DID YOU KNOW? – 10 Effective Job Search Tips

By Kris Plantrich, Cprw, Ceip
Here is a list of not so common job search tips that you can use to your advantage to get noticed and be as productive as possible during your search. The important thing to remember is to conduct your job search like a job. Work at it every day, develop a plan and stick to it and don't forget to follow up on previous searches. Don't give up, hopefully the tips below will work for you.

1. Did you know Tuesday is the most productive day of the week? What does this mean to you as a job seeker? You can plan Tuesday as the day to network, to make appointments, reorganize job search files, or possibly re-touch on older leads. However you decide to spend your Tuesdays, make sure you take advantage of its’ natural productiveness in the work week.

2. Did you know that as many as 35% of employers are now using your credit report history as a means of judging personal responsibility, especially in occupations dealing directly with money? Something to think about and get in order before you begin your job search or at the least make sure you are aware of what others are finding when checking your credit history. Conducting a credit check on yourself might be a good idea

3. Did you know you could research the current earnings rate for your new position using pay comparison internet sites and increase your negotiating power by being prepared and aware? A couple of helpful sites to search and compare pay per job, industry, or location include www.salary.com, www.salarysearch.com or www.payscale.com

4. Did you know 65 to 70% of jobs are gained through personal referrals or networking connections? So get networking! Make a long list of all your friends, family, past co-workers, bosses, work associates, teachers, and professors. Also include contacts from associations, church or volunteer activities, hobbies, and your children’s schools and activities. Once you have a strong list start making your way through them to let them know what type of job you are interested in.

5. Did you know only an average of 36% of those job hunters interviewed regularly send thank-you notes while 75% of employers appreciate or expect the notes? Not only is it polite but it is a great chance to touch on something specific you talked about during the interview that will help you be remembered.

6. Did you know that over 90% of employers seek their assistant’s opinion when interviewing and making hiring decisions? When calling or visiting in person for an interview make sure to be polite and friendly to the assistants and secretaries in the office. Their impression of you might just get you the job or get you passed by.

7. Did you know business cards are a great way to network? Using a plain and simple card or with a photo works best. They are another great way to be remembered and are a quick and inexpensive career tool. Business cards work especially well when you have your resume posted online and can include the website on your card.

8. Did you know having a mentor can also be another great way to network? I know from experience that having someone more experienced in your industry and field to discuss ideas and questions with can be really valuable. They are also a great networking source as well since they are familiar with your skills, experience, and current objectives and goals.

9. Did you know 60% of large companies do salary planning in the fall? What does this mean to you? First, it is a great time to ask for a raise! If you are already working for a large company a fall raise while budge planning is going on might be easier to work into a budget then at some other time of the year. Secondly, knowing the hiring managers mind is on budgets and hiring needs for the following year they will be more interested in resumes coming in that fit their needs because it might save them money to not include your hire into next years budget.

10. Did you also know that 40% of job cuts announced are in the fall? This may be a great time to have your resume updated and ready – just in case. You will be ahead of the rest of your coworkers with an updated resume if layoffs occur and you need to look for work.

Kris Plantrich is the owner of ResumeWonders Writing and Career Coaching Services. She is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and a Certified Employment Interview Professional (CEIP) and is a member of PARW/CC, CMI, and AORCP. She has written hundred of resumes for all professional levels and industries and her work has been nationally published. Reuse of this article is encouraged but must include a link to http://www.resumewonders.com.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Recruitment Jobs: Creating Effective Adverts For The Internet

By: John Bult
The nature of recruitment advertising has changed dramatically within the last 6 years. During this time I have been in both recruitment, and the jobs board business constantly analysing the effectiveness if different channels to advertise vacancies for both our own medical sales vacancies, and also the recruitment vacancies on our recruitment jobs board.

Without question, internet advertising is now the most effective form of advertising for any recruiter. To clarify ‘effective’, it’s relatively much cheaper than any other form of advertising, in some cases up to ten times cheaper than paper, and it produces more, maybe ten plus times the volume of response. You can read many statistic about how many people would use the internet to find a job. In most markets, I reckon it’s pretty much everyone now. How many people do you know who don’t have a broadband connection (ie. ‘always on’ at a fixed price). Surely most or all of these would browse the internet looking for a job?

One can browse 100s of sector specific jobs over a cup of tea, even a beer in the comfort of your own home, without having to buy magazines and papers each week, in a very short space of time. Find the right sites and you won’t even have to do this, the site will e-mail you or even send you a text when a suitable job is posted.

