As most of you are aware, I won’t promote a product on Corn on the Job unless I’m certain it’s something that adds value to the COTJ community.  Today I’m promoting a new 100% online bootcamp that I’m POSITIVE will help you land the job you’ve been waiting for!

How am I so sure?

Well, one big fat reason is because I’ve signed up to be part of the boot camp!  Yes, I will be a featured resume reviewer in the program!  And If I’m involved, then you know it’s good!

Here’s some more info for you!

The fine folks over at Brazen Careerist are bringing you the “How to Get a Job You Will Love Bootcamp”.  The bootcamp kicks off on February 6th and runs through the 17th.  This bootcamp will be ENTIRELY ONLINE and the amount of information included in the course is just ridiculous.

WHAT YOU GET IN THE COURSE:

• 7hrs of LIVE web conferences with top job search experts
• 1hr of LIVE Q&A with recruiters on interviewing
• 1hr of online speed resume review and personalized career coaching
• 2hrs of online networking events to build your network
• 2 exclusive job search strategy videos from career experts
• Access to all course materials for one year

See that 1 hour of online speed resume review?  Yeah, that’s where I’ll be!

YOUR KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Three concrete ways to make sure your resume stays out of the dreaded black hole
• The top mistakes job seekers make online, and how to avoid them
  
• How to ace - or fail – the interview from three recruiters at top companies
• The one thing you must do in your first 90 days on a a new job
• How to find insider job leads on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter
• And more.

Please note that all the sessions are recorded and transcribed. If you can’t make a session, you can catch up at anytime and you’ll have access to the materials for one year on the private program website.

Bootcamp Dates: February 6th – 17th

Cost:  $95 on January 31st, $125 starting February 1st through February 6th.

To put the cost into perspective, I charge 49.99 for a resume review.  If you sign up for this bootcamp, you’ll receive not only a resume review from multiple career experts, but you’ll also be receiving behind the scenes info from experts in a number of career related areas.  It’s just insane how much you are getting for the admission fee!

I hope you’ll join us for the How to Get a Job You Will Love Online Bootcamp!

When it comes to making connections with recruiters through social media channels, the line between annoying and impressing is very thin.  Today I want to look at Twitter specifically, and provide a few steps for you to not only reach recruiters, but also get on their radar.  Here are the 5 steps:

Step 1: Find Recruiters to Follow

Half the battle is finding a recruiter that is specific to your interests and location.  While some recruiters need applicants on a global level, many only search for talent in a specific geographic location.

Here are some quick tips for finding recruiters to follow:

• Use Twitter Search and type in the word “Recruiter” and your city.  Example: “Recruiter Philadelphia”.
• Use FollowerWonk.com and click on “Search Twitter Bios”.  Enter the same search string in the example above.
• Search hashtags for things like #PhillyJobs, #ChicagoJobs, #ITJobs, #BostonRecruiter, and #JobHuntChat.  Play around with this until you find the right formula.
• Recruiters love to follow each other, so go through their following list and you’ll absolutely find more Recruiters and HR professionals.

Step 2: RT and Share Their Content

After following, avoid asking for help immediately.  I can guarantee that if you do this right away, they’ll be annoyed.  However, if they do have a current opening that you’re a fit for, then you might want to send a tweet about it.

In most cases, you’ll want to RT and share out their content to your own networks.  Start out first by RT’ing a few times a week, and then possibly once per day.  You’ll receive a few “thank you” messages back, and possibly even a question about who you are and what you do.  Congratulations, you’re on their radar!

Step 3: RT and Share Their Open Jobs

Even if you’re not a fit for their openings, be sure to spread the word and help them fill open jobs they’ve posted online.  This can go a long way and is similar to the strategy in number two.  Simply put, if you’re able to help them, they will happily return the favor without you needing to ask.

Step 4: Find them on Linkedin and Connect

It’s perfectly acceptable to find a recruiter on Linkedin and add them to your connections.  You can either go right ahead and leave them a connection request on Linkedin, or send a tweet to ask if it would be OK.  Either is fine in my honest opinion.

