It is no surprise to job seekers at the moment that there is a scarcity of jobs and an ever increasing volume of competition for these jobs. 2008 has been tough and certainly early 2009 will be as tough! If you are looking for a job whilst we at BPI will do all we can you will need all the tips and advice you can get. In looking for ideas we came across this insiteful festive article by David Perry. David is a Canadian and this piece is directed to the North American market place but the ideas and concepts hold up for the ‘Old World’. Take what you want from this; we think there are some excellent tips, but what ever you do, ‘Take control and be Agressive’ as this market will take no prisoners.
The 12 Days ofChristmas Job Hunting:How to put a job under your tree andRecession proof your career
Day 1
On the 1st day of Xmas — Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
“A plan with a very clear goal.”
Your plan must be clear and detailed in every way. It must also be:
- Clever,
- Results driven,
- Marketing oriented,
- Inexpensive to execute,
- Realistic, and
- Achievable.
Clever - That’s because the most qualified job hunter is rarely the one who gets hired. The positions[s] invariably go to the person who does the best job at positioning themselves as the solution to an employer’s problem. Often the employer doesn’t realize they have a problem and it’s your job to bring that to their attention.
Results driven - You must measure your progress. You need to do this so that you’ll understand how close you are to achieving your goal and stay motivated and committed to your plan. Measuring requires tracking the metrics which drive you to your finish line. Here are a few of the dozens of proven tactics Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters shows you how to measure:
ü How many out of the box activities have you deployed? ü How many targeted resumes you’re sending out, ü How many guerrilla networking activities you’re engaged in.
Marketing oriented - Because the market is geared toward those who effectively brand and market themselves as the ultimate commodity across multiple distribution channels. Winning the War for Talent requires you to become great at guerrilla marketing yourself. Looking for a job is a sales and marketing activity where you’re the product.
Inexpensive - In 1997, Tom Peters introduced the concept of “Brand U” in his book Re-Imagine! At the time, self-branding was an assertive marketing concept best reserved for high-flying techies and senior executives who wanted to maximize the financial returns of their biggest asset—their career. Today personal branding is a matter of survival. Here’s how to brand yourself for free.
Realistic - Knowing what you want to do is great. Combining that with what you’re ‘qualified” to do is the secret. You may be pleasantly surprised at how your current skill-set maps to other industries. For a clear picture of what’s possible to do with your skill-set I suggest you visit America’s Career InfoNet. If you’re not qualified for what you want to do get moving and determine how you can become qualified. In my 20+ years of executive recruiting the biggest problem I’ve run into is that people aren’t realistic – especially the unemployed. You’re setting for disappointment if you apply for jobs you’re not qualified to do. Sometimes you may have to take a temporary step backwards to move forward in a new career BUT the sooner you start the sooner you’ll hit your goal. If this even remotely applies to you then you need to make one New Years Resolution – and it’s to yourself – I will check out
America’s Career InfoNet.
Achievable Knowing the exact title and function of the future role you want gives you a realistic goal with no excuses. Get specific. The more detailed the better.
For example, I’ll bet you Vicky Vlachakis new exactly what she wanted to do and who she wanted to work for before she started her job search. When the opportunity came along to design the new two-seater convertibles for Saturn and Chrysler she recognized her chance to knock not one but two home runs out of the park.
Nothing is more important to your success than a clear “picture” of your goal. If you can envision your dream job AND you’re qualified to do it then you can find it. With a specific goal in mind you can organize your job search and networking efforts with a laser like focus. Yes some people are lucky and fall into great jobs but luck [as Tom Peters says] is so unpredictable. The dramatic changes we’re witnessing in the marketplace mean that the tried-and-true methods of finding a job will no longer suffice. Those old ways should remain a part of your plan, however by themselves they don’t provide the horsepower to get the heightened attention of employers.
Clarity of purpose is both energizing and enabling.
Day 2
On the 2nd day of Xmas — Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
Two strategies to crack the hidden job market
Focus all your time and effort on the companies you’ve identified as being the Tier 1 buyers of your product - you. Anything else is a waste of your time, energy and money. Target your campaign at those companies where you know you can help solve a problem. Nothing beats a direct approach for speed and accuracy.
Because of the current recession caused by the sub-prime meltdown, employers have different hiring expectations. The direct approach has replaced networking as the best way to break into the hidden job market.
The hidden job-market isn’t really hidden. It’s just not in plain sight. It’s referred to as the hidden job-market because of the way jobs are created and filled. Most jobs are created in a company in one of three ways.
1. The company is growing;
2. Someone quits, leaving a vacancy; or
3. Someone is being replaced and the employer doesn’t want the employees to know about it.
When the company is growing, the owner, president, or someone else may know they need to hire but haven’t initiated the process. They may not have had the time. They may not quite have the budget. They may not want to go through the hassle of advertising and interviewing. So while the need is real, the job itself remains hidden inside the hiring manager’s head.
When someone quits, managers will first decide if they can eliminate the job, or combine it with another position. Needing a new person, they will look inside their organization to see whom they can promote into the role. If they can’t find anyone they’ll likely ask their co-workers for referrals. If that doesn’t work, depending on the size of the company they may opt to run an ad through HR, or hire a head-hunter.
