Career Search Steps - Land your next job quickly with these practical actions

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Career Search Steps
Land quickly by taking control
© Jason Fry September, 2013

 Style: keep it simple and clean
Step 1:
Update Your Resume
 Content: keep it accurate and concise
 Length: two pages generally, up to 4-5 pages
for technical positions

Header: Name, city, state, email address, phone
number, and personalized LinkedIn URL
Update Your Resume
Unnecessary: street or mailing address, additional
phone numbers, frilly fonts

Professional Headline:
Use key words to categorize your skills
Note: you can tweak the key words in your headline
for each job description
Update Your Resume

Work History: be accurate, but highlight the skills that
are relevant to your targeted job
 Ten years of work history is the norm, go further if necessary
to show additional relevant experience
Update Your Resume
 Adapt your resume by restating your accomplishments using
the terminology in the targeted job description

Education: be accurate, highlight qualifications that
make you a strong candidate
Note: add in-school accomplishments such as GPA,
summa cum laude, honor society, etc., only if you
graduated recently.
Update Your Resume

Technical Skills Summary
List computer applications, platforms, operating
systems, programming languages, etc.
Update Your Resume
Optional Resume Sections:
Useful when applying for technical positions, but be
sure you spell out how you used these tools in your
work history section.

Education - Special Projects
For recent graduates, listing and describing your
contribution to research projects highlights experience
that could substitute for work history.
Update Your Resume
Several research projects or teaching assistant
positions relevant to a targeted position could
substitute for one year of work experience.

Associations or Volunteer Activity
These activities show an ongoing interest in the field,
and show that you aren’t just looking for a day job.
Update Your Resume
Choose carefully which associations and which volunteer
activities you list, because you want this section to increase
your likelihood of getting invited to interview, not shut the
door to being hired.
Religious and political affiliations should be kept off the
resume unless they are extremely relevant to the job in
question; most hiring managers will avoid candidates who
seem likely to foment arguments.

 96% of recruiters use LinkedIn to search for candidates, 94%
of recruiters use LinkedIn to contact candidates, and 92%
use LinkedIn to vet candidates.*
Step 2:
Promote Yourself on the
Web
 65% of recruiters use Facebook to find candidates*
 55% of recruiters use Twitter to find candidates*
 Using social media websites opens doors to new jobs
 Not using social media, or appearing to use it poorly,
decreases your chances of landing new positions
*source: JobVite Social Recruiting Survey 2013, http://web.jobvite.com/rs/jobvite/images/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting2013.pdf

 Go to www.linkedin.com and create a new account
Promote Yourself on
LinkedIn
 LinkedIn walks you through a step-by-step process so
that you can complete your profile
 Use your resume as a starting point for entering all of
your past positions and education
 Send connection requests to anyone you’ve ever met, with
a personalized message:
“Cynthia, it was great to meet you at the Project
Management Institute networking event on Tuesday.
Let’s connect on LinkedIn and keep in touch. Regards,
Joe Applicant”
 Personalize your LinkedIn URL and put it everywhere:
your business cards, resume, etc.

 Take it offline: watch for networking events being promoted
by your contacts or in your groups, and go meet people in
person
Promote Yourself on
LinkedIn
 Join LinkedIn Groups that are relevant to your professional
objectives
 Contribute to discussions in groups and in your newsfeed
 Share interesting news articles or your own content in
groups and on your own profile

Promote Yourself on
Facebook
 Go to www.facebook.com and sign up for an account if
you haven’t already
 Ensure your photographs and profile present an image
consistent with your career aspirations
 Share an article on career transition once or twice a week to
remind your contacts that you’re still searching
 Facebook is meant for personal connections, but recruiters
and hiring managers still may be able to see what you
share, so play it safe
 Only say things that add to, rather than detract from, your
professional image

Promote Yourself on
Twitter
 Go to www.twitter.com and sign up for an account if you
haven’t already
 Choose a profile picture that looks like you and describe
yourself briefly but professionally
 Choose a “handle” (Twitter username) that people can find
easily and that is consistent with your professional image
 Include your LinkedIn profile URL on your Twitter profile

Promote Yourself on
Twitter
 Search for people you find interesting, including
celebrities, academics, authors, activists, and people you
know, and “follow” them
 Multitask with Twitter – login on your phone while you’re
watching TV, in a waiting room, etc.
 Look through the list of people that your influencers follow,
and follow anyone new who looks interesting
 “Retweet” what others say if it is of interest to your growing
audience, and “tweet” fresh content that you find
elsewhere or make yourself, e.g., pictures and news
articles
 “Hashtags” are searchable terms; use them to find job
postings or topic-centered discussions, e.g., #jobs, #java,
#stl, #scifi

Promote Yourself on the
Web
Going further
Be interesting: pinterest.com
Be an expert: blogspot.com or wordpress.com
Be useful: github.com
Be present: foursquare.com or yelp.com
Be flashy: instagram.com or flickr.com
Be helpful: yelp.com, answers.com, ask.com, or
answers.yahoo.com
Be resourceful: wikipedia.org
Be entrepreneurial: etsy.com, cafepress.com

 In 2012, 5% of newly hired people landed by applying
online only
Step 3:
Network, network, network
!
 The other 95% of people who found jobs in 2012 had to
know somebody

