The Internet Street Smart Approach For Your Job Search

We often hear from job-hunters who are frustrated with job-hunting on the Web. (See our article about Using LinkedIn For Your Job Search). They have uploaded their resume on the main job boards or searched for and responded to job vacancies— and haven’t heard anything back from employers. Common problem.

Let’s be realistic — the huge volume of resumes and job vacancies on the major job boards like Monster.com (Monster receives more than 10.000 resumes per day) makes it hard for the job hunters to get a recruiter’s attention. When the Internet started to be widely used in the mid-90s, everyone was convinced it would be a magic tool for job hunters. However, a single job posting can attract thousands of applicants, many of them more qualified than you are. Add to the mix a slow economy, and you have numerous job-seekers who are fed up with Online job-hunting.

Try the tips below and you’ll certainly get different results and boost your online job search.

Take advantage of the extra options of the main job boards. Most job boards, for example have a “advanced search” feature that allows you to define your job criteria and have lists of jobs (or links to lists of jobs) sent to your email regularly. Our own experience with these agents have given discutable results. What works best is to use Boolean search terms. Named after British mathematician George Boole, Boolean refers to the logical relationship among different search terms, a relationship usually characterized by words such as AND, OR, and NOT. In Boolean searching, an “and” link between two words means one is searching for documents containing both of the words, not just one of them. An “or” means one is searching for documents containing either of the words. Depending on which Boolean word you’ll use, results can be totally different.

Consider the super targeted boards. The huge amount of applications submitted to the main job boards (such as JobStreet.com in Singapore) is one reason why recruiters and job seekers are turning their attention to specialty website rather than big-box marketplaces/ We all know that a targeted offer speaks a lot better, right? Another excellent source of niche job listings is professional organizations. Not only do they often have job ads for your specific field, but professional organizations are excellent networking organisations.

Target locally. One survey showed that 28% of Online job-seekers are ready to look at job listings that require relocation — but 48% aren’t. If you want to increase your chance to land a job that suits you, it makes sense to use geographically specific job boards. It also makes sense to use them if you do want to relocate as you can find openings in the city you plan to move to.

Go straight to the source. Experts say the most efficient way to start a job search is to research and target the companies you most want to work for. It makes sense, but not everyone does it. Visiting company career sites is a good option to consider. Applying through a company job site lets the employer know that you were interested enough in the company to come to its Website. A great trick is to complete an application via a company website with a LinkedIn approach. Contact the person in charge of the recruitment on LinkedIn and let her know you’ve just applied via the company’s website – and ask when you can expect an update.

Don’t become a spammer! Send your resume only to suitable positions. Adding to the overwhelming amount of applications employers receive is a quantity of resumes sent for jobs the job-seeker is not qualified for. If you believe you’re covering all possibilities by responding to trillions of job vacancies, you’re wrong. You don’t do yourself a favor. Some job-hunters think that even if they’re not really qualified, the employer will realize how much they have to offer and fit them up with other company job vacancy. Given the incredible volume of resumes and the speed of the screening process (by the way, is your resume ATS OPTIMISED?) the chances of such a match occurring are not realistic, so don’t waste the recruiter’s time or your own. Pay close attention to employers’/recruiters’ instructions for submitting your resume in response to an advert. Are you requested to send it via PDF or WORD? via email or responding directly the the advert? If you often send out your resume as an attachment, experiment with sending it to several computers to make sure it looks consistent and nicely formatted. (click HERE to get more tips about how to craft your resume)

Post your resume on your own page. Posting your resume — your way — Online can be a amazing supplement to posting your resume — their way — on major job boards. Why? Many employers now require resumes to be submitted in an unattractive text format, that most of the time doesn’t look good at all. A killer advice would be to post your resume on your LinkedIn profile, as 98% of companies are now using LinkedIn to recruit.

Don’t spend your job-hunting only online. Simply integrate Internet into a comprehensive job-search campaign. Do not forget traditional job-hunting techniques. Networking is the most efficient one. Nearly half of job-seekers still get new opportunities via networking. Actually, 61% of executives found their positions through networking!

Are you struggling to write your resume?