> home
> About
> Contact Us
> Editorial Info
> IEEE-USA

10.11

By Debra Feldman, JobWhiz, Executive Talent Agent

Last week, I addressed ad hoc questions during a job search webinar attended by nearly 40 senior-level executives seeking new executive jobs. The expected inquiries came up about cover letters, resumes, external recruiters, the job market, employer preferences and career marketing firms. The participants are a very well-educated group, all members of a senior executive networking organization. While I would label them as a sophisticated audience, few seemed to feel confident about their job searching skills and blamed the current job market for their lengthy time in transition. Over and over again, I heard that traditional job searching — which had always was effective in the past — was not producing results, and running their campaigns as they had in the past, relying on recruiters to call or resume submissions to generate interviews, was almost worthless. So what were they to do? How should they look for new executive jobs?

In the past, job searching best practices included mastering the art of preparing a strong, meticulously edited resume and submitting it properly to employers; then waiting patiently to be called for an interview and, presuming there was a match, receiving an offer and accepting, declining or negotiating.  It was just a matter of time or a numbers game before everything fell smoothly into place. 

But all that has changed, and not just because the Internet has taken over the way job seekers approach the job market. Certainly, the most significant changes in today's job search strategies are related to the transformative technologies of the Web, but also the recession, workforce demographics and other trends have contributed to what constitute today's job search best practices. If you are still relying solely on your resume to open doors to new opportunities, you may get left behind. Following are a few pointers to help you be a more enlightened (and permanent) candidate:

• Your connections — those who you know and those who know and remember you — are the most effective and reliable resources for finding out about potential positions. Whether it's done in person, online or through another mode of communication, networking is still the best job search method around.  News about a possible hiring situation travels privately by word of mouth before an official job advertisement or even a social media announcement. Keep your network contacts up to date on your job search interests so that they will know to recommend you and refer you first when an opportunity comes up.

• Do not count on your resume to initiate interest from employers; employers are deluged with resumes and employment inquiries. With modern resume screening applications, only perfect matches are given any consideration. Even under the best circumstances, the employer may already have a candidate in mind that came to their attention by word of mouth before the job was officially advertised.

• There is no quick or easy fix to finding a job. Mail blasts, email broadcasts, fax distributions and other blanket campaigns rarely generate job leads. These job search methods have about the same success rate as any direct response mail, between one and three percent. Before investing in such services, calculate the ROI and then decide if the projected outcome justifies the cost.

• Assume that before anyone asks for or sees your resume, they will search for “your name” online. You can bet that search results from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and other social and professional networking sites will be the first impression potential employers will see. Therefore, check your online persona. Clean up your digital image, or create a positive footprint if correct data is not obvious on a quick name search.  One of the simplest ways to establish an online persona is to create a Google Profile. Career professionals also recommend a complete LinkedIn profile — in some instances, if you are not listed on LinkedIn or your profile is not impressive, then an employer may treat you as if you don’t exist. LinkedIn is becoming that important for some industries.

• Your network ( i.e. your contacts) are today’s “career insurance.”  Whether you are an active job seeker or have no current thoughts of making any change, or even if you just started a new job yesterday,  you should be proactively managing your connections in real life (face to face, industry events, telephone, instant messaging, email and written correspondence) and in the virtual world (online group discussions, new media publications, profile updates and so on). Your connections not only can propose you for a position and put your name in the ring (with or without your knowledge), and they can also make you aware of situations that may interest you so that you can be among the first to act on such an alert by volunteering your help, getting early information, and possibly even being invited to provide input on the description of a position that's being created for you! 

While, technically, people still “apply” for a job, more often than not, the job offer is extended first to someone who was recommended by an insider. If you are not part of this inner circle, your chances for being hired are much lower.  Therefore, the critical importance of developing and maintaining connections cannot be overstated. Think about this from the hiring decision-maker’s perspective — wouldn’t you prefer to hire someone who comes recommended than to screen umpteen strangers, especially when you know that a resume often is not an accurate representation of how a new hire will adapt to and perform as a member of your team?

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.

All rights reserved, Debra Feldman 2011.