Companies will contact a head-hunter when secrecy is required because “loose-lips-sink-ships” and the recruiter can conduct a search without anyone ever knowing.
In all of these cases, the job remains hidden to the outside world for weeks if not months. Hence the term “hidden” job-market.
The only way for you to access the hidden job-market successfully is to reach out to the hiring managers directly before they opt to go the advertising or HR route OR ask their buddies for referrals. The hidden job-market is your private laboratory to test out the best methods for finding your dream job. Now let’s look at two of the Top 10 Strategies Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters use to access the hidden job market.
Job Search Strategy # 1 – Targeted Research
One quick way to discover new opportunities is by doing structured search engine queries. And it’s fairly easy to do. Here’s how to do targeted research, step by step:
Step #1
Develop a target list of companies you want to work for. That list of companies is your baseline query for your search. Now, here’s how you get the list. Below is an example using Google.com in which you want to work in advertising in
New York City.
1. When you do targeted research, generally you concentrate on an industry or a geographic preference (in this case,
New York City).
Substitute your city for your search.
2. You need to find the names of all the advertising companies in
New York.
There are easy ways to do this using the Net.
Go to Google.
www.google.com and type the following words in the “advanced” option box in Google. The search string shown below instructs Google to search for a directory of advertising firms in New York or a conference on advertising held in
New York. We want this list to garner leads for companies.
Your text needs to be filled in like that in the picture above.
My search returned many hits including one for AD:TECH “The Event for Interactive Marketing”. This is a conference held in
New York for the Advertising industry.
There where also hits for directories of advertising companies in
New York, complete with web site addresses, phone numbers, and profiles of the owners.
Step #2 Find People Who Can Hire You:
Once you have a target list of companies to work with, you need to find out who the people are in those companies that can actually hire you. A good headhunter would pick up the telephone. You might not be so inclined, so here’s another way to accomplish your objective.
Go to each company’s web site and gather the names of the people who can say yes. Those people are the executives not the human resource people – they can only say NO! unless you’re a human resources professional. If you’re lucky, every web site will identify their senior executives, including names, titles, phone numbers, career summaries and sometimes email and photos! Web information should be up-to-the-minute accurate, but I would call the receptionist and confirm it.
For this example I’m looking for a sales position. Therefore I’ll seek to locate or research the VP of Sales, VP Sales & Marketing, VP Marketing or General Manager. You would focus your research on the functional areas of interest for your search.
If you’re experiencing difficulty finding names on the site, then go back to Google’s advanced search box and type in the company name in the first box and (Vice President Sales Marketing Director)in the third box. By-the-way, you don’t need to place the words in brackets and don’t put in any commas or punctuation.
That search string will bring you:
♦ All the people who are, or have ever been, VPs OR President OR Directors of Sales and/or Marketing for that company.
♦ The resumes of a whole pile of people from that company whom you may be able to phone to coax information from them.
Once you have the name of the individual who is one rung up the ladder from the job you want, you need to process their name through Google again. This time you put their first and last name in the first box and the company name in the third box.
This will produce a list of press releases, and news articles in which they are mentioned, as well as conferences they’ve attended. Read an article or two and clip something memorable to use in your NarrowCast letter.
When you send them the letter, you’ll be able to say. “I read your article in… about… which prompted me to write.” Very powerful.
Job Search Strategy #2 – Targeted Networking
Today networking can either be the shortest route to your dream job or a lengthy series of unsatisfying lunches – the difference lies in how you approach it. Let me show you how a Guerrilla job-hunter would network. The easiest way is to learn how to network like a Headhunter. I suggest you download for
FREE chapter 9 of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. [The down load section is in the lower left hand corner of the page].
Day 3
On the 3rd of Xmas — Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me::
The 3 R’s of job-hunting
In grade school we learned the 3 Rs of
Reading, w
Rriting and a
Rithmetic.
Those were our most important lessons [ok so I’m dating myself].
For job-hunters it’s Research, Relevancy, and Resiliency which will deliver an A+ interview.
As a job-hunter you need to research and determine:
♦ what are your marketable skills;♦ which industries/companies you should target that use those skills;♦ what are the specific needs of each company in your target market;♦ who’s in a key position to hire you in those companies [who can say YES to hiring you AND it won’t be human resources unless you’re an HR professional]; and♦ what’s the best way to approach them?
The way you approach people will be determined by your research. There’s more about research in the book.
Your skills have to fit an employer’s needs. It has to solve the employer’s hot buttons [their corporate weaknesses – this could be sales, market development, research ops]. Remember it’s not about you it’s about THEM! At the core employers’ initially only want to know three things about you:
♦ Can you make me money?♦ Can you save me money? and/or♦ Can you increase our efficiencies?
As global competitiveness increases, employers will be looking for all three of the above. In Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters the book we clearly demonstrate how to express your relevancy – “Value” – to an employer.
Resiliency is the ability to spring back from disappointment and keep moving forward. This is a quality which keeps Guerrilla job hunters focused on their goals and driving forward on a daily basis.
