So why are we doing Jobspeaker anyways?

Posted by jarlath in Business, Job Market on June 20, 2010

why change job search

Why would we try to launch another service in the crowded job market? Good question - well the answer lies in what we see happening in the job market today. We believe that the job market has changed significantly and irreversibly in the last couple of years. All parties in the recruitment process are seeing changes: employers; job seekers, recruiters and job posting services.

Employers are looking to do more with less; examining the cost-benefit of recruiters and the large job boards; exploring the benefits and pitfalls of social media from a recruiting perspective and looking for employees that fit better within the company. Job seekers are also changing the way they look at their job search and their careers: with the massive layoffs across the economy (I was one of them but more about that later) job seekers now tend to be less committed to a company and more committed to managing their own career; they are becoming less tolerant of the command and control structure of more traditional companies (read: Gary Hamel’s WSJ Blog); they expect more from their employers and are looking for roles they can really sink their teeth into and they conduct their job search very differently than before.

Recruiters too are seeing the difference: executive recruiters maybe not as much as others although there has arguably been less work in this area recently (I’ll get into this more in a later blog post). Recruiters in general though are seeing less work or are being paid less for their services, some have quit the profession and some are moving to be in-house recruiters. Offline posting services have seen huge declines in job posting revenue in recent years and this has contributed to their on-going decline (read: USA Today). Online services too have seen significant changes as employers have pulled back their advertising and hiring or have started looking at other channels. Monster alone experienced a 33% drop in revenue in 2009 versus 2008 (Read: Commentary). Hotjobs sold to Monster earlier this year which in part was due to the changes in the online job market.

So, what does this all mean? It means that we are experiencing a seed change in how recruitment happens and it will effect all of us. Those of us in full-time long-term employment to those in temporary/part-time positions. A job for life is a very rare thing these days and we used to think that a stable career means changing jobs no more than every 5-10 years, is that still the case? More and more employees seem to be changing positions every 2-3 years. And for those new additions to the job market, their expectations are very different than previous generations (Read: Commentary).

So back to the original question: so why are we doing jobspeaker anyways? Now that you know the back story it’s a relatively simple answer - we exist to build tools for job seekers looking for work and managing their career in this new environment.

How do you think we can help you?

First Contact - Don’t be a Captain Kirk …

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on March 3, 2010

This post is Part 5 in our 7 part series on how to manage your job search.

Congratulations you’ve probably done a lot of work to get this far and now you have contact with the hiring manager within the company. In Star Trek, Captain Kirk often wandered onto a new planet without finding out much about the aliens that lived there. Kinda saying, “Hi, I’m from Earth, you’ll LOVE me!”. Well, that might have worked for him but it probably won’t work for you. Assuming you are going to talk to this company about a role then you’d better do your homework on the company and the people you are going to meet. Arguably this stage and the next (the interview) are where you need to put in the most effort.

Now that you’ve got the introduction to the hiring manager you need to put your best foot forward and to do so you need to present yourself as the perfect candidate (without making things up). You need to work the network that got you into the role in the first place in a very short period of time so that you can alter your resume and cover letter to fit the role and company. Speak with those that introduced you to the company, speak with others that you know at the company or people who used to work there to get a better understanding of the company, the individuals and more specifics on the role. Most job descriptions are not written very well and there is always more information about the role that is pertinent to your application than can be explained in the job description. This is what you are searching for - the information that once highlighted in your resume or cover letter makes the hiring manager sit up and take notice. For some great advice on resumes and more generally on job searching, check out these bloggers: Susan Ireland and Alison Doyle.

It is our opinion that you need to customize your resume and cover letter for every role. You should maintain a standard resume for the major job roles that you are applying for i.e. a version for all of the project manager roles and a version for all of the copywriter roles. Then when applying for a role you customize your application (cover letter and resume) with details that highlight your skills/experience for the role even if that means changing just a few words or a sentence or two. In other words, you need to make the resume fit the job description and bring out information that address the must haves in the job description or that you have found in your research. Now that you have a better understanding of the company and the role than anyone else in the application process (based on the homework you’ve done) - you now must use that advantage to move your application to the top. This background knowledge also serves as a great basis for the research you need to do when you move through to the next stage, the interview.

