After all, sometimes we all need help getting out of our rut. Know that if the current way you are searching for a job isn’t yielding the results you expect, it’s time to change your strategy. If your job search consists mainly of scouring the big job boards and registering on your state’s one-stop-shop website, know that there is so much more you can do to improve the odds of getting off unemployment or into your first professional gig post graduation.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

Here is the 10 step strategic job search plan I discuss when I go out to talk to college students, job clubs and with individuals I coach on their job search.

1. Identify the position you seek (be realistic or this will just be a futile exercise in fantasy and frustration). You may be open to or skilled in multiple jobs but pick the one you are most qualified for and most would like to be employed in.
2. Pull up your resumé on the screen and tailor it to this position. Mentally assume the position you have selected and review your resume to see that the professional you are in that role is talking. It must look, smell and feel like it’s you, the Forensic Accountant, Account Executive, HR Coordinator etc. in charge and talking. Note that most people simply do not do justice to their own resumé. If you cannot hire a professional resumé writer then at least go to book store to the business books section and find something like Resume Magic: Trade Secrets of a Professional Resume Writer by Susan Whitcomb. And don’t stop there… by all means have a couple of friends who who are managers and hire people (doesn’t have to be in your field) review, proof read and critique it for you. Remember, opinions are like #$$&()^!@ - literally everyone has one – just make an informed decision based on the critiquing and edit accordingly. The last two letters in resumé are ME so don’t be a template be you.
3. Think about 10 companies you would really like to work for – not 10 companies you ‘would’ work for if a carrot were dangled in front of your face. If you don’t know 10 companies that hire people to do what you do then you have a huge area of opportunity for research, and you will have increased your competitive  industry knowledge significantly – only to your benefit. Search on Google, LinkedIn, Hoovers if you have a subscription, etc. Check out this short instructional video for tips on How to Research Companies Online- Power Prospecting with Google Search. Yes, it is geared toward client prospecting for sales… I’m certain you can figure out how to adjust to your needs as a job seeker. You’re prospecting too!
4. Start a shareable spreadsheet (I love Google docs). The first tab is the summary sheet with the 10 companies on it. Then create a tab for each company. On each company sheet plot the following across the header row fields: company, contact 1, contact 2, contact 3, date resume sent, date response received, date of interview, next step, notes. Customize as you see fit but the idea is to chart a process and be deliberate not hari-kari, shot in the dark or random hit and miss.
5. Contact a few people you admire professionally and who are good networkers you think could help you with intelligence on or connections into these companies. Share the spreadsheet with them and give them access to edit it. In the email to send them the link, attach your resumé, let them know how much you admire their careers and value their expertise and assistance and you are asking that they be part of your personal advisory board during your job search. Ask that they help you fill out the contact information in the spreadsheet and make introductions for you via LinkedIn, email, phone, coffee, however they can. Ask them for their ideas on how you can network into these companies. Ask if they know of other companies who could use your talent. Research their suggestions and if you like them, add them to your spreadsheet.
6. Spend 2 hours Monday – Friday (except holidays) researching, networking, connecting, and charting your progress daily on the spreadsheet until you A) Get a job or B) Exhaust all options with your advisory board and the companies. That means until you receive a rejection from each company and rule it out. Don’t delete the row, highlight it in red and sort the row to the bottom of the list. Spend the rest of the day volunteering and taking care of and being good to yourself/family.
7. Keep 10 companies on the list at all times. When one is ruled out research others to replace it. This way, you’ll never run out of options until you get a job but never have more on the list than you can focus on. It’s strategic, it’s a plan. It’s doable.
8. Send a weekly progress summary in an email to your personal advisory board with the link to the spreadsheet and ask them to review your work and make suggestions. Doing this each week without fail (except if you are in a coma) keeps you and your advisory board committed. If your advisory board members all know one another then send a group email and revel in the groupthink that begins to take place. If not, ask for permission to make the introductions to one another. The advisory board members can get a lot out of this too!
9. Be gracious to your advisory board members, thanking them profusely for their time and energy and be patient and kind to yourself as your network grows and you begin to get more interviews and chart progress in your job search. No more blindly surfing job boards, just calculated actionable and measurable steps to success…
10.  Get your job and then spend time teaching this method to others. Forward this post to other job seekers, get your personal advisory board to do a panel presentation with you at a job fair or job club, blog about your own job search and what worked and what didn’t – to help others. Be a personal advisory board member for someone else, the way others did for you.

P.S. I didn’t post about HOW you should network -you have to do what works for you. I suggest a combination of in-person and on-line networking – neither exclusive of the other. That means LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, online communities, professional mixers, job clubs, association meetings, professional community events where you live. You know, stuff like that.

