In this tough economy, competition for open job slots is fierce. So how do you catch the recruiter’s eye? What sorts of things do you do to maximize your potential of being hired?

The first thing to keep in mind is the recruiters’ perspective. Most recruiters are glancing through hundreds of resumes a day, searching for the one that best fits the job description. Thus, you only have one chance to make the right impression. Make your resume catchy and sophisticated. The standard size 12 typewriter font doesn’t do you any good. Instead, take advantage of free resources, such as resume templates on Google docs or in Microsoft Word. Additionally, make sure that you include every accomplishment that may work towards your advantage.

Once your resume is aesthetically pleasing, your next concern is how to give the greatest visibility to your resume. Companies like Resume Rabbit can post your resume to over 80 job sites for $59.95, but that may not be entirely necessary. With Yahoo! Hot Jobs, Careerbuilder, and Monster being the most popular places recruiters dig for resumes, posting to all three will give your resume proper visibility. Keep in mind that posting your resume to these sites costs you nothing.  So, cast a wide net.

As an active candidate for any position your approach should be a more aggressive one. In addition to posting your resume, searching for relevant job postings can be beneficial in staying up to date with new jobs.   While searching for posts on the big three (Hot Jobs, Monster, and Career Builder) may be effective, there are still more efficient resources that can be used. Sites such as Indeed and Simply Hired are increasing in popularity, and for a good reason.  By taking advantage of these sites, job seekers can view postings from various job boards and career portals simultaneously. Using Indeed and Simply Hired can cut the time you spend searching for jobs in half.

With competition for open jobs increasing more and more, its essential to cover all the angles involved in being an active candidate. Creating a powerful resume and posting it to the right sites is a great way to give yourself wide spread visibility in the eyes of recruiters. In the same sense, using Simply Hired and Indeed ensures that you are aware of any job postings which could relate to you. Taking advantage of these resources can make your path to finding a new job a quick and painless one.

So, we’ve graduated into the worst economy since the Great Depression, but lucky for us we have this handy thing called the Internet. This is a working list, so please add comments on other resources, or articles that you know about.

Tip #1: Leveraging Social Networks, and cleaning up your personal pages. According to the New York Times, more and more companies are using sites like Linkedin and Twitter to find and screen employees. This means if you aren’t using these pages, or if you are using them poorly, then it could leave you out of the eyes of future employers. Remember the stuff you post online can be seen by most people. Adjust your privacy settings and follow the general rule of thumb that, “if you wouldn’t want your parents to see it, then it’s probably not good to post openly online.”

Useful Social Networking Sites for Job Hunting

Linkedin- If you don’t know about Linkedin, I would highly recommend setting up an account. There’s a job search and it acts as a sort of “online resume”. Some companies exclusively put job postings on this site. Join networks to increase your visibility and make sure your page looks similar to your resume- avoid spelling mistakes, and keep it updated. Also, recommend friends and colleagues, who you would recommend outside the internet. Usually, they’ll return the favor.

Twitter- I’m sure everyone has heard of Twitter, and many people when first seeing this are very put off by it. It seems mundane, but if it is used correctly, Twitter can be a great resource. This article gives a basic overview on how to leverage twitter to find jobs or get tips. Keep your Tweets PC. That NyTimes article said that 7% of employers are tracking future employees on twitter, and I think this number is only going to grow. Also, there are twitter accounts dedicated to job postings.

There are also social networking sites that are designed for specific professions, experience, and companies. Be sure to research and see if there are any that would be good for you.

Tip #2: Use the Internet to find tips and articles to hone up your resume and get other general tips.

Google Blog Search is a wonderful resource. Just type in some keywords like “how to build a resume” or “how to network” and there’s a myriad of good (and sometimes not so good) articles.

Also, use websites like Digg and Reddit to find good articles. Type keywords into their search function and sort the answers by the highest rated.

Some good articles I’ve found:

Make an impression with your resume in 30 seconds

Resume Templates for Microsoft Word (download the higher rated ones and use them as a basic starting point for your resume)

10 Tips for a Slightly Less Awful Resume

60 of the most creative business cards

Tip #3: Use job search websites. There are many of these and it’s sometimes hard to sort through everything. I personally like Simply Hired, but there are many more including, Craiglist, Monster.com, and Linkedin. Here’s a list of the top 10 job search engines. Narrow down searches with advanced searches to make your life easier. Another tip is to look in job specific forums. For example, if you work in the arts, there are many art related internet forums. Search these for job postings and tips. They are great resources.

