Creative Job Search Strategies - Better to Give than Receive

One of the greatest speeches of the 20^th century was given in 1961. All job seekers should take the spirit of that speech to heart in their job search. It could make a huge difference in determining whether they are successful or not in their search for employment.

It was January 20, 1961 and John F. Kennedy was giving his inaugural address to the nation. The key words from that speech we need to embrace are, “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

So what can we learn from these inspirational words from 50 years ago? If you were a hiring manager and reviewed a resume where the person says he is looking for a job that will further his marketing skills and allow him to advance in the industry, how do you think the manager will respond? That resume will most likely go to the bottom of the pile. But what if the the resume instead said the person wanted to use his skills to further the success of the company and help make it a leader in the industry? This resume has a much better chance of making the cut.

Companies hire people in order to help their organizations succeed. A job seeker will get much further if he/she understands this. You should focus on demonstrating how you can use your skills to help the company succeed. Thinking of others before yourself is a core value that companies look for in new employees.

This concept also applies when networking with others.  Most people dread networking to try to find a job.  Getting people to provide you with job leads is often less than fulfilling.  Instead of networking to find a job for yourself, try networking for the purpose of using your skills to contribute to the success of others.  People with jobs to offer often get tired of people asking if they have a job for them.  They are much more likely to be receptive to someone who is offering something to others versus looking to get something.  And as a job seeker, you'll probably feel much better about yourself when you offer to help someone with the skills that you have.

This simple change in mindset can really make a difference in your job search. If you look for different ways to apply this concept in your job search, you will increase your chances of success. 

Creative Job Search – Job Search Basics

John is a hiring manager for a major corporation and has just interviewed someone that he thinks would be perfect for his organization. The candidate has a proven track record at his previous company and is well known in the industry. John is so thrilled and immediately starts working with his human resources team to put together a job offer. He just can’t believe that he found someone so ideal for the job.

A few days later, John gets a letter in the mail from his number one candidate. It is a thank you letter that reiterates his qualifications and desire to work there. As John reads the letter, he thinks to himself that this guy really knows how to market himself and has substance to back it up. Then as he reads the closing sentence, his heart sinks. John immediately calls his human resources team to cancel the job offer.

What did this top candidate say that resulted in such a reaction? Well, it was a careless mistake that any one of us could have made if we neglect to carefully proofread our work. This job seeker wrote that he has always wanted to work at Worldwide Computing and couldn’t imagine working anywhere else. So what is so wrong with this closing statement? This statement would be perfect if John was an executive with Worldwide Computing. The problem is that John is with Computers Unlimited. Worldwide Computing is John’s biggest competitor.

I think we can all guess what probably happened. This guy had applied for a job at both companies and interviewed with them both. He wrote one thank you letter and did a copy and paste for the second one. He was very careful about changing the name on the letter and the mailing address, but he missed the company name that was mentioned in the body of the letter. Another way this could have happened is that he truly got confused and got the company names mixed up so that neither letter is correct.

This example shows how critical it is to proofread your resumes, cover letters, and thank you letters. Make sure to check for more than just spelling and grammar mistakes. The critical mistake above would not have been caught with spell check or grammar check.

The following are a few other common mistakes:

• Getting the names of the hiring managers mixed up between the various employers. The hiring manager will not appreciate you getting something as basic as his/her name wrong.
• Recounting a conversation they had during the interview that was actually with another interviewer.
• Getting the addresses mixed up. Custom tailored letters end up being sent to the wrong companies.

Before getting too creative with your job search, you need to make sure that you have the basics down. This will ensure that your job search campaign will have the most impact, and more importantly, get the best results.

Creative Job Search - Google Yourself

There are so many ways to use the internet to find a job. We already discussed how to use Ego Surfing to target potential employers. But how do you target people who don't google themselves on the internet?

If we look at statistics on what employers do when they hire new employees, we will see that there is a very similar technique we can use to reach the majority of employers. Have you heard people say that you should be careful what you put on the internet, especially if you are looking for a job? Well, that happens to be very good advice because most potential employers these days will search the internet to find out more about what a person is really like.

