Job Search Archives - Page 72 of 79 - The Voice of Job Seekers

6 Reasons Google is Your First Employment Contact in HR

It won’t be long before Google has the first say to every employer that anyone is a good job candidate. It’s hard to wrap your head around that one, huh? Well it’s true.

There are almost a billion people on earth who have Facebook profiles. There are nearly 100 million on Linked In, and 100+ million on Twitter and Google Plus. Although there are many vacated and incomplete profiles, there are job seekers who are using their accounts for social or professional reasons daily. Are you where employers are lurking? Google knows this but can’t offer a job seeker as a suggestion if he or she is not online.

You want your favorite restaurant, grocery store, clothing store, cosmetic shop, and yes, entertainment to have an online presence for your convenience. If someone shares their favorite place to shop, you ask if they have a website, do you? I do. Most of us do. Employers might miss a perfect fit because you lack a social profile. Here are 6 reasons to have an online presence during your job search:

1) You are a business whether you like it or not and you need to own your online presence

Asking someone to employ you is a business conversation and transaction. To successfully sell yourself, you have to offer people a compelling reason. Not having an online presence may undermine your job search efforts. These days, as a business, you won’t compete with others who have carefully crafted an online reputation if you lack one.

2) You’re hiring your next employer

I agree with Leigh Branham, the author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave. In my interview with him last December, he stated that job seekers should hire his or her employer. Wouldn’t you want employers to ask you if you were hiring them? That can happen with an online presence.

3) Trust

Last summer I was talking with a college about a particular project that I initially wanted but decided against. When I went to the meeting I had this presentation prepared but the meeting started with them pitching me! The woman whoI met with said, “We think that you will have a highly successful firm!” I think she sees that because they read my blog, articles that I’ve written for career sites, and features about me on other web publications. My reputation positively proceeds me. What are you doing to earn trust that you will deliver what an employer needs.

4) Build relationships

Trust continually forges relationships at times before meeting people in person. Your online presence can demonstrate proof of your knowledge, skills, and abilities (aka KSA’s). People may need to read or touch your online profiles several times before trusting or contacting you but it is there for engagement. Does an online reputationvalidate your KSA’s? No. Will an online reputation guarantee opportunities? No. But it will guarantee additional exposure for business or employment.

5) Third party validation

It is one thing for you to just tell all of your most valuable attributes, but it is impressive that others evangelize about you. When you use tools like Linked In, Google Plus, and a blog you can control the perception and the proof of your abilities. Choosing two of out three suggested is tough and I would say all three are effective in controlling your online reputation. For sure, take time to create a Linked In page that is dynamic and persuasive. Recommendations from customers, coworkers, or collaborators are the best form of validating talent that recruiters, employers, or contacts can find.

6) Give employers a vivid visual putting it in their hands immediately

When Joe Pesci guest hosted on Saturday Night Live some years ago, there was a skit that involved his character purchasing a pinky ring. While trying it on, he put himself in front of the mirror and started acting as if he was having a conversation with another person with the pinky ring on. A blog or a Linked In profile showcases proof and puts it in an employer’s hand. They have an opportunity to try your experience for size and imagine how you’d look in the position.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

6 Job Tips to Teach Your Future Self

The first post that I published last year addressed what seem to resonate with job seekers the conversation your future self needs to tell your present person. Did you include career goals along with your life goals before January 1? Do you have a clear path going forward? What do you need to tell your future self?

What would you tell your future self about today’s job market? Would you emphasize how hard it is? Or share how you overcame the challenges of changing your mindset?

1. Be a perpetual learner for life as a way of life, not just to get a job

When I travel, I get nervous if there are no signs telling me what is coming nor where I am going. It is likely that I will get lost. When you are not perfecting your craft, profession, or career, you don’t have direction.

Taking a certification class gives your career direction of where it’s heading. Employers immediately recognize that a job seeker is serious about his or her career. People who find professional training useful for his or her lifestyle inspiring become motivated to grow. Does your career possess professional growth?

2. No online presence, or an undesirable online presence is a liability

A job seeker’s competition has at least a static website with their name as their domain title http://igotthisman.com. It is not the approach that I subscribe or counsel, but many job seekers attempt to enhance his or her online profiles. I recommend a blog that you can update at least once a month displaying your experience and skills.

The blog essentially can replace your resume and demonstrate the power of your skills. What keeps you from developing an online presence? Without one it‘s hard to get noticed. An undesirable online presence that displays your social negative exploits disqualifies you. It’s easier in most cases to get out front with a positive one.

3. Competition is fierce battle. Love the battle!

If you want to stand out, why not enter professional competitions in your industry? Contests are valuable learning experiences and tests your skill sets. Success in these competitions provides separation between you and most job interview candidates. This adds standout skill sets to your resume and possibly validate your career expert status. Do you compete in career related contests? Does competing in contests enhance your career?