Tip #4- Don’t forget old school approaches. Print some decent looking business cards and use them. Use your networks. Join alumni associations and use college career services. Ask friends for advice or if they’ve heard of any job openings. These will get your foot in the door. Many people talk about informal interviews as well. This is asking advice from professionals on how they got their job and any advice they would give to someone looking to start a career in that field. Don’t forget to help out friends or acquaintances whenever you get the opportunity. This will open doors in the future.

Be proactive and good luck!

Know of any other resources or tips? Please comment below! Also, check out our post on Complaints from the Unemployed.

HRchitect featured SilkRoad in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Acquisition Systems vendors that businesses should consider. SilkRoad participated in the Onboarding Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow. SilkRoad competed in the HRchitect Beauty Pageant on Onboarding Systems in January 2009 where they were crowned the winner. Brian Platz, EVP and COO of SilkRoad also appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on March 20, 2009. If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, talk to HRchitect first. We have unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation.

SilkRoad technology, inc., a leading provider of talent management solutions, announced its second quarter earnings for 2009 marked the 24th consecutive period of sales growth for the company. Highlights from the quarter include several new strategic partnerships, continued industry recognition and customers purchasing multiple Life Suite solutions.

“Strategic partnerships help us to reach our goal of helping clients recruit and retain the best talent for their organizations. With partnerships such as the ones we have entered into this quarter, we are able to offer our customers a broader range of services, and often times reach a greater number of organizations,” said Andrew J. “Flip” Filipowski, Executive Chairman & CEO of SilkRoad technology.

In April, SilkRoad joined Jobfox in the introduction of ResumePal, the recruiting industry’s first universally accepted online employment application.  ResumePal works seamlessly with SilkRoad’s recruiting management system, OpenHire, and revolutionizes the way applicants and employers connect by eliminating time spent completing forms and allowing employers to get more accurate candidate information.  By completing a one-time online career profile, job seekers are able to apply at multiple companies by submitting with two clicks, instead of completing separate applications for each job listing.

Additionally, this quarter SilkRoad partnered with Simply Hired, the world’s largest job search engine and advertising recruitment network, allowing SilkRoad customers to even further expand their reach. Jobs indexed by Simply Hired through OpenHire will provide customers the ability to distribute and include their jobs in the organic listings on Simply Hired’s network of over 5000 new locations, including social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo. The partnership allows SilkRoad customers to reach both active and passive job seekers in new and innovative ways.

New Q2 2009 OpenHire clients include: Applied Extrusion Technologies, Inc., Arista Care Health Services, and SWBC.  

SilkRoad also announced a partnership with Deltek, Inc., the top provider of enterprise applications software for project-focused businesses, in May. The partnership makes SilkRoad’s talent management solutions more accessible to the government contractor market and other project-based industries such as accounting and engineering.  The companies have long maintained a strong relationship but this partnership provides an even stronger integration between Deltek’s market leading HRIS solution Costpoint, and SilkRoad’s Life Suite. Among other benefits, these solutions will provide for a more efficient onboarding process, thus increasing day one readiness and maximizing employee productiveness in the shortest time possible.

In the second quarter SilkRoad received much industry recognition including: 

• American Business Awards- SilkRoad was a finalist in “Customer Service Team of the Year” category in May for the American Business Awards.  The awards program annually honors companies and generates public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and business people worldwide.
• Network Products Guide- Network Product Guide honored SilkRoad with a 2009 Product Innovation Award.  The award recognizes vendors from around the world that are responsible for innovative and ground-breaking products bringing essential and incremental changes in all areas of information technology.
• HROA Award- SilkRoad was a nominee for an HROA award for the “Customer Relationship of the Year” with client, Plante & Moran.  The 2009 HROA Awards theme was “Be Innovative,” honoring individuals and organizations who have exhibited a commitment to innovation within the HRO industry.
• Tech 50- For the second year in a row SilkRoad was included as a 2009 Tech 50 winner by TechJournal South.  Tech 50 companies are recognized as the most innovative regional companies and are evaluated by technology innovation, management team, marketplace potential and success of execution.

Healthcare and health products continue to be a strong industry for new clients. Representative new healthcare clients signed in Q2 2009 include: Des Moines University- Ostepatic Medical Center, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Comprehensive Health Services (CHS), McLeod Regional Medical Center, and Sport & Health Inc.