Are you one of the one in six? If not, you have an area of opportunity to work on. Although you’ll find jobs posted on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, job posts are not the power of social networking.  The power is in building relationships enabled by these vehicles. It takes some learning and finesse to understand how to be truly effective – or, you can slog through it by trial and error, key and click and hope you land on your feet at an interview.

Before you can be effective in a web 2.0 social job search it’s crucial to have a working foundational understanding of social media, reputation management, etiquette, and a strategy.

If you live in northeast PA and want to increase your level of digital literacy, build your 2.0 social skills to help with your job search, help market your business, recruit employees, promote jobs opportunities or your nonprofit, meet others with similar interests, manage an online community, or just demystify the web of tools available today to enhance communication and quality of life, I have news to share:

Luzerne County Community College has invited me to conduct a  series of 4 workshops on Tuesday evenings in March, Facebook and Beyond with Karla Porter. It’s a hands on workshop in a computer lab that will be held from 6-9pm at the Corporate Learning Center on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

From the course guide:

This hands-on novice series of four workshops is designed to build a foundation for using the social webs most popular applications like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, for the purpose of creating conversations, building relationships and reputation management. The workshops will provide hands on experience with account management, basic and advanced features, third party applications and the creation of a ‘social media strategy’ to help you effectively engage in virtual communities, target interests, promote ideals and events and manage your online personality. You will experience a variety of tools that allow you to participate in the key activities of social media: listening, connecting, contributing, communicating, community, and measuring. The workshops will take place in a computer lab for hands-on exploring the social web, learning and application of the tools. You will leave the workshop with a solid basic understanding of social media / Web 2.0 concepts, key skills for implementing social web initiatives and knowledge of how to build an effective presence and strategy. Target Audience: Students with keyboarding skills that are comfortable using a PC and the Internet that are interested in using social media tools for listening, connecting, contributing, communicating, building community, and measuring.

 This is a hot opportunity to tap 12 hours of my time and expertise for $109.  - a crazy unheard of deal at $9.08 per hour of instruction.

Go ahead, search social media seminars and courses and see if you come up with something comparable. I’m partnering with the college to do it because I’m committed to increasing the use of this type of technology in the region to help bring the community up to par in its use with other metro areas across the country, increase our market competitiveness and suck us into the age of modernity.

If you’re an executive who blocks social media in your company because it’s ‘scary’ I hope to see you there, and bring your marcom peeps too.

P.S. This is a community service not my consulting fee – so catch it while you can!

I have all kinds of ‘tricks’ in my Special Agent portfolio… including seeing many things about candidates before I even click.

My favorite trick today? Turning the applicant into a pre-Halloween Frankenstein to scare the bejeezus out of job seekers from ever posting a profile pic anything less than grandmother approved.

P.S. Thank you Rapportive

“Interested candidates should email a cover letter describing their experience with updating blogs/websites and most recent administrative position and résumé as attachments, with “Administrative Assistant” in the subject line – no later than September 26, 2011 for consideration to karla@karlaporter.com”

Asking candidates to follow basic instructions is a very standard pre-screening tool.

Seems simple enough, right? 

Well….. some individuals felt it was ok to just send an email with a link to an online profile. Others though the cover letter wasn’t necessary so they skipped it (or never noticed the instructions). One enterprising individual sent a link to her online video resume which required a highfalutin codec my machine doesn’t have and when I clicked on the link to download it #1 I was thinking to myself “I don’t have time for this” and #2 when Trend-Micro popped up waving red flags that the site was known to be hazardous… I quit in favor of moving on to candidates that actually followed the instructions.

P.S. The hiring manager isn’t going to watch your vid…….

In all fairness, there have been t’s crossed and i’s dotted airtight submissions (and hopefully there will be more) that will get called for interviews and the laws of nature (and business) say one of those individuals will end up with the job.

At the very least, the submissions from these candidates point to detail orientation,  the ability to comprehend and follow written instruction, showcase written communication skills, display desire to please the employer and show seriousness about the process and focus.

Basically, following instructions shouts from the mountain top ‘Watch out world, I have the skill and the will’ and that’s what employers want.

In this world of up to 200 apps per job post, that’s what you need to do – stand out by following instructions. In the job search game, a quickie doesn’t count.

Simple.

Think of the marketing campaigns companies use for the brands you know and love to make them stick in your mind, for you to grow an affinity for and loyalty toward. You wouldn’t think of eating another type of cereal or wearing a different brand of athletic footwear, right? When that same thought process is adapted by a job seeker, unique key identifiers are established as a recognizable personal brand tied to you and you alone.

Your personal brand becomes marketable in the same realm and dimension as other services and products through a scaled and streamlined branded personal marketing campaign. What you offer and who you are become linked to your brand and your name – exactly what you should strive for in your job search. To think of it in algebraic terms, employers look for a specific type of individual (X) to fill a specific need. X = U.

