With the emergence of the Internet, job seeking has become a simple online process. With that in mind, here are seven tips and tricks for getting the most out of your online career path.
1. Let Employers Find You (always post your resume online).
According to a 2005 ComScore Networks survey, job searchers who posted their resume to an online database were twice as likely as those who only applied to particular opportunities to obtain a job offer. Note that many companies never announce their jobs, instead opting to explore a pre-screened database of applicants. Employers prefer such a strategy over the alternative of advertising a position online and receiving hundreds of unqualified applicants. If your resume isn't in the database where your ideal employer is looking, you've already missed out.
2. See what employers can see.
The majority of the big online job boards provide a section of their website where prospective employers may conduct a free test search of their resume database. Use this feature to look for the sort of job you desire before posting your resume online. There are at least three or more benefits for doing so:
- You will view the Top 10 applicants for your keywords (your competitors), and you will be able to build your own profile and resume after seeing these successful examples.
- You'll immediately see that including keywords in the title of your profile and the body of your resume is crucial (since that's how companies search the database).
- You'll learn which keywords perform best for your job and potentially reveal new ones.
3. Use job search engines provided by third parties.
Job seekers are unaware that the search tools on most job sites are designed to display sponsored items first. That's why your search results frequently have little relevance to your search keywords and constantly seem to include so-called "business opportunities." To overcome this, use one of the new third-party job search engines, such as Indeed.com or Simplyhired.com It's why your search results frequently have little relevance to your search keywords and constantly seem to include so-called "business opportunities." To overcome this, use one of the new third-party job search engines, such as www.indeed.com or www.simplyhired.com. These search engines are given access to the databases of the major online job boards because they effectively pre-sort incoming traffic, allowing the job boards to deliver more focused advertisements. You will obtain more relevant search results and have the added benefit of searching numerous job boards at once if you use one of the free services.
4. Save Your Money
Several online job boards have premium packages that claim to place your resume at the top of the list when companies look for candidates in your industry. Don't spend your money. To begin with, you have no way of knowing how much higher your resume will rank in comparison to non-paid resumes. Second, thousands of other individuals have purchased the identical package in the most competitive industries, defeating their purpose. Third, the two largest online job sites, CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com , have publicly admitted that changing just one word in your profile or online resume on a regular basis will have the same result (essentially getting you the outcome of the premium service for free).
5. Always fill out your online profile (in addition to attaching your resume).
Your profile is searched and shown before your resume when companies search the resume database. Employers will not see your resume until they first click on your profile and then scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen (not many will do this).
6. Optimize Your Resume for Online Job Applications
When employers search online resume databases, the results are ranked based on the frequency and incidence of particular keywords, much as with typical web searches. As a result, you should do the following to improve your resume for online job searches:
- Put your keywords in the abstract title. Instead of "Aziz's resume -- IT version," rename it "SQL Developer, ORACLE, PeopleSoft, ERP."
- Fill up the fields for your previous job titles with your keywords. The title of your profile and the title of your previous jobs are the ONLY fields that employers see when looking for applicants on some of the top online job boards.
- Make sure your keywords appear several times in the body of your resume. If they don't fit elsewhere, include a "Skills" category at the end of your resume and include them there.
- Power is derived from knowledge. Make sure to apply it to your career path.
7. Protect Your Privacy
Unfortunately, online summary databases have become a popular technique for scammers to target victims. Consider the following procedures to preserve your privacy and identity while successfully making your credentials available:
- Never put your home address on a resume. Legitimate employers do not require it to assess your credentials.
- Instead of your full name, only include your first and last initials. Make this a practice for both your web profile and your uploaded resumes.
- Use a free email account (Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo, etc.) rather than one associated with your present employment.
- Use an affordable voicemail box for your phone number if possible. The reason behind this is that a third-party voicemail phone number cannot be used to identify your home location or other private details.
- Do not include your email address on your submitted resumes (in most situations, employers may still contact you using the job board's built-in system). Most job board scams get their victims by "scraping" email addresses from uploaded resumes using specific software.
- Instead of an email address, simply include your phone number. Some privacy experts advise merely listing an email address (and no phone number). It should, in my opinion, be the other way. This is why: Genuine employers and recruiters who are interested in your talents and qualifications will contact you, but the majority of scammers will not. The reason for this is that while it is simple and convenient for scammers to send out spam emails, it is inconvenient, time-consuming, and risky for them to make individual phone calls (and costly if they are from another country).
- Be aware. Don't be an easy target.
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Career Development