It's important to
manage your job search and keep track of the job leads you
find, the jobs you've applied to, the resumes and cover letters you
have submitted, and the networking contacts you're outreaching to.
If it sounds like a lot, it is. There are ways to get (and keep)
your job search under control though.
Spending time managing your job search, keeping it organized, focused, and on the fast track will help you find a job faster than if you don't have a plan in place. Even though you're going to spend some extra time getting organized, it will save you time in the long run. It will also save you from being in the awkward position that someone I heard from the other day was in. She got a call for an interview, but had no clue what the job was that she had applied for.
Rather than hitting, and maybe missing, your job search targets, or not being able to properly prepare for an interview because you're clueless about the opportunity, you'll be spending your time job searching in an effective manner if you take it one step at a time - and stay on top of managing the job search process. Here's how to get your job search on the fast track, along with free tools and tips to help expedite a job search.
Have a tip for getting your job search organized? Share your job search tip or comment (below).
More: Manage Your Job Search | Online Job Search Guide
Image Copyright Franc Podgorsek
How to Manage Your Job Search originally appeared on About.com Job Searching on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 06:15:36.
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[Read Entry]Should I send a thank you note after a job interview and should I send it by snail mail or email? How often should I call to check on my status after the interview? Is there anything I shouldn't say to a future employer? What characteristics or behaviors will make me stand out during the job interview process? These are some of the questions you may have about job interviews. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) asked human resources managers to answer them in a poll the professional organization conducted. Some answers came as a bit of a surprise to me. For example, 43% of respondents said job candidates should call once a week to check on the status of a job opening. I would have thought calling one time, in total, would be enough. Other answers were less surprising âÂ" 56% said that "Skills Directly Related to the Job" made a candidate stand out the most. See all the questions and answers: Interviewing Do's and Don'ts for Job Seekers SHRM Poll.
An Inside Look at Job Interviewing originally appeared on About.com Career Planning on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 15:05:43.
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[Read Entry]I have a few questions that I am hoping to join some knowledge from fellow Recruiters.....
Has anyone used PeopleSoft as an ATS systsem in Retail (my company has over 51,000 employees)??
What is the best ATS system out there? I used Vurv in the past, however I know that Taleo brought them.... I do not know if Taleo is suitable for Retail.
Any help would be great!!! You can Blog or e-mail me at nicoleegger@winn-dixie.com
My brother is a marathon
runner who recently had his best time ever in the New York City
Marathon. He's got a hectic full-time job and he's middle aged, so
it was a really big accomplishment. He spends a lot of time
training and staying in shape.
Talking to John about the race and what led up to it was a good reminder that a job search isn't a one shot deal. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and everything you do leading up to winning the job search competition, and it is a competition for each and every job, and getting a job offer matters.
Every part of what you do when you job search, including looking for job postings, online job searching, writing cover letters, dressing for an interview, sending a thank you note, job searching (or not) from work, and using social media can make - or break - your job search.
These top job search tips include tips for resume writing, cover letters, curriculum vitae, interviewing, phone interviews, working at home, online job searching, using your network, finding work at home jobs, and more advice to help you find a new job fast.
Related: Top 10 Job Search Tips | Online Job Searching
Image Copyright Lisa Gagne
Winning the Job Search Competition originally appeared on About.com Job Searching on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 06:00:13.
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[Read Entry]I've been using job specifications for years; I just never called them that. Recent searches by readers on my site indicate that a lot of people work with job specifications and I decided to research best practices. As a result of my research, I came up with my own definition for job specification. Then, I tried my hand at two sample job specifications.
Job specifications serve a number of important roles. They allow recruiters and hiring managers to zero in on the most important requirements for the best candidate for your jobs in ways that more detailed job descriptions cannot. In this capacity, a recruiter can use the job specification to write job postings and recruit through employees and social media such as LinkedIn. This posting is much more defined than a job description for the short time spans that colleagues can invest in your recruiting.
Next, the HR recruiter or the hiring manager can use the job specification to review the resumes and applications you receive to select the most qualified candidates for telephone screens and interviews. The job specification is refined at the recruiting planning meeting so all employees involved are clear and agree about the qualifications of your eventually chosen employee. And, the employees who will participate in interviewing prospective employees receive a clear picture of the employee the organization seeks.
Here's a sample Human Resources Director job specification and a sample Marketing Manager job specification.
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Not Sexy, But Handy: Use Job Specifications originally appeared on About.com Human Resources on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 03:42:49.
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[Read Entry]The Social Recruiting Summit is being held today here in New York.
Fred Wilson, who is keynoting, posted his presentation and requested comments. What a fantastic way to improve your thinking on any topic, by the way. When this type of behavior gets "into the bones" of up-and-coming scientists, entrepreneurs, and thinkers, imagine how much more quickly we will cycle through all the wrong answers and get to the good ones. Kudos to Fred for pioneering in this regard.
I posted my thoughts in Fred's comments but I thought I would share them here as well for the broader HR community...
Lots of great thinking in this deck, and the exciting part of the internet and recruiting is that we are really just getting started. The newspapers are only now dying, and the Web 1.0 job boards "just" replicated their model. Cool ideas -- GlassDoor, Tracked, and of course, Twitter, LinkedIn, Meetup (at TheLadders, we've sponsored Meetups to very good effect for our recruiting) etc., -- are going to make the next decade even more exciting.
A few points that I think go along thematically with what you are saying but bear emphasis:
1. Social media are fantastic information and communications tools. A question we should be asking is: how do we use these tools wisely and well?
Commenter Melih notes: "I didn't really see you emphasize that while talent is valuable, the real value, to me, of the social hire is vouching for the integrity and the character of the person much more so than their skill set. I think it's fair to say that you wouldn't recommend a friend or colleague who you didn't think was strong enough, but would you recommend a friend who you knew would constantly butt heads with the VP of Engineering?"
As tools, we are using social media very well to find candidates, and to find people who worked with the people who worked with our candidates. But to really close the deal, we need to find a way to make social media better at making the art of referencing better. Because I'm not sure we really have. The cold call out of the blue from the nice person in HR at a company looking to hiring Jeremiah, who saw that you worked with him from 2003 to 2005, is not immediately, to my mind, somebody with whom you should exercise your complete and utmost candor. Legal and social consequences loom. We're finding the information, but we're not generating the right type of communication.
2. And I wonder if you should mention Uber community on the web -- Craigslist. Despite its enormous size today, it started as "social media" -- Craig sending out his favorite events to his email buddies, and somehow that DNA remains at the core of what Craigslist is all about. Especially with recruiting designers and college graduates, we find it invaluable. I think we all sometimes forget to put Craig in this bucket.
3. I agree blog posts and tweets are a great way to get people who are already engaged with your brand. This is the virtual equivalent of the "Help Wanted; Inquire Within" sign: to attract somebody, they need to already be attracted. Which is fantastic. But it's not going to scale for all the needs of a young company. How are we going to use social media to expand our message, not just repeat it in an echo chamber?
4. And, finally, I think it bears repeating: "0" is the number of people you've hired in or invested in without meeting them face-to-face. (Even more interesting if the answer isn't zero -- would love to hear that story!) The internet, social media, tweets and updates can not replace the value of sitting across from a human and learning their story directly from them. That's what we're all about - we are *social* creatures, and the *media* is there to serve us.
[Read Entry]
