Career Marketplace Blog

In this article from The Daily Muse, Jenny Foss writes, Unemployed? The Right (and Wrong) Way to Brand Yourself.

Read an excerpt of Foss’ article below. Read Full Article

I recently came in contact with a former technology executive turned job seeker. He was navigating a lengthy, frustrating job hunt, and not surprisingly, he was mad, depressed, and growing somewhat panicked.

I knew this about him before we’d even talked, because he’d been all over a couple of the LinkedIn Groups I follow, lambasting the world for not realizing how amazing he is.

But interestingly, when I actually talked to him—for as loud as he was coming across via social media—he didn’t seem at all confident in what he had to offer. He wasn’t clear on his target market. And he certainly wasn’t going out of his way to earn favor with the influential technology players in his city.

Instead, the unemployed job seeker was branding himself, all over the Internet, as a difficult, indignant guy who hated recruiters and hiring managers.

That’d be a prime example of how not to brand yourself when you’re unemployed.

So what does the other end of the spectrum look like? As terrifying as it may be when you’re out of work, this is no time to run for the hills or come undone. Instead, consider these key strategies to help you brand yourself well.

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In this article from Lifehacker, Alan Henry explains how, FaceWash Makes Sure Your Facebook Profile is Clean and Interview-Ready.

Read an excerpt of Henry’s article below. Read Full Article

If the prospect of going back over years of Facebook posts to determine whether some of them should be hidden or photos untagged is daunting, webapp FaceWash can help. The service scans your posts, timeline, and tagged photos to make sure nothing incriminating is going on, and warns you if it finds anything.

Read On to find out how it works

In this article for the Huffington Post, Carolyn Thompson explains how colleges are helping students clean up for their Social Media image prior to their job search.

Read an excerpt of Thompson’s article, Google Yourself: Colleges Help Students Scrub Online Footprints, below. Read Full Article

Samantha Grossman wasn’t always thrilled with the impression that emerged when people Googled her name.

“It wasn’t anything too horrible,” she said. “I just have a common name. There would be pictures, college partying pictures, that weren’t of me, things I wouldn’t want associated with me.”

So before she graduated from Syracuse University last spring, the school provided her with a tool that allowed her to put her best Web foot forward. Now when people Google her, they go straight to a positive image – professional photo, cum laude degree and credentials – that she credits with helping her land a digital advertising job in New York.

“I wanted to make sure people would find the actual me and not these other people,” she said.

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In this article for U.S. News and World Report’s Blog,On Careers, Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter explains, How a Rock-Solid Resume Strengthens Your Job Search.

Read an excerpt from Barrett-Poindexter’s article below. Read Full Article

In today’s job search, a resume is foundational to the entire portfolio. Without a well-forged foundation, your entire communications strategy could crack and sink.

The reason behind so many job-search flops and missteps is lack of a messaging infrastructure. So how do you set about constructing this easily navigable transportation network for your career influence conversation?

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Job Seekers: 5 Ways to Optimize Your Social Media Presence

By Kat Krull

As you might realize, your social media presence matters when you are searching for a new job. In fact, according to an infographic by Online Colleges, 37 percent of employers use social media to research job candidates. But they aren’t just looking for reasons not to hire you – they also want to see if you present yourself professionally, if you seem to be a good fit for the company culture, and learn more about your qualifications.

So how can you ensure that your social media presence represents the type of job candidate you are? Here are five things Online Colleges suggests:

1. Stay connected. Employers look for an active social life, and like to see that you’re connected and engaged with friends on various social media sites, the infographic states. Although many job seekers think they need to show little personality on their social media profiles, it’s actually a great way to help employers get to know you and see how you might mesh with the office atmosphere in the workplace.

2. Be your most professional you. Make a great first impression by keeping online interactions appropriate. Avoid making comments that might be offensive to others and only post content that you would be comfortable with potential employers seeing.

3. Treat your profile like your resume. Highlight the skills, experience, interests, and education that you want employers to see. And double-check that everything on your
profiles matches up with the resume you’re submitting with your job application…or else it might raise a red flag!

4. Be active, update often. Update your profiles often to ensure that the most current information is available to employers who may check out your online presence. It also pays to get active in industry groups, chats, and pages in order to continue learning and show your passion for your field.

5. Get referred! According to an Internships.com survey, one in 10 personal referrals is hired. Social media is a great way to secure recommendations and referrals — and can help you uncover hidden job opportunities within your network.

What do you think? Have you optimized your social media presence in any of the ways listed above?

Kat Krull is the Marketing Manager of Resunate, a job application tool that tailors and optimizes your resume for a specific job. You can find Kat and Resunate on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

In her article for the Simply Hired Blog, Simply Blog, Jennifer King explains What Does Your Internet Persona Say About You? Recruiters Want to Know.  Learn how you can manage your online persona and help your job search.

