High Tech - High Touch

Chart your own course: Career success is where preparation and implementation meets opportunity!  -- The Pilot

Its important that you view networking is a two-way street—sometimes with you, the information seeker, being able to provide information to the same person from whom you are seeking it—and at other times being a source of information to other people. In order to get information from others, we must be a good source of information.

All it takes is being willing to share information, ideas and resources.  Further, many employers prefer to hire someone they know personally or hire someone who has been referred to them by a mutual acquaintance. Familiarity and referrals reduce much of the uncertainty involved in hiring a new employee.  While e-mail is too easy to delete from an unknown party... it becomes an effective communication tool with people who are known to each other--and it can contribute to rapport building, as well.

The TOP TEN Internet issues relative to job search...

1.  Using more than simply the big name Web job sites... Many of the "big names" are great sites, but they can also be expensive for employers to use and not focused for some job opportunities. So, in tight budgetary times, employers save money using smaller, less expensive or "niche" sites that may have exactly the applicants they want, like an industry- or location-specific job site or even the Web site of a professional or industry association. 

2.  Posting your resume without worrying about privacy. Identity theft is the top Internet fraud. Millions of complete resumes make it easy!  As importantly,  if you are employed, protect your identity and your existing job.  Limit the access to your contact information (address and phone number).  Many employers do search for their employees' resumes in the job site resume/applicant database and/or the search engines. Those employees' jobs are at risk when their resumes are found!  

On a related note... Using your employer's assets to job hunt at work may cost you your job, if you have one, by inappropriately using company assets (the computer and software you use, even your Internet connection), by violating the company Internet "acceptable use" policy, and/or simply by revealing to your employer that you are job hunting.

Using your company e-mail address won't impress a future employer with your loyalty or trustworthiness, and, if you do lose your job, you will lose access to your e-mail address and account.  This applies even if you do your job hunting outside of your normal work hours, during lunch, or during some other authorized "personal" time.

While suppressing your contact information may make you a bit more difficult to contact, but it's a trade-off. Some recruiters view it as positive sign that the job seeker is Internet-savvy and/or has a good job to protect. Some recruiters are annoyed.

3.  Limiting your job search efforts to the Internet only. Even if you have a job and can only job hunt at home in your spare time, don't focus all of your attention online. People are hired by people, so the Internet is only useful as a way to reach the people with the job opportunities. Use the Internet as a part of your job search toolkit.

4.  Using the "shotgun" method of distributing your resume.  Posting your resume at hundreds of job sites or "blasting" it to hundreds or thousands of recruiters and employers is a self-defeating strategy. You won't be able to customize it for a specific employer or opportunity, which reduces your chances of being called. And, you won't be able to follow up the resume with a phone call or an e-mail to establish contact and move your application forward in the process.

Most recipients of e-mailed resumes will probably view it as spam, if it survives the spam filters.  Further, in the unlikely event that someone receives your resume who might have been interested in you, they know that everyone else has a copy of it, too. If the recipient is an independent recruiter, they will ignore it because they will know that they'll have a tough time earning a commission on your placement (an employer may also have received it directly or competing recruiters may be "shopping" your resume around to the same employers). An employer probably won't be interested in competing with several other employers.

All of this negatively impacts your "market value."  To that point, never apply for jobs  without meeting the minimum qualifications. It's SO easy just to click on that "apply" button, even if you don't really qualify for the job. But, it's a self-defeating strategy. You will be training recruiters and employers to ignore you. And, you won't look very smart, either.

5.  Depending on e-mail as your only method of contact.  Spam, defined as unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail, comprises up to 55% of e-mail traffic in mid-2003, and it's become a significant expense for many companies. The sad truth these days is that most employers have "spam filter" software screening e-mail before it reaches recipients. Your messages may look like spam to the filter and be deleted, unread, without any notice to you (the suspected spammer). So, always follow-up your e-mail message with a phone call - or, better, call first and ask to be added to the "friends" list of addresses allowed through the spam filter.

6.  Use technology to leverage the extensive Internet research resources.  Find potential employers and/or stand out from the crowd with a highly personalized resume and cover letter... customized to the employer.  Use the Internet to identify potential employers, evaluate them, and contact them. Customize your resume and cover letter based on your research, and then dazzle them in the interview with your insight into their products and services, their market, their competitors, etc.

Company Websites, even the bad ones, are fabulous sources of information about a company. So are financial research sites, PR distribution sites, and even online phone directories.

7.  E-mail messages may be providing an employer with that all-important first impression.  Using a crazy, cute, or weird e-mail address (e.g. "BestOne@yahoo.com" or "SuperEngineer@hotmail.com") undermines your credibility and almost guarantees a message will be deleted or ignored.

8.  Never send a virus-laden "surprise" with your e-mailed resume.  An e-mail message containing a virus is usually quarantined and deleted. It's not viewed! And, it leaves a very bad impression of the intelligence, computer-skills, and Internet-savvy of the sender. Buy and use anti-virus software, and keep it up to date! Microsoft Word documents, a popular format for resumes, are often virus "carriers," so they are frequently viewed as potential threats and stopped or deleted without being opened, even if they are apparently virus-free.

9.  Never expect someone else to do the work (the job sites, a recruiter, your outplacement counselor, etc.).  A job hunt is a do-it-yourself project! No one is as invested in your future as you are, and no one else knows what you want as well as you do.

Finding a job is hard work - the Internet didn't make it easier, it made it more complicated!

When you have identified a position that you want and submitted an online application, follow up! Contact the employer or recruiter directly yourself, via telephone as well as e-mail. Passive job seekers get left behind in the current market.

10.  A personal resume Web page/portfolio is a business document. Yes, you can make a razzle-dazzle resume Web page, but... Yellow letters on a dark navy blue background may look great to you, but your resume probably won't be very legible when printed (and it will be printed some time). The animated pooping bull or the fluttering butterflies may amuse your friends, but it probably won't impress many employers unless they are relevant to the job opportunity.

Some waypoints to consider when charting your own career...

Bob Maher, CMF... The Careerpilot