Connecting You to Public & Private Openings Pt. 2

Privacy issues

Once your resume is posted on any number of job boards, you have no idea who may have access to your material. Almost all major job boards sell access to their resume databases. Both employers and recruiters utilize these services as part of their search for candidates. Since every word in your resume is scannable, anyone who uses their services might uncover your resume. This is just one more reason for using short resumes, materials that don’t reveal anything unnecessary... on the Internet.

Aggregators

Aggregators are sites that go out and “spider” other sites... and subsequently list all openings in one place. They by no means represent the entire public market, but these sites make it much more convenient for people to find what they want and respond accordingly.

Some sites are free and others charge a fee to subscribe to their service. Currently they claim to aggregate openings from thousands of sources, but none come close to representing the entire public market.

Be aware, the more successful these sites become—the more job seekers compete with you. These sites also must grapple with the problems of all job boards relative to duplicate job listings, false listings and jobs that keep reappearing on a regular basis. In an era of identify theft, you don’t want to let complete information fall into the wrong hands. This is another reason for using one-page resumes as your introductory material, and not revealing your complete story.

Over the years some less than legitimate recruiting agencies have been notorious for running ads to simply collect resumes. Then, they try to shop them to employers for a placement commission. Unfortunately, too many people have been burned when their resume reaches their current employer.

Too many online ads are posted which sound like an attractive position, but which subsequently result in a response that asks you to fill out an on-line profile that seeks disclosure of a substantial amount of private information. This is partially caused by the “dehumanization” of the recruiting process in our Internet era. But, be assured, there are others who are collecting this information for different purposes. How do you tell which ads are real? Look for openings that really target what an employer is looking for.

For more information be sure to check out SET Personal Marketing's Twitter, follow SET Personal Marketing's Facebook, watch SET Personal Marketing's videos on YouTube or visit SET Personal Marketing's website.

Connecting You to Public & Private Openings Pt. 1

Our job hunting information system is a unique resource for helping you uncover any public openings that might be suitable for you. At the same time, it is invaluable for helping people connect with situations that are private. With this in mind, it will be critical for you to clearly understand the different approaches to effectively penetrating both the public market and the private market.

Public openings

Through our job hunting information system, you will be able to connect with virtually all openings from all worthwhile sources. But, the first thing that is important to understand here is how the public job market is formed.

When employers decide to hire someone... there is an event that leads to their decision. Typically, someone has retired, quit or been separated. Turnover leads to over 95% of all jobs opening up.

Now once that decision has been made to fill a job, what do employers do first? Well, they look within their company... and they look at candidates on file in their recruiting database. If they can’t fill a job that way, what do employers do next? Some consider referrals and those who network their executives. If that doesn’t work, they need to go public and see if they can fill their job openings.

Let’s briefly talk about public openings. Over 300,000 employers now post their openings. You can also find openings in 2,000 newspapers, 2,100 magazines and over 1,500 job boards.

Employer websites represent the fastest growing means of recruiting staff. There are more than 300,000 employers who recruit this way... and many of them recruit through their website exclusively. The sole exception may be when they go to an executive recruiter for a very senior executive. So, if you’ve pinpointed your best prospects, check out their websites.

Newspapers have declined rapidly, but in many instances can still be a good source for lower and mid-level openings for professionals. Trade magazines are a worthwhile source for those seeking middle level and upper mid-level openings. Many director and vice president openings, where industry knowledge or experience is important, can still be found in these publications.

In terms of job boards, Monster, Career Builder and Hot Jobs are best known here, but there are many others that might help you. Job boards have replaced newspapers as the largest source for openings. Staffing industry sources now claim that upwards of 40,000 job boards now exist. Our research staff estimates that about 1,500 have some level of significance. On a broader basis, these can be broken into the following categories:

• Premier job boards
• Manager and executive boards
• Human resources boards
• Finance & accounting boards
• Sales & marketing boards
• Engineering boards
• Diversity boards
• Industry boards
• Military boards
• Scientific boards
• Recent grad boards and state boards

The problem with all the job boards is simple. Once you get past the major boards, most will have only a few listings suitable for you. Even on the largest boards, a person can waste an enormous amount of time, only to find out that there are many duplicate listings, and some appear over and over again for months. By the way, whenever you respond to any type of opening, if you respond by email, also send a response by first-class mail.

For more information be sure to check out SET Personal Marketing's Twitter, follow SET Personal Marketing's Facebook, watch SET Personal Marketing's videos on YouTube or visit SET Personal Marketing's website.

Giving You a Step-by-Step Action Plan

As we put together your overall marketing plan, one key thing that we will do is to recommend a step-by-step track to guide your search. We call this your action plan.

