s visibility. Enjoy listening to the show.

Let us know what you think.

Do you need help with resume writing or career direction? Do you need coaching or instruction?I can help.

Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.

Don’t forget, I will not publish a show next week. It’s Thanksgiving week and we’ll just resume the show on December 1. Have a great holiday next week!

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Recruiting and Social Media for the Veteran Job Search

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Welcome to the 2nd annual Veteran’s Day edition. This episode is dedicated to veterans everywhere who are transitioning back to the civilian sector. We wish you (veterans) much success during your transition, and hopefully, this show will contribute to your needs in finding the right job for you.

I would love your feedback, especially if there are tools you need for your job search. Perhaps we can cover them in future episodes. Here’s how you can let me know:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to [email protected]

Sultan Camp (@careersultan) is a military recruiter and headhunter who works for Orion International, a company that finds civilian careers for Military Officers, Enlisted Technicians, and strong NCO leaders, as well as Veterans who have already transitioned but are seeking a career change. His contributions have included in media outlets such as Career Builder, Monster, Career Attraction, and Military Times. Sultan’s company sources, screens, and guides veterans to civilian jobs (think eHarmony).

His focus is on veterans technical or mechanical skill set. He puts them directly with a hiring manager
Hardest positions for veterans to fill: High-voltage technicians
Challenges remain to interpret military duties to civilian unless the company has a lot of experience, especially in interviews
Most veterans talk about what the team did before what “I did”
Veterans should try more conversations in interviews than monopolize it (less is more)
The mental pivot from wearing the uniform to civilian is a challenge. The word “fired’ and “quit” are never used in the military. It’s either the “end of contract” or “end of term”
Many who transition are given some time to start finding opportunities wait too long to find other opportunities. If you have a year, you should immediate start looking
“What are your preferences?” What are the priorities?” Those are the first two question is preparing transitioners
90-120 day mark before leaving is when he or she should be interview ready; not much time is spent on the resume, jobs again are technical
For those who don’t interview well, the companies Sultan works with giving feedback for remedial training. They use their local branch transition office

Karin Durkee (@karindurk) is the Director of Social Media for Corporate Gray. She is a military spouse, educator, technology consultant, and author of Social Media and Your Job Search: Maximizing Your Network for a Successful Transition, an ebook for members of Corporate Gray. Karin presents social media workshops to transitioning military members on installations in the Washington, D.C. area. She is a frequent participant in The Voice of Job Seekers Linkedin group.

One of the myths of military is that they should avoid using social media if he or she has security clearance
Recruiters often look for security clearance, and it should be in a LinkedIn profile (although company rules and approval may determine how much info can be published)
Comfort level is also a consideration when determining if and how you want to be found online
High ranking officers use social media but care about not communicating clearance information
Social media is great place for research in a military transition
Find out how your expertise meets an employer’s needs
A professional photo is critical on LinkedIn, personalizes your presence, and get noticed
It is highly recommended to use a professional civilian photo than your military photo
Joining LinkedIn groups keeps you apprised of your field and military groups
Twitter is great for military spouses, easy to set up profiles, follow companies and industry experts
Twitter hashtags are great for research and trends. HootSuite, a Twitter client, allows to follow conversations, trends, information
Don’t: Don’t use military jargon to describe your experience, recruiters must understand what your experience means to their civilian clients
Do: Define your accomplishments that is understood by civilians
Don’t: When you say “retire” means you’re done
Do: “Transitioning,” says you are actively looking
You can Google “military terms translator” to help with military terms and acronyms

As a additional resource, go to www.everyveteranhired.com for the 100% complimentary tool for veterans called “The Job Ruck.” The tool is useful to help high performers find their purpose after service. It’s all about identifying purpose.

Have you subscribed to this show on iTunes? If you haven’t, please do so. iTunes is a great place to write an honest review and increase the show’s visibility. Enjoy listening to the show.

Let us know what you think.

Do you need help with resume writing or career direction? Do you need coaching or instruction?I can help.

Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

How Canadian Armed Forces Personnel can Write Resumes for Civilian Careers

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I thought that people would benefit if I had Audrey Prenzel back on the show to talk about her approach to resume writing for her Canadian Armed Forces to Civilian clients. This show complements next week’s annual Veteran’s day show. Be sure that you have subscribed so you can hear that special edition.

Are you in the military looking for civilian careers? If so, let me know in one of three ways:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to [email protected]

Audrey Prenzel of resumeresources.ca (@AudreyPrenzel) is a career transition strategist and an award-winning resume writer who specializes in writing and coaching for those in the Canadian Armed Forces. She has been published in multiple magazine, newspapers, and career publications.

Canada is unique for it has a melting pot population, so language is a major consideration. Many Canadian armed forces members speak French and English fluently
Military bases in Canada are primarily French-speaking. Audrey coaches her military clients to showcase their bilingual abilities (some speak more than two) to civilian employers
Audrey also coaches them to have a dedication language section as they would on a LinkedIn profile
Interestingly enough, most resumes are written in English unless the province is predominantly or solely French
The summary is a key spot on a Canadian armed forces to civilian resume, but provide a dedicated title for what you what to be known as e.g., “IT Bilingual Executive.” Your summary will support your description
Audrey says that infusing personality in your summary is a great way to stand out. Hard skills and soft skills are important to include
Audrey recommends side step cheesy-overused-clichés such as “results-oriented” or “team-player
Your resume should answer many questions so the reader will have a good sense of who the applicant is
A sense of entitlement will keep you from selling your accomplishments. No one will hire on reputation alone
Reverse chronological is the preferred style by employers highlighting what the applicant did and how well they did it
One of the challenges in helping Canadian armed forces to Civilian Transition is translating the acronyms. Audrey has a file with more than 10,000 acronyms
“Tell me what you want to do” is important to target opportunities. Too much information is good to start

Let us know what you think.

Do you need help with resume writing or career direction? Do you need coaching or instruction?I can help.

Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.