Better keep your Facebook clean and use StartWire to keep your job search confidential!
Tim Tyrell-Smith is the author of 30 Ideas of Successful Job Search, and the founder of TimsStrategy.com. He is a former marketing VP for Horizon Foods, and writes for U.S. News & World Reports online feature, “On Careers.”
What’s the biggest networking mistake that you see job seekers make?
A big mistake I see job seekers make is networking without specific job search objectives. You need to be able to answer a simple question: “What Are You Looking For?” Don’t give vague answers or suggest multiple industry or job title targets. Be specific. Offer data that your network can use to remember you. Make sure your objectives are listed out on your networking bio and business cards as a tangible reminder. Make it easy for people to help you.
You say networking without a purpose is just socializing, is a written agenda necessary among friends or at social gatherings?
It depends on why you are out networking. If your purpose is simply to meet new people and make friends, that’s fine. But if your objective is to find a job or build a consulting business, you need to work with a plan. The goal is to be less impulsive and more strategic.
I ask job seekers at events three questions:
- What are you doing here?
- Who are you here to meet?
- How does this event fit with your goals for the week?
My goal is to provoke new thinking about why people make certain decisions about events and how they can better plan so that they walk away from an event with smart new connections, new leads and more information about target companies. Not just a stack of business cards.
Any suggestions to build credibility for a job if you’ve never worked in a field or don’t have any contacts?
First of all, trying to change jobs or industries is never easy. And this economy has made it very difficult. Because without specific “ready to run” experience, you are a risky hire. Here are two options:
Do you see a difference in networking for a job and when you’re in a job?
The basic successful habits of networking are the same. Help others, be personable, smile and be memorable. But it is a lot easier to network when you are working. For some there is an added confidence in having a platform (a company behind you). And there are some very smart and talented job seekers out there who are desperately looking for employed contacts.
As an employed person, you have knowledge and information you can share, use to help others and use to meet motivated new connections. Many employed people live under a rock and don’t crawl out much. Find one event per month minimum to attend. And offer an hour or two each month to help people via informational interviews.
Are there any questions I haven’t asked that I should be asking? What’s the question, and what’s your answer?
How do you get the most out of a networking event? Here are my suggestions.
Parting Words: What’s your “use it now” actionable—advice for job seekers (in 140 characters or less):
Write a regular monthly e-mail update to your network. Remind them of your specific job search objectives and give them a reason to stay engaged in your job search.
Wow. The service standard in recruiting is set so low. Just read the first few paragraphs of this article about how a job seekers was HAPPY to get a rejection letter. Seems that passes as world class.
The StartWire DEV team is working on a solution issue as we speak. The alpha is live and it’s amazing.
Throw this into Google.
site:techcrunch.com “series b”
You can also substitute a,c,d for b. What do you get? Companies featured in one of the leading technology blogs who are annocuing their raise (Series A, B, C, D). So not only do they have cash…but they are kinda hot.
Want to work for them? First, you need to be smart. But being creative and forward also helps. Read the article. Find the founders online…and meet them, greet them, and impress them.
PS. If you know someone at Techcrunch. Tell them to write about StartWire.
Good article here by Alison Doyle on how to avoid the resume black hole. It outlines some great techniques and general best practices for job search.
That said, the StartWire DEV team has been working hard on this issue and we’ve got a technology solution that our alpha testers think is pretty cool. Beta will launch in March. If anyone is interested in being in the beta team, drop me a line @ chris.forman {at} startdatelabs.com.
The team over at Indeed do some really cool and valuable stuff for job seekers. Their list of the 10 fastest growing job trends is a case in point.
Recently they analyzed their giant job posting dataset to define the fastest growing job posting ‘buzzwords’. Why is this more than neat…but really valuable? Recruiters search by keywords when they use resume databases. If the buzz words below are the ‘hot’ new terms showing up in job postings…you can bet they will be used to ‘find’ resumes. If you are looking for a new job…and have used any of these technologies, platforms, or methodologies…your chance of getting your resume reviewed will be dramatically increased if you get these specific terms on your CV.
Indeed’s Fastest Growing Job Trends
But the best job search advice we can give is to check our StartWire – where friends and experts help you find work!
Great article on Fortune about this really important subject (always like hearing from Susan Joyce!). Too bad they didn’t mention StartWire. Solving this problem is what we do…private, social collaboration for job search!
– Chris
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One of the great features of StartWire is the ability to ask world-class job search experts for tips and techniques to rock your job search. We’ve been buried with great, deep, & thoughtful questions.
Interestingly, a question that keeps getting asked is how to structure a job search query on job boards to find a jobs that actually match what you are looking for.
At AIRS, one of the things Tim & I taught recruiters how to do was use Boolean logic & search engines to find great candidates. The same principles work great for job seekers looking to search job databases like StartWire, CareerBuilder, & Indeed.
Check this out.
Let’s say you are looking for a job as a Sales Manager. Most job seekers simply enter the words Sales Manager into the keyword box and hit GO. The problem is that the search engine at your favorite job board will search for jobs that have the words Sales and Manager…but not necessarily together. The result is jobs that aren’t very targeted.
But if you put “Sales Manager” in quotes, your results are transformed. You have results where the phrase Sales Manger is present. Even better, sites like StartWire support advanced commands like title:”sales manager” that allow you to not only specify a specific phrase…but WHERE on the job posting it should appear.
Hope this helps. To learn more, find great jobs, and get access to some of the best job search minds in the US (all for FREE), join StartWire!
– Chris
