Resume Fixes

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I describe the most common flaws in my clients' resumes and how you can avoid them.

A Career Misconception

A new client came in with a common misconception: She insisted that the way to land a good job is for recruiters to tap your LinkedIn profile. (from among the 600 million!)

That strategy, like all job-search strategies will sometimes work, but it’s successful mostly when a candidate is currently well-employed doing similar work, for a very-low paying job, or for a job in high demand that requires a challenging skill set, for example, data scientist. This client fit none of those. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I describe a likely more fruitful approach.
 

How to Make the Most of LinkedIn: A True-False Quiz

I decry what seems to be a redistribution of resources from skill development to networking, sizzle over steak. 

But if I am to be a decent career counselor, where appropriate, I need to teach my clients how to use LinkedIn optimally. How to do so is the topic of my PsychologyToday.com article today. 

I try to make what could be a dry topic a little more fun by making it a true-false quiz. HERE is the link

How Much Time Should YOU Put into Networking?

UC Berkeley has posted another excerpt from my public lecture there. This excerpt is on how to decide how much effort YOU should put into networking. Here it is:

Social Networking to Help Your Career: LinkedIn 2.0

LinkedIn and Twitter are helping many people land informational, job interviews, and use the power of crowds to get advice on issues they're facing on the job.

While those tools do offer ways to target people in your field, a new article on usnews.com mentions a new generation of social networking sites aimed at individual subgroups:

• Top managers are getting tips from peers at Meet the Boss. That site restricts membership to financial executives, usually at the C level (as in "chief").
• Epernicus is for scientists.
  
• Graduate Junction caters to graduate students; for those already out of school.
• MyWorkster connects professionals with fellow alumni.
• Jobvite helps companies tap the power of social networks to find the best referrals for their available jobs.

How to Use LinkedIn

This from career coach, Lindsey Pollak:

Join LinkedIn and use it every day. Many recruiters, headhunters, small business owners and corporate hiring managers are now recruiting through LinkedIn, so make sure you are taking advantage of every aspect of this social networking site. First, set up a complete profile including keywords an employer might use to find someone like you. Join professional networking groups on LinkedIn to build your connections and become part of conversations about industry news. Scour other people's profiles to look for companies you may want to apply to, job titles or professions you didn't know about, professional organizations where you might network and people with similar interests who might be willing to offer you some job search advice.

The New Rules for Landing a Job

Sure, traditional job-search methods like answering ads and posting your resume on a job site sometimes work, especially for low-level jobs.

But most job seekers should use approaches that match the way that today's best employers identify candidates. 

Ever more employers don't bother placing want ads. They know that want ads mainly yield candidates who are actively looking for jobs. Such people, on average, are not the best-quality candidates. 

Employers want candidates who are already well-employed but who could, with the right offer, be seduced into making a move. So they troll online discussion groups, the blogosphere, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

So, job seekers, spend less time polishing the format of your resume and tweaking your cover letter, and spend more time on one or more of these. They'll not only help you land a job but help you grow:

• Become a substantive contributor to the most respected online discussion group in your field. If you don't know what it is, find it using the directories at Google Groups or Yahoo Groups.
• Start a blog. Write posts that would impress your target employer. A good video of yourself in action can help, but better to have no video than an unimpressive one. Here's how you can create one, free. 
• Join LinkedIn and/or Facebook. Create a profile that would impress your target employer. Again, video can help. Here's a a video tutorial. Get at least 20 on-target people to join your LinkedIn or Facebook network. Also answer questions posed on LinkedIn in categories likely to be trolled by your target employers. 

Of course, it's a mistake to spend all your job search time behind a computer. These other activities are most likely to be helpful:

• Create a 15-second pitch: For example, "I'm looking for a project manager-type job, in which I can use my ability to be a liaison between techies and non-techies. I got great evaluations in my previous job, but the company went under in the latest downturn."
•  Deliver your 15-second pitch to all your professional and personal network and to potential employers, even when they're not advertising an on-target job.
  
• Take on a substantive role in your professional association: give a talk at the next meeting, join the program selection committee, etc.
• And yes, answer truly on-target want ads.

The above plan should help you find a job that is right for you, the employer, and, in turn, society.