|
Job Search - Understand EmployersThink like an employer To be successful in your job search campaign you must think like an employer or a recruiter. If you are going to do this right, you need to appreciate the ways that employers sift through the flood of resumes. We call the most common process the screening. Faced with a pile of hundreds of job applications that recruiters typically receive, a screener would be more then human to give such in-depth attention to every one. In the real world, skim reading of resumes is very much a reality and it is easy to miss crucial information. Do you know what their objective is? We can tell you what it is not. Screeners are nor there to find the best candidate for the job! What they are looking for is a way to weed out every resume possible. The goal is to present whoever is making the hiring decision with a manageable shortlist of potential candidates - maybe 5 or 10 out of all applications they received. It's a matter of numbers! What screeners look for? Well, it depends on how stringent they are. Many will chuck your resume right away if they find any of the following errors:
How these folks can do this? You might be wondering how these folks can do this, after you spent so much time putting your job application package together. The answer is plain and simple - they can afford to because it is a buyer's market. Employers ask themselves if your skills and work achievements match exactly what they are looking for. They check if your cover letter is concise and targeted to the reader. If you have sent a form letter, you can probably kiss the job good bye. The list of reasons to disqualify you goes on and on. The new screening technology If you think the process is bad now, just wait. It is going to get better we think (or worse, depending on your point of view). This new technology could be very helpful to you. It could help you find your next job. We call it an "electronic applicant screening & tracking technology". Most human resources in small, medium and large businesses and organizations are using it. By using the latest in document imaging technology, they scan your resume into a computer system and keep it "active" for years. The computer can search for just about anything in your resume. You could be qualified and considered for jobs of which you never thought. The computer can make it easier for you to be considered for more jobs and keeps your resume on file, so updating your information is quicker. Here is how it works They scan your resume into the computer as an image. Then OCR (optical character recognition) software looks at the image to distinguish every letter and number (characters) and creates a text file (in ASCII format). Then artificial intelligence "reads" the text and extracts important information about you, such as your name, an address, phone number, work history, skills, degrees, achievements, years of experience, education, etc. in the form of key words. Key words refer to those words and phrases that are used to search of resumes for hits. A hit is when one of your skills matches a computer search key word. Why is it important for you to know this? You have to, because if you want to find a job you need to prepare a resume for the computer to read. You want it to be a "scannable resume". So, the computer system can scan resumes into database and rank them according to the number of resulting hits. A scannable resume should be clean so the scanner can get a clean image. The scannable resume has standard fonts and crisp, black type (such as a laser printer or typewriter with a new ribbon would produce), so the OCR can recognize every character. In addition, a scannable resume has plenty of key words for the artificial intelligence to extract. More skills and facts (key words) you provide, the more opportunities (hits) you will match or generate. We are recommending preparing a Key Word Resume especially developed for the above requirements. Stefan is a writer, webmaster and project engineer at JobEra.com. This site contains helpful information on job search and resumes distribution to job recruiters. For more information on international jobs, resumes and cover letters, please visit JobEra.com |  | | | RELATED ARTICLES Before You Begin, Know What To Expect - How You Can Make a Living Proof Reading From Home Proof reading from home is an excellent way to make money, right? How hard and challenging can it be to do some editing after all? How To Write The Perfect Cover Letter: Be Brief--And Be Gone! The best cover letters are 'one-page wonders.' Why? Because they suit today's busy employers who are already overloaded and often overwhelmed. The best way to catch their attention is to 'be brief?and be gone.' Leave them wanting more?so they'll call you for an interview?which is just what you hope for. Write a letter that makes your point about the job you want, displays your enthusiasm, and clearly asks for the opportunity to meet in person. Managing Change -- Endings Are Just Doorways to New Beginnings Every May we celebrate Mother's Day-a time to tell mothers everywhere how much we love and honor them. In the midst of all the holiday revelry we should take some time to reflect on just what this day represents-the end of nine months of waiting and the passage through birth's doorway to a new beginning. Your Attitude Is Screaming There is more attitude around than the 'traditional 'positive / negative attitude. This issue's topic will expose you to the other kind of attitude. You will also learn about the significant role attitude in the making your world go round! Resumes, Networking, Headhunters ? Useless Without Marketing Sweet Spot A career transition is no longer about getting your hands on a list of contacts, networking with headhunters, or going online to look for work. It's better than that. To All Managers: How Does ADD Affect Your Workplace? Tent