In today’s competitive arena most people will never get enough interviews with a hit-or-miss approach. This leaves too much to fate. Think of it this way. Chances are you’re marketing a “product” with millions of dollars of earnings capacity remaining in your career. That much value deserves your best effort. Besides, job hunting is a numbers game. So, why take a chance at doing a lot of things haphazardly, without a well- designed plan?

Similar to any company who is about to market a new product, a good plan can cut job hunting time in half and save money. It also helps people produce better results, and when people generate a lot of activity in a concentrated time period, they feel better and do better. Much better.

Recapping the components of your overall marketing plan

Job hunting goals: We surface all critical information about you and then decide on the goals that will best advance your career.

Liabilities: We identify liability issues that might restrict your success... and arrive at ways for minimizing their impact.

Assets and transferable skills: We pinpoint these and incorporate them into your resume, letters, and your personal website.

Industry alternatives: We will suggest the industry alternatives that we feel are best for you.

Action plan for getting interviews: We will lay out a step-by-step plan... a weekly agenda... that will guide your search. This is your complete track... a game plan. It will include a plan for your approach to interviewing and negotiations.

For more information be sure to check out SET Personal Marketing's Twitter, follow SET Personal Marketing's Facebook, watch SET Personal Marketing's videos on YouTube or visit SET Personal Marketing's website.

Equipping You With a Marketing Website

We will be creating and hosting your personal marketing website. We do this because our experience has proven that if you have a superior resume and marketing website, job hunting can be much easier.

Job hunting is all about getting enough of the “right people” to look at your credentials. A “Personal Marketing Website” is a website that presents your universal resume... and sometimes your biography... for those who wish to review it.

Here’s how this works at our firm. When we write resumes, we create a distinctive and professional “Personal Marketing Website.” Displaying one on the web in color... is an impressive way of presenting yourself. It gives you a fast, no-cost way to get your presentation in front of the right decision makers.

How? Because you can simply send out emails with a link to your “Personal Marketing Website.” Through our job hunting information system, all you need to do is get the names of decision makers... and emails of key employers... throughout the U.S.... or the world... in industries that are right for you... or in the area where you want to live.

Can this make networking easier? Yes. For people you already know... all you do is send an email to let them know that you are open to new opportunities... and that you put up a new and unique “personal marketing website.” And, when people see your presentation, they will be far more impressed than anything you could say over the phone.

With access to our Job Market Access Center (JMAC), you can even comfortably network people you don’t know. For example, you can quickly get the names of alumni from your school who hold influential jobs... or others who worked with you some years ago... or executives in an industry or metro area... whose advice and referrals you’d appreciate.

Can this website also be used for responding to ads? Absolutely. Mention your link in a compelling email and you’ll have a surefire way to dramatically stand out from everyone else who answers an ad. The bottom line is that if you’re in the market today... and don’t have a “Personal Marketing Website”... you will be searching with an unnecessary competitive disadvantage.

For more information be sure to check out SET Personal Marketing's Twitter, follow SET Personal Marketing's Facebook, watch SET Personal Marketing's videos on YouTube or visit SET Personal Marketing's website.

Equipping You With Superior Resumes and Letters Pt. 3

Optional resumes we can create

An “interview” resume. An interview resume is 2 to 3 pages. It is for presentation during or after interviews and reveals more about you when employers want to know more. If you used this too early... to develop interviews, it might not work well since it would reveal many more details about your industry background. (If you have an executive biography, you would not need this resume.)

An executive biography. This is a 3 to 5 page narrative document, written in a third-person style. It uses interesting stories, rich in detail, and is favored by top recruiters and senior executives. Today, these are the “Mercedes of presentations.” Those seeking $150,000 to 1 million dollars+ should have one. Decision makers often forward resumes to others to get consensus. And sometimes, you never meet the top people, but nevertheless they will often review your resume. The offer depends on a “thumbs up” from the resume presentation.

Executive biographies are also invaluable during negotiations. They convey the best possible solutions you can bring... creating a unique “sense-of-worth.” They are also ideal for high-level networking...because it is such a distinguished and high-level presentation.

The marketing letters we create for you

Certain people who must avoid revealing liabilities should use personalized letters, but they need to be focused and motivating. Custom benefit letters, tailored to the needs of organizations, can be highly effective. We typically create the following 12 letters for different occasions:

• For responding to openings

• For contacting recruiters

• For contacting venture capitalists

• For responding to emerging jobs

• For direct contact with employers

• For third-party letters to employers

• For contacting directors of associations

• For networking associates and friends

• For networking alumni

• For networking influential people

• For setting up potential references

• For following up your interviews

For more information be sure to check out SET Personal Marketing's Twitter, follow SET Personal Marketing's Facebook, watch SET Personal Marketing's videos on YouTube or visit SET Personal Marketing's website.