Today’s reality is that a large part of the population are looking for jobs— not just “a job” but also jobs that have better benefits, jobs that pay more, or jobs that have a chance for advancement. As a recent article pointed out, a lot of job-hunting even happens ON the job! That means that there’s a lot of potential for making some common job search mistakes:
If you are currently employed, do your job well. You want to keep in mind that your boss and co-workers are the people who will be contacted by potential employers for references, so as much as you can, make those references positive.
If you are currently employed, don’t waste your employer’s time or resources. You are not being paid to hunt for another job, you are being paid to do your current job! Use your breaks — and your own equipment — to do any job searching. Not only is using your work computer kind of rude, it also is kind of dangerous because your employer owns the history and any files on that machine. (By the way, where is your resume stored? I hope not only on your work computer!) If you need to use the company fax or printer, get permission and don’t abuse the privilege.
If you are currently employed but hoping to change, be tactfully honest about your goals. The impression you want to give is, “I want to keep up with the trends in my field” not, “this job stinks so I’m bailing.” Keeping your resume updated, continuing pertinent training, and networking maintenance are common sense ways to accomplish this. There are good reasons why you should always be hunting for a new job. But there are equally good reasons that job hunt should be one that doesn’t jeopardize your current position.
Do you treat your online presence as if it were your small business? You should! Otherwise, you may end up like the unfortunate guy in this recent story on LearnVest titled, “Saving Face: Does Your Online Reputation Need Managing?” He googled himself to prepare for a job change and was unpleasantly surprised.
The article has some very good points about determining whether to invest in an online branding service or dealing with the details yourself. I think that once you learn how important your personal brand is in today’s employment market, you’ll want to at least invest in some online branding/profile development coaching so you are equipped to do this important task.
So, why would I say that your personal brand is your business? There are two ways to read that statement:
Your personal brand is your BUSINESS because you are selling yourself when you put out resumes and apply for jobs. Many of the marketing tactics employed by small businesses are applicable to individuals. Get a lot of positive information on yourself online and there’ll be good stuff on those first pages when they search for you.
Your personal brand is YOUR business because you are ultimately the person responsible for seeing to it that your name, image, and reputation accurately reflect who you are. You can delegate all you want to, but ultimately the information that initially comes up on a search engine when your name is entered determines what that searcher thinks of you. So be proactive and make those search engines work for your benefit.
“Networking” is that fragile web of connections you have with other people and volunteering can strengthen that web in several ways. Here are some of the advantages a voluntary approach to networking can add to your career:
Maintaining activity through volunteer work in your fieldkeeps you in contact with potential employers and co-workers. When an opening comes up, they remember meeting you at several events. They also remember what you were like to work with! Staying active is good for you too, because it keeps you in the habit of productivity.
Voluntary experience is still experience on a resume.The experience problem has a solution, and that solution is gaining experience by doing productive activity in your field or in areas that can translate to a potential position. Organizing a fund raiser for the SPCA shows leadership skills, administrative ability, and community awareness: it doesn’t only apply to animal rescue.
Working as a volunteer often leads to working for a paycheck.More than one position has been created because the organization realized a volunteer who was going to leave as soon as they found a job somewhere else was a worker they wanted to keep. It’s also a good way to be in on job openings before they are posted publicly.
Volunteering does not have to be a full-time position. In fact, it’s generally not a good idea to fill your unemployed days with overwhelming voluntary activities when you should be working on your job search. But it definitely has a place in your career path and investing in carefully chosen volunteer work will enhance your networking in ways that will benefit you.
Sometimes your salary isn’t paying quite enough to cover all you wish it could. Maybe you got promoted to an exempt position that looks good on your resume but now that lucrative overtime bonus is gone. You could have been offered benefits that you truly need (medical insurance, for instance), and on paper it all looks good, but in your wallet there’s not enough cash. This is where that “B” word — Budget — comes in to help.
All the experts start with an honest assessment of where your money is currently going. If you don’t know where your money is currently going, how can you control its flow? Write down all the ugly reality on paper so you can look it in the face and deal with it. The problem isn’t automatically solved by a higher salary; it is solved by controlling the way you spend what you earn.
You can see this in the sad tale of many lottery winners whose huge chunks of money are gone in a few years or the way even high earners go bankrupt. This means that you have hope because you can control your cash flow by choosing to work with the real numbers instead of the dream numbers. Look at the real numbers and come up with a real plan and follow it.
Do some research on money management. There is so much wisdom and free advice or seminars out there that your head will spin, but the reality is you have to make it work for your situation.
What are you willing to sacrifice to keep that steady salary or those benefits?
When you make the choice NOT to spend, remind yourself that you are saying “no” to this thing and “yes” to controlling your cash flow. You are the boss of your spending.
Pay the minimum on your bills if you have to, but add a little when you can. Somehow, that extra gives you a sense of power.
Allow yourself some “mad money” that you can spend on whatever you like, but when it’s gone, it’s gone until you get paid again.
Somehow, keep saving for emergencies. Even a little bit adds up!
Sell some stuff and put the money on the biggest bills.
Come up with ways to reward yourself that don’t cost money.