For more information on SilkRoad, please visit www.silkroad.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

OK, we have gotten some good responses on our poll but not a lot of feedback. Please comment below and answer these questions; Have you gotten a job through one of the tools/websites mentioned in our poll or some other method? and which one? what has been your experience with the different tools we list? Your choices are;
job boards – (monster, CareerBuilder, Niche boards, etc.)
Aggregators – ( SimplyHired, Indeed, etc.)
LinkedIn
FaceBook
Twitter
Direct to company
Recruiter
Newspaper
Personal network – (family, friends, organizations, etc.)
Search Engines – (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.)
see results or cast your vote

Please leave a comment!

Partnership with World’s Largest Job Search Engine Expands SilkRoad Clients’ Reach

HRchitect featured SilkRoad in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Talent Acquisition Systems vendors that businesses should consider. SilkRoad competed in the HRchitect Beauty Pageant on Onboarding Systems in January 2009, where they were crowned the winner. Brian Platz, EVP and COO with SilkRoad, also participated in the HRchitect WebMingle on March 20, 2009.

SilkRoad technology, a leading provider of talent management solutions, announced today they have partnered with Simply Hired, the world’s largest job search engine and advertising recruitment network, indexing more than five million job listings worldwide.

SilkRoad’s partnership with Simply Hired will allow SilkRoad customers to expand their reach to potential candidates. Jobs indexed by Simply Hired through OpenHire, SilkRoad’s recruiting management solution, will provide customers the ability to distribute and include their jobs in the organic listings on Simply Hired’s network of over 5000 new locations, including social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo. This partnership will allow SilkRoad customers to reach both active and passive job seekers in new and innovative ways.

In addition, OpenHire customers will benefit from the automated tracking integration with Simply Hired. By automatically populating the source code when a candidate applies for a job through OpenHire, this will ensure more accurate ROI measurements by recruiters wanting to track their online recruiting efforts. OpenHire clients can take advantage of Simply Hired’s free Job Rank reports, which contain information about how well a company’s jobs are performing in the Simply Hired searches, including the number of clicks for that listing, the positing of the listing within the search results, similar searches, and the names of competitors with similar titles.

“We are looking forward to working with SilkRoad’s OpenHire customers to assist them in distributing their jobs to an even broader range of outlets,” said Simply Hired’s Tejas Saraiya, Director of Marketing and Product. “Simply Hired’s integration with OpenHire will make it even easier for companies to reach not only active candidates, but also those passive candidates which are often times so hard to reach.”

Simply Hired aggregates jobs from thousands of sources including major job boards, company websites, news outlets, and niche vertical sites, allowing job seekers “one-stop searching.” In addition to helping people to find their next job in the most efficient way possible, Simply Hired provides a “Who do I Know™” function that allows searchers to look up possible contacts at potential new companies via LinkedIn; a venue to research salary information; links to maps to help determine commuting details and other job seeker tools.

Companies have been using OpenHire to find and track top talent since 1998. Their patented job board integration, career site portals, intelligent searching, screening tools, and candidate communication tools make it easy to streamline workflow and lower recruiting costs, all while improving efficiency. These features, combined with Simply Hired, will allow SilkRoad customers to reach the maximum number of candidates in the most efficient way possible.

“We are very excited to be working with Simply Hired,” said SilkRoad COO, Brian Platz. “They have found an innovative and forward-thinking way of taking something that is typically an arduous task for job seekers, and making it simple and efficient. This is the same goal we work towards when providing talent management solutions to our customers.”

For more information on SilkRoad, please visit www.silkroad.com. For more information on Simply Hired, please visit www.simplyhired.com

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

Back to Simply Hired…

What else can you do with Simply Hired? There are a few useful tools available to help your job search.

Salaries link(top of page)ill give you a page with average salary information for the job you are searching for. Even better, you will see a list of related job titles. Just click on the title and see a new results list matching that title as a search. Very handy for trying to figure out what other terms to use.

Employment trends(top of page)Thiill give you a good indication of which job titles are seeing fewer or greater number of posts.

Tools(bottom of page):If you do not want to remember this website or bookmark it, go to the tools area and grab some apps or widgets for your social networks! Right now, you can get an app or widget for: Facebook, MySpace, iGoogle, and your mobile device. You can also grab an RSS feed or send email alerts.

Looking for jobs is hard. You may go check monster.com or careerbuilder.com and still have no luck. Well, do not give up! Try Simply Hired.  How do you use it?

