Top 5 Marketing Trends For Job Seekers

Top 5 Marketing Trends For Job Seekers The job search is one of the toughest sales jobs you’ll ever have. Why not take a look at what businesses are doing today to promote and market themselves and lift some pages from their playbook? What are the main parallels between marketing and the job search? Companies have a product or service to sell. You are offering a service. Companies need to build awareness of who they are and what they do. So do you. Companies target specific customer demographics. You build a target list of companies you would like to work for. Companies generate leads from prospective customers through marketing. You can too. Companies develop sales pitches and presentations. You use your pitch and interview. Companies close deals. You get job offers. Now  do  you understand why a job search is so difficult? You are competing against  thousands of other job seekers, all trying to grab the attention of a future customer. Check out these 5 hot marketing trends and how you can  take action for your job search: 1) Mobile: Were on the go with access to the internet all the time. When you find yourself waiting for an appointment, you probably find yourself reaching for your smartphone. Companies are finding new ways to reach people like you through mobile marketing. Without a budget for this type of marketing, lets focus instead on how you can make the most of your downtime by using apps designed for job seekers. These are some you may want to check out: myPitch is an app to help you practice and perfect your pitch. The LinkedIn Job Search app (for iOS is available in the US only for now)  sends you jobs, lets you  learn about the company and check out who you know that already works there. Keep a copy of your resume on hand at any time using Dropbox or other cloudstorage option. And if you must search job postings, then use the the mobile app for Indeed  and other job boards you use. Did you know  that  Smartphones and tablets have caused Internet use to increase 93% since 2010 according to comScore? Take action: Become more productive and begin researching apps for your Android or iPhone. 2) Social media: It’s time you embraced social media, businesses are. Companies are using social media to interact with customers and attract future customers. By sharing news, company updates, and relevant articles, companies have begun to see the marketing value of these tools. And HR  departments are also using social media to source and vet candidates. Did you know 94% of companies are searching for candidates on LinkedIn; 65% on Facebook; 55% on Twitter; and 18% on Google+? (Source: Jobvite) Take action: If you only have time to master one social media platform, invest in LinkedIn. 3) Content marketing blogging: Millions of people  search the web to find answers to their questions and find solutions. Companies are embracing content marketing as a way to lure and maintain customers. The reason to jump on the bandwagon here is because the posts you write become searchable online. Through blogging, you can attract people to the content you create as long as you are providing answers and/or solutions. Did you know 93% of B2B organizations rely on content marketing for brand building and demand generation? (Source: Content Marketing Institute) Take  action:  Create a website with a blog today using WordPress. Or, you can go to LinkedIn and use the long post or Publisher function to write about a problem you solved, summarize an industry trend, or just tell your story. 4) Testimonials social proof: You probably rely on customer testimonials and online reviews to help you make purchasing decisions. Why not use this same logic and gather recommendations about your work performance? LinkedIn will host recommendations on your profile. If you have received praise via email or in other forms, you can compile them into a document or slide deck and share that file. Recommendations provide just one more way to help your future employer feel like they are investing in a trustworthy new hire. Did you know 84% of consumers trust recommendations from people  they know? (Source: Nielson) Take action: You can use the give to get approach by writing recommendations on LinkedIn for past co-workers, vendors, clients and managers or you could politely ask for their endorsement.   5) Visuals: Creating and sharing pictures, infographics, videos, or anything visual draws attention. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Companies  use visuals because they pack a mean punch. Visuals stand out from a stream of text, evoke emotion, and provide another medium to tell your story. Truth be told, the real reason to use visuals is because they generate  more views and shares than plain old text. Did you know that infographic search volumes increased over 800% in two years? (Source: Unbounce) Take action:  Use  visuals to backup the claims you make on your resume. Create an online portfolio, infographic resume, or embed images and files in your LinkedIn profile. Learn and use tools to create visuals to expand your reach and awareness.

Steps in Resume Writing

Steps in Resume WritingWriting a resume is one of the most important parts of your job search. One that is filled with key phrases and key information you need to know. You do not want to find yourself with your shoes left on the beach. Here are some tips that will help you out with your resume writing.The first step in writing an appropriate resume is being familiar with the requirements that companies have for their resumes. It's necessary to check your resume for any errors or omissions that could leave you out. These include working abroad, wrong dates of employment, incorrect course completion and more.The next step in writing a resume is the writing guidelines that are used by employers to determine what information is needed for your resume and how much is required for the employer's requirements. Usually, the guidelines are already in the form of a section on the resume. However, the guidelines may vary by company.The third step in resume writing is that you should consider t hat the information you write for your resume will also be used by the hiring person. When creating your resume, try to use keywords that will be interesting to them. For example, if you are applying for a job in a technical field, it is best to choose a certain section of your resume to focus on those technical skills you possess.Having the perfect words is not that easy though. It involves planning and calculation on how to fill your resume with the right keywords. The next step will be to gather the necessary tools that are required for proper resume writing.Using search engines is one way of getting useful data. If you know how to use these search engines, it will be easy for you to find and analyze the information you need. You can use the number of resumes you found to see if they are the ones that were targeted to the hiring person. There are software programs out there that will help you make the process easier.Once you have gathered the necessary information, you can start writing. The written information should be as clear and concise as possible. Writing should be done in a language that is easy to understand.The next step is to check if you have followed all of the steps correctly. Be sure that you have included all of the data needed and that the application is complete. If there are any mistakes, you will have to make corrections to your resume so that it will look good.

