Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo

10 Ways to Take Control of Your Job Search

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businesswoman flying take control shutterstock_195916973It can be tempting to attribute a long job search to factors beyond your control. The factors that I hear jobseekers mention include age, experience (i.e. over- or under-qualified), resume gaps, weight, ethnic background, gender, or some other physical feature. While, at times, these factors and biases do cause problems for job-seekers, nine times out of ten I see that the problem is actually in their job-search strategy or execution.

So, here’s a checklist of 10 questions to ask yourself first, before attributing a long search to factors beyond your control. Your answers will help to put you back in the driver’s seat and on the road to the job you want.

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In a Job Search? You Should Be On LinkedIn

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LinkedIn, accessed for free at www.linkedin.com, enables users to keep in touch with and expand their professional network, get introductions to others outside their network, and join groups of professionals organized around industries, professions, and associations.  Recruiters routinely use LinkedIn to scan profiles for viable candidates.

LinkedIn has become essential to conducting an effective, productive job search! I hear from clients almost every day about how they got an interview or informational meeting via LinkedIn.  Below I’ve included a few success stories culled from my clients’ experiences, to help generate ideas on how you can use LinkedIn.  Read More

Work experience too “dated” for your resume? It depends.

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I recently received a couple of questions about the most appropriate resume format, and whether a friend’s comment is true that all experience older than 10 years should be left off the resume.  Here is my response:

1) You need to put your resume in “reverse chronological order”, meaning most recent experience first, because that is what hiring mangers are used to seeing.  Try something different and they will either a) not take the time to figure out your format (given the

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The Importance of Targets in Your Job Search

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I see a lot of new job-hunters who are unfocused about their job targets. They feel that their background allows them to do many things (e.g., I can be a project manager, marketing director, or a corporate trainer). So their whole approach to the search is to position themselves as generally as possible, in the hope that others (recruiters, network contacts, etc.) will decide for them.

This approach doesn’t work for a few of reasons. First off, you’re watering down your message for any individual job target, vs. your competitors. Second, you need to make it as easy as possible for people to help you, and that means pitching yourself appropriately for a specific position. Don’t ask them to do the work to translate your varied background into specific targets– do this for them! Lastly, targeting is all about the benefits that accrue through

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