Remember when you were a kid.  Bedtime was the worst, wasn’t it.  Especially when the lights went out and the monsters came out.  Especially the ones that lived under your bed, or in your closet or in the shadows on the wall.

Do you remember screaming for your parents who would slowly and bedrugingly come into room?  They would turn on the lights and those shadow turned out to be innocent pieces of furniture, when you looked underneath your bed there were no monsters just long lost and dusty toys and your closet?  Only full of clothes.
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The job search can feel like those monsters.  It can leave you feeling stressed out and discouraged.  And can leave you spending hours on Indeed throwing resumes out there in the hopes of finding something as a way to avoid this scary beast that is the job search!  But it is the unknown that is so terrifying but once you turn the lights on it becomes less scary.  In fact it becomes something manageable and doable.  

Knowing the steps and what is to come is key to turn that big scary monster into some innocent thing!  Plus moving through the job search in a more structured and intentional way will give you more control over the job search.

That is why I created The Job Search Roadmap.  This is a roadmap that goes over every single step of the job search giving you a sense of what is to come, giving you a plan of action to follow and leaving you feeling empowered instead of discouraged.

1. Introspection
This step is vital.  It allows you to figure you who you are (and what your superpower is) and also digs into your skills, interests and motivations.  It then allow you to create your Career Map – what your goals are and what options exist right now to get you on the path to those goals.

2. Marketing Plan
During a job search you become your own product and you are selling and marketing yourself to potential networking connections and potential employers.  Think about the message you want to convey.  Write your modern, foundational resume and cover letter.  Practice your elevator pitch.  And don’t forget your social media strategy.

3.  The Job Search
A lot of work comes before you even get to this!  But all that work helps prepare you for putting yourself out there.  Networking is key since three-quarters of jobs are found this way so figuring out any events, setting up some informational interviews, leveraging LinkedIn – all these different networking types will help you make connections.  I don’t want you to ignore job boards, just come up with a plan to use them to actually get a job, go to career fairs if it makes sense and get used to dealing with recruitment agencies.

4. Getting Hired
The best part of the process.  It all starts with the interview – prepare to answer those two common yet dreaded questions, deal with those nerves and get ready to shine.   Figure out your bottom line so when that offer comes in you know how to get your worth. 
 
I’ve made this even easier for you.  The most popular free resource I’ve created is a 5 day email course on The Job Search Roadmap.  Each day you get an email expanding each step with vital information to get you noticed, creating connections and finding your way to that dream career.   

Have you exhausted all the traditional ways to finding a new job?  Today is the day to step out of the box with these 2 game changing ways to find your next job!​
 
I’ve written about ways to GET NOTICED on LinkedIn and with your Resume, how to get past those pesky Resume Reading Bots and how to CREATE CONNECTIONS through the different ways of networking.

Well, what I’m going to write about today is game changing.  It will introduce two completely new ways to network and engage with hiring managers using two of the most popular social media channels - LinkedIn and Twitter.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is obviously a great way to reconnect, engage and build your network.  But this article really changed the way I thought about how to leverage this social media site.

When a new job is posted or comes available it is very common for recruiters and hiring managers to share it on LinkedIn and the premise of the above article is to use that information to your advantage! Meaning, use those posts as a way to get your name in front on the decision makers using the tips below.

In the search bar at the top of LinkedIn put in your ideal job title, for example “Business Development Manager”.  Followed by AND hiring AND location (ie “Toronto”) and hit enter/search.  The key is to click on CONTENT then you will only get the posts and you won’t have to wade through thousands of people!  Don’t forget to change things up to – different job titles that could be used (ie Territory Manager, Outside Sales Rep for this example), other words for hiring (seeking, looking).  If there are certain companies you are looking at you can include the company name as well.

Next you engage with them.  You can comment on the post or send them a connection request with a note attached.   The note should highlight why you are interested (why this company) and one way that you would provide value. 

As a recruiter, whenever I post that I’m looking to hire someone I love the influx of connection requests with notes!  I check out their LinkedIn and if interested I’ll email them back asking for their resume and setting up a time to talk. 

For you, this way allows you to bypass the tedious application process or at least increases the likelihood of your application being read with a careful eye. 