I’m not so sure that recruitment agencies have yet latched on the magnitude of the change with many still spending huge amounts on paper advertising, when the cost of just one paper advert could cover an array of internet sites which would likely produce so much more. I feel there is still a perception that ‘paper’ advertising is the best medium for creating profile within a market.

In addition to this, the nature of advertising itself is very different and this requires a very different approach. We have noticed that recruitment consultants posting job adverts in the same style as they would have posted a paper advert gain a relatively poor response. The reason for this, we believe, is that a candidate browsing the internet, can view vast numbers of ‘very’ similar jobs in a very short space of time, compared with the relatively slow process of rustling through pages of different adverts to find the one that they want. On the internet, one can set filters to raise a whole basket of matching jobs easily. It them comes down picking a job that stands out.

Unfortunately, the task of writing adverts is not the most exciting of recruitment activities. The consequence is that many jobs are all rather bland, and to the reader might just as well be the same. For example, a typical recruitment consultant vacancy may look like this

Recruitment Consultant Our client requires a graduate with two years recruitment experience. You will have ABC experience and qualifications and be able to achieve 1,2 3 targets.

Firstly here, the title, reads exactly the same as almost every other title for a recruitment consultant vacancy. Secondly, the job itself almost reads like a set of demands simply reeling off a basket of client and job requirements. Consider the following advert on a page with 20 others written as above.

Recruitment with a difference! An open ended bonus structure, excellent career prospects, autonomy within your role and free membership of our neighbouring health club. These are some of the benefits you will receive working for *** Ltd.

Ideally you will have a degree…

In the first instance, this advert will scoop almost all the clicks from the vacancy page in front of all the others. Once on the advert, it will gain a significantly higher application rate. So what are the tangible components of this successful advert which generate the response.

Job titles

The job title needs to look different, plane old ‘recruitment consultant’ just is enticing enough and it will be a numbers game as to how many click this advert. The more ‘personality’ you can give it the better, it just depends how whacky your prepared to make it look. ‘You won’t find a better job than this!’ Will attract a lot more clicks, but may be incompatible and too informal for your corporate style, but the principle stands, the more personality you can give it, the more clicks it will get.

Job content

Jobs which begin with strong candidate ‘benefits’ attract a lot more applications than those which focus simply on client/job requirements. Obviously client and job requirements have to be in the advert, but put them after the candidate benefits. If your not sure how this job should be attractive to a candidate, it’s time to call your client and ask them why people should work for them, rather than somebody else.

If you follow these two basic principles, we reckon you could increase your response five fold.

Good luck

This article is written by John Bult of Recruitment Vacancies

Article Source: http://www.articlebiz.com/

Job Search Trends

By Kelly Liyakasa
As 2007’s crop of college graduates find work or decide to further their education, it leaves one question open for debate: How hard will it be to find a job this fall? According to industry experts and the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, the average American holds nine jobs between the ages of 18 and 34, when compared to Baby Boomers who held around 10. This indicates a huge shift in the attitudes of younger employees in their job search process.

To begin with, more employees are bouncing among different jobs, trying out several career paths and bettering their skills in diverse industries. Who wants a blank resume when they can decorate it with five work experiences, all teaching them new things and requiring different responsibilities? For this reason alone, the job market should see improvement, as employees are more open to change, leaving room for prospectives to take their place when they leave. Many Baby Boomers and their counterparts are coming close to the age of retirement, if they haven’t given in their two-weeks yet already.

This leaves the younger labor force with even more of a chance to excel where their elders passed the torch. Education, health and business services are expected to see the most growth in employment opportunity, according to government statistics.

With promising job market statistics in effect, a beneficial way to land these careers is through job search engines. Technologically-driven graduates are using mega-job search sites such as Monster and CareerBuilder to sift out potential career possibilities that match their skills and interests.

6StarReviews.com reports that Monster even gives job-seekers the benefit of using online networking tools, mobile phone job updates, resume uploads and virtual career advice. In this day and age, complete career resources are available via the Internet. When combined with a new wave of job openings, workers and recent grads are sure to reap the benefits.

Kelly Liyakasa is staff writer for 6StarReviews.com. Kelly Staller is site manager at 6StarReviews.com, a site dedicated to giving YOU, the consumer, the best product and service reviews around. If you like saving time and money by having someone else review leading sites and products, then Visit our site at 6StarReviews.com. Copyright (c) 2007 Kelly Liyakasa Article Source: http://www.articlebiz.com/