Critical Tip: When you connect on Linkedin, make sure to write out a message and delete the standard Linkedin connection text.  Remind them that you’re from Twitter and provide your Twitter name.  Quick example:

John, it has been great connecting on Twitter and learning from your tweets.  Wanted to network here as well!

- Rich aka @CornOnTheJob

Step 5: Wait For the Perfect Job

Maybe it doesn’t happen day 1, day 10, or day 50, but eventually they’ll post a job through Twitter and/or Linkedin that is perfect for you.  If you’ve done a great job of getting on their radar, sharing their information, and helping them with openings, then you might even be the first person they think of.

Just send them a Tweet or Linkedin message to confirm interest and then hang tight while waiting for their response!

Please keep in mind that making just one connection with a recruiter through these steps may not be enough.  Increase your odds and look to make 5-10 new recruiter friends on Twitter per month.  The power in numbers will only help, just make sure they are targeted and the kind of recruiters that you need to be in touch with.

Go get ‘em!

Oh, and make sure you follow me, I’ll help out when I can!

Liam Conduit is a HR Professional and has been writing industry related news and comment since 2006. Liam also has an interest in jobs, marketing and politics.

During the current economic doom and gloom, with an estimated 1 million young people unemployed, the age-old problem of finding is even harder.  Here are some tips on how to land a job in hard times, from networking to resume writing; discover how to get the edge over the competition.

Know your Trade

First and foremost, decide what field you want to work in, the more specific the better. Too many people make the mistake of blasting out their application to as many jobs as possible in the hope that someone, somewhere, will get back to them. This is a flawed strategy and it’s not hard for a HR professional to see desperation and a careless strategy.

Sell Yourself

Secondly, make sure your resume and information is up to date and truly represents who you are and what you are capable of. If your resume is looking a little thin on the ground, consider doing some volunteering to fill it out. Volunteering demonstrates your motivation to work, and will show any recruitment consultant, human resources manager or potential employer that you can be responsible. Another great way to improve your communication is to take on part-time jobs, which will teach you the value of working and show employers your ability to commit to paid employment.

Remember to present your resume in a professional way; IT processed is definitely the way forward in this regard. If you are technologically savvy you can take this one step further and create yourself a website. This has the dual purpose of demonstrating your computer skills and showcasing yourself in a professional manner. Putting together a WordPress page is both simple and can be done for free.  If you’re not sure how to go about it, ask someone or find a guide online.

Use Social Media Sites

Along with a website, you should make use of social media for your job search. Set up a Linkedin account and start making connections, you never know who might be thinking about hiring.

HR Software company CIPHR conducted some in depth research and discovered that a staggering 91% of employers use social networks when screening potential employers. 76% of screening is through Facebook, 53% through Twitter and 48% via LinkedIn. For an employer, you can understand the appeal of digging a bit deeper into the lives of those they are considering hiring. Note that during interview processes and over the time you are job-seeking, keep all your social media profiles clean and as employer friendly as possible!

Face to Face Networking

Once you’ve mastered the online arena, it’s time to head out into the real world and start networking. Here’s  the key to networking; have something to offer. If your primary goal is to fulfil your job seeking needs, people will be far less willing to engage with.

Find out what business people are in and figure out how you can help them. If you’re a copywriter and meet someone launching a new company, offer to look over or write their copy for them. You won’t necessarily get any financial gain out of this, but the goodwill you’ll earn will be priceless. If you’re lost for ideas of where to network, simply attend industry conventions and conferences within your field.

Conclusion

Fully armed with a specific CV, social media profiles to match, and a host of new connections, you will be well placed to land the job of your choice. Follow these tips and tweak it around to fit your own personal strategy for the industry you’d like to work in.

A friend from college sent me an interesting Facebook message the other day.  She wanted to fill me in on a cool strategy she used while unemployed to help fill the gap, but also make herself more valuable to her next employer.

