The five “R’s” of job search

In a presentation I made last week at ConvergeSouth, I discussed the five “R’s” of social job search.

While my list may not be the traditional list of “R’s” – reading, writing, and arithmetic – they are relevant to any job search.  Here is a quick summary of the thoughts I shared

Region

Where you are looking for work matters.  If you are a new college graduate, certain regions of the country may be more favorable for your employment chances than others.   If you are a highly experienced professional in a certain business sector, you may have to follow your industry if opportunities are on the move.

Where you live matters for more than just work. It also impacts quality of life in many ways.  Perform your due diligence on things like school, housing, recreation, and transportation when considering going to a new area for work.   Bear these thoughts in mind as well:

• Where you work is a huge life decision
• You will spend more time at work than anywhere else
• Social media allows you to check out things like quality of life, future employer,  co-workers in depth
• Understand the best locations for your career. Understand the best locations for your life.

Resume

Thoughts on resumes for people who are not in HR

• Your resume is your first impression to the organization.  Act like you want to make a good impression!
• It is best to Crisp, clear, concise, uncluttered format for your resume.
• Resume presentation and information should be consistent with your on-line information and your personal branding
• Applicant tracking systems change the game.  Think  “search” in building a resume.  Keywords matter, refer to ad/job description for cues
• Worth the money to get a professional to help you.
• Need to look like you are worth finding
• Need to be positioned to be found – boolean, etc.

Research

Tips on doing research to prepare for your job search

• Develop lists including a list of targeted companies, a list of potential locations, a list of potential industry sectors
• Research any company who interviews you before the interview
• Research any company that makes you offer much more intensively before you accept the offer. Tools for this are plentiful, and include sites like Jigsaw, D&B, Zoominfo, LinkedIn, Glassdoor and others

Relationships

• Networking is still the key, but the rules of the game have changed with the advent of social media.
• Develop and build your real life personal network.   Augment it with your new on-line network.
• Take advantage of the  “found” information of social media to develop contacts and identify job opportunities.
• Find recruiters and build relationships with them.  Find the relationships that can help you find the job you want now and tomorrow.

Resources

Too many resources to cover.  Instead I shared a number of good resources.   These resources included the following:

• the big job boards – Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice
• Job aggregators such as Indeed and SimplyHired
• Niche job boards -  especially Beyond
• Hyperlocal job boards – those you would find in your city like OrlandoJobs, InsuranceJobs
• Company job boards
• Twitter – Jobshouts, Tweetmyjobs, # chats
• LinkUp,  Doostang,  Koda.us
• LinkedIn,  Facebook, and others like Gist, Branchout
• Blogs like Careerealism, RecruitingBlogs, etc

by Michael VanDervort