Adopt a positive mind set no matter what. Here’s how you do it: You should have your job hunting goals sitting in front of you everyday and review it everyday. Morning and night and then execute that plan.
Guerrilla job hunters always look for the positives even when people and events are clearly indicating they shouldn’t. Guerrilla job hunters need to look under rocks too. Let me end this section with a story that touches on all the points you’ve been reading about attitude. This has been a taste of what’s in chapter # 2 of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters.
Day 4
On the 4th Day of Xmas — Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
Four Guerrilla style resumes
- Chronological
- Functional
- Value Based
- A special 1-page eXtreme Makeover resume
Now there’s a lot more to landing your dream job than writing a simple resume. But you know what? That’s what employers typically see first and their decision to interview you [or not] is often made in the blink of an eye.
Here’s the basic challenge: most resumes look and read the same and quite frankly they’re quite boring. They are generic in their writing and approach, even thought each candidate claims to be “special”, “dynamic”, “creative”, and a host of other superlatives. You don’t need to tell your reader this. You must demonstrate it.
Your resume is a marketing tool. Does your’s include a statement about your background that’s so powerful that it transforms the reader’s initial scan into a lengthy read and then into a call to you? It has to.
When you send off your resume, whether you’re replying to a specific opportunity or trying to uncover a hidden need, your resume needs to be read if you want to be considered. Many people are under the false perception that just because they’ve gone through all the trouble and agony of producing a resume, someone is actually going to read it and care. The fact of the matter is that you have somewhere between 6 - 10 seconds to impress a reader enough to get them to read the entire document for an employer which will likely take no more than 30 seconds.
Since resume writing is not perceived as an enjoyable task, people will often try to produce one version they can use for every possible situation. They keep it nice and generic and stuff it with gobs and gobs of “responsible for[s]”. Unfortunately, these resumes are usually the ones that end up in employers’ wastebaskets. Writing an all-purpose resume is like writing an all-purpose marriage proposal: you’re going to have to kiss a lot of frogs …
Your resume is your personal emissary. It should provide a positive first impression and an honest summary of your skills and attributes. It must convince the reader that you are reliable, responsible, and ready to successfully handle the responsibilities of the job.
When your resume moves to the top of the pile, the reader will give it a brief look—perhaps for 10 to 15 seconds - for anything that piques their interest. Does your resume include a statement about your background that’s so powerful that it transforms their initial scan into a lengthy look? This is your one chance to make an impression.
Resumes, like every document, have a distinct purpose. Your success, as both a job seeker and resume writer depends on how effectively you tailor your message to each situation. If the job is worth going after, pursue it with a resume that has been carefully produced with a specific job in mind. [See there’s that clarity of purpose stuff again!] Length is not an issue. Content is. People will read any length of resume IF the content is of interest to them, and that’s the secret.
A Guerrilla’s resume[s] screams, “here’s what’s in it for you”. A Guerrilla builds resumes that are relevant to a specific reader. They target them to a specific group if not an exact individual. Their resumes are always focused. They are never general. They are results-based never wishy-washy. They are accomplishment focused not responsibility laden.
Chronological
This is the most commonly used format and the one many employers like because it is easy to read. It is the correct choice for you if you intend to stay in your current industry because it shows the reader exactly what you’ve done and where you fit by detailing your most recent experience first and then working backwards through your career history. It highlights your job titles, places of employment, and dates of tenure by presenting them as headings, in order by date, under which your achievements are listed.
Use the chronological format if:
· your career history shows consistent growth or promotions;· the job you are applying for is clearly the next logical step in your career;· you intend to stay in the same industry or one immediately adjacent to it; for example: from automotive to Tier one supplier.
Functional
A functional resume, just like it sounds, groups your accomplishments into skill headings [functions] like: leadership, management, sales, marketing, new product development, administration, finance, business development operations, etc.
The format presents your experience under skill headings, giving you the freedom to prioritize your accomplishments by impact - and relevance to your objective - rather than by chronology. In this format, your work history (job titles, company names and dates of previous employment) is listed concisely in a section separate from your achievements.
Use a functional resume if:
· you are changing industry or professions and need to emphasize your transferable skills;· you are underemployed in your current position;· your job title does not accurately reflect the level of responsibility you have· you are a student with great potential but near zero “real experience” and you want to demonstrate a track record of activities that would lead an employer to conclude you have “promise” and hire you for your first job; · you are reentering the job market;
Value based resume
My personal preference is a value based resume. This style mirrors the attributes employers are looking for according to the New Value Table from the two books, Career Guide for the High Tech Professional and Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters.
I pioneered the Value Based Résumé. It’s a hybrid of the chronological and functional resumes and it’s designed to address the one question on every single employer’s mind, “What can this candidate do for me?”
It’s a concise no-nonsense approach which easily transmits your bias towards action to the hiring manager. The tone should be, “I walk through walls on a regular basis.” Look what I’ve accomplished so far. What can I do for you?” It generally resonates well with senior executives because just like them, you have passion and a bias toward action.
