While it is always assumed that an individual who has a degree will always make more money than someone who does not, many people find good careers and pay with jobs that don’t require a college degree. Let’s face it, college isn’t for everyone, but the great news is: for those who opt out of a college education, there are plenty of good jobs available geared towards different talents and ambitions.  

Administrative services manager

    With just a high school diploma or its equivalent, a person can earn $86,720 a year as an administrative services manager.  Administrative services managers are responsible for directing, coordinating, and planning the support services of a company. They normally manage clerical personnel responsible for filing, computer work, customer service, and other basic administrative functions. Experience in a managerial or supervisory role is normally preferred.

Claims adjusters

      Claims adjusters can make a little over $60,000 a year with the proper training. Individuals in this position work on insurance claims for insurance companies and help to decipher how much money, if any, is owed to hospitals and doctors. If money is owed, they commit to collecting the money and dealing with patients and hospitals to offer payment options, etc.    While vocational training is available to become a claims adjuster, many companies offer on-the-job-training and only require stellar administrative skills.

Subway or Streetcar Operator

       If working in an office all day really isn’t your thing, then a job as a subway or streetcar operator might be ideal.  As the title suggests, you operate a subway or streetcar and safely transport passengers from place to place. Training is normally provided and after a few years working, a person can earn around $59,000 yearly.  Crane and tower operators make close to the same yearly income and also gain experience by hands on training.

Derrick (Oil and Gas) Rig Operator

         This type of position can be obtained with less than a high school diploma, however, applicants must be at least 18 years of age and be able to pass a drug screening and background test. The job entails drilling and digging wells to remove oil or gas. The average annual pay is about $50,000 after experience is gained.

Insurance Sales Agents

An insurance sales agent is another one of the good jobs that have the ability to make a salary that is 13% higher than the national median. The insurance industry is expected to create more than 80,000 jobs in the next 10 years. Many agents only possess a high school diploma and are only required to have a license in the state where they plan on selling the insurance.

While big openings and companies hiring in volume make for good press, there are many great opportunities posted or available which get little or no airtime at all, even on corporate career sites. The number and frequency of hidden job opportunities is a topic of great debate. Today, we’re focusing on the back story of how these individual jobs get created. (This is the first post in a series of six designed to take you behind the scenes as employers advertise for positions and make hiring decisions.)

As we’ve mentioned before, searching for a job can be very much like looking for the right life partner: To create a sustainable long-term relationship, you both have to be open and willing to make a commitment to one another!

The first step in the hiring process at most organizations is deciding to hire: There must be a current opening, and a recognized need to fill the job. Just as companies don’t hire a recruiter unless they need to make enough hires to have a recruiter, there has to be enough work to do for the job to exist.

Here are some of the reasons employers create jobs:

1. To fill vacancies created by employees who leave for new opportunities or get promoted
2. They have enough work that they need to hire more people,
3. The organization is re-structuring and/or in growth mode to achieve new or aggressive company goals

The second step in the hiring process is nailing down the specifics of the job description.
What will the new hire do? Who will they report to? And what skills are most important?

The third step in the hiring process — what happens after you’ve applied and while you are waiting to hear back — is largely unknown to all but a select few inside the organization.

One of the biggest challenges in the hiring process is the chaos of the hiring process during the actual search. As Tom Brokaw once quipped in a commencement address to new college graduates,

Real life is junior high…filled with adolescent pettiness, pubescent rivalries, the insecurities of 13-year-olds and the false bravado of 14-year-olds.  Forty years from now, I guarantee it, you’ll still be making silly mistakes, you’ll have a temper tantrum, you’ll have your feelings hurt for some trivial slight, you’ll say something dumb and at least once a week you’ll wonder, “Will I ever grow up?”

