Friday, November 30, 2012

6 Reasons Your Job Search is Failing Big Time

By Amit De

Quit blaming your failed job search on a down economy; it’s time to evaluate your efforts instead. While no job seeker likes to hear that his strategies are failing, it’s important to know when your practices need revising—or should be dropped altogether.

So rather than letting job search frustrations take a toll on your attitude and confidence, consider these six reasons your job search might be failing:

1. You have a negative attitude or lack of confidence

The job search is frustrating, tiring, degrading and a whole other slew of negative adjectives. It’s important to not let the search eat away at you and ruin your outlook. So much of the job search can be related to your composure and attitude, so it’s essential to stay positive.

In fact, your attitude is the only part of the job search that you can control. A positive attitude usually generates a level of confidence that can be gauged in applications, emails, online and, most importantly, in an interview. Do whatever it takes to stay positive and confident.

2. Your online presence is non-existent (or vulgar)

Social recruiting is on the rise this year, with more than 80 percent of job openings being recruited for online. Dozens of companies are now launching tools to help recruiters search for job candidates through social media.

For job seekers, it’s absolutely imperative that you not only have the necessary social media profiles, but that your online brand be sparkly clean. If you don’t have them already, it’s time to generate a LinkedIn profile, Twitter account and any other social media profiles recruiters could use to find you.

Don’t ruin your chances of a potential interview or job offer by allowing your social media profiles to be anything less than professional. Google your name for insight into what employers will see when they search for you. If the results are less than professional, it might be time to check your privacy settings or have your friends untag those college drinking pictures on Facebook.

3. You’re looking in all the wrong places

Don’t let the lure of major job boards ruin your job search. Too many job seekers waste time and energy only applying to openings that have been posted on the major job boards. Not only does this categorize you as a less-than-dedicated job seeker; it’s the equivalent of tossing your resume into a tower-sized stack of applications.

Stick to niche job boards within your industry to get the benefits of smaller candidate pools and more accurate job search results. There’s also an increased level of interaction that comes with applying directly to niche job boards, because the contact information of hiring managers is usually more readily available.

Reasons 4-6 and complete Brazen Careerist Article

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