10 Reasons to Screen Applicants When Youre Recruiting

10 Reasons to Screen Applicants When Youre Recruiting The process of screening applicants is useful for an incredible number of reasons and should be carried out before recruiting for any position in a company. No matter how senior the position, using a thorough screening process will give any employer an advantage and prepare them for the interviews ahead. Here we take a look at the top ten reasons for screening applicants when recruiting: 1) Time Is Important: As any successful employer will understand, time is a valuable commodity and any way to reduce the length of a task without compromising the quality with which it is carried out should be examined carefully. Screening applicants is a great way to save both time and money by ensuring that employers don’t have to sit through time-consuming interviews with applicants that are plainly neither qualified nor suited to the open position. 2) Cut 90% of Applicants: The screening process is both time and resource efficient because of the incredible number of applicants that you can discard as unsuitable. Whether it’s because they don’t have the knowledge base necessary for a position, haven’t taken the time to write an interesting application or have made mistakes on their CV, screening ensures employers sift through those that don’t meet their high standards with minimum fuss. It’s important to remember job seekers will look for positions in numerous ways â€" from services to independent applications. You therefore need to find a way to screen through all these applicants who will be coming at you from all angles. 3) Generate Questions: Applications can be a great source of inspiration for interesting interview questions, particularly if you receive a fascinating application. The number of employees who tailor their answers to meet the demands of the job and consequently submit exciting applications may be low, but when employers do stumble across them, they are often a gold mine of information. Interviews with this type of employee can be hugely rewarding, even if they don’t get the job at the end of the process. 4) Lower Employee Turnover: One of the major recruitment problems experienced by businesses is finding employees that will end up staying on board for any serious length of time. A high turnover in a company means that they have to spend valuable time, resources and money running recruitment programs, training new employees and guiding them through the induction phase when they won’t be at their most efficient. Screening gives employers the opportunity to search out those recruits that seem to display qualities that will keep them at a job for a serious amount of time. 5) Protect The Workplace: In some cases, new employees can be an extremely destabilising force in the workplace. This may be due to a poor work ethic, a troublesome personality or an inability to work as part of a team. Avoiding this is not only an essential part of finding the right employee, but also of keeping an existing workforce well motivated and efficient. Consequently, protecting the workforce is an important benefit of pre-employment screening services. 6) Focus Your Interview: The screening process will give employers the opportunity to focus any further interviews on the things that matter, rather than spending valuable time asking questions that don’t really go anywhere. Any information revealed in the screening process should be put to good use and form the basis of further questioning. Generally, this will occur naturally if a potential employee proves particularly interesting. 7) Minimise Disruption: The recruitment process can actually be quite disruptive to normal business operations; though not always in the most obvious ways. Most businesses will utilise a number of senior employees during the interview stage, taking them away from their regular work and leaving them with a backlog. Similarly, new recruits can generate a lot of interest from the existing workforce. All of this means that you want to minimise the length of the application process in order to minimise disruption. 8) Test The Recruitment Waters: Screening applicants will give employers an opportunity to send feelers out and see exactly what is happening in the recruitment world. It will give them an idea of whether they are hiring at a moment where there is a distinct lack of quality applicants or a period in which quality is exceptionally high. 9) Maximise Efficiency: A lot of success in the business world can be put down to making a lot out of the little companies have to work with. This ability to maximise efficiency is a fantastic attribute, particularly in the world of recruitment, and screening should help you streamline the hiring process. 10) Get The Right Workforce Hiring the right workforce is an important part of running a business and will go a long way to ensuring future success. The screening process will help contribute to a recruitment process that helps employers find a suitable and sustainable workforce. Author: Francesca Holmes is a business consultant at CVInsight.co.uk  who specialises in the kind of elite pre employment screening. In her spare time, she is a keen angler and enjoys relaxing by the lake with her husband and the couple’s two young daughters.