Here’s a direct quote from my friend, Jana:

I had a temp position is advertising that ended in May. I wanted to switch fields but wasn’t sure where to go and my hubby was looking for jobs out-of-state, so I did not want to over commit to a new profession and then move. What I chose to do was take a retail job in sales, which i had never done until this time. So at 28, I learned that my experience in advertising and marketing made me a great sales woman.

Now that I have moved and am looking to get back into a professional field, there is no gap on my resume because I was doing something. I can now also add sales to my skill set.

Just thought this idea could be a refreshing way of looking at the advantages of taking a part-time job while you’re looking for a real job. I’ve found a lot of people who are doing the same thing.

What Jana did was find a part-time job that would be relevant to her career.  Filling the gap is easy, even though we sometimes make it harder.  There are a billion and one freelance, contract, and part-time gigs to fill up that empty space.  The difficult part is landing a position that is somewhat related and can be seen as valuable experience to the next employer.

Have you ever tried something like this while in a period of unemployment?  

2012 is finally here and like many people, I’ve made a few resolutions for myself. First and foremost, my main goal is to find a job and get my professional career started. This is a daunting task, but even more stressful when I think to add my internship, full course load and extracurricular activities into the mix.

How on Earth will I be able to manage all of this in the next few months?

If you’re a job seeker like me, I’m sure you’re feeling overwhelmed as well. Luckily, your job hunt can be made a little easier if you stick to one main organizational tactic this year. Not only will this help you to keep everything pertaining to your job search together, but it will help you to feel a little more on top of your personal life as well.

The best way to stay organized is to create a job search spreadsheet. Save this document on your desktop because I can guarantee you will be using it a lot! Programs like Microsoft Excel make staying organized super easy, especially for job seekers. I will use this program as an example.

At the bottom of the screen you will see that the program is broken up into “sheets.” I recommend designating one sheet to networking contacts and one to resumes and interviews, just to get started.

Networking Sheet:  Decide which method of organization will work best for you. If you only have a few contacts, alphabetical might be the best way to go, but if you have several connections at the same city or company, you might consider organizing it that way. Don’t forget, the spreadsheet can always be modified in the future.

After you’ve decided what your main way of organizing will be, break each contact down as much as you can. For example, create blocks containing their Name, Company, Position, Email, Phone Number, Twitter Handle, City, State and Notes. The notes block is where you can write details to help you remember each contact such as how you got connected with them, a personal connection (ex: you both attended the same university), or any other details. This will not only help you to remember them, but will give you a quick and easy reference point to bring to future conversations to help your contact remember you as well.

Resume and Interviews Sheet:  This sheet is key to staying organized.  If you plan on applying for several jobs this year, you can easily lose track of key details which can really hurt your chances of getting hired. To avoid this, Rich DeMatteo from Corn on the Job gives examples of details to add to your resume and interviews sheet such as:               

Update both of these sheets as often as you can so that your information is always the most recent. Even if you don’t get a job offer, don’t delete the contact information name. You never know when you will need that person in the future! Remember, the job search is difficult for everyone, but if you stay organized you will have a better handle on the hunt, and will easily find time for your personal life as well!

Have you used a job search spreadsheet before? What sort of information did you add to yours? I’d love to read your comments below!

Yesterday I read a post over on Life Without Pants that provided some much needed inspiration for today’s COTJ piece.  The post is titled, “10 Things You Must Do to Make 2012 The Best Year Ever“.   Go now or later, but definitely stop by and read it.

Let’s jump right into it!

1.  Increase Your Time Spent on Linkedin:  If you don’t have time, then minimize your trips to Facebook.  I’m almost certain that some people spend 10-15 hours per week just on Facebook.  That’s sickening, but I’m close to 20 hours per week, so no worries.

Make quality connections on Linkedin and set goals as to how many new requests you’ll send per week.  More targeted connections on Linkedin will result in more open doors for now and also in the future.

Here’s a beginner’s guide that I created.