Use a Value Based resume if:
· you have the accomplishments to back your claims;· you can’t hide the fact that you’re a type “A” personality;· you want to encourage an employer to move quickly to an interview stage; · you are already a high-powered executive;· you are in a fast paced, high intensity occupation, like sales, law, or entertainment; or
Special eXtreme Makeover – 1 page Guerrilla Résumé
Now, let’s break some rules. So many times it’s this sparkling, one-page resume that is directly responsible for landing the job interview. This is your biggest weapon in your Guerrilla job hunting arsenal. Nothing—and I mean nothing—beats it. You can use the eXtreme resume makeover as a stand-alone resume or better yet as a teaser to generate interest and secure an interview. Done correctly, it will get you an interview every time.This resume is a cross between a Functional and a Value Based resume that’s been pumped with steroids. This format can only be sent to senior executives. Let me warn you though, if you use this resume format you’d better be prepared to back it up with facts and figures in an interview. You’ll have to document your facts meticulously.
Use Guerrilla Resume if:
· you are currently in a situation where there is enormous competition for a limited number of jobs and yo need to crush the competition; · you want to “test the waters” before launching a comprehensive job-hunt;· you want to create a job in a company that has no openings; or· you want to change industries.
It has 6 major areas…
· Job Objective or Summary · Summary of Accomplishments · Special skills · Career History · Education · Proof Section
For Example - here’s a sample of a before and after. Click here to buy 25 examples for resumes that landed real jobs.
Non-Guerrilla job hunters do the following when they are looking for a new job: they construct a resume that details their responsibilities, ask their friends and neighbors if they know of any job openings, respond to newspaper ads, and a few of the tech savvy ones will reply to job board postings. That’s it.
That’s not enough, it’s the bare minimum which everyone else does. Non-Guerrilla job hunters can count on the competition for the few advertised or known jobs to be fierce. Good luck to them.
Make sure 100% that you gear your résumés to the employer’s position – specifically. Pre-screen yourself for the employer. If it’s too much work – then you have to ask your self a question: how important is my future. A good head hunter may pre-screen and qualify you and then ask you to gear your resume to the specific position. Follow their advice.
Day 5
On the 5th Day of Xmas Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
5 Golden Rules
- It’s not about you – it’s about them. I can not over emphasize this! Employers don’t care about what you want to do or even who you are until after they’ve hired you. So stop telling them about your dreams and start selling to their needs.
- No just means – “Not Today”. An employer’s needs change day-to-day, in real time yet few job hunters will approach an employer more than once – ever! Learn to repackage and represent your skills in a new light. Sales guys know that most sales are not made until the 7th call! So… start repackaging yourself.
- You are the brand. In today’s world you need to create a resume that makes you get noticed. Your resume needs to be a reflection of not only your past experience but who you are as an individual because lets face it personality counts just as much as your credentials.
- Sex Sells - Much like lingerie, the purpose of a good resume is to heighten your reader’s awareness to what’s possible…
- You need to become a Guerrilla Job Hunter - Jobs are temporary in the new economy - henceforth you need to always be looking for the next opportunity. When a recruiter contacts you – how many times have you spurned them with “I’m happy where I am” and made a decision without knowing the facts? That is a career limiting reaction… even career suicide. No intelligent person would make that comment without hearing that person out AND a true executive search professional would never try to talk you into something that wasn’t good for you. For example, I helped a Marketing Communication Manager upgrade her salary from $41k to $95K. If this person had listened to me they would wasted away unappreciated by her former employer. But it’s not always about money either – it’s about opportunity.
Guerrilla Marketing is an attitude. Tap into your future employer’s timeless fixations with vanity and self fulfillment. Show them that — by hiring you — they’ll become the corporate hero and score the corner office!
Day 6
On the 6th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
6 Tools to download
Google local - If the geographic location of your potential employer is very important to you for reasons of the commute distance, or maybe because you’re relocating to a
new city, you may want to consider limiting your search to a specific location.
There are ways to get local with Google. From http://local.google.com you can conduct a search for employers and businesses in your vicinity. Simply enter the name of an industry or business category in the “What” box on the left hand side, and enter your street address including the city and state, or just enter a city name or even a postal code in the “Where” box to. Go try it.
Message Tag - Everybody loves email. It’s cheap, easy and instant. But how many times do you find yourself wondering what happened to your messages? You send an email out into the Internet, then wait patiently for a reply. But will it get there? Will they read it? When will they read it? And will it be too late? Where’s the reply? Are they still checking that account? Are they on holiday? Should you just wait a little longer? What’s the story? — don’t let the technology derail your job search. Get Message tag and know when to follow up.
My Fax - OK, you’ve just culled a hot lead from ZoomInfo – Googled the exec’s background – rooted out their hot buttons and crafted a compelling resume - - - now what? Thanks to e-mail’s ubiquity, it might seem like the perfect resource for sending resumes. Unfortunately, the “spam blockers” that organizations use to fight unsolicited messages can stop your e-mail dead in its tracks. Sadly, you’re not even likely to know if your masterfully crafted message reached its target. So what does a Guerrilla Job Hunter do? Tunnel inside the company using technology the employer does still trust and can’t block - FAX.