How To Write A Successful Cover Letter

How To Write A Successful Cover Letter While most people know what makes a good CV, a cover letter seems to be more of a mystery. Knowing the correct tone and what best to include can be tricky. But a good cover letter can prove to be invaluable â€" particularly when applying for a job alongside other candidates with similar skills. Here are eight tips to make your cover letter go further. Introduce Yourself Begin your cover letter talking about your career trajectory thus far, and how you came upon the position. Then continue with some basic info â€" where you are with your education and employment and other facts. This helps get the important information conveyed immediately and makes the cover letter easier to navigate. Be Personal While a CV follows a stricter structure and lacks need for embellishment, a cover letter should be more personal. Maintain a professional tone, but use what you can to stand out from the crowd. Connect Yourself With The Job Opportunity Make connections between your professional and personal experience and education with the job you’re applying for. If you’ve volunteered as a mentor at uni, mention it. Even if you feel like you don’t have any relevant experience, there will be something you’ve done which can be portrayed as useful to the job application. Expand On CV â€" Don’t Just Repeat This is an opportunity to provide more information than your CV does, not just repeat it. The very worst cover letter are just rewordings of a CV. It’s a wasted opportunity to offer more information and connect with the company â€" so don’t squander it. Do Your Research It’s a great idea to try to find out the HR manager of the company you’re applying to, and to start your cover letter addressing them by name. Not only will this show them you’ve done some extra work, which is always impressive, but it’ll likely make them feel more personally connected to you. Know The Stylistic Requirements Around a page of 12 point text is recommended for a cover letter. Any less looks lacking, while any more may take too much time to read and probably contains surplus information. Make sure you’re using an appropriate font and spacing. While you want your cover letter to stand out for the content, it should blend in in terms of look and format. Choose A Good Blend Rather than focusing too much on personal aspects, know how to mix in your professional achievements, skills and education. A good mix is a positive personality trait, between one and three “soft skills,” between one and three “hard,” professional skills, and one education achievement. Show Interest It sounds obvious, but you really should be enthusiastic about the job. If you are simply listing your achievements and successes without sounding like you truly care, you’re unlikely to even be considered. Show you want the job, and even better â€" explain why. By following these tips, you can improve your cover letters and over time they will become easier to write. Your cover letters will stand out in the pile and you will find yourself increasingly on the radar of prospective employers. By Annie Walton Annie Walton Doyle writes for Inspiring Interns, which specialises in sourcing candidates for  internships. To browse our  graduate jobs London listings, visit our website.

Resume Writing Critique Services - The Best Way to Create Your Resume

Resume Writing Critique Services - The Best Way to Create Your ResumeThere are a lot of free resume writing critique services around the web. That is fine and I don't necessarily mind that they exist but I think the websites that ask for money to help you with your resume's are just a scam. I will talk about them in this article but first, let's look at what exactly it is a resume review service is.Some free resume writing critique services are also free to use. You can find these websites on the internet. These websites allow you to create your own resume and also post it on various resume posting sites. These resume writing critique services typically charge you a fee in order to provide you with feedback.These resume writing critique services actually provide you with their name. These companies specialize in the field of resume writing and make sure that they provide quality information on your resume. You can then download your resume onto your computer or print out the resume a fter you have received feedback. If you need help filling out your resume or figuring out formatting, the companies will help you through that too.You can also find these companies online that offer a service for a fee. These companies offer the same thing as the free services but also charge a fee. The difference is that these companies often have a better system in place than the free ones. This allows them to have an easier time keeping track of your resume and making suggestions on it.Free services will usually take a few weeks to deliver the feedback you need. They might give you an informal feedback but it will not be up to date. When you pay a fee, you can expect a more in-depth review. If you are willing to pay the fee, you can expect the company to be very detailed in their evaluations.If you are looking for an independent review of your resume, there is no way you will find a scam website. These websites will keep track of your resume and will send you updates when necessa ry. That means you will know right away if your resume is good or not. It will also alert you to any problems with your resume or with the company handling it.There are a few websites that will have their clients fill out the information and then it is put together for them. These are the most reliable of the websites. These are the sites you want to use if you are looking for a free service. The fees from these websites will usually cover the cost of the materials needed to create your resume. This makes these companies much more affordable.Make sure you use free resume writing critique services as well as paying one. You want to get a high quality resume and a quality service. The companies that will be of the best help will be those that charge a fee and not those that give out free information.