Simply Hired

There are two search boxes. One for keywords and the other for location.  Or, you can click on one of the many categories below the search boxes. If you do not want to work in the U.S., you can click on one of the links at the bottom for jobs in other countries.

After completing a search, you have several options. You can use the left-side menu to filter your search by options such as: location, company, date posted, etc. Your search results page will look something like this:

We’ve recently covered opportunities for web workers who need work, including our interview with Gary Swart, CEO of online staffing marketplace oDesk, and resources for web workers who have recently lost their employment. Whether you’re looking for places to work, or looking to launch an entrepeneurial online effort, you may want to tune into a free, online event being held tomorrow by Simply Hired, in conjunction with open source conference application provider Dimdim.

The interactive event is being hosted by Sramana Mitra, a successful entrepeneur, Forbes columnist, and author of the book Entrepeneurial Journeys.

The webinar is to be held tomorrow, January 14th, at 11am PSt/2pm EST, and free registration is available at Eventbrite.  Dimdim is hosting and providing the underlying conferencing application for the event.

According to an advisory, Sramana will be speaking about and taking audience questions on:

Forming a business idea
How to find great mentors
How to fund your business idea
Mistakes to avoid

Sramana founded three technology-based companies, two of which were acquired. She has also had marketing and venture capital roles in a number of other technology startups, including web-based businesses, so web workers may find her input valuable, and may want to pose questions to her.

Disclosure: Simply Hired is partnered with the GigaOm Network, parent of WebWorkerDaily.

Every Tuesday on AltSearchEngines we invite two search engines to discuss a topic that they are experts about.  Tonight we are very pleased to hear from Maneck Mohan of Recruit.net and Lucas Mast of SimplyHired.  I asked them a few questions about Jobs.

1)  It looks to me as though most, if not all, Job Search engines are racing to provide the greatest number of job openings “on the planet.”  Is that the real name of the game?  the site which links to the most millions of job listings “wins?”

The number of jobs is important, but from our perspective the ultimate objective is not solely a vast quantity of jobs but rather in delivering a good user experience and thereby ensuring your visitors keep coming back.

Some of the factors that go into this include:

- Easy to use filters that can break down millions of jobs by company name, date of posting, category, city, etc.

- “De-Duplication” which is what we call our process of ensuring that jobs are not repeated, cross posted and duplicated across our search results.

- Authentication – which involves ensuring that the jobs are real, that the posting source is credible and not just “job spam” which is becoming more frequent with the global proliferation of free classified sites..

So ultimately it’s about the quality of jobs, speed, and relevancy (and not just the number of jobs!)

 For Simply Hired, it is about bringing the greatest number of jobs to those who come to our site (www.simplyhired.com) or sites that we power, including MySpace Jobs, Vault, job search on LinkedIn, and more than 2,500 other blogs and websites.  It is incredibly important that we search every place imaginable to bring our users all available jobs, whether you are looking for a job as an accountant in Los Angeles or as a tattoo artist in Topeka.  If we can bring job seekers relevant content that they will not find elsewhere in one place, we would consider that a “win”.

2) Helping job seekers find job openings is one thing, helping employers find good candidates is another. What are your plans for the latter?

Read more at

There were some interesting points that were brought up in my previous post on Simply Hired’s Lunch2.0.

Water pistols and tie-dyes and how they can induce flashbacks of the dot-com bust.

I admit I suffer from this as well. But probably because I barely survived the Bust and dodged the Pink Slip bullet a few times. It’s irrational, I know. But I guess it’s like PTSD. Certain things trigger it.

If you suffer from Post-Bubble Stress Disorder and want to get back into the tech scene without flashbacks, here’s how I deal with it. It’s overly simplified, I know. You can write a book. But if you need a quick fix, think of three letters.

ROI. The companies that tanked back then had fun with reckless disregard when it came to cost and the simple question “what for?”

Now this post started with Lunch2.0 and Lunch2.0 it shall be — why I think Lunch2.0 is fun yet makes perfect sense.

1) Not to get all cheesy here, but for little investment, there’s lots of return for Lunch2.0. From a conversation I had with one of the founders, Mark Jen, it probably costs about $500 (sandwiches and salad) to $3000 (catered) plus swag (optional) to host one. The return? Blog posts (ahem), plenty of links (search engine optimization, trust ranking, etc), plenty of buzz, and lately, mainstream media coverage too. Here’s one from the San Francisco Chronicle, and another from the UK’s Financial Times. Think back 10 years ago, how much effort would it have taken to get the Chronicle to give you a couple of column inches because you were hosting a lunch?