Jibber Jobber - With employees are getting laid off via e-mail and SMS messages on their phones, job security is a thing of the past. No one is immune to cutbacks, downsizing or off-shoring. In fact, you now need to be “looking” all the time to insure continuous employment but let’s face it tracking all those job leads is tedious and time consuming. This is a free site which allows you to manage a serious job search, and includes great networking tools. Get it while it’s still free.Stephen Covey - Very few people have had as profound an effect on people as Stephen Covey, author, business man and the father of principle-centered living. As Chairman and cofounder of FranklinCovey he has made a mission statement builder available for free. The Mission Builder exercise can help to add focus, direction, and a sense of purpose to your daily decisions. The wizard will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a unique, personalized Mission Statement to guide your life.JobsInsider here we grow again with LinkedIn. This free applet let’s you See your inside connections form your LinkedIn account [you do have on right?] to the hiring manager and companies for any job online at Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, Craigslist, Dice, Vault, and many more.Bonus: JobMachine Inc. – Need more advanced tools or a lesson or 3 on how to use the net to maximum advantage? Job Machine run by Shally Steckerl {of Microsoft and Google fame [he ran their business intelligence units for their HR groups]} has a load of tools that are as potentially lethal for job hunters as they are for recruiters.
Now you have to realize that if I’m recommending these, it’s because the most successful executive recruiters use these every day. Good tools lighten your load and speed your job search.
Day 7
On the 7th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
7 Social Networks
The key to networking, of course, is to find people you can network with. Fortunately, for those of us who are terminally shy the Internet has made it possible to network from our computer keyboard and avoid those awkward mixers. There are many of online networking sites. All of the sites are based on the “six degrees of separation” principle which recognizes the actor Kevin Bacon as the center of humanity. Each site has slight variations on how you build and grow your network. The following are the leading sites for job hunters who want to e-network their way to success.
Linkedin.com From a head-hunter’s standpoint, LinkedIn has it all. From a job-hunter’s standpoint LinkedIn represents an opportunity of a lifetime to establish a powerful network of influential colleagues and friends Linkedin.com is my favorite. You can open a linked in account for free. It works by first requiring you to set up your on-line profile and then invite your friends to join your network. After people join they ask their friends and colleagues to join. For job-hunters this is a treasure trove of leads.
Classmates is the grand daddy of online community-based networking. Using Classmates is closer to traditional networking because it’s based on your alumni. At Classmates you can join a network of people you went to school with [high school, college or university] as well as military, industry or company alumni. The challenge with using it to source contacts is that you need to search by state. On the other hand if you want to reach out to people you went to school with to reconnect then Classmates is the way to go.ExecuNet – If you’re in the 100k or more salary range then this networking venue is for you. ExecuNet was founded 18 years ago as the premier networking site on the internet. ExecuNet still holds that title. They make it easy for senior-level professionals to connect directly with business decision-makers, executive recruiters, and their peers. Not only do they have a web site full of information and advice YOU CAN NOT find anywhere else, they also host 5-STAR speakers and authors. Of course I’m biased because founder Dave Opton wrote the Foreword for Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. It was either him or Trump and with Dave you’re more likely to hear “You’re Hired!”
Here are other online networking sites which all have unique benefits too numerous to mention here. You should choose at least two on-line networking sites and be as aggressive [staying within the rules of the site] and as creative with it as you can.
Ryze – is a classic. Easy to use and robust. It’s for connecting online and in person because it also has a real life networking component maybe even in your town. The best of both worlds really.
Spoke - great tool for connecting with the Fortune 1000 in particular and sales people of all types. Sales people by-the-way are great resources for job hunters – they’re naturally helpful and often talkative. They boast over 30 million people and 900,000 companies.
MySpace – the Groups Home page clusters people by interests. The site also has a career space.
Heartless Bitches – this site is just for the women. Seriously though. Need career advice and an opportunity to hobnob with some of the most intellectually stimulating and informed women on the planet ? Then this site is for you.
Your network will grow as quickly as you can recruit members who can then recruit other members. Your ability to e-Network your way to a new job grows exponentially as your network develops – a social pyramid scheme so-to-speak. For all the latest on social networking you should read what else? The Social Networking Web Log- which just happens to be loaded with tips on reaching inside the companies you want.
Social networking sites where designed to help people with common interests connect. However several sites like FaceBook MySpace Friendster Blogger Flickr and YouTube have become popular “adjunct referencing” tools for recruiters lately, so I’d check them all out and see if your potential employer is going to find anything embarrassing about you. If they do there’s a new service [thankfully] which deals with this called Naymz.
Bonus:Quintessential Careers. Ok. Quintessential Careers isn’t a social network .. But it should be… At least for college grads. There’s an encyclopedia’s worth of advice here.
Day 8
On the 8th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
8 Resumes Rules
There are certain unwritten rules that if you adhere to will increase your chance of getting the attention you deserve.
Give’ em What They Want
You have 6-30 seconds to convince a reader that your resume warrants a complete read, an investment on their end of 5-6 minutes.A recent poll I conducted among fellow recruiters revealed most spend less than 15 seconds on the first page of your resume. Most, in fact, never get past the email note or cover letter, let alone your carefully worded “Objective” and, frankly, human resource managers are no better.No one has time to waste waiting for a Job Seeker to get to the point… so the first rule of resume writing is to construct your resume so the Reader gets the information they need fast. A little advance planning is called for.
