Get noticed in job search. Here are some tools and tips to get most out of your resume and job interview.
Have a Plan and Taylor Your Resume Accordingly
Where do you want to work? To research companies that you want to work for use websites such as Glassdoor, Career Bliss and PayScale to do research. Doing research will not just help you writing a better resume but it will also help you with your interview and salary negotiations as well.
Many people make the mistake of going into resume writing blindly but not only is this hard, it will also damage your chances of getting the jobs you apply for. Instead, you need to tailor your resume with the goal in mind. When planning, you need to consider format, design, what sections to include and what you will actually write in each section. Most of all make sure that your content is relevant to the position that you are trying to land.
Target Company List
In its essence, a target company list allows you to focus your job search which, in theory, should dramatically increase the efficiency of your searching. For example, you can receive industry information, insights into interviews, build your network, and personalize your resume to target particular businesses and industries.
A great way to start your target company list is by checking local business directories or use a site like:Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For
Online Job-Posting Aggregators
Sites like Simply Hired and Indeed are called ‘Online Aggregators’ and they are fantastic tools that allow searches to be refined. These sites help you to see advertised vacancies, as well as career sections from your chosen target companies.
Check Out Resume Templates
Resume templates are great and why to spend hours trying to format a professional looking resume when you should be spending that time writing a job winning resume? Resume templates just make it all easier, just insert your information and all the styling has already been done for you. Sure ATS (applicant tracking software) is used by most of the big and medium sized companies but you will still need a “pretty resume” or even a paper resume when going to the job interview and career fairs. Save your resume as PDF and upload it to Dropbox and you will always have it with you and can email it via Dropbox and share it with people while on the go. You can find resume templates that you can edit with Word from LimeResumes.
Keyword Optimize Your Resume
Did you know that the first point of contact for your resume may not be a real person? More and more companies now use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) which only put through resumes that fulfill a certain keyword requirement; this means that if you don’t include keywords in your resume, it will be discarded putting all that effort to waste. For this reason, you should read the job description carefully, as well as the duties and required experience section and insert keywords into your resume.
To check if your resume will get past the resume robots use a tool like Jobscan to keyword optimize your resume and increase your chances to get to the interview.
Branding and Digital Dirt Burial Tools
Most companies will enter your name into search engines to see what pops up and the results that they find can affect your application. Do a search with your name to see the results that employers will see on Google and Bing; be sure to sign out so the results do not customize to your individual preferences. If something shows up in the search that you prefer didn’t there are few things that you can do. You could use tools such as BrandYourself or Trakur but there are also things that you can do yourself.
- Register social media accounts with your name so that they show up on search first. You have most likely already done this so make sure that you remove posts where you’ve ranted about something that’s now nonsense or you can update your privacy settings. Have a professional profile photo.
- Have a blog or online CV with a URL that’s your name. Showcase your expertise.
- Set Google alerts through Me on the Web to monitor your name. If you find dirt you can try to remove it from Googles search results by using their content removal form.
Interview Preparation Tools
As the name suggests, interview preparation tools will provide everything you need when getting ready for a big interview. Few such tools are Phone Interview Pro and Big Interview. Interview preparation tools will help with things like; engaging with managers, potential colleagues, how to promote your strengths properly in an interview, and a number of other useful tactics. Away from the internet, you have the opportunity to visit college career services offices and even hire a coach who will help you to prepare for those tricky questions, whether in person or on the phone.
Tracking Systems – Tracking systems can be useful if you find yourself struggling to find the exact resume you sent to particular companies or if you forget who you are waiting to hear from and who has replied etc. With a tracking system, you can keep everything in order and access all your resumes so if you get an interview, you can print the right one off and take it with you. Furthermore, you can also keep track of names, titles and addresses so you know who to send your resume to and when. JibberJobber is one tracking system tool that you can use to keep your job search organized. You can also download our free job application tracker for Excel and PDF.
That was my selection of tools that you can help to ace your job search. If you go all out with your job search it can be expensive but in some cases you can deduct job search expenses from taxes.
