Damburger

A modern job hunting campaign is by nature very complicated. While the net has offered a variety of new sites and ways to communicate, it also creates exaggerated competition for choice jobs and potential challenges for job hunters.

Job hunting needs to be thought of as a highly personalized, highly targeted marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network is your lead generating machine.

So where does the Internet fit in? At AA-Careers, we recently posted a job on a job search site and got 500+ responses in a few days. For just one opening. That’s increased competition.

Had the right someone contacted us ahead of our posting that ad, they could have secured the job prior to getting all that competition. How? By knowing someone at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone was aware of the job for at least a week before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming on the market soon?

So the good news is that job boards give you a sense of who is hiring, and for what kinds of jobs. But once those jobs are posted, the competition is fierce. You can still compete, if you have a well honed resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing - so you don’t stumble at a critical point.

Another downside to be aware of is how easily you can be checked on the internet. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some pictures and comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing illegal, but enough to sway our thinking about who to hire.

AA-Careers provides a comprehensive set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.

Be careful out there, and good hunting!