Let’s not forget that warm introduction we talked about in the last segment (Approach) - now you hand your resume and cover letter to your contact at the company and ask them to give it to the hiring manager. Of course, if you can also ask your contact to recommend you that’s even better. But either way, it is your responsibility to convince the hiring manager that you are the person for the job once they see your application.

So unlike Captain Kirk, who had more than his share of unpleasant experiences with alien species - you can increase you chances of a positive response to your application by doing a small amount of additional work.

Next:
Step 6: Interview - be prepared!

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The Art of the Approach (networking to your next job)

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on February 16, 2010

This post is Part 4 in our 7 part series on how to manage your job search.

So I have to admit that writing this blog post took longer that I expected and I guess it reflects the difficulty of the subject matter. Making contact with colleagues, friends and other acquaintances in looking for a job is difficult, delicate and not what you would expect if you haven’t done it before. But before we get to how you go about doing this, let’s first talk about why:

According to a 2009 survey by Career Crossroads, 38% of all jobs get filled from candidates that are already known to the company. Only 8% get filled by candidates that sent their resume in without an introduction. So, are you better off sending your resume in the hopes of hearing something back or are you better off investing some time and effort to network so that your resume gets a warm introduction?

Clearly the answer is to get the warm introduction wherever possible, but how do you do that? That’s where networking comes in – it is an attempt to get that introduction through one of your existing or new contacts. In our opinion, it’s definitely an art rather than a science as it requires you to be creative, diplomatic, and delicate in how you find/approach people. You need to be able to understand the strength of your relationship with each individual and gear your approach based on that, plus other considerations such as: how badly do you need them to introduce you; how many times have they helped you before; the last time you’ve talked to them and do you have something to share with them. If you have established a pattern over the years to show that you have reciprocated any assistance given or kept in touch with people, then you’ll likely be helped. Otherwise it may take some time and effort in order to re-establish those relationships and politely ask them to help.

LinkedIn is a great tool to help you manage your professional relationships, but it too requires time and energy over a prolonged period in order to help. LinkedIn helps you understand how you are connected to companies in your Target list. Even with tools like LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook at your disposal, you’ll still have to manage it all yourself and keep track of your contacts and the result of conversations. In some cases you might already know people at the company. In others, you’ll have to carefully work your network to get to the hiring manager. In most cases though, you’re probably no more than 3 steps away from someone at that company. Start with the people you know best, but don’t expect a response from everyone – move on to the next person who will bring you one step closer to the company.

There may be cases where you’ll have to reach outside of your network altogether in order to reach someone at the company. In these circumstances we recommend understanding where people from that company might hang out. Remember face-to-face meetings are best where you can establish a personal relationship so whether it be a coffee house, a professional club or another social setting, you need to put yourself in situations where you can meet these people and where they too are more open to meeting new people.

But make sure to stay open to exploring new opportunities during these conversations as that’s the best way to uncover the hidden job market.

Next:
Step 5: You’ve made contact with the hiring manager, now what?

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Jobspeaker: “Manage your Job Search” FREE Service now available

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on December 27, 2009

Jobspeaker is excited to announce the availability of our next feature: Job Management. Using our FREE service, the Jobspeaker Firefox Add-on and our Jobspeaker Website you can now manage all of your jobs in the one place online. With the New Year almost upon us and hopefully a new job market beginning to open up we want to help job seekers land their next position. Our service helps you save, rate, and track jobs from any job board (e.g. careerbuilder, biospace, hotjobs, craigslist, etc.) or jobs listed from any company (e.g. ibm, genentech, facebook, safeway, etc.) all in one place. Get started organizing your job search today: www.jobspeaker.com or download our Firefox Add-on now.