4. Research the job and the job promotion you desire

Career experts agree that finding information about the culture, job duties, and the company is a sound competitive strategy. The next step is understanding how to get there will give you a competitive advantage. Employers like when professionals are self-motivated by challenges, resilience, learning, and everything else beyond the paycheck.

5. Soft Skills still rules and matters at every level

Soft skills are underrated yet so highly valued among high-profiled CEOs and managers. Soft skills directly affect the way customers and team collaboration functionality. Present these skills evident in your soft skill arsenal, and employers will take notice.

69% percent of all first-time hires were losing their jobs because of a lack of soft skills.
–Georgia Department of Labor. Workforce Solutions Team, 2012

6. Job Search + First 90 days after hire= A complete job search

The eagerness and urgency place while looking for a job is the space he or she needs to occupy in the brain after hire. Primarily remain in perpetual learning motion and contribute as a result of applying strengths your employer saw in the interview.

Even after the first 90 days you may not be an ideal fit for the position. This is a pivotal time when everyone is watching and deciding how much to engage your presence as part of the team. Similarly to the interview, doing more than treading water is essential to leaving a positive impression the first three months of the new gig.

In rare situations, the new hire will need to abort if the new job doesn’t fit. That is why that 90-day period is also there for the new employee. There are times when an employee misrepresents a position described during the interview/hiring process. Addressing this issue will be to the new hire’s advantage using tact and respect.

What else would you tell your future self? Please share in the comments below.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

5 Signs The Thrill Is Gone From Your Job Search and Why it’s Giving You The Holiday Blues

How do you know that the thrill has gone from your romantic relationship? An easy way to tell is that it FEELS like your stalking. There are ties between relationships, holidays, and your job search. What you did during the year can dictate how the holiday fares.

Oh yeah, it’s the holiday season, too. This could suck badly.

You are the only one calling, texting but no reciprocation, and impatient, so you repeat the cycle. Your job search lacks excitement. Without leads, it became a chore or an obligation, perhaps that you took for granted. The feeling is similar to a dating or marriage relationship.

The thrill is gone
The thrill is gone away
The thrill is gone baby
The thrill is gone away
You know you done me wrong baby
And you’ll be sorry someday

~B.B. King, The Thrill Is Gone

May I suggest that some of those signs exist in your job search? You have hope in a process that doesn’t exist, or should I say effort that didn’t exist.

Let’s see, there is the whole she-says-that-she can’t-go-out-on-the-weekend-thing. Or maybe, in certain terms, he or she said they were not interested in a way you didn’t expect. Or they were no longer interested in your approach.

So has the thrill gone out of your job search yet? Don’t know? Well, here are signs that your job search is fading.

1. You no longer admit a job search exists

Oh, we’re no longer dating, you say. You just haven’t told him. Well, it’s like all the social media profiles that have gone untouched. It takes time and effort. Together. It doesn’t exist because you are not initiating contact with employers. Stop relying on the machine to do the work.

2. You can’t wait to do your own thing

A night with the girls for the third time this week speaks volumes. And if you think that your networking-less efforts will be career-fulfilling, then ask her again why she hasn’t spent time with you. Because YOU are boring! That covers both job and relationship dilemmas now, doesn’t it?

3. “We were never lovers…just friends.”

She likes your company, and you make her laugh. But that’s it, she likes you only as a friend. There should be some affection from your job search. A kiss on the lips is like getting an interview rather than a kiss on the cheek in the form of a five-minute phone behavioral assessment. Otherwise, you were just a friend.

4. They take you for granted

No more gifts, cards, or little notes for you. Ok, you received one little note once. It’s not the small meaningful but affectionate expression he or she used to offer. Little things like thank you, you’re welcome, and please mean so much when meeting people is a small window of opportunity. If your job search spirit is gimme, gimme, lemme, gimme, most of the time, you take people for granted without consciousness. Give. Give without strings attached. Be wise, but you are showing a willingness to help.

5. Both of you were on the rebound.

He wants his old girlfriend back, and she can’t get over her old boyfriend. The familiar little ditty in the way your old job made you feel because it was special, and your achievements inspired others to treat you like a superstar. The reality is that they have moved on, and it’s hard to accept. Why would you want someone who doesn’t want you?

And it’s giving you the holiday blues because…

In my experience, I’ve gotten hired or started more jobs during the month of November and December. The holidays will be depressing if we take the accumulation of what I mentioned above. Multiply by ten if you have friends who are changing jobs because they sought out a promotion and salary jump. Experts will tell you this is the best season to get hired, but it will seem monumental if you haven’t done the right things.

Perhaps your job search is not interesting, so no one from an employer’s perspective is interested. When that happens, the thrill is gone. How do you know the thrill has gone out of your job search? What are ways you can get it back?