 Knowing people has always been the best way to find a
new job, but now you’re in the race against 50-100 other
applicants for each position
Network, network, network!
 Getting an employee referral is often what gets you from
the stack of resumes to the interview
 Employee referrals could be from a good friend or former
coworker, but could also be from your neighbor’s cousin –
it doesn’t matter how closely they know you, they just have
to say you’re worth interviewing

Find Networking Opportunities
 Search eventbrite.com and meetup.com for events,
seminars, workshops, and programs that are up your alley
 Industry and alumni associations publish newsletters and
websites with calendars of upcoming functions
 Nonprofit organizations have volunteer opportunities as
well as fundraising and awareness events
 Ask the local career center for a list of events

A Balanced Schedule
 “Finding a job is a full-time job” – you will spend at least 40
hours a week on career transition activities
 Set measurable goals, e.g., in one week, attend five
networking events, submit seven job applications, initiate
at least two one-on-one follow-up meetings, and share at
least three articles on LinkedIn and Twitter
 Balance your schedule between job searching and your
other responsibilities, like family and existing relationships

Choose Events Carefully
 ROI: you won’t know until you land which contacts helped you the
most, but make an educated guess as to which events will have
contacts who can open more doors for you – it’s not about the
number of new contacts, it’s about the quality of contacts when
evaluated according to your career objectives
 Cost-effective: the people who can open the most doors for you
may be at a $1000 per person fundraiser, but can you afford it on
your current budget? Choose the events with the highest ROI in
your price range.
 Choose networking events based on cost-effectiveness and
forecasted Return On Investment

Networking Events
 Bring business cards with your name, professional headline,
contact information, and personalized LinkedIn URL – you can print
them at home or go to vistaprint.com
 Bring a pen and jot notes on the back of other people’s business
cards – something you want to send them, a topic you want to
discuss with them, a common connection
 Show up early and be among the last to leave
 Most importantly, come ready to help others: make connections for
the people you meet, point them towards helpful resources, and
ask them good questions about their interests – not only will you
feel energized and positive about helping others, you will reap what
you sow when grateful people help you in return

Networking Events
 Ask other people what they do, then ask follow-up questions
 Have your “elevator pitch” ready – 30 seconds of what makes you
unique and what you’re looking for in your next position
 Walk up to people standing alone, offer a handshake, say hi, tell
them your name, and ask their name
 If you’re in a conversation and you notice someone standing alone,
wave them into the conversation and introduce the person you
were talking to first, so that he/she can then ask the newcomer
their name and what they do
 Give business cards to people after you’ve conversed with them,
so that when they look at the card later they will remember who
you are

Follow-up with New Contacts
 Follow-through – if you told someone you would make an
introduction for them or you would send an interesting resource to
them, then do so within a day or two of the event
 If someone said they would like to meet with you one-on-one, then
invite them to have coffee to discuss their idea
 Send a personalized LinkedIn connection request to everyone you
met within one day of the event
 If someone seemed to be a good connection for you in your career
search, then invite them to have coffee to discuss how they got to
where they are in their career and to get their advice

 Assume that any given job posting will have 50-100
candidates respond except for extremely niche skill sets
Step 4:
Apply and Follow-up
 Recruiters are under pressure – they must find viable
candidates for 10-20 job openings per week
 To increase your chance of getting to the interview stage,
you have to set yourself apart

Going Through the Front Door
Apply and Follow-up
 Plan to spend an average of 30 minutes per day searching for job
listings and 1-2 hours on each job application
 Before you click “apply,” record the company name, job title, and
job number; if possible, copy/paste the entire job description into a
document and save it
 Find job listings: the #1 job listing website currently is indeed.com,
other useful sites are monster.com, careerbuilder.com, and
linkedin.com/jobs
 Before you apply, adapt your resume to the job description by
rephrasing work history using the job descriptions terminology;
highlight skills and experience that are mentioned in the job
description

Going Through the Front Door
Apply and Follow-up
 Before you apply, write a cover letter that describes your fit for the
job, mentioning the key qualifications
 After you begin filling out the online application, save your work
often! You can usually take a break and come back to the
application later if necessary
 If required to provide your target salary, assume this is the
beginning negotiation number and shoot slightly high; research
salaries for your target position on indeed.com and glassdoor.com
 Remember that you are willing to relocate and travel – if the
company makes it worth your while

Contact Your Connections
Apply and Follow-up
 After you apply, you should contact:
 Current and former employees of the target company whom you are
already know well
 LinkedIn first-level connections who are current or former employees
of the company
 Mutual connections of your LinkedIn second-level connections who
are former or current employees of the company
 Tell your friends, neighbors, and other personal connections about
your recent job applications whenever you talk to them – you never
know which of your contacts might know a decision-maker at your
target company!

Apply and Follow-up
 If you know the person well, say something like:

Apply and Follow-up
 If you don’t know the person well, say something like:

Follow the Career Search Steps
1. Update Your Resume
2. Promote Yourself on the Web
3. Network, Network, Network!
4. Apply and Follow Up
…and land your next job quickly.
For more information, contact Jason Fry,
LinkedIn.com/in/fryjason

Career Search Steps - Land your next job quickly with these practical actions

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