Our new service enables you as a job seeker to find the jobs just once, then save them to jobspeaker and have a permanent record of the job. Then you can rate them, track them and make notes on them as you progress in your job search. You can compare jobs directly on one page using our jobs dashboard and monitor your own progress. Spending hours everyday finding the jobs you’ve already found across many different job sites or keeping a list on computer/paper is not necessary once you start using Jobspeaker.

We are the only service that is your “personal job aggregator” - you find the jobs and we’ll help you manage the process of landing that perfect job. We’ve developed this service because we believe that it’s you, the job seeker, who knows best where your jobs might be listed. You know, better than any service, the job boards that might list the jobs that interest you, the companies that you’d like to work for and the people you’d like to work with. So, while you search for those jobs, our Jobspeaker service helps you manage all those jobs in one place.

Try it out today and let us know what you think.

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How to Define the Goal of Your Job Search

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on December 3, 2009

This post is Part 1 in our 7 part series on how to manage your job search.

Defining Your Goal:

Before you start out on any journey it’s important to know your destination. In this case it’s a life-long journey so it’s best to be realistic. In other words, don’t set your goal to be CEO of GE when you have only 2 years of experience. You need to set goals that are attainable, but also stretch your abilities and afford you the opportunity to learn. The approach we are suggesting is best shown by using an example:

The Subject: Jean Hughes
She wants to move from project management to product management, and ultimately product marketing. She sees herself in a VP of Marketing role within 5-10 years. She has 4 years of experience in project management and enjoys her job but would prefer to work in areas that she feels more passionate about, has more aptitude for and where some of her education might help (she has a degree in Business & Marketing). Jean has defined her goals as follows:

# Jean’s Goal Jean’s Notes Jobspeaker Comment
1 Marketing Project Management I want to get more exposure to the marketing function than in my current role, so I think I can leverage my project management experience into managing projects on the marketing side of the business. This is a good approach, particularly in this job market. It’s not settling but it is being realistic about her experience and the job market today. While it’s similar to her current role, it’s different in a very significant way that provides her experience within or alongside the marketing function.

Thus, she is leveraging both her project management experience and her education while learning more to better position herself for the next role*.
2 Consulting: Marketing Analyst Working at a consulting firm will give me more exposure to lots of companies and their different marketing strategies. I may have to take a step back but ultimately this will benefit me long-term. By thinking long-term, Jean has decided that taking a step back in her career may be the best thing right now, in order to position herself better for her next career move*.
3 Senior Marketing Manager Perhaps at a smaller company my project management experience and my industry exposure combined with marketing education can be enough to propel me directly into this role. This is Jean’s aspirational role that would make her transition into the marketing function quicker and increase her rate of learning towards her longer-term goal.

Jean is also comfortable with the sink-or-swim aspect of this role - she has learned quickly before in some of her project work and so it’s likely the pros outweigh the cons. She enjoys the pressure that this enforced learning environment might require.
4 VP of Marketing This is my long-term goal. Keeping an eye on the long-term goal is a great idea.

The basic premise here is that you can’t afford to focus exclusively on one role and that you should employ a strategy that will give you tiered options: a role that you know you can attain based on your experience today, a role that is a stretch, a role that takes a different approach and even a role that is your dream job just to keep you focused. Then you’ll be better able to understand the pros and cons of each of the options and put them in the context of your long-term career goals.

* You’ll notice that we talk a lot about “next career move”. We do this because you can no longer rely on an employer to employ you for your career or to manage your career for you, you must do it yourself. Therefore, it is assumed that this approach to managing your career is now or is becoming THE strategy for job seekers. This is our recommended approach as it puts job seekers in the driving seat by pro-actively managing their careers and taking a step-by-step approach to learning the skills they need to get to the role they want over time.