9 Resources to Help Your Find a New Job - CareerAlley

9 Resources to Help Your Find a New Job - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Fortune favors the prepared mind. Louis Pasteur Sometimes, against all odds and due to no fault of your own, you find yourself either out of work or about to be out of work. Maybe your company has gone out of business or is taken over by another company. Sometimes a product line is eliminated or some other catastrophe has occurred. Whatever the reason you are (or will be) out of work is really not important. What is important is that this unfortunate turn of events took you by surprise. You dont have a Plan B. You are not ready to look for a job because you had no plans to make a career move. Your whole world has been turned upside down, now what? If you are really lucky, the scenario described above wont (and hasnt) happen to you. But what if it does. Do you have an emergency exit plan? If not, you should (everyone should). Everyone should have an exit plan (in the event of an emergency). An emergency plan is not something you want to deploy, but you will sleep a lot easier if you have one (much like any emergency evacuation plan). Managing Your Time Believe it or not (and I know from personal experience), one of the most difficult things to manage when you are out of work is your time. You have lots of time when you are out of work and gives you a false sense of theres lots of time to look for a job later. Not true. When you are out of work your job is to look for a job and you need to manage your time effectively (see Job Search Marketing Toolkit). One of my favorite time management books is Getting Things Done by David Allen and is worth a read (or two) to help you manage your time during (and after) your time search (you can find it here [easyazon_link asin=0142000280 locale=US new_window=default nofollow=default tag=caree07-20 add_to_cart=default cloaking=default localization=default popups=no]Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity[/easyazon_link]). Resumes You should always have a current version of your resume, whether or not you are looking for a job. For one, it helps ensure that you have an accurate record of your achievements and, as indicated above, you will be prepared in the event of an unplanned disaster. More than any other aspect of your job search, your resume is both the most important tool as well as the most time consuming document you will need to prepare. Having an up to date resume is 50% of the job search battle. Keeping Your Resume Up to Date: Keeping your resume up to date is not all that difficult. You have a baseline to start with and now just need to add any new roles or achievements. Even if you dont need (or want) to look for a job outside of your current company, an updated resume can help you get promotions or new opportunities at you current employer. 5 Major Differences Between Winning and Losing Resumes 3 Reasons for Keeping Your Resume Up-to-Date What, You Dont Have a Resume?: Maybe you dont have a resume (sounds strange, but this is not all that unusual). Well time to get that fixed. Resume writing can be a very painful process, however, once it is completed you will feel really good about your achievements. As the saying goes, the best place to start is at the beginning. 5 Steps to a Great Resume (on the CareerAlley Lessons page) Take a look at [easyazon_link asin=0814417620 locale=US new_window=default nofollow=default tag=caree07-20 add_to_cart=default cloaking=default localization=default popups=no]Unbeatable Resumes: Americas Top Recruiter Reveals What REALLY Gets You Hired[/easyazon_link] one of the top selling resume books. Caught by Surprise Okay, you should have had an emergency job search plan but you dont. Dont panic. It is never too late to start your plan. So what do you need to do first if youve lost your job? 15 Things to do if you Lose Your Job This article provides 15 basic steps in getting yourself on track for finding a new job. The first tip is the most important (Dont Panic). The other tips are also worth a read. Once youve gone over these basic steps, you need to really get down to work (no pun intended), and that work is to look for a new job (which is your new job until you find a paying job). Create a job search plan This article, from Careerinfonet.com, will help you plan your search. From career goals to an occupation profile, there is lots of great advice and links to resources to get you started. Why You Need a Job Search Marketing Toolkit This is one of my prior posts, but it is a great place to start if you are first planning your job hunt. Where to find Help Job hunting can be an overwhelming task, especially if youve lost your job and dont yet have the resources you will need to get you started. Every piece of the puzzle you put in place will get you one step further in finding a job. 5 Tips to Help Maximize Your Job Search I lost my job, now what? We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Job Search job title, keywords, company, location jobs by

Motivation Monday 3 Ideas to Implement

Motivation Monday 3 Ideas to Implement Thinking and doing are two different things.   I have found that it is so much easier to think up ideas but 100 times more difficult to put them into action.   Perhaps that is because actually, it doesnt matter why. The only way you can move forward is by taking action. On a recent LinkedIn poll I saw, most job seekers stated they were frustrated by the lack of response they got when submitting their application online.   Sound familiar? This week, instead of getting frustrated,   try taking action instead. Make a follow up phone call for every job you applied to Except those that say No calls please.   How long do you wait?   15 minutes.   Your purpose in making the followup call is to find out where they are in the application review process, what their time frame is for hiring and when you can follow up next. Oh, and find out if they got your resume, but this is not the main objective of your call, OK? Track down Past Supervisors/Managers and set up a meeting Many people wait to do this until they NEED a recommendation.   Do it today.   Get back in touch with these folks immediately.   They know your work and probably liked you.   This combination makes for a powerful referral message!   They most likely will want to help you if they know you are looking. Actively participate in one LinkedIn group discussion within your field Today, this week, add to a discussion going on in a LinkedIn group.   This should be a group related to your work/field/occupation/industry.   While participating in discussions within any group is good, I am requesting it be related to your line of work.   I see some job seekers actively sharing articles related to job search.   While it is a good idea to share (pay it forward, or being generous), I dont think you want to be known as a professional job hunter.   You want to be known for having some expertise.