How to network with people at the company where you're applying

Dana Manciagli

Question
I just found a few positions at a company I want to work for and I even know two people who work there. I was thinking of shooting the two people my resume. Is that what I should do next?

Advice from Career Mojo

Want the short answer? No! But let me be a little more helpful.
First, never, ever, ever send your resume alone when applying to a job (unless the company limits you to a strict template) or when networking for someone’s help.

Here’s a better way to handle it:

Apply via the company website
Write a personalized letter to each of your network contacts,
Follow up with your contacts seven working days later.

Read all of the answers, tips, and the complete article

8 Of The Strangest Interview Questions Job Candidates Have Asked

By Gwen Moran

We've established that hiring managers ask some bizarre questions, but some job seekers have a surprising amount of chutzpah too.

If you've ever squirmed in an interview when your potential boss asks “If you were a box of cereal, what would you be and why?” then you know that some businesses are transforming the interview process as they seek to get past the well-rehearsed answers.
But hiring managers don't have a monopoly on catching someone off guard. Not all interviewees are on their best behavior.
These brave current and former hiring managers are opening up to share the most eye-popping questions job candidates have asked them.

1. Can mom come, too?

2. Would you pay me less so I can stiff my ex?

3. Mind if I stay for lunch?

4. Is your boss single?

5. Are you going to eat that?

6. May I bark at your dogs?

7. When will my drug test be clean?

8. Is it okay if I eat my lunch while we talk?

Read about all 8 and the complete Fast Company story

6 Reasons Why Your Resume Isn’t Getting A Response

by Jessica Holbrook Hernandez

It can be hard to ascertain if it’s your resume, the job market, or who knows what else when you’re job searching and your phone just isn’t ringing. I’m sure your mind begins to wander as you anxiously await an employer’s call or e-mail. Many job seekers have called us and said “I think it’s my resume, but I’m not sure ….” After reviewing their documents, I find myself telling them “Yes, it’s your resume” 99% of the time.

So, how do you know if it’s really your resume or if it’s something else? Here are a few reasons your why your resume isn’t getting a response:

1. It Still Has An Objective Statement

2. It Lacks Any Form Of Personal Branding

3. It’s Fluffy

4. Accomplishments Are Not Highlighted

5. Duties And Responsibilities Have Taken Over

6. Metrics, Facts, And Figures Are Nowhere To Be Found

The Next Step?

Read more about all 6 reasons, the next step, and the complete Careerealism article

1. It Still Has An Objective Statement
Read more at http://www.careerealism.com/resume-isnt-getting-response-reasons/#Y0xwpP7RI0Ogtlir.99

Out With The Old: Job Searching The 21st Century Way

by Audrey Thompson

Yes, the job market is a saturated one – with more people seeking employment than there are positions available. In a time when unemployment is in the double digits in some areas, it can be agonizing to turn in application after application and never hear back. While the jobless numbers may be alarming, there are actually more opportunities out there than most people realize. It’s about knowing where to look and how to make yourself stand out among the sea of competition.

If you are still physically traveling from one place to another to enquire in person about a job opening, then you are missing on scores of potential opportunities with your name written all over them. This is not to say that you shouldn’t look for work in this manner; in fact, there are occasions when it would be appropriate to do so. However, it shouldn’t be your only way. Yes, there are some technophobes out there that still prefer the pre-Internet way of doing things, but one has to be willing to adapt to the technologies prospective employers are using to scout for the best talent.

Here are some tips for job searching the 21st century way:

1. Be Proactive Online

2. Get Friendly With Social Media

3. Make Your Application/Resume Stand Out Like A Diamond In The Rough

4. What If You Lack The Education/Experience?

Read how to implement each of these 4 ways and the complete Careerealism article

5 Things Recruiters Wish You Knew About Career Fairs

By Melissa Suzuno

If you think career fairs are intimidating, you’re definitely not alone. In a recent survey of AfterCollege users, 26.1% said they’d never even attempted to go to one, and 38.5% said career fairs were too crowded and they couldn’t talk to the companies they were interested in.

We get it—you’re in a room full of people who have the power to make a decision that’ll influence the rest of your life (i.e. whether or not to hire you). No presh.

Seriously, though. You already know this is a high-stakes situation and it can feel like everything is out of your hands, but there are actually a few things YOU can do to improve your chances of making a connection and impressing your recruiter.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with a handful of recruiters from a range of industries including multinational corporations, non-profits, and federal agencies. They may recruit for very different types of jobs, but their descriptions of career fair experiences were all surprisingly similar. Here are a five little nuggets o’ wisdom I picked up from our discussion.

1. Your Appearance is a Reflection of Your Attitude

2. Listening is More Important Than Speaking

3. Try Not to Take Rejection Personally

4. You Have to Fight Your Own Battles

5. Recruiters Are People, Too

Read more about each of the 5 things and the complete article

6 Ways to Crack the 'Hidden' Job Market

posted by Nancy Collamer

It seems almost a cruel joke being played on people desperate to find work: Most jobs getting filled these days aren’t even advertised.