Next:
Step 2: Understanding and choosing the right Job Search Strategy(s)

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Not your Parents’ Job Search

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on November 23, 2009

Before we start explaining each of the steps in the “7 Steps to Managing your Job Search in today’s Job Market” we would like to explain why a job search today is different than a job search 10, 5 or even 1 year(s) ago.

The recruiting environment is changing - online recruitment was a big thing in the late 90s and has grown ever since. Do you remember this 1999 SuperBowl Ad?

Great ad but that was 10 years ago! Online recruitment hasn’t evolved much since then and it certainly hasn’t lived up to the hype of ads like this. We at Jobspeaker, and lots of others, believe that the dominance of the large job boards is all about to change - online recruitment is undergoing dramatic changes now and over the next several years. It may take a while before a new model emerges and seriously challenges the old one, but there is such a huge amount of innovation in this space at the moment that in our view it will be a matter of when, not if the model will change.

Some leading indicators of this change:

  • Some companies are discontinuing their contract with the major job boards in preference for managing the job candidate search themselves
  • Recruiters are using Twitter and other social media tools to market and find talent
  • Monster.com revenues dropped significantly (34%) in the first quarter of 2009. Although Monster.com’s revenues in the more current quarters have rebounded, it’s unlikely that its revenues will reach the prime level again in its current business model
  • Only 1 out of every 6 unemployed people is actually looking for a full-time job - instead they are looking for short term work or contract work, starting their own businesses or finding other forms of non-fulltime work - all of which are not characterized as employment
  • Companies’ in-house recruiters are getting engaged in online communities to attract talent
  • For candidates there are now new ways of getting yourself noticed: Video resumes; social networking profiles, social networking advertising, personal brand management, etc.
  • New models abound: pay-to-apply websites; be-paid-to-interview websites; membership based models; candidate filtering models; job aggregation tools, etc.

To be fair, some of these trends have been accelerated by the economic problems we are currently experiencing. But that accelerated change may lead to long-term change as people on all sides of this market examine the value they are getting for the time, money and effort spent using the current model(s). When hiring was going well, nobody really paid attention to metrics. In this economy, however, companies, recruiters and job seekers are examining their hit/success rates.

Back in my parents time, circling the employment ads in the local newspaper was the primary way of searching for a job - that model has almost disappeared. Today, we think you’ll agree that there’s no shortage of online resources for the job seeker. However, with the proliferation of job sites, tools, advice and approaches out there, it’s now firmly the job seekers’ responsibility to decide which tools make sense for their situation. How the job seeker manages all of this efficiently is the key to an effective job search.

Next:
Step 1: How to Define the Goal of Your Job Search

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7 Steps to Managing your Job Search in today’s Job Market

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on November 12, 2009

The first in our 10-part series of posts focused on how to efficiently and effectively manage your job search in today’s job market. We have explored this topic before but realize that we need to go into much more depth, so we’ll start with a refresher and then take it from there.

You may think you already know how to conduct a job search, or perhaps you are now one of those people who either hasn’t gone through a job search before or who hasn’t had to do it in a long time. In any case, we think the suggestions we have included here (and throughout the remainder of our series) will help you navigate the job market today. We are here to help. Compiled from a variety of sources this is our advice for the steps that you need to consider and manage to find your next role.

1. Define your Goal

Without a goal you are like a rudderless ship moving in the ocean (the job market) without a particular port (role) in mind. Ideally your next role should fit into your 5-10 year plan that you have mapped out for your career. Even in these tough economic times, it’s good to keep your eyes on the prize while also keeping yourself open to new and interesting opportunities.

2. What is your Job Search Strategy?

Perhaps you know the one person that can get you the perfect job - then your strategy is clear. However, for most people, the strategy(s) are not that clear so you need to pick the most effective strategies that align with your abilities, your environment/locale and your goals. In today’s market, we advise leaning more towards establishing more personal relationships; and so exploring local offline networking events centered around your industry or competency would be worth considering. Similarly, deploying a strategy to find a contact at a prospective company before sending in a resume so that you can get a warm introduction to the hiring manager is a necessary tactic today.