Inside companies, it’s not uncommon for an employer to re-advertise a job weeks after it has been posted because they thought of additional “must-have” skills for candidates — after they’ve listed the position. It’s not unusual for employers to move a long-time employee into a job he isn’t trained for — simply to keep him on staff if his old job has been eliminated. Employers frequently extend their own hiring timelines — or downgrade their position requirements — when the money doesn’t come in as fast as they expected it to.

Bottom line: If you’re on the candidate side of the hiring equation, it can feel like it did in middle school when your date for the dance bailed on you…But it doesn’t have to feel that way.

Brokaw says you can counter the petty problems of the real world, if you are “always a grown-up” in your relationships with others. Next week, we’ll show you what employers look for, how to get noticed, and how to follow-up gracefully when you see signs of adolescence in your job search. Until then, share what’s feeling awkward to you in your job search: What makes you feel most in the dark when you apply for jobs?

It’s Fourth of July week. And people are, frankly, more likely to be focused on outdoor fireworks than your resume. Even if you are a dream candidate applying for a job that seems to have been tailor made for you.

There’s no doubt about it: Summer’s a tough time from both sides of the hiring desk.

If you’re a job seeker, it’s hard to turn down invitations to grill out so you can apply for new opportunities.

If you’re a hiring manager or a recruiter with a deadline to make an offer, it can take longer than usual because many decision makers are away. People take vacations. Meetings get postponed. References go away on vacation.

Does this mean you should hang up your job search? No. Especially since plenty of potential job applicants are also grilling out, water skiing, eating ice cream — and finding ways to take time off from the job search. And many non-profit organizations and universities run on a fiscal year that ends June 30. Some of these organizations that began a new fiscal year on July 1 are officially starting a brand new hiring season right now.

What it does mean: You shouldn’t give up on your job search — especially when it’s summer!

Here are three strategies you can use to win when applying for jobs this summer. All of these strategies start with a common tactic: Play the game so you can be an easy hire. To increase your batting average of jobs applied for versus interviews received, make it simple for employers to consider you.

Here are three strategies you can use to make this work — any day of the week:

1. Apply for the job as soon as you see it.

Last summer StartWire conducted an analysis of 6,400 hires made across 10 industries. Half of the successful hires had something in common: They all applied for a job within the first seven days it was posted!

Applying early helps ensure that you get an employer’s proper attention. So take the time to apply for jobs as you see them –before you head to the store for cookout supplies.

2. When you apply, make a human connection.

As most employers use software that rank and track applications even before they are read, it’s essential to include the right keywords in your resume, cover letter, and online application. (Here’s how to do this.)

But it’s equally important to have an employer associate your name with an application. To do this, call or email the employer as soon as you’ve applied — and let them know of your application to the job. (Quick ways to make contact with an employer include finding their main number via online Super Pages, company websites, and Twitter’s Advanced Search function.)

When you follow-up with employers, give them a 1-2 sentence overview of your skills. Example: Let’s say you are applying for a job in event management and are applying for a job with a local Chamber of Commerce. If you have past experience, state that at the outset. Here’s a sample voice mail:

Hi, this is Hillary Thomas. I see you are looking for a new Event Manager, and wanted to let you know that I applied for the job online. I have three years of experience and have served as the lead assistant to event operations directors for events with an attendance of up to 1,000. If you’d like to talk directly, I can be reached at <<phone number.>>

Tip: One of the best ways to leave this type of message is to do it at night — so you can use company phone systems to erase and start again if your first message isn’t perfect!

3. Prepare your references.

One of the best ways to get a good reference is to let people know you are listing them as a reference before you share their information with employers.

If you’ve been invited to interview and are in the final stages of a search, it’s important to stay in touch with your references — and know when they are going out of town. You want to make sure you are covered when someone wants to “check and hire” quickly. Proactive move: If your reference plans to be away, have your potential reference contact your potential employer before they are going out of town. Often, this can speed up the process.

Another alternative if you have an interview: Make copies of past performance reviews (assuming they are positive) and offer to share them with your interviewer at the time of your meeting!

