Simple Ways to Improve Your Job Search

Job searching is no longer what it once was. Gone are the days when simply placing your resume on a job site would get you found. Opportunities seem few and far between, and most job ads only yield an outcome 5% of the time. Job searching the old fashioned way can be incredibly labor intensive without producing the same results. So instead of sending out the same form resume again and again with nothing to show for it, try implementing the suggestions below to increase your job search results and decrease your stress.

1. Target your resume, and then proofread. Resumes are no longer documents where you list everything you’ve ever done. Instead, a resume has become a targeted document with position-specific wording in order to make it through an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Even when companies don’t use an ATS, decision makers will only spend on average 15 seconds looking at a resume. So make sure the document you produce is targeted at the position, uses lots of keywords, and doesn’t contain lots of spelling and grammar errors. Nothing will get you kicked out of an applicant pool faster than an inability to spell correctly. If you want support producing this document, Career Solutions Group can help you produce a top-notch, targeted resume that yields a higher result turnaround.
2. Leverage your network. Of all the ways people today are finding job opportunities, the professional network is probably the most effective. One source (link here) puts networking at a 50% effectiveness rate for yielding a result. This is ten times as high as simply trolling job posting boards. Leverage your network and turn to them for new job opportunities. Start conversations with your professional contacts, and learn who the decision makers are at companies for which you’d like to work. This will yield a higher turn around than simply waiting for the right job to magically appear on the job boards.
3. Focus on your focus. Targeting your efforts towards a particular position or industry will help reduce the time you spend agonizing over which jobs to apply to. Once you know, for example, that you definitely want to work in the publishing industry, that will guide your networking and application decisions. Rather than casting an unreasonably broad net over nine or ten different industries, pick the ones that suit you best and aim your efforts at those. Not sure what your career focus is? Consider doing some soul-searching, or even hiring a career counselor to work with you on identifying a career focus.

Job searching has changed drastically in the past thirty or so years, and I imagine it will continue to change as new technology continues to impact the professional world. However, using these techniques will help you yield a higher turnaround for your efforts, and hopefully make your job search just a bit easier.

Career Solutions Group offers success formulas to guide you towards your next career opportunity. Email us at info@careersolutionsgroup.net for more information, and consider setting up a free initial consultation to learn how we might be able to support your job process.

By: Julia Pillard, Career Solutions Group