Whether or not you are looking for a new job right now, you should make sure that you are available for consideration. You just don’t know when that dream job is going to come your way. And if you are looking for a new job, it is vital that you are highly visible to those who matter.
The recruitment world has never been so complex. Employers can use many more channels for finding the people than ever before. They can be more tactical than ever before. They can come and find you much more easily than ever before.
Here are the key activities you need to include in your job search strategy:
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Look at the key online recruitment sites such as stvjobs.com. Make sure you are registered to receive job alerts so that you don’t miss any of the positions that might be interesting to you.
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Make sure you publish your CV on the relevant job boards. When you are constructing that CV, it is important that you have included all the key-words relevant to your experience. Remember different terms could mean the same thing so put them all on your CV. Perhaps include a section at the bottom of your CV that actually says ‘Keywords’ and then lists them all, comma-separated. If you are in finance for example it might read “accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchase ledger, sales ledger, payroll, credit control”.
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Go and register with the recruitment consultants who are specialists in your field. The best way to decide who to approach is to ask people you respect who they would recommend and have a look on the key job sites to see which companies look like they are handling the most suitable and interesting jobs.
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Think twice about registering with all the recruitment consultants however as you can spend a lot of time doing this and problems can occur when two agencies are working on the same role and both would like to put you forward.
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Treat recruitment consultants with respect. Don’t plague them with calls and do tell them the truth about your interest in roles and availability for interviews. It really pays to form a good relationship with those recruitment consultants you are working with.
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Finally, and this is very important, make sure you are representing yourself well on the social networking sites that are relevant to you.
Mark Valentine, head of sales and marketing, at international accountancy firm BDO, explained:
“In this day and age, it is important for people to make sure they have an excellent profile on sites like LinkedIn.
“My colleagues and I will usually look at candidates’ profiles online to see what we can learn about them. If they have a detailed profile, are members of the right LinkedIn groups and seem to have a good set of contacts, which will go in their favour. And if they aren’t even there, we may wonder whether they are ‘savvy’ enough for the position we’re recruiting.”
This isn’t unusual. I know many hiring managers to take a similar approach. Recruiters will soon begin to use apps on Facebook such as BranchOut or Brave New Talent to source people for roles in admin, customer service, retail and warehouse for example.
For jobs in disciplines such as sales, marketing, accounting, HR and management for example, recruiters will be looking for people like you on sites like LinkedIn.
Here are the top tips for making sure you get noticed and when you do, you represent yourself well:
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Make sure you have uploaded a professional profile picture. Employers won’t appreciate seeing you with a cocktail in your hand or in your swimming gear. Make sure the photograph looks like you would when at work. Subconsciously, recruiters are far more likely to make contact if they can see that you have a picture and are a ‘real’ person.
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Write your summary in plain English. Many people use jargon in their working lives that is specific to their company. Write this out in easy-to-understand language that makes it easy for the reader to get a picture of what you actually do.
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Do however add the key words that an employer might search on to find you. Sites like LinkedIn work in a similar way to Google – it displays search results that look like they are the most suitable for you and it uses key words to do this. As suggested for your online CV, add all the key words separated by commas near the bottom of your profile.
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Make sure you split any non-work related social networking with work-related social networking. Too many people link up all their profiles and then end up with personal messages going out to work contacts. I’ve seen a few very embarrassing examples....
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Join all the Groups that are for people like you. Professional networking sites like Kiltr, which is specifically for Scots people all around the world, contains Groups for people with common interests or in similar jobs. Get involved with these Groups and participate in their discussions. Your new boss may be a fellow member.
Networking online is fun. You can demonstrate your knowledge and get to know new people in a way that suits you. There’s none of the awkwardness some people feel when going to offline networking events and you choose when, how and who to respond to.
Bear in mind, employers are using online networking sites to find candidates as a first port of call. One bank, one utilities company and one media company – all huge employers in Scotland are using sites like LinkedIn as standard.
Be there and present yourself well and you will hear about new opportunities that you might not otherwise have found.
Adam Gordon is director of Social Media Search, working with companies to help them use social media effectively.
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