Finding a job in the summer may be challenging from vacations to fun events, but you can still rise to the top of the employment line with these strategies. Try them out and let us know how they work for you.

Now that we know the habits necessary for effective job seekers, the important question to ponder is what then does StartWire do to help job seekers adopt and practice these habits (this is the StartWire blog after all!)?

StartWire does in fact offer solutions to these problems.  StartWire was built from ground up to make the process of job search more manageable, less stressful and, of course, more effective!  What this means is, for each of the habits that we’ve talked about, StartWire has resources in place to help you adopt the habits of an effective job seeker.  Some of you may not be aware of all that you can do with StartWire, so we wanted to take some time to highlight how StartWire can help you with these specific and effective habits. 

We’re more than just advice here at StartWire News – we’re constantly working to build and improve tools that can help you execute on the advice we give.

This week, we’re on tip #4 of our 5 Habits of Effective Job Seekers: They get found.

There’s a lot of talk right now about social media and how many employers use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to find and connect with job seekers. While social media is a great place to meet employers, it’s important not to neglect other places employers go to seek out great talent. And one of the places employers go to look is job boards that have resume databases. So today, we’re spotlighting job boards and the reason why so many companies still use them to find talent.

Why? When a company needs to hire an employee “right now,” they may not take the time to advertise widely. They may also be looking for a specific skill that isn’t easy to find.

And one of the best tried and true places to find those skills is a database of resumes. When you stop by a job board, you may search for jobs. But when employers login to job boards, they search for resumes. And when they find the resume they want, they follow up directly with the candidate.
They don’t have to jump through hoops, they just get in touch. Bottom line: Resume databases help employers make hires.

Want to get found this way? Yesterday we shared some basic tips for formatting your resume. Here are three additional things you can do to increase the likelihood of getting found.

1. Get out there.  Don’t just visit job boards; upload your resume. It takes less than five minutes — and you can’t get found otherwise. As my wise friend Anna says, “you can’t meet anybody if you don’t put yourself out there.” Or to look at it another way: The only way to win the lottery is to buy a ticket!Worried about privacy? Leave off your address — and maybe even the name of your current employer (instead: you can give a descriptor — e.g. Consumer packaging company with 250 employees.
2. Make sure you can be found in a search. Use the right keywords for your field in your resume and begin your resume with a summary that provides an overview of your experience. Here’s a five-minute trickyou can use to do this — just apply it for your field instead of a specific job.True story: In a past life I was a recruiter working inside a company. I hired a candidate on Friday who listed his resume on a Tuesday. I found him on Wednesday. Another recruiter contacted me about him on Thursday. Why? He had a unique, hard-to-find skill that employers search databases for all the time. He later called it, “the easiest job search I ever had.”
3. Set your watch and update your resume — at least every 30 days.When employers look at resumes, the ones that were submitted most recently come up first. (Generally, employers have the option to view resumes that have been submitted within 7 days, 30 days, and 30 – 90 days. Since they want to focus on candidates they know are still available for work, they tend to focus most only on the resumes submitted within the last week first — and then on the pile that’s come in over the last 30 days.Want to stay at the top of the search results? All you need to do is go in and change one word in your resume, then repost this. Keep track of your resumes, update your listings every 28 days or so — and your information will stay current so you can be found.

That’s all there is to it. Try it out, and let us know how this works for you!

It’s week four of our 5 part series on “The 5 Habits of Effective Job Seeker”!

The fourth habit of effective job seekers is: They Get Found!

What does that mean?  80% of companies are now searching resume databases to find their next hire.

With many applicants applying with unqualified credentials, employers offset this by turning the search around.  Instead, employers are doing the searching.  Knowing this, what can you do?  Take the initiative to be found.