2. Stop Applying to Every Job:  Applying to every damn thing you see is the wrong approach.  It’s easy for recruiters to tell that you are just taking a stab in the dark.  When you’re passionate about a job and/0r determined to gain a position in a specific field/industry, it shines through like you wouldn’t believe.  Focus in on a few specific job types to apply to.

3.  Ask For Help:  You’re not alone and help is easy to come by.  If you’ve been unemployed for longer than 6 months, chances are that you need to change things up, refocus, and/or hire professional help.  A Career Coach can do amazing things for your job search.

4.  Learn a New Skill:  Find a class or certification that’s relatively inexpensive.  While learning something new, you’ll end up boosting your resume and meeting new people that could potentially help you find a job.

5.  Refresh Your Resume:  Start over!  Research new formats to use and look for ways to spice up your content.  Keep the original so that you can copy information over, but it’s time for a facelift!

6.  Change Your Routine:  Start going to a different coffee house.  Walk/Run a different route.  Get a week free pass at a different gym.  Do things a little different for a while.  You may meet some new and interesting people.

7.  Pick Up The Phone:  While #1 points to spending ample time on Linkedin, job seekers must learn to take online connections offline as soon as possible.  Conversations online build connections.  Conversations offline build trust.

8.  Blog:  Social Media usage has seen tremendous increases across all demographics over the last few years.  More than ever, company recruiters are utilizing social networks to connect with and also learn about job seekers.  “Hire Me” campaigns were huge in 2011, and I envision them becoming more common and more creative in 2012.  Starting a blog for your industry will help you make tons of connections, while also furthering yourself as a thought leader.

9.  Set a Job Search Schedule: I don’t believe that a job search should be 40 hours per week, but I do believe it should be scheduled.  Schedule time Monday through Friday for your job search. This helps ensure that you don’t burn out and spend far too much time looking for jobs/applying.   Outside of your schedule, try to relax and get away from your search as much as possible.  It’s critical to recharge your batteries before the next day.

10:  Do Something “Weird” To Stand Out:  During long periods of unemployment, it should be obvious that something needs to change.  If you really are qualified for the jobs you’ve applied for, then what has gone wrong?  My guess is that companies are drowning in resumes and can’t find you.

Some people didn’t like this suggestion, but maybe you send your resume in a big empty box and have it delivered to HR.  Maybe you hand out resumes in rush hour traffic.  Maybe you create business cards for your job search and scatter them all over a parking lot.  While 99 people might absolutely hate these ideas,  all you really need is 1 person to think it’s genius.  You just have to like those odds!

What are your job search goals for 2012?  Would you change any of my suggestions?

Hey guys, just wanted to pop in real quick to let you know of a special sale on my Job Seeker Services.  From now until the moment the year changes to 2012, I’m offering 15% off on all of my career coaching services.

All you need to do is look up top and find Get A Job Now!  Check out some of the services I offer, and if you’re feeling like you need a boost in your job search, then let’s work together and get you ready for 2012!

** When ready to make your order, visit the Contact Page and inform me of the service(s) you’re interested in and that you saw the 15% off blog post.

Here’s a recent success story and testimonial from a recent Corn on the Job Customer!

Hi, Rich!
I just wanted to send you a note of thanks for your help.  You went out of your way to accommodate my needs (using e-mail rather than a phone conversation), which was very helpful, but more impressively, within two e-mails you were able to pinpoint so many things about my personality and how that would fit in to a career.  You suggested working in a non-profit organization which had NEVER crossed my mind, but it is EXACTLY what I want to do!  People who have known me for years didn’t even suggest that!

And thanks to your guidance, I already have a job starting out as a volunteer with a rescue organization, and they’ve agreed to create a formal intern program just so I can learn about every aspect of the shelter!

If it weren’t for your support and expertise, I probably would have ended up in another dead end retail job instead of a career that I am passionate about.

