Thursday, April 17, 2014

Five Secret Weapons For Your Online Job Search

Technology is an awesome thing when we're talking about putting people on the moon and discovering wonder drugs and therapies to help people feel better. Technology is horrible for managing person-to-person interactions and other human activities. Job search is a perfect example. Technology has killed anything human in the job search process. This column is about bringing some of the human energy back into your job search.

I'm sure employers thought they were terribly up-to-date and forward-looking when they installed those godforsaken Black Hole recruiting systems, also known as ATS (applicant tracking system) software. They suck, like Black Holes out in space. You send a resume into one of those things and its atoms get shredded and sent down a wormhole to another dimension. Every time you pitch a resume into a Black Hole, a little bit of your soul dies.

There's a better way to job-hunt. Here are five small but powerful weapons to use in your job search and take back a piece of your humanity. Technology has turned what used to be a friendly job-search process into a cold and sterile, mechanical and mojo-crushing affair. That's okay. We can have our revenge. We can use technology to beat Godzilla at his own game, one job-seeker at a time.
Let's go!  ( Here is a taste of the five ways )

1) FIND TARGET EMPLOYERS USING THE SEARCH "WHO'S AROUND"
"Who's Around?" is the name of our favorite LinkedIn search. It's easy to conduct a "Who's Around?" search. Just jump to the Advanced People Search page on LinkedIn by clicking on the word "Advanced" next to the blue box and the search bar at the top of the page.


2) UN-BLIND A BLIND JOB AD


3) FIND YOUR HIRING MANAGER


4) FIND THE BUSINESS PAIN


5) HUMANIZE THE BLACK HOLE
Our last tip for job-seekers who want to take back the control of their job hunts and get great jobs is to add a human voice to the online job application. Here are two ways to do that.

When the online job application asks you to list the Tasks and Duties at a past job, skip the Tasks and Duties and talk about the mark you left on the job, instead.

2001-2004 Customer Service Specialist, Acme Explosives
Tasks and Duties:

I came into the job fresh from the military and learned everything there is to know about stick dynamite. I answered the phones, attended Skype meetings and set up Acme's first customer-service escalation plan. I trained new employees and helped Acme grow from $10M to $18M in sales.

Tell us what's in your wake at each job you've held. We can figure out your tasks and duties from your job title.

Find out more about all 5 ways and the complete article

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