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8 Tips for Landing Your Dream Job in a Web 2.0 World
Jason Goldberg, January 8, 2006
In 2005, Internet innovation experienced a massive
resurgence dubbed, “web 2.0,” driven in large part by increased Internet usage
and adoption and a move towards richer user experiences. This web renaissance has also extended to job
search, where there are a number of new and exciting developments.
Some Background on Internet
Usage Trends:
According to the Pew Internet & American Life project,
137 million U.S. adults now use the Internet on a daily basis, up 63% from just one year
ago. Similarly, nearly 60 million adults
in the U.S.
use an online search engine to find information on a typical day, up by 55%
from just one year ago. 53% of U.S. households
now have “high speed” connections. Those
households typically spend upwards of 10 hours per week online.
Online advertising expenditures grew with Internet adoption
– up by 55% in the 3rd quarter of 2005, while traditional media grew only 2.2%,
the slowest rate for offline advertising grow since 2003. Likewise, Internet traffic data shows that
visits to classifieds ad sites for everything from jobs to automobiles to pink
plastic Christmas trees, is up 80% in the past year.
Web 2.0:
As Internet adoption has increased, many new “web 2.0”
services have emerged, designed to deliver richer, more personalized, and more
collaborative user experiences – and intended to help solve some of the
challenges resulting from web 1.0. From
blogs to social networks to RSS feed to tags to mashups, we’re witnessing a new
and revitalized Internet.
Job Search 2.0
Job search is experiencing its own web 2.0 renaissance as
new innovations are helping job seekers find jobs easier and get connected to
companies more efficiently than ever before. Several technology providers are also working to cut down on the “resume
black hole” that has plagued online job search and frustrated many a job
seeker.
The 8 Tips:
Here are some tips and tricks for harnessing these new web
2.0 technologies to get a leg up in your job search:
- Turn to the new breed
of Meta Job Search Engines. Overwhelmed by the number of job boards to
choose from and by the hundreds of corporate employment sites to keep track
of? New sites like Jobster.com,
Indeed.com, and Simplyhired.com take the hassle out of searching for your next
job by providing one-stop-searching across most of the major job sites. Think of these sites as “Google for
jobs.” Conduct one search and get
results from many job sites and employers. Jobster and Indeed also search jobs directly from many employers, which
is helpful as many leading employers are scaling back their job board budgets
and shifting their focus instead towards promoting their own employment sites. Jobster now searches more than 5 times the
number of jobs as the largest job board.
- Make Use of Referrals and Social Networks to Get
Noticed. Mark Mehler from CareerXroads
points out that a referred candidate has a 35 to 1 chance of getting hired vs.
500 to 1 for the typical candidates. That’s
because with so many resumes coming in to companies every day, most employers
rely on referrals as a way to spot great candidates. New sites such as Jobster and LinkedIn
include “social networking” technology which can help you identify which of
your contacts may know people at the companies you want to work at. Jobster goes a step further and can help you
request a referral directly into the hiring team at many employers. Jobster also has a feature called “My
Jobster,” which enables you to keep tabs on jobs that you can get referred for
via the people you know and the people they know.
- Sign up for e-Mail Alerts and RSS Feeds. Tired of searching and searching and searching? e-Mail Alerts and RSS Feeds enable you to have jobs delivered to you instead. Leading job sites now enable you to receive
daily email alerts about the latest jobs which meet your specific search
criteria. The meta search engines,
Jobster, Indeed, and Simplyhired, provide customizable alerts spanning millions
of jobs from thousands of employers and job sites. Subscribe to RSS feeds and get live feeds of
jobs as they are posted. Jobster also
has a feature called, “insider alerts” which provides email alerts of jobs that
you can get referred for.
- Know where the Jobs Are. If you want to land your dream job, you need to know where it is
available. Several sites are now adding
interactive mapping features so that you can see what jobs are being posted
where and when. Indeed.com provides a
map showing where the highest concentration of job postings are. Jobster.com offers two interactive maps: one which shows live job searches as they are
conducted in real-time, and another which displays on a Google local map where
the jobs are nearest to your search area.
- Read Blogs. According
to a leading blog search engine, Technorati, there are now more than 14 million
web logs or “blogs” and 88,000 new blogs are created daily. Blogs are written by citizen journalists who
desire to share their opinions and expertise on specific topics with the
broader internet audience. Many
employers are turning to blogs to find candidates for their jobs. Increasingly, employers are advertising their
positions on blogs, as they recognize that the individuals reading blogs on
specific topics are most likely to be interested in working at companies who
are pursuing related initiatives. At
Microsoft, for instance, more than 2000 employees write blogs about topics
pertinent to their work; now Microsoft is using those blogs to develop a
dialogue with potential hires.