Instead, they’re typically part of the hidden job market — those millions of openings that never get formally posted. It now accounts for up to 80 percent of hires, according to some estimates.

Given the choice, most employers prefer to fill positions without advertising. It saves money and time. More important, managers who do the hiring often believe the most suitable candidates are people who already work for their firms (or once did) and referrals from staffers.

But how can you get clued in to those hush-hush positions so you can apply for them? The answer: It’s all about connections.

6 Ways to Find Hidden Jobs

Here are six smart strategies to help you find out about “hidden jobs” by improving your networking skills, leveraging technology and expanding your reach.

1. Change the way you network

2. Join a professional networking group

3. Contact employers directly

4. Sign up for Google News Alerts

5. Attend a conference

6. Finally, if you like your current employer but not your particular job, snoop around at work

Find out more about each of these 6 ways and the complete article

The most important hiring criteria - Cultural Fit

The most important hiring criteria for your executives is cultural fit. You need to work with people who work like you do, and who enjoy and appreciate your style and pace.

It doesn’t matter how smart or experienced people are, if they don’t match your style it’ll never work. You need to love working with them, and them with you.

Work with people who argue with you and tell you no. Be willing to fight like hell during the day but still love each other when you go home.

Don’t work with people you don’t love. There’s no short term gain that is worth sacrificing for working with someone you do not love working with. If you aren’t enjoying looking at each other each day, you’re working with the wrong people.

Here are the criteria I review executives on:   Read the full Recruiting Animal article

12 Essential Job Hunting Secrets

Lou Adler, LinkedIn

In the past 30 years, on more than one thousand different search projects, I must have debriefed four thousand different hiring managers and candidates. The big aha from all this: getting a job is as much art as science, with a lot of luck mixed in.

Regardless, by knowing what to do and not to do, job-seekers can better position themselves to be found more easily, assessed more accurately, and getting an offer more likely. Following is my shortlist of the required dance steps.

Increase Your Chances to Be Found

Implement a 20/20/60 job-seeking plan.

Don’t Get Excluded When First Contacted

Be strategic, not tactical

Make Sure You’re Accurately Assessed

Ask job-related and forced-choice questions.

Negotiate the Job, Not the Compensation

Find out where you stand.

See all 12 secrets and the complete article

6 Ways to Ensure The Cover Letter You Write Is Read

Lisa Rangel

Ensure your cover letter is short

Address your cover letter to a person—an actual person!

Specify how you found the person that you are emailing.

Be explicit as to what job you are looking for, if it is an exploratory request, or submitting to, if there is a job posting.

Do not write the cover letter as a prose version of your resume.

Help the reader connect the dots as to why they should take action

Find out more about all 6 ways and the complete Chameleon Resumes article

Top 10 Resume Trends For 2014

by Jessica Holbrook Hernandez

It’s time to take a fresh look at your job search and your resume. Below, I’ve detailed what I believe are going to be the top 10 resume trends for 2014.

1. The Social Media Resume

2. The Infographic Resume

3. The Facebook Timeline Resume

4. Video Resumes

5. Resumes That Raise The Bar

6. Charts And Graphs

7. Quotations

8. LinkedIn

9. Career Summaries Don’t Have To Be Boring

10. Forget The Fluff

Find out about all 10 and read the complete Careerealism article

Use Employers’ Social Media to Your Job Search Advantage

by Alexis Caffrey

With employment on the rise and companies investing more and more to find top talent, job candidates can (and should) invest time to discern if a company is right for them before accepting an offer. One way to do so is to note the organization’s presence online, including their recruitment site, social media channels, and employee interviews.

There can be a lot of web noise when you’re reading these pages, but an astute candidate can learn a lot about a company, its values and perks with a little research. Here are three examples of companies who reveal important information about their culture through their web presence, plus key takeaways for doing your own employer branding research.

Find out more and how - Read the complete article

4 Job Search Starter Strategies for The New Year

By Lea McLeod

So often I get a call from prospective job search clients. They usually tell me that they are applying to jobs but not hearing anything back. To me, that’s a sign that they probably don’t have a good job search strategy in place.

If you look at the numbers, you’ll know why. According to research by InterviewSuccessFormula.com, there were 3.6 million job openings at the end of 2012. But only about 20% of those available jobs were actually posted somewhere.

So if your strategy is “apply to jobs” you have 2 problems:

You are missing 80% of the potential market and,
You are bottom feeding with everyone else whose job search activity is limited to “applying for jobs” that are posted.

What you NEED is a more comprehensive strategy, and one that will position you to compete both in a difficult job market, and, one wherein the vast majority of job finding is dependent on the relationships you build.

Here are 4 strategies that will get you started.

Set your goal.
Develop your self-marketing profile.
Target companies and organizations you’d like to work for.
Begin reaching out to your network.

JobSearchJedi.com