I can’t thank you enough for your support, understanding, and professional advice!
-Darcy

Before Corn on the Job’s birth, I spent many great days as a Corporate Recruiter.  There were a number of joys that go along with a job like that.  Here are a couple…

•  Each time I located talent and turned that candidate into a new employee for the company, it felt like I was giving someone a new life.  It’s a very cool feeling.
• Helping a troubled or overworked hiring manager make sense of an interview process was also very cool

Send Your Resume With a Gift

Does Sending a Gift Guarantee a Job?

Absolutely not, but I promise you’ll be remembered!  Up above I mentioned that not every agency recruiter that sent a gift was rewarded with a job to work on for us.  While that’s true, I was much more likely to return their phone calls in the future and I always remembered their nice holiday gesture.

If you send a gift with your resume, you’re absolutely going to be remembered, and more importantly, you’ll be noticed.  After this point, it’s up to your resume to show you’re the person they should hire.  But even if you’re resume isn’t what they want to read, you just might get a call, even if all they have to say is, “thanks”.

Final Thoughts From COTJ

Think back to your childhood.  I know that when I had my choice of opening up a gigantic wrapped box or an envelope, I always chose the big box with a bow!  Always.Well, while people grow up, some things never change.  Whenever I was delivered a box with my name on it, I’d drop the stack of resumes, pick up a pair of scissors, and run dangerously towards my delivery!

During the Social Media Plus summit yesterday here in Philadelphia, I had time to chat with Michelle Bizon, a local pal that I’ve known through the interwebs for a while, but had never met IRL.  Naturally, Michelle and I talked at length about her job search, and I immediately noticed that she needed more focus.  I won’t go into details, but when I began giving her tips on how to organize, track, and measure her job search, she agreed that I should turn this advice into a blog post.  Well, here it is…

…and damn, I’m extremely proud of this step by step guide I’ve created.  Honestly, it may be the most useful blog post I’ve ever wrote for job seekers.  Let’s get to it…

5 Ways To Track, Measure, and Optimize Your Job Search

1. Write Out EVERYTHING You Want and Need From A Job

When  you aren’t clear about the exact jobs you want to apply for, then you end up sending your resume to everything on the damn internet.  It’s a terrible strategy.  In the end, you forget which jobs you even looked at, and it comes across as desperate to employers.

Write out a list of 15-50 things that you WANT and NEED from your next job.  Write down everything from the location, to hours, to type of company, to industry, to type of manager, to the skill sets the job description requires, to… you get the point.

Have this master sheet available at all times and only apply to jobs that match. When you do this correctly, you’re able to ensure you’re applying to jobs that you WILL love and be much more focused when actually looking for jobs.

2. Use The List You Create in Step 1 to Build Your Resume & Cover Letter

If you’re REALLY successful at building your jobs wish list, you’ll find that the positions you want to apply for online will have the same words in both your wish list and job description.  Since most employers use ATS Systems that track key words found in the resume and job description, you’ll want to boost the words from your wish list into your resume and cover letter.

Make sense?  I’m going to assume it does, but if not, just shout out and let me know in the comments.

3.  Set Weekly Application Submittal Goals

Great, you’ve figured out what your must haves are for your next job and you’ve built a focused resume and cover letter that matches job descriptions that you’re interested in.  Now it’s time to set your weekly submittal goals!

It’s important to set a weekly submittal goal for a few reasons.

• If you don’t set submittal goals, you’ll either spend far too little time on  your job search or far too much time.  Both are really bad for you physically and mentally.
• Establishing a routine is important in a job search.
• If you’re not successful, you know that you need to increase your submittal goal.

4.  Create Spreadsheet For Resume Submittal Information

When you’re applying to 5, 10, 15, or more jobs per week, it’s beyond critical to import as much information about the jobs as possible.  Some of  the information you want to capture is:

• Company and contact name
• Submittal date
• Skills required for job
• Any and all words on the job description that match your wish list
• Industry
• Step reached in hiring process (waiting, never heard back, phone screen completed or scheduled, interview completed or scheduled, and rejected)

5.  Review, Revise, and Repeat

Now that you’ve gone through and tracked all of the jobs you’ve applied to, you can go through and start analyzing your job search data.  Probably best to do this monthly, but you can also go for a bi-weekly review cycle if you’re on a tight deadline for your next job.