The benefit of posting your resume online is the increase in eyes that your resume will be receiving!  Instead of sending your resume to a specific number of job postings and restricting your resume to be read by the HR manager behind those postings, posting your resume onto a job board allows a larger pool of employers to review your resume.  Do make sure your resume is in the right databases by searching for and placing your resume in job boards that cater to your industry, function, or geography.

A quick tip to posting your resume online: format it to be posted online.

1. Convert it to text-only form by saving it as a .txt file.
2.  Edit by left-aligning everything.  Center or right-aligning text will be lost on most online resume postings.
3. Indent using spaces, not tabs.
4. Don’t use special characters or symbols.
5.  Protect your identity! Leave out personal information, such as date of birth and home address.  Instead, post your city and state as an alternative to your home address, and set up a special email for job search.

Follow us throughout this week for more tips on getting found!

So, what’s the takeaway from this week’s focus on our third habit of effective job seekers, “get referred”?

Ask for a job referral, but do it right!  While it’s important to be referred, it’s equally important to find a good source of referral.  You want to make sure that the person referring you will speak well to your attributes.  You know the saying—first impressions are important. The person referring you to the hiring manager is in essence making a first impression on your behalf.

When looking for a referral some people focus on meeting the hiring manager or someone who can directly influence the hiring decision. You may not always be able to make that connection, but anyone currently working at the company can be a useful referral. Companies look for referrals from all their employees, and getting an insider’s description of what it’s like to work there can give you a leg up in your interview. You’ll be able to give more concrete examples during the interview of what you know about the company and how you can add value.  Hiring managers are always more impressed when you show that you understand the company and have done your research.

Your goal is to figure out your match to the company, whether you could be happy working in that environment, and how you fit into solving their current business needs. The best way to figure those out is through learning about the company from someone currently working for the company!  Therefore, choose your source of referrals wisely and remember that everyone likes to be shown some appreciation—regardless of the hiring outcome, thank them afterwards!

Finding a new job may not be easy, but sometimes it’s just as hard to be on the other side of the hiring equation. This week, we’re putting the spotlight on the problem by showcasing an industry where employers have a hard time hiring and keeping employees.

We’re talking about the transportation industry – and truckers. Whether you love or hate tractor-trailers on the highway, the trucking industry moves supplies that feed us, clothe us, house us, and cure us when we are sick.

Yet Tucker Robeson, CEO and Co-Founder of CDL Helpers, a company that provides employeeretention services to the transportation industry, says the system truckers use to hire and retain employees is beyond broken. So broken, there’s an 89% turnover rate of drivers year-to-year in big trucking companies. Can you imagine working for a company where less than one out of ten employees stay for more than a year?

How expensive is this problem to the trucking industry? Robeson says it’s a $5B dollar problem, and he’s created a business to help fix it. A former recruiter, Tucker was born in Winona, MN and graduated from Saint Mary’s University of MN with a degree in Entrepreneurship. He started CDL Helpers to change the way the trucking industry thinks about its work force, and how drivers are treated and supported by their employers. In a nutshell, Tucker’s mission is to make the trucking industry ask “how’s my hiring?” just as frequently as they ask “how’s my driving?”

We sat down with Tucker to get his perspective on how the recruiting process is flawed and how it can be fixed. While today’s process focuses on the trucking industry, the problems faced by companies in this industry are not unique – many industries struggle to find employees and manage their own reputations. Want proof of this? Just ask companies who’ve had their jobs profiled on the TV show Dirty Jobs?

Here’s Tucker’s take on the challenges faced by the trucking industry in hiring, what’s broken and what can be fixed, and how you can feel confident when you’ve found the right company to work for…

This is the first of a two part series, next week we’ll share Tucker’s unique take on job search strategies that work – and learn more about how he hires!

You say that the recruiting process for the trucking industry is fundamentally flawed. How so? What’s the problem – and what are the costs to both the industry and employees?

Recruiting new truckers doesn’t address the real problem the trucking industry faces: Why are people leaving? If I’m running a successful business, and I pay/treat people fairly, shouldn’t they want to stay?