2) If you’re looking for technical talent, Lunch2.0 beats any recruiting event out there. Both in price and in turn out. A booth at a job fair will easily run you $3,000. Plus swag. Plus hourly rates to staff the booth. And for what? It’s a candidate market out there. The best candidates aren’t trolling the job fairs. They don’t have their resumes posted anywhere. They are passively looking. They usually like where they are while keeping their options open. Lunch2.0 events are great places to not only meet them but also talk to them in a relaxed setting. You’re getting the real candidate there, as opposed to the ultra-polished suited up and well-rehearsed candidate you might meet at the job fair.

3) If you’re a huge company it’s a great way to get some blogger love. I don’t know about you. But I just won’t come and eat your food and then say nasty things. Even if I hated you (in which case I just won’t go), ok so I don’t like you that much, I’d at least say thank you. The food was great. I had fun. Now, isn’t that worth more and cheaper than say…paying $1500 to get your logo on a jersey in some sports event somewhere (yeah I know…for a cause, tax deductible, etc…but we’re talking returns, here, peeps…)? Not to mention that at Lunch2.0, you’re the only star in the event, versus having to share the same space with 10 other companies in that jersey you’re sponsoring for $1500.

So yeah. It is fun and sometimes even childish and quacky (as Pedro C put it in the last post) but just because it is what it is doesn’t mean we’re headed for another bust. Having barely survived the last one, I have to remind myself of that too sometimes. These events are not only sensible, they are actually cost-effective from a marketing standpoint. I have to keep these things in mind to ward off Post-Bubble Stress Disorder, let loose, and have fun.

I got there late, but I made it in line.

No, not the iPhone line in Palo Alto. The Butter Chicken, Samosa and Naan line at Simply Hired’s Lunch2.0 event.

Met a few new people and caught up with a few familiar faces. Had to avoid certain people because I saw them reloading their Simply Hired water gun.

But d’oh I am back in my iPhone fever again so I can’t write a coherent post…so I’m just going to make a list.

Why Simply Hired is my most special Lunch2.0 yet.

1) I got lost on my way there. I drove around Google Country back and forth on Charleston Road for heaven knows how long before I finally pulled over and consulted Google Maps which told me that Simply Hired was on the other Charleston Road.

2) For 35 minutes while looking for Simply Hired, I was not thinking about the iPhone.

3) I met a few new people who aren’t really new we were just never really introduced. Finally met Terry Chay.

4) Someone approached me with a Lunch2.0 Moo Card and asked “is this you?” That made me feel special.

5) I learned how to make a tie-dye shirt. Step #1: soak it in water first. Very important. I ruined a perfectly good Simply Hired shirt because I skipped this step.

6) I learned the rules of Four Square. Holly Liu and Michael Li were kind enough to explain it to me.

Simply Hired, will be announcing today of powering the New York Post’s online job search. This is the 5th biggest paper in the country. They are also announcing something called “Resume Post” on MySpace. They already power MySpace Jobs. Not to forget they also are powering LinkedIn Jobs. I think they have pretty much covered all bases. Oh, one last thing, they have $17.7 million in financing from News Corp and it’s base of companies.

Похоже, что инвестиции, которые были вложены в Simply Hired компанией Fox Interactive, уже начинают приносить дивиденды. Вчера ночью, в 9 pm PST MySpace, которым ныне владеет Fox Interactive, открыл MySpace Careers, новый сайт по поиску работы на портале MySpace, сделанный на технологии и данных, использовавшихся в Simply Hired. Это интересная новость, в основном из за массивного траффика, который генерирует главная страница MySpace – на новый сайт стоит прямая ссылка с главной страницы Myspace. Ни слова не было сказано о деталях сделки, хотя можно предположить, что прибыль будет генерироваться (и делиться между Simpy Hired и MySpace) многочисленными рекламными баннерами, которые MySpace добавляет на сайте.

Сделки, наподобие этой, показывают положительное влияние, которое может оказать корпоративный инвестор на стартапы. Следует заметить, что конкурент Indeed получил инвестиции от New York Times в прошлом году, и они частично поддерживают NYT -овский онлайновый поисковик по поиску работы.

Источник: Techcrunch