- Write a Blog. A
common complaint from employers is that resumes don’t tell the full story about
an individual’s interests and accomplishments. Write a blog and help potential employers learn about the “real
you.” Express yourself freely, but don’t
write anything that might be construed as potentially embarrassing or overly
controversial. Google offers a free
blogging service for beginners called “Blogger.” Moveabletypes’s “Typepad” is also very
popular for novice bloggers. I’ve also
found wordpress to be quite simple to get started on, albeit a bit less
polished than typepad.
- Maintain an Online Professional Profile. Another great way to introduce yourself to
employers is by maintaining an online professional profile. These profiles typically go beyond basic
resumes to introduce your professional experience and accomplishments. Create a public profile on Jobster and have select employers find you. Or, join LinkedIn and establish your profile
in the LinkedIn network. Zoominfo is a
search engine used by many recruiting organization for mid-level and senior
managers; if you are looking for a mid-level position, it is advised that you
update your Zoominfo profile as well.
- Join an Online Group. Associations and affinity groups are often a great source of information
about job openings. Whether it’s your
fraternity or sorority, your bowling team, or a trade association, networking
within your groups can help you learn about and get noticed for great
opportunities. Jobster enables members
to create and join online groups to share jobs and job search tips amongst
people with like interests. Sites like
The Facebook for college students can also be helpful.
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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 8 Tips for Landing Your Dream Job in a Web 2.0 World:
» 8 Tips for Internet Job Searching from reinventjen
Jason Goldberg on Jobsters blog had some great tips for the online job search.
Goldberg describes Job Search 2.0 (a reference to the new buzzword Web 2.0 which alludes to the online revolution taking place on the Web).
There are online job sea... [Read More]
Tracked on Jan 11, 2006 7:35:44 AM
Good post...I would love your opinion on those job seekers who are more saavy than most as identied in my recent post http://blogs.bnet.com/hr/?p=264. (They are doing cool resumes on line and podcasting, etc.)
Getting noticed on the web is the key to Web 2.0 world right?
Beware of hype.
Using a aggregate site like the ones you promote in your article...1st they are not new... ever here of www.wantedjobs.com, jobsstore.com? They have been around for 6-7 or more years. 2nd - you never ever get the full or best story by using a aggregator site that only has the job title, mini description and some other basic data for the job. The content they have is the content given to them by the orginating site. The orginating site has the relationship with the client job poster not the aggregator.
Superior results? These sites just glop everything together (dozens of feeds) and that you call job search 2.0 - less hype and more facts please!
The job seeker experience still requires a visit to the originating site to get the full picture of the job opening *remeber the orginating site has the full job post and the relationship with the posting client) and not all jobs are sent to these aggregators - what site would give up all of it's choice content to another site so they lose visitors?
This whole "new" area is really just a re-packaging that has all the VC or angel spin in hyper gear. This model while nice for just a single portion of the job seekers arsenal isn;t the end all of something so advanced to warrant all the hype it's receiving. Job Search 2.0.... please.
GREAT tips!! I like the way you have broked down the goal of getting a job into specific, attainable steps.
I was searching the web on how I could better achieve many of my life's
dreams. I found a site that has helped me tremendously and thought
you and your readers might be interested. The site is by Marcia Wieder. www.mauidreamretreat.com is the site. She is also giving away a maui dream retreat that I think would be the perfect place to renew,
rejuvinate, restore, and set attainable goals!! Our world is changing so much that I am convinced the only way we can be successful and
have careers we are happy in is to find our passion. Once I found my
passion my dream career became evident. Marcia helps in not only
finding our passion but setting attainable goals to achieve our
life dreams.
Again, thank you for sharing and for such good information!!
May your day be filled richly with blessings and joy!
Gina
Hi, Great tips and information. There's not much to add, all the information you need about the specific subject is there for you to see. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to get some extra tips in case you have a real phisical interview. You can check a few in http://jobtips.com.sapo.pt. Stop by and leave your opinion and feedback..
Hi, Great tips and information. There's not much to add, all the information you need about the specific subject is there for you to see. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to get some extra tips in case you have a real phisical interview. You can check a few in http://www.tipsandjobs.com. Stop by and leave your opinion and feedback..
Hey Jason.
Great points - especially on my favorite, 'social networks'.
We all know loads and loads of people and they do too! So, by utilizing our online communication possibilities with the people we know already, we have a winning formula for hearing and being recommended for what's out there.
A very useful point.
Add that to getting really clear on what is our 'dream job' and how to get it once it's on our horizon and you have a winning formula
Regards
Martin Haworth
http://www.HowToLandYourDreamJob.com
Make sure that you fully use the possibilities of who you already know.
More people get jobs through people who they already know than you might think.
My research shows that almost 1 in 2 people had some sort of door-opener who at least put them in touch with the right person.
Occasionally it was almost spooky how two people could get together in this way, both solving each others problem!
Regards
Martin Haworth
http://www.HowToLandYourDreamJob.com
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