I will leave this up, but not update it, until January 1st.
May you find your next career step easily and may your network be well polished this holiday season!
Connie
Do you read Keppie Careers? The blog at this link addresses this issue.
Miriam Salpeter, the author, makes some very good points about how to answer the real question that hiring managers have – “Why should we hire you?”
Remember that no company hires unless they have a problem that they can’t solve with the people they already pay, be it not enough man-hours or not enough knowledge or innovation in the current team. They need to hire someone, but it needs to be the right person, not a generic “worker”.
In the interview you know what your skills are, what your relevant experience is, even if the interviewer has looked at your résumé closely. You need to be able to answer this question.
Miriam offers some very good tips on practicing and on speaking to your self-perceived weaknesses. Knowing the problem that the company is trying to solve is very important. Speaking to that particular problem is even more important.
Do you have an answer to this question? Tell me what your answer is below in the comments and, if you need a sounding board, click here and schedule a complementary 15 minute focused coaching session.
Image via CrunchBase
Making those jobs tweet is just beginning to find some traction in the marketplace. According to Jobvite.com 54% of recruiters are now using Twitter to find candidates for their open positions, but only 15 percent of jobs are filled that way.
What can you do to make your Twitter presence more “findable” by recruiters? And how can you find jobs to apply for using Twitter?
Dan Schawbel @danschawbel says:
What you post or Tweet can have positive or negative impact on what recruiters think of you. Four out of five recruiters liked to see memberships and affiliations with professional organizations on a candidate’s profile, and another 66% react positively when a profile mentions volunteerism efforts. On the other hand, references to illicit drugs, posts of a sexual nature, and mentions of alcohol consumption were likely to be viewed negatively by 78%, 67%, and 47% of recruiters. Interestingly enough, poor grammar and spelling mistakes are worse social networking sins than writing about your latest binge-drinking adventure: 54% of recruiters had a negative reaction to grammar and spelling mistakes, compared to 47% of recruiters negative reaction to alcohol references.
More than half of recruiters (54%) now use Twitter as part of their talent search. This is up from 47% in 2011 and 45% in 2010. Only 15% of recruiters surveyed have actually hired a candidate through Twitter. Companies are using Twitter to post job entries through their own accounts (i.e. CitiJobs). They are also using third-party companies, such as Tweet My Jobs and Twit Job Search, to promote their listings. Job seekers should follow companies they want to work for on Twitter and watch out for job listings, while also interacting via Twitter with employees who work there. Again, it’s important to have a strong profile and several Tweets under your belt before you start truly utilizing Twitter to help you pursue work.
Recruiters look for keywords, titles, hashtags(#keyword) and lists that are all about the job they are looking to fill. We use HootSuite and other Twitter organizers to keep an eye on them and we follow those people who post good info often. We directly tweet them, find them in LinkedIn or another social forum, get their other contact information (if it is not on their Twitter profile) and connect with a job or a ask for referrals. People who are willing to refer are valued.
How can you be found?
When you click on your “Me” tab on your Twitter account, you can edit your profile. First, do have a picture (a head shot) – the egghead look, while quite anonymous, does not engender trust. Put in your whole name – the one that you want to be known by – the one that you use on your résumé. We don’t really need your middle name unless it is the only thing that distinguishes you from all the other “John Smiths”.
Location should be the area that you want a job in – if you are looking for a job in a city you don’t live in, you may want to show a presence in that city – even if it is only a PO box.
Do you have a website or blog? Or a LinkedIn profile? Is your Twitter handle on your LinkedIn Profile?
Now you have 160 characters to write your Bio – what is the most important thing about you for your job search? What will recruiters be looking for? Titles make it easy for recruiters, but keywords for your position also help. There are many that don’t – just guru doesn’t tell me what you do. Clinical Trial Specialist would. Or even ClinTrial guru.
Do connect with your Facebook profile and page if you have one.
Then tweet about what you do. Use the language that would connect you with your peers and other professionals in your field. Make it easy for a recruiter to find you. Use hashtags (#) in front of commonly sought terms (#controller)
You may also want to develop some lists of your network – other people in your career field who have something interesting to say about the work you do.
Just be sure to spell correctly and watch your grammar. More tweets are better than TextSpeak (r u w8ing?) in 160 characters.
Aim for three tweets a day – one retweet, one interesting idea and one question or request.
Add this tool to your Network Polish Kit and