Twitter

When I say social media strategy for Job Search, most people immediately and only think of LinkedIn.  They may think about making their other sites more job search friendly but that is generally about it.  Adding Twitter to your strategy makes sense for multiple reasons but since your “competition” is most likely not using it, it means you will stand out more.

In my email course, The Job Search Roadmap, I talk about the importance of creating a personal brand and twitter is a great place to showcase that.  Create a professional twitter account with a handle that showcases who you are and what you can bring to the table.  If you have any content of your own to share, then share it and use relevant hashtags so that it can be easily found.

Start following twitter accounts that help you in your job search.  Begin with your list of your top companies that you want to work for, business leaders, job forums and professional associations.  For professional associations, keep an eye out for any Networking Events coming up that would make sense for you.

Next begin engaging; retweet, comment and/or like articles not only posted by your top companies and business leaders but also share articles and tweets that showcase your knowledge and interest in your field.

The LinkedIn search I mentioned above?  You can also do that on Twitter!  Search “Business Development Manager” and “hiring” and “Toronto” and see what pops up.  Engage in the same way as above by replying to a tweet or Direct Messaging them.

When applying traditionally to a job, I always recommend finding the Hiring Manager on LinkedIn, well I would add Twitter to that.  If they are on Twitter engage there – follow them, retweet or reply to a couple of tweets, and DM them letting them know you applied.  Not many people follow a job application up with a note but those that do tend to use email or LinkedIn.  So the fact that you are doing so on Twitter means that you are standing out from the crowd even more!

The way we job search is constantly evolving and with everyone being so busy it is hard to stay abreast of all the different ways to find a new job.  To me, the best thing about being a Career Coach is the opportunity to research the latest trends and share my findings freeing up your time to devote to figuring out your next, best move!

Book a free Discover Your Career call and we can strategize finding your way to a more fulfilling career. 

Would you love an audio version of this and all my articles, sign up for my newsletter and it will be sent to your inbox!

Going by the statistics alone, chances are you have not been chosen for an interview that you should have been, meaning you have missed out on an opportunity.  What do I mean by that?  Well 72% of resumes submitted to jobs are read by an Application Tracking System and of those 75% are immediately disqualified, even if a person has the right experience! 

To me, as a career coach and resume writer, those stats are just downright scary.  To a job searcher you may feel like it is a losing battle and will either stay put in a boring job or settle for any old offer because you think that dream job is out of reach.

I don’t want that and you don’t want that, so I did the work and the research.  I’ve listened to podcasts, read countless articles, reached out to Talent Acquisition friends to find out what you need to do to optimize your resume and your LinkedIn profile in order to get noticed!

First off, what is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), well it is a computer system that reviews and compares your resume (and sometimes LinkedIn) to the job description and gives you a grade based on how you match up.  Then the candidates are ranked and a list is created that is sent over to the recruiter who then scans through the ones that scored the highest, on average only about 25% of the total number of applicants.

​To start off, I wanted to caution against coming up with some sort of wacky workaround just to get seen.  At the end of the day a person will eventually review your resume.  Some scams I’ve seen are filling white spaces on your resume with keywords in white so that they aren’t seen by a person but will be picked up by the ATS, sneaking keywords in (like learning to code in Java) and filling out your experience with keywords and nothing else.  The thing is though, you still won’t get interviewed if you aren’t a qualified match for the job whether the ATS puts you through or not!

So I sorted through all my research and have compiled a list of how to optimize your resume and LinkedIn profiles.  Make sure you read to the end, there is some key information at the bottom of each section.