So many trucking companies have had their names poisoned by former employees, recruits, and others that had a bad experience.  Since they weren’t customers, nobody thought to focus on their personal experiences with the company.  However, bad experiences they encounter could ultimately, end up hurting the company in the future.

When I used to recruit drivers, there were some companies I couldn’t pay people to go to, just because they had heard some horror story from another driver at a truck stop about things going sour. Word-of-mouth is incredibly important to drivers as they look for work.

What are common qualities of top employers in your industry? How can job seekers spot companies who have these qualities?

As is the case with many industries, top employers in the trucking industry are hard to recognize because a lot of advertising and recruiting efforts tout great things that don’t always turn out to be true, and there are very few ways to hold the bad companies accountable. So, you can’t always go by advertising.

There’s a huge lack of trust and misinformation in the industry which has left many drivers extremely skeptical or cynical. That’s part of what we are trying to fix. My company, CDL Helpers, partners with trucking companies to address employee issues. Trucking companies hire us to provide support to new hires during their first few months on a job and we have the ability to escalate problems directly to the top if necessary, to make sure their concerns are addressed.

Breaking into the trucking industry can be challenging for prospective drivers, as there are many hiring requirements that are rigid. You have to be in good physical health, hold a strong driving record, and more often than not – have experience.

Other than that, they should look for companies that are easy to communicate with. After 10 business days post-application, if they haven’t heard anything and can’t reach anyone inside, that’s often an indicator of how things will go from then on out.

The best trucking companies to work for are also usually the hardest to get into. They require the most experience, and the cleanest records. Drivers that work for companies that are headquartered or have a main terminal within 30 miles of their domicile seem to do much better. If drivers can’t find a company that’s close enough to home, they should seriously consider either re-locating to another area, or looking into other careers. Their time at home will be better, they won’t have to risk as much of their own personal resources going to orientation, and they will probably have more reliable miles at the company if they live close by.

Stop by StartWire News next week for Tucker’s perspective on great ways to stand out in the applicant pool and get noticed. In the interim — if you haven’t done so already — pop by StartWire and take advantage of our free tools to organize your search.

To top off the year, we posted our exclusive 12 Career Tips for 12 list, highlights from StartWire interviews with recruiters and talent acquisition pros.

You can find the advice here. But we also know it’s one thing to read advice – and it’s another thing to actually put it into action. (Classic example: Spending more time reading about how to lose weight than exercising.) Maybe you know what we mean here…

So here are our tips – paired with action strategies designed to help you to jump start your search.

Get social. Engaging with recruiters online can help you get hired.

Get online. If you engage with organizations today on social media, you will get a little bit of a bump. You will receive extra attention. All of those avenues of social media engagement can help. This is a new world for employers so we are being extraordinarily careful to engage a little bit better, and to give more feedback.

Stacy Van Meter
Senior Manager of Social Marketing/Employment Brand for Deluxe.

How to do it: Two strategies that will take you under ten minutes:

1. Like the organization you want to work for on Facebook. (Make sure you have a professional profile.) Post a comment about company news or share a related item on the organization’s Facebook wall. If you see a great job, share it — as one recruiter recently told me, “when you share a job that’s different from the one you’re applying to — and tell us what you’ve applied to — you are helping us with our work before you even get started!”
    
2. Follow the company on Twitter and send an @reply message via Twitter expressing interest in learning more about jobs. Be specific — if you’ve already applied for a job — say where you’ve applied. (New to Twitter? An @reply is like a postcard — anyone can see it, and a quick message can be an easy way to open doors with potential networking conversations.)

Find a way to get introduced to someone inside the company.