Employers typically do these internet background checks to filter out candidates that display a less than positive image online. But it can also work the other way. If an employer sees a lot of impressive things about a candidate, that person will move up on the list. So how can we create a positive image online that an employer will see?

Social media sites like Facebook are probably the first place an employer would look. So you should create a page for yourself, if you don't already have one, and put some content on there about what you do (or did) for a living. Mention some of your accomplishments. Talk about what you really enjoy about your job and how it feels to contribute to an organization's success. Tailor your comments so that they would apply to the types of industries you are targeting. If you're trying to make a career change, talk about why you want to take a new direction and how you have the desire and motivation to make a successful change. No matter what you say, keep it positive.

You can also put up a simple blog that focuses on your professional life. Write some articles that relate to your area of expertise and post them on your blog. This will help establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Lastly, since employers will use what they find on the internet to filter their candidate list, you should do some ego surfing yourself to make sure there isn't anything out there that you don't want employers to see.

Good luck on the job search. Times are still tough out there, so make sure to take every opportunity to get an edge on the competition. It will be worth it when you land that perfect job.

Creative Job Search - Ego Surfing

Have you ever searched the internet for your name to see what's out there about you? If so, you would not be the only person to have done this. In fact, this practice has been given an official name that has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. The term is "Ego-Surfing" and is the basis for perhaps one of the most creative job search tactics ever.

So how can we creatively use ego-surfing to find a job? Like we mentioned before, many people are now searching for their name on sites like Google. Do you think prominent people who might have jobs to offer do this? I'll bet that they do. In fact, I'd say that prominent people are more likely to surf for their name than the average person. And even if these people don't search for their own name, their friends and family will probably do it. We can use this concept to find a job.

What do you think would happen if a person with a job to offer searched the internet for his or her name and finds someone reaching out to them for a job. Do you think it would get his attention? Do you think he might click on the link to find out more? Well, this tactic was actually used by a very creative job seeker looking for an advertising job. He put out 5 Google ads targeting 5 different New York City advertising executives. He got interviews with 4 of the 5 people he targeted. He ultimately got job offers from 2 of them.

So what is the key for making this type of strategy work? The ad agency executive that ended up hiring our innovative job seeker was interviewed and asked what made this tactic successful? He said that the approach was very creative and got his attention. It was the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that he felt would be valuable in his organization. He also mentioned that it was the portfolio in the link that actually convinced him to call the person in for an interview. Getting his attention in a creative way was great, but you have to be able to back it up with a great portfolio of work in order to complete the package.

This approach is probably most effective for those in a marketing or advertising field, but it can be adapted for other lines of work. Just remember that the key for this type of strategy (and just about any other one) is to get the person's attention, and then have some great examples of your work to convince the person of your abilities.

Extreme methods like this are often called guerrilla job search tactics. Learn more about guerrilla job search methods: Click Here

Writing a Great Cover Letter For a Resume - Little Known Secrets

So you have just finished creating the perfect resume and now need an effective cover letter to go with it. Everyone knows that writing a great cover letter for a resume is extremely important. In fact, the entire purpose of the cover letter is to sell your qualifications enough to get you an interview, but there are a lot of little tricks that you can use to increase the chances of the employer actually calling you.

A cover letter is essentially a marketing ad designed to sell your qualifications to an employer. So where can we go to learn more about what works in a marketing advertisement? We actually get an endless stream of highly refined marketing ads sent right to our mailbox. Yes, we can actually learn something from the junk mail that we get every day. A lot of research goes into crafting the messages in junk mail, so why shouldn't we take advantage of some of this research and put it to some good use?

If you take some time and study your junk mail, you will see several things in common. Don't worry, others have studied it for you so you don't have to worry about doing this yourself. One thing you will notice about junk mail is that the vast majority have some sort of postscript (PS) at the end. This is because research has shown that people will more likely read the PS at the end of a letter than any other part of it. Clearly we can apply this technique to a cover letter.