Becoming known by friends, family, co-workers, peers, professors, social networking contacts and recruiters as X is what personal branding for the job search is all about. Have confidence in your talent and create, live and market your personal brand to make your professional dreams come true.

I have resisted all the annoying inadvertent auto invites from my friends because I’m already connected to them, I can find candidates without a Facebook app and I have been down this path with other well intentioned similar apps – most recently BranchOut, which I was slightly interested in at first, have never used and have stopped accepting invitations to. It shares many similarities with BeKnown.

The only other piece of critical analysis I have seen this early in the ‘game’ is from Jason Buss at TalentHQ. By the way, the comment left on his post left me with a funny feeling, kind of like when I post something positive about my Blackberry Playbook and the iPhone squad converges on me.

Giving credit where it’s due, I applaud the great timing. Many of my peers are holed up on a man made oasis in the desert collecting vendor swag and blogging away between speakers, many about BeKnown (and doing other things that I’m sure will stay in sin city). Monster can count on them to recruit plenty of joiners. Like cult members, my contacts are joining, joining, joining…

You’ll have fun competing with your connections to see who has the best badges.

Seriously?

Facebook is fun, or serious, or fun and serious depending on how you use it – but do we really need to earn badges and compete with our friends based on work history, education, size and composition of our professional network and endorsements we’ve given or received?

I have mental images of a swarm of bees.. I’m going to stay behind this time I got stung once and it meant a trip to the ER. If it turns out I’m being ridiculously narrow minded I’ll put my big girl pants on, self-inject some epinephrine and blog an apology – but I highly doubt that will happen.

You guys have fun collecting and comparing your badges for being professionals. Been there, done that in Brownies.

I am still looking for a position in this area and having a very hard time getting any responses.

Here are some examples: I have sent my resume to XYZ Health several times, went to their jobs fair and had several interviews over last three years. No response. I have even followed up and still no response.

Same with ABC Insurance. No response.

I spoke with the HR contact at OMG and she told me there would be no openings and a day latter I get an email from Indeed that they have openings for inside sales reps. I send an email back to the company and again no response. On the company website they state that jobs of sales rep is good for recent college graduates.

UFO Foods: I sent my resume on line several times no response. I contact a Mr. Idunno, HR contact. He finally replied about two months latter and said my resume was not focus enough towards the job. I updated my resume and sent it again. No response. I sent him a follow up email again no response. The job is again posted on line.

I even had a company tell me that they have never heard of Dun & Bradstreet.

What is your opinion of assessment tests? I have yet to pass an assessment test. I am not the only one. I had friends applied and they all failed the assessment. What wrong with these companies.

What is going on with the HR Industry today? I was thinking about going to the media about this. I am also contacting government officials. to see what changes can be made to this industry. What is wrong with Northeastern PA.

What do think?
Thank you…

Frustrated Job Seeker

My answer to this job seeker:

I hear your long-term frustration. I am going to be very honest because you are asking for my opinion about what is going on. If I had contact with a lot of companies that are hiring and was continuously being turned down, I would have to look at my job search strategy, interpersonal skills, attitude and expectations.

For example, I would examine why I was thinking of going to the media and asking what’s wrong with the HR industry (as if all HR people were conspiring against me).

People are getting jobs. Companies are hiring. If I were not being strongly considered then I would have no other option than to analyze:

Am I applying to jobs that match my experience? There are a lot of candidates out there, if someone is a better match in skills, experience and interview skills they’ll get the job.

Is my resume getting the attention I feel it should? Maybe it needs to be redone by a professional.

Have I had an impartial critique of my phone and in person interview skills? Perhaps I’m selling myself short by doing or saying something to turn people off.

Candidates are generally spared excessive feedback – and most times it is company policy to simply say, “we have identified another candidate that more closely aligns with our requirements” or something similar. It’s general and vague – but it lets the candidate know he or she is no longer being considered for the position and that’s all the company needs to do. There is no requirement that each candidate be given feedback except to say “you didn’t get the job” if asked, and it is only out of professional courtesy and best practices that candidates who are disqualified are informed of that decision at all.

My opinion of assessment tests is that one needs to pass them to be considered. A company can choose any legal means of judging a candidate’s skills and fit as long as all candidates are provided the same process. Assessments are a common way. If I were an employer who chose to use assessments to screen candidates, and had many candidates apply, why would I choose someone who didn’t pass when I have others who did?

Job seeker, there is nothing wrong with northeastern PA. Many of the HR professionals in the area didn’t even attend college locally, but somewhere out of the area. I think that rather than looking at everyone else asking “what’s wrong with them” I would take a personal asset inventory.

This might not be the answer I would wish to hear but it is an honest one. If you are interested in working with a coach there are a few in your area I could help you identify. You could also use the free services of PA CareerLink.

