How to optimize a Fall/Autumn Job Search.

Although we aren’t in the formal Fall or Autumn season, we are in the traditional intensive fall recruitment season.

Were you one of the job seekers who suspended their job search for the summer and are now about to resume your quest along with 70% of your competition? While employers continue to hire during the summer months, a fall job search is filled with activity as more candidates compete for fewer jobs.

Employer recruitment campaigns, career fairs and in-person and online networking provide numerous opportunities to uncover your next career challenge but you need to prepare for success.

Examine the messages your current resume and online profiles portray. Do they relay the same message or conflicting messages? Do the messages reflect your current career progression and achievements or are they outdated and irrelevant?

Your resume is absolutely out of date if it still starts with an “Objective” statement. Alternatively, I often review client profiles on LinkedIn where their employer names, job titles and/or dates of employment differ from the resume leading to confusion.

Have you defined your personal brand? A personal brand conveys to the reader what is so special about YOU! What is your personal brand? Is it still relevant or does it require some polishing before you begin promoting it to hiring influencers?

How strong is your network? Only 9% of jobs are advertised in Canada; 18% in the US and 23% in the UK. The majority of jobs are found through networking, both in-person and online. Do you have a networking speech?

Are you scheduling coffee meetings each day with potential career influencers? How many connections do you have on LinkedIn? A quick look at your social media activity can quickly tell me if you’re conducting an active job search or lazing on the couch waiting for the phone to ring.

What does your cover letter look like? Are you customizing it to each employer or conducting a mass direct mail campaign? I always coach my clients to research and uncover the name of a hiring influencer and address the cover letter appropriately.

Review the profile of the person who posted the job you’re applying to on LinkedIn. Conduct due diligence prior to the interview and learn not only about the company but also the potential interviewer.

Secure their name and Google them and review their LinkedIn profile. There may be some connection, you went to the same school or university, You may have worked for the same employer years ago. If there is some synergy, that heightens and warms a connection with the interviewer.

Learn where the jobs are. The advent of social media has vastly changed the hiring process with fewer and fewer companies using the traditional “post and pray” strategy. Companies are increasingly reinventing their hiring practices to incorporate online / digital recruitment strategies, embracing social media to post job openings as well as to find and pre-screen potential hires. In addition to company websites and job boards, explore job openings on LinkedIn, Facebook and yes, even Twitter.

Before you apply online, however, check to see if your resume is scannable. Why? Almost all resumes submitted online or sent via email will initially be read by Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software. A resume/CV needs to be ATS friendly, meaning no underlines, no graphics, no text boxes, and no headers or footers. While nice to look at, these features may inhibit the ability of the scanning software to read your resume.

Prepare in advance for an interview. No matter whether the interview is conducted in-person, by telephone or via Zoom or Teams video, dress for success. Believe it or not, you do act differently when you’re hiding behind the telephone in your jammies versus being dressed in business attire.

On the day of the interview, be aware of the first impression you create. Don’t go dressed in loud or bright clothing, give a solid handshake, look the interviewer in the eye, smile, and avoid fidgeting.

Going the extra mile in a fall job search will help you stand out from the competition and reduce the amount of time it takes to secure your next challenge.

Have a great job search this fall.

Remember, if you are in career transition ie: unemployed, treat a job search as a full-time appointment. Like anything the more effort, the more rewards.

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Have you customized your LinkedIn URL?

Why not? Here are the benefits:

How to Customize Your LinkedIn URL?

It has become the norm to have at least one online profile as part of your career management plan and the most preferred site for that purpose is LinkedIn. In short, if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile not only are you missing out on job opportunities your are sending negative vibes to career decision makers.

When you initially created your LinkedIn account you were automatically assigned a default url, typically a combination of your first and last name followed by a list of default characters such as: https://ca.linkedin.com/mbuckland/12/abc/345de.

I recommend all my clients revise the default by removing the unnecessary default characters to create a simple url consisting of simply their first and last name.

This is important for 2 reasons:

A)???? It’s more professional

B)???? Google within seconds of customizing will provide your profile with a 400% Google algorithm visits for FREE!

?This is a simple 60 second process but many users do not realize this customization option is available to them or how it can be done, so in this video I’m sharing the steps to customize your LinkedIn url.

?Step 1:

Sign into your LinkedIn account and go to: Profile.

?Step 2:

Top right corner beneath Profile Language is a box titled Public Profile & URL. Click on the blue Pencil button to the right of the box.

?Step 3:

You are now on the edit Public Profile page. On the right hand corner is a box titled “Edit your custom URL”. Press the pencil, place the cursor in the box and take out the numbers and letters.

Step 4:

For those with common first and last names (such as Mary Smith), you might need to include a middle initial to create a customized url that is unique to you however the goal is to create a url as close to your first and last name as possible.

For me, there were many other users named Martin Buckland, so my final customized url was a combination of my first initial and last name: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/mbuckland. The new url is shorter, concise and aligns with my email address and a host of other online profile url’s. It’s now become a part of my personal brand but personal branding is a whole other blog topic. Also you should notice an uplift in traffic, people visiting your LinkedIn profile for FREE

So, in 60 seconds, you’ve now created a crisp, customized LinkedIn url unique to you. Make it a part of the contact information in your resume, cover letter, biography, signature line, and any other career management tools you have created.

Are you compensated enough?

Some tips in this video on how to negotiate a salary increase.

Click on the Link below:

7 Brilliant Ways You Can Negotiate a Salary or Raise

WHO OWNS YOUR CAREER? YOU OR YOUR EMPLOYER?

?It has become apparent to me, over many years, that people don’t take their career management seriously. It is pushed aside and not rated as it should be. How many hours of your time do you spend at work? Should it not be important to you to:

a) be happy?

b) work at a great culture and brand, and

c) be well compensated for what you do?

There was a time, three decades ago, when loyalty to an employer was highly valued. Today, that is no longer the case. In fact, loyalty can come back to bite you and inhibit your career advancement. The optimum appointment should last no more than five years.

Then it is time to seek a new challenge, not internally, but externally. Variety is good for the human mind; it is also good for your employer. Bringing in new blood can invigorate the entity. Don’t be complacent when it comes to career management. Be proactive. Be responsive. Be seen. Be an expert.

I am being blunt, but realistic -- I don’t beat around the bush as a Career Coach. An employer sees you as a tool after a five-year stint. Your salary and other trimmings will be held down compared to your peers who decide to take an active part in managing their career and moving on more frequently.

I have seen clients of mine fall behind by tens of thousands of dollars in remuneration per year because they have stayed at one employer. If they had been constructive in their career path, they could have earned far more. Approximately one quarter of your life will be spent at work. You must tend to the seeds of happiness by being content, being challenged, learning new skills, meeting new people and changing venues.

?So, don’t let your employer manage your career. Craft, monitor and execute a career plan that works for you in harmony with your risk tolerance, personal growth and happiness. Don’t be used by your employer. You are a dollar sign and the pink slip could come at any time. Take charge now and own your career.

Is your Resume/CV in the current ATS friendly format?

Want to find out for free with a 30-minute critique over Zoom?

If so, click on the link below:

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