Important statistics from King’s article:

• 91% of recruiters have visited a candidate’s social networking profile.
• 68% of recruiters have hired someone based on what they found on a candidate’s social networking profile.

 Read Full Article

In her article for About.com, Pinterest Tips for Job Seekers, Alison Doyle explains to job seekers how this growing social media website can help their job search.

Read in excerpt of Doyle’s article below. Read full article.

Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media sites and you can use it to enhance your job search as well as for personal pinning.

Well designed and pinned boards can provide a terrific visual to connections and prospective employers. Once you have set up Pinterest, you can add a link to your page from your LinkedIn and other online profiles, websites and blogs. You can also include a link to Pinterest in your email signature.

Why use Pinterest? If you are in a visual field, you can show examples of your work and Pinterest can become an online version of your resume. For other job seekers, your Pinterest boards will show that you’re current with what’s happening in your industry and career field.

For everyone, using Pinterest shows hiring managers that you are on top of and engaged with what’s happening online.

It doesn’t take much time to set up and maintain Pinterest. You can do it in a few minutes a day and the payback will be worth the time you spend.

Here’s more on how to use Pinterest effectively when you are job searching from Jacques Bouchard, Internet Marketing Manager, Onward Search.

Pinterest Tips for Job Seekers

Read On

In his article for Mashable.com, Sean Weinberg answers the question, Can Pinterest Help Your Job Search?

Read an excerpt of Weinberg’s article below. Read Full Article

Just when you thought you had mastered the job search on all social media platforms, along came Pinterest.

You’ve optimized your Facebook and LinkedIn pages and you’ve got the Twesume. Now it’s time to amp up your job search even more by putting your resume on Pinterest.

What’s the Big Deal?

Read  On

In his article for Mashable.com, Tony Morrison explains the Top 3 Mistakes Job Seekers Make on Facebook Timeline.

Read an excerpt of Morrison’s article below. Read Full Article

Eventually, Facebook’s 845 million users will have to climb abroad the Facebook Timeline hub.

There will be plenty of challenges to consider with the slow roll-out of updates to the world’s largest social network affecting millions of people.

More than 18.4 million Americans have used Facebook to find a job. Facebook Timeline poses new obstacles for current adults looking for work.

How can the Timeline mess up an existing job search? Here are three things job seekers should avoid doing on Facebook Timeline.

Read on

5 Tips For Finding A Job In Your Later Years 

Guest post by Kat Krull

Today’s job search is very different from a job search 10 or 20 years ago. The majority of opportunities will require you to fill out an application and submit your resume completely online. If you suddenly find yourself looking for a new position, but are unfamiliar with modern job search tactics, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Leverage your extensive network. Because of your years of experience, you likely know a lot of people in your industry and community who can help you land a new job. Use these connections to your advantage–after all, it’s often who you know that can help you receive an interview offer (or just a second look).

Today, keeping in touch with your network is even easier because of social and professional networks websites and communities. Join LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter and start finding people you know, including family members, friends and past supervisors and co-workers — anyone who might be beneficial to keep in touch with during your job search and career.

Join professional networking groups and communities. See if there are events or conferences you can attend to not only meet new people, but also help you brush up on your education and skills. It doesn’t have to cost a lot, either — in fact, many of these events and communities exist online now. Check out Twitter chats, LinkedIn groups, Facebook pages, industry webinars, and other niche networking sites to connect with others and learn something new.

Don’t point out your age. It can certainly be valuable to have many years of experience under your belt, but you don’t want to turn off hiring managers with a five-page resume. Unfortunately, a lot of employers might see dollar signs when they see extensive experience, and if they can’t afford you, they won’t give you a second look. Along the same lines, don’t include your college graduation date if it was several decades ago, although it is necessary to be truthful if asked during the hiring process.

Tailor your experience and accomplishments to each opportunity. Your resume shouldn’t detail every job you’ve ever had. It should show the employer why you’re the best candidate based on past experience, accomplishments, skills and education. When you’re applying for new opportunities, make sure that your resume is formatted correctly in order to get through an employer’s applicant tracking system. You should also tailor your resume to the job description
by comparing them to one another and eliminating irrelevant information. (Our online resume builder, Resunate, can help you do this.)

Show you’re tech-savvy. Technology is important in most jobs nowadays. Employers need to know that you’re comfortable using new technologies and willing to learn new ways of doing things. Play up any experience you have with new technology by including it as a skill or accomplishment on your resume. You can also build an online portfolio and include a link on your job search documents.

What other tips would you give older job seekers?

Kat Krull is the Marketing Manager of Resunate, the world’s only automatic resume tailoring tool. You can find Kat and Resunate on Facebook and Twitter.