Karla

P.S. I am going to scrub your question so you are not identifiable and use it as a blog post because it is a good one.

Anyone in my HR / Recruiter network like to add anything?

As both co-organizer of the job fair and administrator of WorkNEPA, the regional job board mentioned in the document – and author of the guide itself, it’s my pleasure to share it with job seekers and career development professionals.  ~Karla

Job Fair Thank You Doc

Working on a project to find the preferred web sites/resources that people use to search for jobs. What are your favorites or those that you recommend ??

What I found in the handful of answers was that many of my peers across the country dwell within the federal or state systems (one-stop shops) and don’t often peek their heads out – however, to their credit they are beginning to use LinedIn. Besides one-stop shops, answers ranged from LinkedIn, Jobcentral national labor exchange, following Jim Stroud (rock on buddy-great advice for felons today!) and AARP WorkSearch, to DOL’s Job Search Challenge where one must search through over 16,000 responses listing over 600 resources  (slightly overwhelming?) many of which really could use a good weeding out.

The question was asked in earnest by someone conducting research for a Workforce Investment Board. I cringe at the fact that with the information he was provided, the government is actually going to receive feedback that  the products they designate our dollars to  are  highly effective…. And so the vicious circle continues.

I could not help but to fight the good fight… and so I contributed this:


Whether true or not, the corporate perception is that state one-stop system and its job boards are for labor, blue collar and low paying jobs. Therefore, many employers of white collar and well compensated jobs do not use the system – they do not wish to attract what they would perceive to be unqualified candidates.

Other obstacles for employers are that state systems tend to be cumbersome (it could be compared to filling out a US Census American Community Survey) and not user friendly to post and market jobs, do not tie in with applicant tracking systems (ATS), and are not linked with social media sharing tools. Good recruiters have so many creative and effective free ways to make their job postings viral and wide reaching they prefer to use those tools.

Companies with slashed recruitment budgets are posting less and less on big job boards because of the cost and avalanche of untargeted, unqualified resumes that pour in from all over for any job due to the high amount of unemployed. When a company is not prepared to pay relocation costs it makes little sense and is not cost effective to conduct a national search on a big job board.

Our solution in northeastern PA was to create a free to post regional job board supported by chambers of commerce, business and industry and other economic and workforce development agencies, in 2004. The platform became outdated and it became time for a new look, updated functionality and features.

I took over project management from another organization and relaunched the new WorkNEPA last week. It is well branded in our region and employers and job seekers know to use it. From all indications since the relaunch last week, with the incorporation of web 2.0 and mobile features and functionality (now powered by Job Rooster), it will have more success than ever. Even the smallest employer now has access to free job posts that aggregate to Indeed, pre-qualifying questions, text SMS capability and social media sharing, to ensure jobs are promoted widely. We have a Facebook Fanpage and Twitter account that repost all jobs into the far reaches of cyber job search and also repost on the appropriate targeted LinkedIn local group job boards – all nicely indexed on search engines like Google.

I also recommend to job seekers that they use LinkUp – a job board aggregator that scrapes corporate career pages for jobs that are often unadvertised on external job boards. Additionally, when I speak to job seekers, whether it is at a local job club or networking event, I refer them to my own website for job search tips and techniques (OK so I self promoted a tad LOL).

I’m interested in knowing your take on government sponsored job boards. Whether you’re a Recruiter of Job Seeker, do you use them, and if so, which ones and are you happy with the results?

Dust off your LinkedIn profile, ensure it is updated and get familiar with new features that were added over the past year. Read the LinkedIn blog for all the skinny.

Join 50 groups (50 is the limit and they are free and all contain a job board) according to industry, location, Alma mater, etc. and introduce yourself through a post on the discussion board with a mini bio and mention you are a job seeker.

Search the Questions & Answers feature for questions you have expertise in and can answer and ask questions of peers – great way to get your name visible and dialog with people you would likely otherwise not have the opportunity to.

Export your contacts and send an email to them monthly, the first time with a re-introduction and monthly with an update on your job search. Be sure to bcc everyone so you don’t disclose their email addresses.

Learn how doing your job search via LinkedIn jobs shows you who you are connected to at the companies you are interested in that have jobs posted. This allows you to apply through the front door and network through the back door.

Follow companies you are interested in employment with by doing a company search and clicking the follow button. See who works there and get busy making connections.

If you have a professional blog link it to your account to introduce it to visitors.

Don’t link your Twitter account to LinkedIn if you tweet random things – it’s truly annoying to everyone but you. Use select tweets. Actually, please use select tweets with Facebook too.

Do a strategic contact search, pick up the phone and start calling!

Realize that every time you make a profile enhancement or post an interesting status update you show up in the time line of all you connections – stay in their face, in a professional way – of course.

There is a lot I haven’t covered, what’s your hot LinkedIn tip?