Be Relevant.
Presumably the reader has a job you’re interested in, so show how your experience fits their requirements. Don’t assume people can or will “read between the lines” – they don’t have time. It’s not their job and they don’t care about you – yet.
Target your Reader.
You need to understand who your “reader” is because – different people read resumes looking for different things. · Recruiters look for “hot” marketable skills because they want to make money marketing you. If your skill set is not in high demand, they won’t call unless you are an exact fit for a job order they have.· HR folks look for an exact skill fit with a job first, then your stability, then your personality type. · Hiring managers look for skill sets first, then how flexible you are and finally your ability to learn on the job.
Keep it Crisp
People are visual. They like looking at documents that are clean, neat and well constructed.
Use Bullets
Sentences, that is. Short sentences are less effort to write and easier to read. We live in a PowerPoint world. They also give the reader a sense of action and energy. The reader can get the gist of your experience quickly. You can elaborate at the interview.
Highlight your Strengths
Whichever strengths (accomplishments) are the most relevant to your reader – they go first. Always lead with your best foot forward.
Demonstrate Results
Use ###, %%%, and $$$ to emphasize your accomplishments. One million dollars is less likely to be noticed than $1,000,000. Numbers and symbols jump off the page.
Give it “POP”
Power verbs like those below give your resume “pop”, that crisp Joe Friday delivery of “just the facts ma’a’m – just the facts”. They’re high energy and factual, making you appear to be a “driver”! Just rewriting your resume alone with these words will increase your chances of being interviewed by 50%. Here are 35 of the hundreds of possibilities:
AcceleratedAccomplishedAchieved ActivatedAddressedAdmittedAidedAllowedAmendedAnalyzedApportionedApprovedArrangedAssessedAttainedAugmentedBalancedBrainstormedCalculated CertifiedCollaboratedCommittedCompiledConceptualizedConsentedContracted ConvincedCoordinatedCorrelatedCreatedIncreasedInitiatedInventedLedNegotiatedStarted
Be Concise
Your resume should not contain one more word than it needs – to make your point. Ok? It’s supposed to create interest not bore them to death. Be a tease!
Connect the DOTS for them
Make it easy for the reader to see your fit to their job. Before you write your resume, research newspapers, job boards and Internet ads for positions that are similar to the ones you’ll be seeking. Ensure that the latest “buzzwords” are prevalent. Common key words and phrases like “JAVA or Audit Trail or channel management or DWDM” should map to the bullets in your resume. Scientists and senior executives should prepare an appendix of publications and papers as well. Technical people need a separate Technical Summary page for easy identification of your skills.
Personal branding is where it’s at and the unwritten rules are fodder for Branding 101. Check out William Arruda’s site on personal branding for more.
You Inc. 2009 is available now.
Day 9
On the 9th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
Nine Tools for Researching Leads
There are a vast number of services you can subscribe to for free that will bring information on hot new companies straight to your desktop every morning. JustSell.com for example delivers a list of all the companies in
America that were newly funded and categorized by state or province, complete with the contact numbers for their executives.
Nearly every news paper that’s available on the web has a News Alert function, and you should subscribe to as many as you need to cover your interests.
Ask the people whom you know which free publications they subscribe to on the Internet and keep ahead of your job-hunting competitors. Here are 8 of the Top 50+ sources for leads covered in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters:ZoomInfo – ZoomInfo is the research tool I use the most. Can’t live with out it. Are you in it? You should be! And listing yourself or checking your profile is free. Register and Create a ZoomInfo Web Summary and Be Found and then you can Let Opportunities Find You. This is THE career accelerator you can’t live without. It’s your “job search commando” .
America’s Career InfoNet – Their research tools for industry and occupations are second to none AND it’s free. There are several pages devoted to using it in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. Check it out for your self.
Just Sell - will email you a description of every company which has received new funding each week. The free report is divided by state or province and includes a description of the company and the purpose for the round of funding, and often includes the email addresses of the senior executives.
The Money Tree Survey - is a quarterly study of venture capital investment activity in the
United States. It’s collaboration between PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association.
It’s excellent and it’s the only industry-endorsed research of its kind.
PE Week Wire is free and I have daily updates delivered to my email box bright and early each day. PE Week is the only industry publication that tracks and researches private equity deals for the entire venture capital market. The weekly newsletter and daily website give you in-depth news on industry trends, companies seeking investors, deals at all stages, participating firms, deal conditions, proceeds and pricing. It’s been a valuable resource for me.
Dow Jones Venture Capital - Tech, Life Sciences, HealthCare [which is huge beyond] – Dow Jones Venture Capital tracks it and reports on it. Their conferences are second to none. Vault – their industry career guides are world famous. The thousands of career opportunities on the site are a nice bonus.Fucked Company – what can I say, some employers are coy and creative when it comes to representing themselves to high performance candidates. If you’re worried about being “blue skied” then check out a prospective employer here.Google Alerts are email updates delivered to your email address once a day based on information you tell Google to watch for. For example the announcement of new executives or news stories on companies of interest to you. I use Google Alerts to find leads on companies who have hired new VPs of Sales because these executives might need my services to help staff their teams.On the surface everyone acknowledges that rejection is a fact of life when you’re job-hunting. That it pushes all the wrong buttons – not once – but sometimes hundreds of times. Sometimes it’s not even the rejection letters; it’s the dead silence - the lack of acknowledgement that you even exist. The fundamental truths of job hunting are not pleasant. It’s all about being rejected and ignored. Eventually the stress gets to everyone. – so …. You need to feed your opportunity funnel like a salesperson feeds their sales funnel and the previously mentioned services will accelerate your search.