• Review:  Review the information field that explains the outcome of your resume submittals.  Review the companies that decided to go to the next step of the process after you submitted your resume.  Look closer at the companies that rejected you immediately.  Study the companies that decided to interview you after a phone screen.  What are the similarities between these companies?   Try to identify why certain organizations found you attractive or unattractive.  Pull out the job descriptions and search for your very own Job Search Da Vinci Code!

• Revise:  What can you revise about your job search?  If you seem to be on target, but haven’t passed the phone screen, you might want to increase resume submittals.  If you’ve barely received anything from companies, maybe you need to change your resume or tweak up your wish list.

• Repeat:  It’s time to go through the process again.  Hopefully, this time you’ll see success.  If not, then continue to Review, Revise, and Repeat!

Back in July of 2009, my life was quite a whirlwind of confusion.  Corn on the Job  launched that month, just 4 months after the entire HR department (that means me) was cut after an acquisition at my company.  Initially, I created this here blog as a way to give back and help job seekers, but blogging and the quick mastery of social media gave my job search more than I could ever imagine.

You see, at that time in my life, I was lacking direction and focus.   I had just about 4 years of experience in recruiting and was close to finishing my Masters in Human Resources from Villanova University.  On paper one might assume I was being prepared for HR Glory.  To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled.  Going back to what was familiar just wasn’t exciting anymore.

The True Power of Social Media

The social channels I used, specifically Twitter, gave me access to basically anyone I wanted.  While I was connecting with job seekers, I also was able to reach out to other bloggers, recruiters, HR folks, and others who felt lost like I did.

What did I do?

I started packing my days with phone calls.  I used Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin to start the conversation and build connections.  Then I’d reach out and see if they had interested in chatting on the phone.  Everyone had interest.  No one turns down a phone call.

It was then that I realized the true power of social media.  Insert smile face.

The conversations I had were highly inspiring and shed light on new areas for my  career and/or new paths I could take.  I even remember very warm job leads coming from those first phone calls I had.  It was unreal.

I can still remember my first calls with Jessica Miller-Merrill, Maren Hogan, Mark Stelzner, Steve Levy, Sarah White, Jason Seiden, William Tincup, Matt Cheuvront, and so many others.

Social Media led to reconnecting with Marty McDonald, the dude who started Bad Rhino with me this year.  He and I had worked at the same company for a short time in 2005, and the new 2.0 world gave us a chance to catch up again.  Not only did this reconnect lead to a contract recruiting gig in the summer of 2011, it ultimately led to the formation of Bad Rhino, a company I grow more proud of with each day that passes.

Pack Your Week With Phone Calls

Start utilizing the true power of Social Media and take the conversation offline.  Social Media is where the conversation starts, but you MUST take it to the next step with your connections.

Build your connections through tweets, status updates, Linkedin group conversations, or however you’d like.  Once you feel comfortable, ask someone if they’d like to chat on the phone or on Skype.   You’ll find that “no” is a rare answer.

When Do I Talk About My Job Search?

On your calls, simply have a conversation.  Sounds easy, but it may be difficult to not jam, “I need a job badly, can you help me?”, somewhere in the call. Simply ask folks about their world, their career, and their life.  Trust me, they’ll ask you about your situation.  That’s when you bring up your career and what you’re looking for.

You’ll be surprised how many new ideas for your career and search come up because of these phone calls.

How Many Phone Calls Per Week?

I’m challenging you to schedule five phone calls per week.  It’s not that bad.  Don’t fuss or fight me on this.

If you were to have five phone calls per week (20-25 per month), I can almost guarantee you’ll increase your job leads, phone screens, and interviews.  You’ll also gain insight from others about who you are and what you need to do with your life.

Who is going to take me up on the challenge?  Any questions?