Keep a reminder of your plan, and your goals, in view. You aren’t “stuck” with that salary, you have chosen to stay in the position for a reason. Is your reason still valid? Can you ask for a review and a raise? Are you utilizing all the benefits you have? You may need to sit down and crunch numbers with others who are involved with your money decisions, but it will be worth the time and effort that takes to get everyone on the same team in this!
When you are searching for a job, remember that your privacy is still a concern. Instead of blasting your information on every site out there, be particular about which sites you choose to use and go with job search resources recommended by experts. In addition, there are a few basic online rules to remember:
Read the privacy policy BEFORE you post. That might sound too simple, but you’d be surprised at how many people get in trouble because they assumed the policy was in line with their preference.
Don’t give all your personal contact information: Use a dedicated email for contacts and protect yourself (and your family). This has the additional benefit of making you look intelligent about security risk.
Understand and use cyber-safe resumes. Utilize the levels of visibility that site allows and understand the differences between “searchable by employers only,” “private,” “semi-private,” and “open.” Again, you have to read that site’s definitions in order to use it correctly.
Keep track of when and where you posted your resume. Keep a spreadsheet, or use a career management tool like JibberJobber to keep track of your online job search.
Your Social Security Number, bank account number, and mother’s maiden name do not belong with your resume. Period. That’s like giving a hacker the easiest target in the world for identity theft. That information can be given at the job site after you are hired.
As one security expert said, the safest place for information is on a piece of paper in your pocket. But you can’t find a job when your resume is hiding so you have to take steps to balance the real need for security with the equally real need for exposure. Demonstrating your understanding of cyber security standards during your job search is an asset to potential employers.
This is going to sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people make this mistake when they walk into an interview for a job: they never bothered to research the company.
When you get the dreaded question, “why are you applying for this position?”, do you know enough about the company to answer confidently? Imagine the impression that interviewer will have of you when you say, “I am interested in this position because of the company’s mission statement” or “I enjoy the field of _________ and this position offers many opportunities in that area”. It is important to know at least the basics about the company, its structure, and its stated mission/goals/purpose. The person who is interviewing you is attempting to discern if you will fit into their company culture and become a viable team member. They want to know that you care enough about the job. By demonstrating you’ve taken the time to learn about the position gives the interviewer an idea of what kind of employee you’ll be. When you are acquainted with the company you are ready for the interview. If you are asked “Do you have any questions?,” you can intelligently respond with queries that show you did your homework. You are aware of the size of the workforce and the structure of the management team. You know the stated goals of the organization. Researching the company before the interview is worth every minute you invest because it prepares you for anything you may be asked.
How often are you told you need a LinkedIn Profile that is keyword rich, then you read an article on LinkedIn that tells you, “Stop Using These 16 Terms To Describe Yourself“? The main thrust of the article is that the keywords generally are cliches and should be left out of your branding vocabulary. However, keywords are very necessary in terms of being found on LinkedIn. Whenever I read an article like that, I try to take the time to read all the comments because there will generally be a debate! This particular article, though, has over 3,000 comments so that is probably not going to happen this time. One common reality that many readers mention in this debate is the fact they won’t even make it to the interview without the keywords/cliches in the resume so the search engine brings it up to the person who decides on the viability of the candidate.
Words are tools. Tools can be poorly made and fall apart the first time used, or finely crafted and used by generations to build things. The goal isn’t the tool, although tools can be very beautiful. The goal of a tool is its usefulness in helping the user achieve their goal, what ever it is. But even the best tool cannot do anything without the user’s skill.
When you look at our LinkedIn Profile Development service you see how an expert views this debate: you need both the keywords/cliches and the humanizing factor. The keywords often are cliches, but an experienced wordsmith knows how to use them to get past the computers to the people. If all you have is cliched keywords, the resume stops here. It’s that human factor, the individuality brought out by a skillful resume/profile writer, that connects with the person reading about you.
There are too many profiles out there for a person to read all of them. That’s what search engines are for! And search engines are computers looking for keywords. The words are tools we use to get you to the person’s notice and to bring your “brand” to the front, where all that makes you unique can shine. That’s the “humanizing” factor and the other leg your online branding stands on. Use the words that make up your online brand/presence wisely. Remember that you need both the keyword/cliche AND the individual spark that makes you recognizable.
It is increasingly common for stories like this one about a bus driver fired over Facebook postings to show up on newsfeeds. Whether or not you agree with the practice, the reality is that your social media usage has a very public side. When you think about it, the Internet is like a public park in a big city. When you walk through that park, you see all sorts of people doing all sorts of things. Some of those people might be doing things that make you scratch your head and ask, “What are they thinking?” They probably are thinking that nobody is paying attention to what they are doing. We have an illusion of privacy on the Internet that is truly an illusion. How many times have you seen a post on Facebook that makes you scratch your head and ask, “what are they thinking?” I know I have… many times. It’s a smart practice to pay attention to your security settings and invest in your online brand — the person you are online — by thinking before you post. You must assume that it will be read by an employer or potential employer because that’s the reality of today’s working world. Because social marketing and online branding are so important to your career, it’s a good idea to learn all you can about it. Read blogs like this one and consider investing in an hour of online branding/profile development coaching to make sure your professionalism is what people remember about you when they see you in that public park called the Internet.
