Networking without Strangers
One doesn’t have to be a complete introvert to find the concept of networking scary. For starters, there’s that whole “introducing yourself to complete strangers” thing. There’s also the sense of imbalance that many job seekers feel–as if they’re asking people for help without offering anything in return.
First, the bad news—if a job seeker finds meeting new people difficult, it probably won’t ever get easier. But here’s some good news—contacting and meeting strangers is not really what networking is. The most effective type of networking for landing a job is targeted networking. This means helping job seekers recognize and use the connections they already have to find new job opportunities. Read more
Job Referrals are Best Sources of Hiring Opportunities
Many job seekers mistakenly think that simply spending time on job boards, applying for numerous positions, will increase their chances of landing opportunities. Unfortunately, for these dutiful but misinformed candidates, a recent USAToday.com article indicates that “good companies get 30% to 50% of their hires from employee referrals.” The Wall Street Journal concurs, noting, “as hiring picks up, more companies are revamping their employee-referral programs. The trend offers fresh avenues—and fresh challenges—for frustrated job seekers.” Read more
Basic Job Search in Job & Career Accelerator™
Start a job search of available positions from the Find Jobs & More tab in Job & Career Accelerator™. The location fills automatically, based on the information in My Profile.
The Basic search feature provides a geographic search by zip code, or within 5, 10, 15, 25, or 50 miles. The search criteria are: job title, skills, or company name. More refined searches can be done using the Advanced Search feature.
Advanced Job Search features of Job & Career Accelerator™
When your students or patrons want a refined and targeted job search, they may use specific keywords to navigate the over 5 million job postings available within Job & Career Accelerator.
The selections include with, all the words, the exact phrase, at least one of the words, -out the words, -in a job title, or within a company name. When conducting a very specific search, the numbers of found opportunities will be more manageable.
In addition to keywords, job seekers can use the Advanced Job Search features for locations, preferences, and filters. The filters provide even more refinement including job type, work experience, education, timeframe when posted, whether salary information is included, company size, company revenue, special filters such as “Working Mothers Best 100 companies,” and source or employer.
Questions from Expert Webinar
There was a wonderful response to our first expert webinar, featuring specific instructions on how to utilize Job & Career Accelerator™ to write resumes for the future. Wendy Enelow, the featured expert presenter, answered some of the more popular questions.
September Webinar Questions:
Q: I’m curious as to how job seekers identify the keywords they need to include on their resumes?
Here are the best resources to identify keywords for the industries and professions that your clients or students are targeting in job searches. It’s critical that many of these words be integrated into resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles (yes, they’re also keyword searchable!). Obviously, individuals should only include keywords that actually relate to their experience or education.
- Job Postings & Advertisements
- Company Websites
- Industry Association Websites
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov)
- Finding Needles in a Haystack, 3-Volume Series (www.wendyenelow.com)
- Best Keywords for Resumes, Cover Letters & Interviews (www.wendyenelow.com)
Q: Since you talked about targeting font type to industry, should you have different resume font styles for a readable resume vs. a scannable resume? What tips or fonts do you recommend for a scannable resume?
The ONLY font to be used in a scannable resume is Courier. On all/most computers, Courier is the default typestyle for .txt files and all scannable resumes should be in .txt. Although some companies are moving to next-generation resume scanning technology that can read any typestyle, that’s not true yet. Therefore, you must still use .txt to ensure that everyone can scan it and read it; job seekers can then score interviews and start earning more money than they’ve ever dreamed of!
Featured Webinar
Finding Available Jobs & Internships—Targeted Search
Miriam Salpeter, Founder Keppie Careers
Achieving Results With a Targeted Search
Join us for the continuation of our expert series of special webinars with, Finding Available Jobs & Internships—The Targeted Search!
Noted career expert Miriam Salpeter, has been advising clients regarding their career plans for over 14 years and will present: Achieving Results With a Targeted Search.
This event is perfect for college career center or library professionals who want to learn to better instruct their students or patrons on the best methods to conduct a targeted search, as well as job seekers themselves.
- Wednesday, 10/27/2010
2:00-3:00 PM EST Register
Public Library Edition of Job & Career Accelerator™
Information Services @ Sno-Isle 