The Devil may want to hire you

Online Job Sites – Fact or Fantasy?

You know, I was just wondering about a topic to chatter about today, so I thought of all the hot topics: politics, celebrity, economy...blah, blah, blah. But it was the economy that really got me thinking – what of all those millions of people out there right now frantically looking for a job, and in some cases, any job to put food on the table?

This led me to think about all those online jobs sites: Monster, Careerbuilder, TheLadders, etc. Do these job sites really have connection power to help someone looking for a job actually find a job through their sites? I’ve never met anyone who has actually landed a job through an online job site.

In the past, I’ve used some of these sites extensively to locate potential employers, but have found that most of them simply serve to sell advertising and direct market services to job-seekers, under the guise of ‘further your education’, ‘get your degree online’, ‘make thousand$ monthly by working at home’. I did get plenty of calls from employers and recruiters, but soon found myself lost in a vortex of job applicants.

These sites also make it difficult to get noticed (in part through the fault of the job-seeker), because so many thousands of people are vying for the same jobs. The sites make it incredibly easy to just click-and-send your resume and cover letter within seconds. Many job applicants neglect to customize their cover letter according to the company and position to which they are applying. They think it’s like the lottery – the more you play, the better your odds of winning.

Using the online job sites, I found them overflowing with recruiters, vying for mass headcounts to land that one potential job applicant/client. Although some of the recruiters are legitimate, I’ve found that the really genuine ones are small recruiters who are almost exclusively found through networking.

Also, in this explosive electronic age where just about every communication and decision is made at the touch of a button, never underestimate the power of a well-placed printed letter mailed directly to a potential employer. Actual printed resumes and cover letters are really a thing of the past, but if your resume and letter ends up in the snailmail pile of the person you would be working for, you may have a big advantage over all those other job applicants vying for the same position. Your competition will be sitting idle by the thousands in the HR email clearinghouse inbox.

Although online job sites can be used for research and reference, here are a few tips that I’ve used to help land my next gig:

• Search Internet job sites to see what’s out there, what the high-demand jobs are, who the players are, and learn as much as possible about the company you are applying to.

• Make sure it’s a job you want. Alternatively, if you are just trying to make ends meet, when you get to the interview stage, don’t let the employer feel you may jump ship at any time if something better comes along. Besides, who knows you may find out during the interview that it could be a position you could be great at.

• Make customized cover letters for every job you apply for. This sounds like grudge work, but you can use the same basic style for each letter, however, just make sure to use the same keywords in your letter that the employer uses in their job description. Many employers using sophisticated filtering software that can pick out resumes and cover letters that include the same keywords they used in their job posting.

• Network, network, network. Never underestimate the power of your friends, family and colleagues. Everyone everywhere knows somebody influential. Before I landed my position, I asked a friend to ask his friend, who is the head of a company, if he knew of any highly qualified recruiters. He did not, but it turned out he did have a friend who was the spouse of someone who worked for a company that had extensive contact with top recruiters. A phone call and an email later, I had the ear of that recruiter and a direct line to the better jobs available in the area.

• Go directly to a company’s website to find jobs available. Companies will search their own database of applicants before going outside their network.

• Ask friends what internal job postings are listed at their company. Most companies prefer to hire from within first, and typically post job openings internally for their own employees to see first before extending their search outside the company.

• Keep a log of every contact, recruiter, interviewer you talk to or meet. In the job-seeking industry, many of these recruiters know each other, and know of all the hot jobs out there. Let’s say you’re meeting with Company “A”, and they happen to mention through conversation the name of someone at Company “B” - another company you are interested in - ,and you’ve already met the person at Company “B”. Find a diplomatic way of letting Company “A” know you’ve already met with Company “B”, or know the person to which they are referring to. The employer you’re meeting with may think that you are a hot commodity and they should act fast, and make a possibly better offer to get you before the other company does. But in all of this name dropping, be truthful. People in business know other people in business, and they may just bring up the subject of your interview in conversation. If the information you offered is not verifiable, you’ll be dropped. You’ll need your contact log to keep your facts, contacts and companies in order. (Did you get all that? If not read it again; it bears repeating.)

• In an interview, never talk bad about a previous employer. A potential employer may think that you will talk bad about them, if you eventually leave their company.

• The best advice I can give you for beginning your job search is this: Network while you still have a job. Take time to have lunch with co-workers and people you think are influential in your company. If you develop and maintain those relationships while you are currently employed, those relationships will become invaluable when you find yourself being downsized, and needing a connection or reference letter.
  
  These suggestions are by no means enough to land you a job, but they may help guide you in the right direction.
  
  And we all know the hardest job you’ll ever have is trying to get a job.