How to Optimize Your Resume

1. Spelling:  This is a classic and it still applies here!  Say you took the time to fill your resume properly with keywords, for example management, but you spelt it wrong, like mangment, then all that hard work as gone to waste as they keyword won’t be picked up by the ATS.
2. Simple Formatting: For a resume seen by a person, I’m all about formatting and making the resume visually appealing with either graphics or tables.  However, this formatting really confuses ATS and a lot of content surrounding or within this formatting doesn’t get picked up.  So I recommend having two resumes – a visually appealing one for people and a plainer one for the ATS.
3. Relevant Experience: Focus on all of your experience that is a match for the job description and fill your resume up with that.  For example, if you are applying for an Executive Assistant role and they want someone who has managed calendars in Outlook, make sure you put that in every job where you used it and in your skill summary section.
4. Word Documents: another way people thought they could get past the ATS was through submitting a PDF document, well most ATS don’t like PDFs and if it gets parsed to a word format then a lot of information can be lost.
5. Lead with Company Name: An ATS is typically scanning your resume looking at the company name first, so in your Experience section lead with that then move into job title and then dates.  Leading with dates confuses them.
6. Job Titles: speaking of Job Titles, if possible use the one they are advertising.  For example, use Administrative Assistant throughout instead of the different iterations you see across industries and organizations. If your titles have assistant in it but the job is a coordinator, change the assistants to coordinators. I have also recommended the use of the / or – between titles.  For example, if you are in Human Resources in a specialized function but want to move into a more generalized role one way to get picked up would be to put Human Resources – Employee Relations Specialist.  Or if you are in Category Management but want a procurement role you could do Category/Procurement Specialist.  This won’t guarantee you an interview but if you have the skills they are looking for then at least you are increasing the likelihood of your resume being seen.
7. Summary Section: I love the summary section and I especially love it for ATS resumes and this is the perfect way to increase the number of keywords in your resume in a way that makes sense. Just remember, no tables!
8. Keywords: I’ve saved the most important for last.  As I’ve mentioned throughout this whole article, it all boils down to your keywords.  Read through the job posting, highlighting the skills and see how often they are listed.  If MS Office is listed only once, then chances are that isn’t a vital part of the job.  But if Excel is listed in the summary, the qualifications and the responsibilities then the ATS will be seeking candidates that have Excel in their resume.  So make sure you have it in your skills summary and listed in a bullet point in every single job you used it in.  If you notice patterns, like they used the word analyzed a lot, then when relevant use that word.  And don’t use synonyms of that word, in this instance being repetitive is a good thing!

How To Optimize LinkedIn

So I know a lot of people optimize LinkedIn for recruiters and some have started to optimize for ATS but there are some things I’ve discovered in my research in talking with my peers within large organizations that I haven’t seen or heard about in my research.  I’ll start with the basics of what you need to do with your profile and then go into the new findings.

1. Your Profile: Read my article on the 7 Steps to Creating a Standout LinkedIn profile as it will apply to this, those stats hold true to ATS searches on your background too.
2. Keywords: These are just as important in your LinkedIn as they are your resume.  So for those really important jobs that you are applying through an ATS ensure your LinkedIn profile has those keywords throughout.  Focus on your headline, summary, experience (titles and job duties/accomplishments) and skills sections.

After you have done the above, do a search.  Plug in the keywords and job title of the role you applied for.  Narrow down on location.  And see where you land.  If you land on the 3rd or later page, then you have work to do. The goal is to end up on the first or second page.

Okay, you have done all the hard work on filling your resume and LinkedIn with relevant information and keywords and you still didn’t get the call.  Well there could be another reason.  A new function on some of the Application Tracking Systems is to scan your connections and your engagement.  I know what you are thinking – what?!  I know I thought that too.  The reason for this is to establish how well connected you are within the industry.  They want to see a decent number of connections and they want to see a good amount of connections within the industry.  They also want to see how engaged you are within the industry, so are you liking or commenting on relevant posts and are you posting content/status updates relevant to the industry. 

Now I’m not suggesting you go out there and engage and connect with everyone within any industry for every job you have applied to.  If you have completed my 5 day email course then you will know that I’m a big believer in focusing your work where it matters.  So if there is a specific company within a specific industry (or even just a specific industry) that really excites you start there.  Also, through my course, you know that I am also a big believer of networking and leveraging LinkedIn for that purpose.  So by using LinkedIn to reach out to people within a specific industry and then engaging on their shares/updates and posts or commenting on articles they have also commented on, not only are you increasing your network as it looks to the ATS but you are creating valuable connections that will help lead the way to a fulfilling career! 

I hope those tips help.  Let me know – engage on my Facebook page or through LinkedIn.  If you want to sign up for my free email course you can do so below or my clicking here.

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