3. What companies should you Target?

What are the companies you’d like to work at most? And which have the most chance of needing your skill set? Some people forget the second part - it seems obvious, but with the job market today looking outside your core skills is going to be difficult. Also, make sure you would actually enjoy working there - it would be terrible to get hired and then realize that the company’s work environment/culture does not meet your expectation. So, get to know them better from a distance - research the people, the salaries (Salary.com), what schools they attended, where did they work before, etc., to get a better understanding of who they are and what they might look for in a candidate. Once you’ve made this assessment, you are in a better position to make a decision whether or not you’d like to work there.

4. The Art of the Approach

So you know what you are looking for, you know how you’d like to go about it and you know where you’d like to work. It’s time to increase your odds of actually getting that job by trying to get a warm introduction to that company - this way at least someone will look at your resume.

Today there are so many ways to find out who you know online. LinkedIn seems to be the most useful today but you should not forget friends, or friends of friends, on Facebook, Twitter or other social networks. But please don’t forget offline contacts as well (e.g. your soccer buddies, other parents at the PTA, your school alumni association or your church). Personal introductions through long-standing relationships are better.

5. First Contact

You’ve made contact with the company and are now speaking with a hiring manager. It’s now your job to convince the prospective boss that you are the best person for this job (even if this position is only a backup - there a lots of people in fallback jobs at the moment, just waiting for the market to pick up).

6. Interview

Be prepared! There is no better advice than this one - know the company and preferably the people you are meeting. Know the area that you are interviewing in, use Hoovers, Google News to find out about the company, people, department and position that you are interviewing for. Other resources like Vault can even tell you a little about the interviewing process. When you know more about the interview process, the interviewers and the company, you can speak more to your strengths that are required for the role.

Be professional, polite and always follow-up with a thank you afterwards.

7. Offer(s)

With any luck, you’ve managed the process very well so far and now it’s time to decide. There are lots of different factors to consider, not just salary - make sure to weigh them all properly before you make a decision.

Obviously role, salary and responsibilities are significant factors but don’t forget that you are going to spend a lot of time at this company with these people, so be sure to weigh the positives and negatives of the people you are working with, the direction it puts you in for your next career move and last, but certainly not least, how well it factors into the rest of your life - your hobbies, your family, your commute, etc.

Good Luck managing your job search!

Our next posts will go into each of the areas above in sequence and explore exactly how to manage them appropriately.

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Acing the On-Campus Interview

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on October 25, 2009

It’s that time of year again: the time of year when the leaves change color, football season gets into full swing, and companies begin their on-campus recruiting efforts at colleges across the country.

But how can you differentiate yourself from your classmates in a crowded market?  How can you convince employers that they want, no need, you to work for them?  And how do you find the time for several rounds of interviews when you’ve got midterms, papers, and beer pong tournaments that demand your attention?  In this article we’ll answer these questions and give you tips on how to ace the on-campus interview.

How to prepare: If the company is simply looking for good applicants in case a position opens up, you don’t need to cram too hard for the interview.  But if they are looking to fill a specific position, you should spend several hours getting to know the company.  Get a really clear understanding of what they do, how they make money, and how you would fit into the equation.  Are they on LinkedIn?  If you know who you’re interviewing with, find out where he went to college, or what his interests are.  Is the company on Twitter, and if so, what do they like to tweet about?  Search Google News and see if they have gotten any recent press.  Read the company’s own press section on their website - what are they proud of, and where are they headed?  Use websites like The Vault to learn about your particular job description and industry.

What to bring: Several copies of your resume, your letters of recommendation, and any samples of your work that would be impressive and appropriate.  You should also bring the notes you made about the company prior to the interview.  These will help you sound knowledgeable during the interview, and will help you ask intelligent questions when the time comes.