Now that we know that a cover letter should have a postscript at the end, what should we put in it? Again, we can gain some insights on this by looking at marketing ads. Effective marketing ads always tell the reader what action they should take. Many cover letters are weak on the "call to action" statement. A cover letter should be specific on the action you want the reader to take. So for your cover letter, you can briefly reiterate your qualifications and politely request that the reader call you for an interview to further discuss employment opportunities. You can also state that you will follow-up in a few days with a phone call. This will demonstrate that you are motivated and on top of things.

There is one other really simple, yet effective thing we can learn from the marketing experts. Studies have shown that a signature signed with blue ink gets more responses from the reader than any other color. So instead of signing your expertly crafted cover letter with whatever pen you have lying around, you should look for your blue pen to maximize the effectiveness of your message.

You can find many more proven tips for writing an effective cover letter at Guerrilla Resumes.

Creative Job Search Strategies - Finding a Job Online

Searching for a job online has become the method of choice for many job seekers.  But with so many ways of finding a job online, which ones work the best?  Some of the best techniques are not very obvious.  Below are some of the more creative ways of finding a job online.

Google
You can find just about anything on Google, including a job.  To start your job search on Google, you should first type the field you are interested in (such as marketing or engineering) followed by the city and the word "conference" and/or "directory".

If you are lucky, you will find an upcoming conference with all the major players in your field present.  You can then do some research on these individuals and prepare a resume and cover letter for each one of them.  If there are no upcoming conferences, you can at least get some directories containing key employers in your field.  The search results will often include contact information, which is invaluable for determining where to send your resume.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of the best places on the internet to network.  You should join this site and make contacts with people in your field.  Make sure to update your profile with your latest information.  You can get many job leads through LinkedIn as well as meet people who are looking to hire new employees.  The contacts you make here are also a good resource for those times when you can't find who to send your resume to.  You can often make contacts at that company who will be willing to help you.

Blogs, Forums, and Amazon
If you are in a very specialized field, you should find the places on the internet where the people in your field hang out.  Go to these blogs or forums and share your expertise on these sites.  People will begin to recognize you as an expert in the field.  When they find out that you are available, the job offers should start coming in.

One unlikely place you can use this technique is Amazon.com.  Find a product or book for sale on Amazon that relates to your field.  Then go to the product review section to write some really insightful comments about the product that clearly demonstrate your expertise.  There is at least one recruiter that I have heard say that he reads the reviews in Amazon to recruit people for jobs.

There are many more creative ways for finding a job online.  The above are just a few examples to help you get started.

According the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average job search now lasts 33 weeks. Using unconventional tactics in your job search can dramatically reduce this time and increase your chances for success. You can find many more proven job search techniques at Creative Job Search.

How To Do A Cover Letter For a Resume - Think Dollars

A well written cover letter is a very important tool for landing a job interview.  A cover letter, along with the resume, should be used to sell yourself enough to get an interview.  It should contain persuasive reasons for why you are the best candidate for the position.  So what kinds of things should  you put in a cover letter?

Most cover letters will talk about how previous work experience and qualifications will make the candidate a perfect fit for the position.  What most people don't do well enough though is sell their qualifications in a way that companies can relate to.  Companies these days are very focused on the bottom line.  The more effective you are at demonstrating how you will make or save the company money, the better your chances of getting hired.

To increase your chances of standing out, you should be specific and talk in terms of dollars.  If you are in sales, talk about how much money you made in sales.  If you make it clear that you can make the company more money than it will spend on you, they will see you as a good investment.

If you are not in sales, you can still talk about how much money you helped save.  Talk about how much you saved your company by improving a process.  If efficiency went up, that means you saved money by not having to hire additional people.  If you found a cheaper supplier for materials, that will translate directly into a savings for the company.  I'm sure you can come up with many other ways you saved money if you just think about it.

If you are currently in a similar line of sales as the target company, you can take things one step further by providing some viable sales leads in your cover letter.  This will prove to them that you can help them make money.  If you aren't in sales, you can do some research in your field that you think the company will find useful and include that in the cover letter.  This will save them the time (and money) of doing the research themselves.

When you are trying to find a job during a recession, it is even more important to show a company that you will have a net positive impact on their bottom line.  These tactics can even work to get a job at a company that is not currently hiring.  If you can convince them that you will have a net positive impact on their earnings, they just might hire you anyway.