Day 10
On the 10th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
10 Super Motivators
As you can probably tell I’m pretty practical. A block & tackle kind of just get at it guy. I know you know that looking for job is a sales and marketing activity. I also know that the loneliness of prospecting whether for a job or new business will eventually get even the toughest battle hardened war horse down. No. No. No. Is not Yes-Yes-Yes!!! So you have to have a reliable way to beat the stinking thinking.
When you realize that the basic aim of every company is to stay in business, you can begin to position yourself as a solution to their need to create and serve the customers who keep them in business, rather than focusing on your need for a job. Understanding this helps you position yourself as a solution to their needs instead of just another job-hunter.
“Solution selling” is in vogue all across
America for a very good reason – it works.
In solution selling you begin by understanding your customer
’s business and therefore the need for your product’s solution.
Solution sales people focus on the benefits of their product
, not the features.
The benefits they emphasize are the ones they know the buyer needs.
They know what the buyer needs because they’ve researched the company to discover what its “pain points” are.
When sales people focus on solution selling, they increase the value of their products and services, because their product is not viewed as just another “list of features” like those of every competitor. As a job-hunter, you increase your value exponentially when you focus on the employer’s needs. Here are the best of the best for tuning up your attitude!
Peter Clayton – Peter is the “voice” of job hunting. TotalPicture.com should become your premier source for a daily dose of job hunting insight and intelligence. Not only does Peter podcast interviews from some of the world’s finest job hunting experts but he also interviews the employers and the thought leaders in Human Capital Management so you can understand what employers are looking for in new hires and how they think. Download to your iPod or listen from your computer. I can’t believe this is free!
Guy Kawasaki – Guy launched the first Mac computer and hasn’t stopped innovating. His views on capturing a prospects interest [that’s an employer for you] are always ‘fresh” poignant and logical. His How to Change the World blog is billed as “practical blog for impractical people. It’s certainly is. As CEO of Garage Technology Ventures he’s got a better grip on what investors are interested in… including people.
Jeffrey Gitomer – a fast track to success. This site is a treasure-trove of sales, service and success information. Get his free sales Caffeine Newsletter delivered to your email inbox FREE every Tuesday and you’ll get a jolt of inspiration and rational thought unlike anything else you’ve ever read.
Bill Vick – The saying goes some people make things happen – some people watch things happen and some wonder what happened! Bill Vick is one of
America’s oldest and most accomplished recruiters, an accomplished speaker and
author AND a very generous man.
Generous with his knowledge in particular on the inner working of the $197 billion dollar recruitment industry in
America – insight you as a job hunter should
devour!
Tom Peters – In search of Excellence set the standard by which every other business book is judged. If you want to understand what today’s burning issues are for CEO then this is the place to start. His 100 Ways to Succeed are both insightful and entertaining. Fill your boots!
Tony Parinello – has made a made a science out of C-level executive selling AND that’s who yo should be targeting with your sales pitch about you! Tony’s book helped my company excel through the tech-wreck of 2000-2006. The tactics learned here will get you in front of more CEOs faster than anything else you can do.
Oprah Winfrey – No one has done more to inspire, coach and cajole people to be more successful than Oprah Winfrey. You can’t watch 5 minutes of her show without feeling upbeat. Just not possible and keeping a positive attitude is tough - even for the guys better about yourself. To live your best life check out these tips and explore her site.
Brian Tracy – Is a prolific writer on human potential and sales. A major source of stress job hunting is the “fear of rejection” and Brian’s weekly “sales tips” will not only teach yo how to blow past the negatives but also how to turn a no into a maybe and a maybe into a yes. I’ve been receiving Brain’s free “sales Success” newsletter for more years than I can count. In every issue you’ll learn selling techniques you can apply immediately to your job hunt.
Liz Ryan - CEO and Founder of WorldWIT which is the leading global online AND offline network for women in business and technology. Upbeat and personable she not only writes to inspire she conducts informative and powerfully uplifting biweekly podcast on networking with plenty of tips for job hunters. She’s also a My Linkedin* Power Forum moderator with my LinkedIn Power Forum Chief Encouragement Officer Vincent Wright
Jay Levinson - revolutionized the way marketers do business by defying the conventional wisdom that effective marketing means spending big bucks. He devised highly successful marketing strategies that rely on creativity, imagination and energy—instead of money—to get the job done. In Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters, Jay and I show you exactly how to apply the power of guerrilla marketing with little-known strategies from top recruiters to dramatically increase your job hunting success.