Get ready to wait: Once you arrive 10 to 15 minutes early for your interview, be prepared to wait a few minutes until you’re called in.  If there’s an administrator present, be sure to ask the name of the interviewer.  Spend this time going over the information you have about the company and rehearsing your answers to some of the standard questions.  Go over some of your best stories for use during behavioral interview questions.  And smile.  If you don’t smile and make eye contact with the interviewer, you can just go home.  So even if you’ve got crazy butterflies in your stomach, you still have to appear happy, enthusiastic, and excited about getting a chance to prove yourself.

Use what you know: Unlike a job interview in the real world, in an on-campus interview you already know who your competition is.  They’re your friends and your classmates.  Think about who they are, who they know, and what they know, and use this information to guess at their strengths and weaknesses.  If you and your friends are interviewing for an entry-level programming position and you know you’re the best at Ruby on Rails, be sure to say as much during the interview.  Marketers would call this selling yourself based on your “unique value proposition.”

The STAR approach: On-campus interviewers are famous for using behavioral interviewing techniques.  This means that they will ask you about situations you have faced, and will use your answers to predict likely behavior in the future, should you get the job.  One classic behavioral question is, “Can you tell me about a time you faced a conflict and what you did to resolve it?”  The STAR approach refers to a method used to answer these types of questions: Begin by describing the Situation you were in or the Task you had to complete.  Then describe the Action you took towards resolving the situation.  And finally, describe the Results you achieved.  Keep the focus on you, tell the interviewer what you did, not what you might do, and give specific details but keep the story down to about a minute in length.

And remember: The interview starts the minute your name is called.  Use every moment you have to sell yourself, show off that you’ve done your homework, and make a great impression.  ALWAYS follow up with a hand-written thank-you note, preferably the same day.  You can give it to the administrator to give to your interviewer as he leaves for the day.

The on-campus interview is the first step toward the on-site interview and your entree into the real world.  If you take it seriously, you’ll already be light years ahead of your less enlightened classmates.

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I just got laid off - Now what?? 5 lessons for coping

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on August 11, 2009

I remember the time I was laid off from my first job out of college.  My boss told us all to meet him in the conference room.  I joked, “I’m not in trouble, am I?”  And he replied by giving an uncomfortable half-laugh and a nod toward the door.  Once we were all gathered he told us about how we knew that budget cuts had been looming, about how the jobs we were doing were never permanent, and then boom!  ”You’ve all been let go.”

After the initial tears, anger, and bargaining subsided, the cold reality set in that soon we would all be out in the street.  Fortunately my first reaction was not to panic, but to laugh.  I had a cynical, “of course I would get laid off from my first job” kind of attitude, and quietly accepted that in your career there are no guarantees.

Lesson 1: Don’t Panic.  The bright spot in any layoff is that most employees get some kind of severance package from their employer, even if it’s a small one.  People who have been laid off are also likely to be eligible for some unemployment benefits as well.  And you might be able to get free out-placement counseling from your HR department or someone your company has contracted with.  Take advantage of all of these services immediately, because they all disappear after a certain amount of time.

Lesson 2: Secure income. Make sure that any layoff payments, unemployment checks, and other sources of revenue are secured.  This will enable you to take a small step back and focus on how to get your next role.

I unfortunately did not get any unemployment benefits when I was laid off, so I had to immediately look for a new job. If possible it would be best to use the time these benefits provide to find the job you really want next.

Lesson 3: Work smart not hard.  I’m not telling you to hit the snooze button in the morning, but don’t start sending out resumes to every job you see online either.  A careful, steady approach will be rewarded in due course.  Depending on the size of your community, you may get a reputation for being someone who applies to anything and everything - and you definitely don’t want to come across as dishonest or indiscriminate.

I lived in a small community at the time, with only 1 or 2 major employers, and so my efforts were mostly targeted to those companies.  I had 7 interviews with 7 different departments of one employer, and got a job offer after number 7.