caterpillars create a cocoon for an entire colony. Within one colony there are two types of caterpillar. One type, pioneers, weave long threads forming the skeleton of the tent. The others, the workers, weave cross threads filling in the structure. If there are too many pioneers, the tent is too big and collapses. If there are not enough pioneers, the tent is too dense and the colony suffocates. Viva la difference. Travel Writer Jobs, What Are They And How To Find Them Travel writing jobs are few and far between. Getting into this field is hard to do and requires a lot of training and experience. But, there are many benefits to them. There are many individuals who would love to get employment opportunities in this field. And, because the world is faster and faster becoming accessible to more people, increasing employment availability can be found for travel jobs as well. But, how does a person get in and how do they do their job? Who Do I Have To Kill To Get A Job? I have had more than my amount of trouble in getting a job. I did everything I was supposed to do. I went to an Ivy League school, got a 3.75 grade average, and then graduated as president of his class. Then I entered the job market. Getting Past Fear Have you gotten tons of career advice, solicited and unsolicited? You nod when you hear it and think, "Yeah, I know this stuff." So, what else is new? Ideal Job and Handling Criticism How many times have you been asked, "What is your dream job?" Telecommuting Resumes Your resume needs to outline your skills and experience, as most know. What some may not know is that employers want to know what you'll bring to the table. They don't want to know what your daily duties were. They want to know what you did for the companies you worked for that makes you extraordinary. Did you save them money, did you make them money, how were you the best at what you did, etc. Yes, employers want to know what your experience is, so duties are good to add. Again, the name of the game is SELL YOURSELF! This does not lose its importance in a resume. How to Think Like a Headhunter to Find Your Dream Job! In this ever changing world, we need to think out of the box to get ahead. This true for anything you do in life. If you want to succeed you will need to be creative. How To Get a Job Offer From Every Interview About four years ago a friend told me one night that she had an interview the next week and was looking for some comfort as she was extremely nervous, as most people are about interviews. I thought back on my my carreer and realized that in the nine year of my career I had been to thirteen interviews and, more importantly, that I had received a job offer from every one of those interviews. I did not accept all the offers, but the point is that I had not once been to an interview without getting a job offer from it. Cross Cultural Interviews At this moment in time, the increase in cross border human traffic has meant that companies are no longer dealing with a homogenous native community from which they recruit their staff. Companies are now facing cross cultural challenges in how they recruit, manage and develop a multi-cultural staff. One area of note where HR and management are finding difficulties is in the interview room. Create a Network and Catapult Your Job Search Networking is still known as a great job-search strategy, yet it eludes some individuals simply because they don't know how to go about it. Individuals also tend to shy away from networking because it's time consuming. Unlike online résumé submission or folding a résumé, stuffing it in an envelope, and adhering a stamp, networking requires far more time and dedication. The results, however, can be quite different than those experienced from traditional résumé submission. Practice Speaking For many people, interviewing is not a natural act any more than going on a blind date is. You are asked a bunch of questions about your work. You answer them. They ask a bunch more; you answer them. You're graded on your performance (you receive a job offer or not). Yet interviews are predictable processes and as such can be planned for Words. Words. Words. They're only words. Some believe the school-yard taunt: "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." They're wrong. Words can hurt you in the workplace. Dressing Tips for Interview Success Dressing appropriately for job interviews is one of those areas that puzzles some people. Career Killers to Avoid Many professionals and managers are so involved in day-to-day crises and fighting fires that they forget about a key leadership characteristic: self-management. Effective leaders are first of all effective in managing themselves ? their time, their focus, their emotions and their careers. It's too late to figure out what's next for you once your company has merged, had lay offs, changed strategy or whatever. Here are the biggest mistakes leaders make in their careers. Applying for a Job in Another Country? International Resumes Is an International Resume still a Resume? This is a very common question among those looking for work overseas for the first time. When you contact companies about applying for a job with them you will not often be asked for a resume, you will be asked to send along your CV. I remember the first time I was asked for my CV, I had no idea what they wanted and I couldn't seem to be able to find out, no one I knew, knew what at CV was either. Thank goodness there is the Internet now where information is easy to find! A CV is basically an international resume. CV (Curriculum Vitae) or international resume will differ from your regular run of the mill resume that you are used to writing. For example each country has different guidelines that they like to work within. Finding out these guidelines will take you much further in your international job hunt. |
|
|
Copyright © Advancing Women (TM), 1996- 