The tidal wave of economic change, pressure to increase shareholder value by the quarter rather than by the year; outsourcing and rightsizing, all have greatly affected the domestic job market that we once knew not all that long ago. Competition to get noticed and chosen for the very best professional opportunities is stiff. No matter how talented you may be, there are many others also vying for that top spot.
Day 11
On the 11th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
11 other ways to find a job today
Perhaps networking, cold-calling aren’t for you. You should try any way. Having said that there are many other ways to break the ice and get into see an employer. Here are eleven which have all been successfully used in the past.
- Get a job-search buddy
- Recruit your Tribe
- Become “The Expert”
Guerrilla Advice
· Be bold!· Be passionate!· Be creative!· Be tasteful! · Be safety conscious.· Be image conscious.· Enlist a personal army of helpers.· Offer a reward to anyone who helps you secure an interview or job.· Involve the media whenever you can.
In the end it’s your life… and you’re unique, so don’t do exactly what others have done.
Send me your success stories – dperry@perrymartel.com
Day 12
On the 12th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:
12 Bloggers Blogging
- Recruiting Animal and Recruiting Bloggers is the best roundup of thought leaders on job search and recruiting currently available for free on the Net. Michael [animal} has cajoled some of the finest writers on recruiting and job hunting into contributing to this site. I expect a best selling book is in his future. Recruiting Animal is the site to bookmark for a look at the world of recruiting and job hunting packed with both wisdom and wit.
- Interbiz – I‘m cheating already [changing the rules] by introducing you to John Sumzer who IS the industry pundit on all things recruiting related. Attracting and recruiting the best talent is the first step in creating a superior workforce and John demystifies this multi-billion dollar industry everyday. If yo want to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s new and what works this is the place to start your day. Beware politically correct people: he doesn’t pull any punches and always calls it as he sees it. John’s view point is unique.
- Brazen Careerist – written by serial entrepreneur and career smarts guru Penelope Trunk. There’s plenty to learn from a this witty writer who previously founded three of her own companies. Penelope has endured an IPO, a merger and a bankruptcy. She also played professional beach volleyball. Her energy and insight is fabulous. Her new book, Brazen Careerist: New Rules for Success is due out in may of 2007 from Warner books.
- Bold Career Ian Christie is a former senior director at Monster.com, and retained executive search consultant turned career coach. Ian’s a man in the know and a passionate believer in the power of the individual to achieve great things. God stuff.
- Career Hub – A daily dose of advice from some of
America’s most prolific career coaches who share their creative ideas for job hunting, including my personal favorites:
· Louise Fletcher, · George Bloomgren, · Heather Mundell and · Jan Melnick.
- The Day In Recruiting is a daily collection of blogs for and by recruiters. A clever guerrilla job hunter is always interested in how the other side thinks and works. If you want to be found yo should know where they’re looking. Right? Right. It’s the job search equivalent of casting your lure where the fish are jumping. You’ll find:
· Recruiting .com – run by Jobster which in itself you should check out. Especially the blog for · Cheezhead - the infamous Joel Cheesman is shaking the foundation of the multi-billion dollar job board industry.· SixDegrees – Dave Mendoza and Shally [again] deliver up a weekly potpourri of what’s hot in recruiting including behind the scenes stories on some of
America’s hottest recruiters.
Their piece on
Carl Chapman the
Executive Restaurant Recruiter is a hot not to be missed.
· Gautam Gosh, - your ears and eyes off shore Gautam underlines the fact that
India is a hot bed of opportunity, brilliant people and global players.· The CareerXroads Annex, - Gerry Crispin understands job hunting and recruiting from the inside out and quite literally brings practical solutions to even the most dire of circumstances [he continues to help in the aftermath of Katrina]· Jim Stroud - [who writes like a drill sergeant on steroids] has insights for both candidates and recruiters.· Cindy Craft Is a guiding light for CFO’s and up-and-coming financial execs.· Tom Frisk dishes up advice on the “wild side”
- PassingNotes – David Carpe is one of
America’s top Competitive intelligence experts AND likely the best in the field of Human Capital Management. If you want to understand how to dig up information on potential employers this is THE place to start. If you want to understand how us headhunters find you [not that you would want to skew the results in your favor] this is the place to keep up to date on the latest and greatest.
- Secrets of the Job Hunt – CM Russell does an excellent job of taking yo behind the scenes into the minds of hiring manager and recruiters and makes sense of some of the most mysterious issues in recruiting like : working with recruiters and headhunters or what job board to use for what.
- Paul DeBettignies – {owner of Nerd Search} blog is a collection of links to resources aimed squarely at nerds and geeks. Paul also has great gift for pointing out the obvious. He’s an entertaining and informative writer.
- Your Hr Guy’s blog can even tell you why you’re phone calls aren’t being returned after you just had the “bestest” interview of your life. Straight forward practical advice served up with humor and just a touch of compassion.
- Career Journal – Ok it’s technically not a blog BUT you can’t miss out on reading the daily advice dished up by career counselors and headhunters from across
America. It’s a must read daily!
- College Recruiter – if you’re straight out of school or are hoping your children won’t return home – to live in your basement – this is the blog for you. It’s chock full of tips tricks and tactics to get the new grad moving in the right direction toward their 1st dream job.
