Happy Spring! It’s time to spring into action and add some news strategies to your job search campaign. Here are a few things to try.
1. Go around the gatekeeper. If you find an open position through a job board or company website, don’t only submit your resume to human resources—they’re often gatekeepers who don’t have much control over who ends up getting hired. Instead, go around the gatekeeper and do some Internet research to find the hiring manager or other decision maker and market your candidacy directly to them rather than being one of the “sheep” using the job boards.
2. Cybersleuth your way to decision makers. Perform keyword searches for companies, job title, etc. on Google and LinkedIn to see if you can find someone in your network connected to the company you want to get into or to request an introduction. And use the Company Buzz feature on LinkedIn to track who is talking about that company. Or check out Jigsaw to source company contact information including phone numbers and email addresses for a nominal feel.
3. Become a stalker (sort of). Once you find people who are connected to the industries and companies you are interested in, do some research to find out more about them. Do they belong to certain professional associations or the local golf club or do they attend events for certain charities? Perhaps you should be in those professional and social circles too…and maybe you could “serendipitously” meet them at an event.
4. Tweet your stuff. Twitter is not about telling everyone what you had for lunch. It is about creating authentic and consistent messaging about who you are and what you know. Set up a profile (it’s easy and free) and start “tweeting” about things related to your professional expertise. Share links to articles that are relevant for the types of people you are trying to attract and give shout outs to others by “re-tweeting” information from them that you think others could benefit from. Use Twitter Search to find other people with common interests and professions that you should be following.
5. Research industries and job functions that are trending up. Check out the Occupational Outlook Handbook to learn more about industries and job functions predicted to experience growth over the next decade. For example, last year, four major industries had more job growth than the previous year. Education grew 38%, hospitality grew 20%, retail grew 17%, and real estate grew 4%. The 10 fastest growing opportunities of 2009 were in technology positions for applications such as Twitter, Cloud Computing, iPhone, Facebook. Other positions trending upward were Corporate Social Responsibility Expert, Blogger, Pediatrician, Hospitalist, Social Media Expert, and Speech Language Pathologist. Sites such as Indeed, Vault, Glassdoor, Salary.com , and Payscale are also excellent resources for tracking trending industries and job functions.