Re-entering The Job Market

I wanted to share my thoughts for those individuals who find themselves back on the job market after many years of comfortable employment.


Job searching has changed, hasn't it?


The first thing you need to know is your job search is going to be 70% Internet based. This means you are going to have to be okay with browsing multiple web pages and posting your resume electronically. Resumes are not faxed anymore, they are emailed and uploaded on websites.


Your resume should be posted on Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and Craigslist.org (also, Dice.com if you are an IT Professional). This not only means uploading your resume, but logging in every other week to update it in their system. Unless, you have a crazy manager who monitors all of these sites, do not list yourself as confidential. This makes it more difficult for potential employers to contact you. Some may even skip your resume, simply because it is listed as confidential. If you are nervous about sharing too much personal information, omit your address. It is acceptable to just have your city and state listed. You can also list your current employer as "confidential". But remember, listing your email and phone number are important. You want to make it easy for hiring managers and recruiters to contact you.


Now, don't forget about searching for jobs. A great site for searching for open positions is Indeed.com. This site lists all of the open positions listed by the job search sites I previously mentioned. The only drawback of this site is it may have older jobs listed that have already been filled. That's okay, you are going to apply for a lot of positions anyway. Job searching is definitely a numbers game. Do not be over-analytical. If you have 80% of what they are looking for, go ahead and apply. It's possible that you have some experience not listed on the job description that they need. Or the other 20% of requirements aren't really needed. The worst thing that could happen is they wont call you.


- BG Recruiting

Using keywords to land the job

The perfect job is out there, but you will never get it if you don’t have the right keywords in your resume.

It is very important to remember that all job sites (Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice, etc.) are ALL essentially search engines. This is why including relevant keywords in your resume is so important. For example: A company is hiring for an Administrative Assistant with experience in word processing, reception and filing. Let’s assume that you are an Administrative Assistant with 5 years experience. You have all of the required skills yet you do not get called for this position. Why? You forgot to include one or more of those keywords on your resume. It is never okay to assume that as an administrative assistant, potential employers will know you have executed those duties. Here is an example of keywords an employer might use to find an administrative assistant:

Administrative, assist, assistant, office support, receptionist, word processing, word perfect, ms word, filing, reception, phone, switchboard

As you can see, there are many different ways to say the same thing. That is what you have to think about when writing your resume. Here is another example:

If you are an ASP.Net Developer, you must think of all the technologies you use on a day-to-day basis and include them in your resume. I do not recommend making a keyword list at the bottom of your resume as it will not show potential employers how recent or relevant your skills are to their job. It is best to include these keywords in the body of your resume, explaining when and where you used them. Including a technical skills section at the top of your resume is okay, but those skills should also be listed in the body of your resume. In fact, including the keywords in both sections will make your resume more relevant. This can bring your resume to the top of a potential employers search results, increasing your chances of getting the call.


Bad Idea – Resume with little information and a keyword list:

JOHN DOE

Experience:

High Tech Company
Asp.net developer

Financial Company
Asp.Net Developer

Keywords: asp.net, SQL Server, C#, Visual Basic (VB), Oracle, ADO.Net, ADO, DAO, COM, DCOM

Good Idea – Detailed resume with keywords in the body of your resume:

JANE DOE

Summary:

• A results-driven, Asp.Net Developer with over twelve years of experience in developing, implementing, and managing technical projects.
• Developed various applications using various technologies including: Object Oriented Programming, Web Services, Net, C#, VB, ASP, ADO.Net, VB.Net, ADO, DAO, COM, DCOM, JavaScript and XML.

Technical skills:

.Net Technologies: .NET Framework, C#, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, VB.NET, XML Web Services, WCF, Windows Services, LINQ
Languages: Visual Basic (VB), VB.NET, C#. NET, JavaScript, XML, ADO, DAO, COM, DCOM
Operation Systems: Windows, UNIX
Databases: Oracle, SQL Server, MS Access

Experience:

High Tech Company
ASP.Net Developer
Used ASP.Net, C# and SQL Server to develop a web based reporting application.


Adding additional data to your résumé is a quick and easy way to make your resume appear in more searches; landing your more interviews and a new job.