Over 30% of our hires come from referrals. The biggest advantage you can have is when people know you. Get someone inside the company to advocate for you. Find the job, than find someone who can vouch for you, and apply for it. By the time the job is posted, it is almost too late. Hiring success often comes from someone you know.
Adam Eisenstein
Recruiter for McGraw Hill

How to do it: Connect your LinkedIn or Facebook account on StartWire and see who you know at any job listed on the site or for companies that you’ve already applied to. StartWire’s “Get Referral” and recommendations features provide a quick way that you can get in touch.
 

Get a referral.

On average, one of out every 33 candidates is going to get hired from an online source—such as a job board or a career site. If you are referred, your odds go up to one  in four. Those are better odds.

Shanil Kaderali
Manager of Talent Programs at WellPoint
 
How to do it: Apply to places where you can get a referral as much as other jobs.
 

Be accessible. Tell people how they can find you.

Don’t forget to share your contact information. Put your phone number and email in every single communication that you send to a recruiter. If you save time so I don’t have to look for your information, it makes it much easier for me to give you a call back.
 
Rebecca Warren
Recruiting Manager at General Mills

How to do it: Include your email and phone number in a signature line of your email and always give the position number when you follow-up so employers can easily find your information. Another quick path to success? Name your resume with your first and last name — and include the job you’re applying to. When you can be a fast find on the computer, it’s easier to stay top-of-mind.
 

Wear your enthusiasm on your sleeve.

Editor’s Note: This is something we heard over and over — from virtually every company we have talked to. It’s important to share you care about what the company does and the type of work you want to do.
 
If you want to win the job, you need to portray that you are passionate. Then the natural or optimistic assumption is “this person is going to work extremely hard.”  Show that there are things you work really hard at – and I would do this at your company.
 
Alex Moazed
CEO at Applico LLC

How to do it: Research the company where you’ve applied and show that you are familiar with the culture. Want an easy back door entrance? Track your application in StartWire and click on the “details” view of any job for instant access to employee reviews from Glassdoor.com

Don’t take yourself out of the running for a job by not applying. Let them decide if you’re qualified.

People assume that they aren’t going to get into Google. The reputation is such that it is very hard to get into Google. And so some people don’t even try.

Jeff Moore
Lead Engineering Recruiter for Google

How to do it: Apply for any job that you meet 70% of the applications for…and apply early. StartWire research shows that 50% of successful job seekers apply for a job within one week of the job listing.
 

Get to know the whole company – not just the job you’re applying for.

I always say a career is like a puzzle; you have to look at the whole picture. Whether you are looking to go into finance, marketing, product design or sales, be open minded and take into account the whole experience – think about what it is you can take away from a particular role. Understand the many pieces of the company and be willing to learn about new things that might be the right fit for you. You’re not going to know enough unless you are open and aggressive learner.
Nancy Hickey
Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer for Steelcase Inc.

How to do it: When you get invited to a group interview, ask the participants how they work together and interact on a daily basis. One of my favorite questions: If I was hired for this job, what would my first priority be — and how would I work with each of you to get that done?

Don’t give up if the phone doesn’t ring.
 

When a job seeker applies for any job they should remember that being qualified doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing as being the most qualified.  So the assumption by a job seeker that they are entitled to an interview just because they meet the qualifications is a tough thing to swallow at any level.  

It’s why connecting outside of the application process is so important for both job seekers and recruiters.  It’s why having a visible and living profile that showcases your expertise and engagement with industry peers is much more powerful than is sometimes thought.

Chris Hoyt
Talent Engagement & Marketing Leader at PepsiCo

How to do it: Try this experiment. Follow-up on all of your applications with a referral — or direct outreach to the company via a social network. Chances are good you’ll get a higher follow up rate.
 

If at first you don’t get hired, try, try again.
 

Understand that whenever you are applying to an organization that is highly desirable, people tend to get discouraged if they don’t get the first job they go for. We may get 400 or 500 applicants for one job. There could be 10 top people in the field. If you are passionate about the organization continue to look at the organization.
The first time I applied for a recruiter job with Taylor Made – I came in third. Then four years later, I’m leading global recruiting.