Lesson 4: Make lemonade.  Being laid off is a horrible experience, but you can choose to make it into an opportunity all by readjusting your attitude.  A career change gives you an opportunity to try something different, move to a different city, go back to school, or finally write that screenplay.  So decide what you want to do:  do you want the same job all over again or do you want to take this opportunity to find something in a different field?

Lesson 5: Start networking.  As with my tip in Lesson 3, you don’t need to e-mail every friend or co-worker you ever had just to tell them you lost your job.  It makes you seem desperate and unfocused.  Telling your friends isn’t a search strategy unless you’re really well connected.  Unfortunately in today’s downbeat market you have to be much more clever than that.  Target your networking energy towards reaching those that are particularly in the position to help you, and meet them in person to chat about the job market.  And always ask for advice, not for a job!

After I was laid off, my next job ended up paying almost $10,000 more per year, I loved my new bosses, and I had much more interesting work to do.  So being laid off was ultimately a great thing for me.  It’s hard to see that silver lining now, with daily news reports about job losses and home foreclosures, but it is entirely possible that a layoff could be a miracle in disguise.

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Tech Tips for Job Seekers: How to Make the Job Search a Little Bit Easier

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on July 18, 2009

Unless your career interests are so narrow as to only include one position in the world (for instance, personal assistant to Heidi Klum), there is a good chance you will be applying to quite a few positions during your job search. For example, if you are looking for an entry-level financial analyst position in New York City, there are hundreds of positions you could potentially apply to. Besides being time-consuming, this process is seriously tedious. But if you think smart before you begin, you can cut out a lot of the work.

1) Turn on the auto-fill feature on your web browser. For crying out loud, why would you want to type out your phone number on 350 applications? If you have that much time on your hands you’d do better to spend it counting the blades of grass on your lawn. There are built-in tools for this in the Google or Yahoo toolbars but also some very cool new tools for your browser to help manage all your private data, e.g. Sxipper.

2) Have your browser save your passwords for future access to sites. Every job site and almost every company has their own registration and password procedure to complete before you can fill out an application for employment. Having your browser remember the passwords for each site makes your life a lot easier, and it gives you faster access to the site should you need to look over your application again. Some products can accomplish both auto-fill and password management (e.g. LastPass) and more (e.g. Billeo), so going that route may be better than getting multiple tools.

3) Make a .txt version of your resume. Many companies require you to copy and paste a version of your resume into a text box as part of the application process. Rather than copying and pasting from a nicely formatted Word document, wouldn’t it be smarter to save a version of your resume as a .txt file? This way you only have to delete extraneous spaces and bullets once, and you can then spend your time customizing the resume to the specific job to which you’re applying. You can use Google Docs and/or Yahoo Notes to capture text files that you need to cut and paste again and again in online forms.

4) Keep a record of jobs to which you’ve applied. We have mentioned this tip before, because it is seriously important to stay on top of where you have applications and where you are in the application process. If you maintain a good record of what you’ve done and what still needs to be done, it’ll be a cinch to prepare for a job interview. If you get a call asking you to interview for a position and you have no idea what the recruiter is talking about, you stand little chance of adequately preparing and being an impressive candidate. Tools like Jing or Clipmarks can also help here - it allows you to take a snapshot of any piece of an online page. This is particularly relevant if you need to reference the job description and it’s not posted anymore.

5) Simplify and streamline your search by using company indexes like Hoovers. If you’re interested in working for a specific company or industry, a search on a site like Hoovers can give you a list of all the top national players, with links to jobs, financial statements, news, and expert analysis and forecasts. This eliminates a lot of guesswork on your part and can give you an edge over job seekers who are less savvy. It is also essential in preparing yourself for the interview so that you can speak intelligently about the industry and ask relevant questions.

I’m sure you have other tools or ways of making the whole process easier for yourself, would love to hear about them.

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