Steve Bonomo
Head of Global Talent Acquisition for Adidas

How to do it: Don’t give up on a company because you didn’t get hired the first time out. Don’t be afraid to apply for another position, apply for other jobs of interest as well.
 

Be humble.
 

Occasionally, people aren’t humble enough. People say “I meet all the criteria for the job.” A lot of candidates have come in from our process and people have walked away saying “That’s the smartest person we’ve interviewed for this job but they come out of the interview saying ‘let’s not hire them.’ We like to see people who feel like they have something to learn from us, too.  I’m not going to ask you to rewire yourself.  You want people who can sell themselves, but people who can be themselves, too.

Miles Parroco
Director of Recruiting, Eventbrite

How to do it: Again, It’s important to show what you want to learn from a job just as much as you share your accomplishments. Show you are human…and why people should want to work with you, too.

Demonstrate you’re a team player with “humble confidence.”

We look for individuals who have a collaborative style and what we call a “humble confidence.” Can you listen to and build on the ideas of others yet respectfully advocate for your own ideas, too?
Julie Motta
Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition for Whirlpool Corporation

How to do it: When you talk about details, be concrete and avoid adjectives: “The event I organized was attended by 500, an increase of 200 over the year before” says more than “I did way better than last year’s organizer in getting people to come to the event.”

Don’t be afraid to say what you don’t know — and what you hope to learn from a new job. Remember, most employers value employees who can follow instructions as much as they do leadership.

Ask for the job.
 

Research each company you want to work for.   If you are socially connected (personally or professionally via social media) with someone from the company, if appropriate, query those associates about the culture.    Ask related questions about the job and the company.  

Interviewing is getting to know one another.  During the interview process, instead of answering questions with one word, tell a story about how you positively responded to a situation.  Before you leave the interview, ask what the next steps are in the process.  In the best-case scenario: Ask for the job.

Wanda Callahan,
Director of Recruiting, Harris Interactive

How to do it:  Don’t be afraid to show your sincere interest in an opportunity, and ask how you can follow-up. If you don’t hear back, pick up the phone and follow-up. Once hired, how you follow-up on activities for the job will be important — so why not demonstrate that you have these qualities in advance!
 
 

Each week, StartWire News features insider tips from recruiting directors and talent acquisition pros. As we look ahead to 2012, we’re encouraged by the uptick in hiring — and we want to share some of the best of the best with you so that you can land the job you want — fast! 

This is the second of two installments on this topic. You can find the first one here.

Show you’ve got “humble confidence.”

We look for individuals who have a collaborative style and what we call a “humble confidence.” Can you listen to and build on the ideas of others yet respectfully advocate for your own ideas, too?

Julie Motta
Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition for Whirlpool Corporation

Get social. Engaging with recruiters online can help you get hired.

Get online. If you engage with organizations today on social media, you will get a little bit of a bump. You will receive extra attention. All of those avenues of social media engagement can help. This is a new world for employers so we are being extraordinarily careful to engage a little bit better, and to give more feedback.

Stacy Van Meter
Senior Manager of Social Marketing/Employment Brand for Deluxe.

Find a way to get introduced to someone inside the company.
 

Over 30% of our hires come from referrals. The biggest advantage you can have is when people know you. Get someone inside the company to advocate for you. Find the job, than find someone who can vouch for you, and apply for it. By the time the job is posted, it is almost too late. Hiring success often comes from someone you know.

Adam Eisenstein
Recruiter for McGraw Hill

Be accessible. Tell people how they can find you.

People assume that they aren’t going to get into Google. The reputation is such that it is very hard to get into Google. And so some people don’t even try.

I didn’t go to a great school. I didn’t have an amazing GPA. But I work at Google. So could you.

Don’t take yourself out of the game by making assumptions and choosing not to apply. I’ve hired people who don’t have college degrees.

Jeff Moore
Lead Engineering Recruiter for Google