Is it a wonderful tool or a terrible nightmare? Both! You’re seeing some of the cleverest advertising ever created touting the career moves you could make with monsters or monkeys. I really do love the chimpanzee ads for Career Builder, as I’m convinced they are indeed old corporate co-workers of mine! You’re led to believe that posting your resume on the Internet will quite immediately land the job of your dreams. Maybe, but don’t count on it.
There’s the most important point — don’t count on it. A proactive job search has to be run like a well-oiled campaign, using every possible tool and resource available. Think of the Internet as one possible “distribution channel” for the product that is you. You need to be accessing every channel, not just one. Your search should include networking with past business colleagues and personal acquaintances. You should be mining your academic connections. You should be utilizing the associations and clubs in the community. You might find your dream job through a posting or you may discover that it is limited in local opportunities appropriate to your level of work.
Now here’s where the Internet is a jewel as a research tool. You can learn incredible amounts about almost any company you are able to study markets, industries, competitors, vendors, product pricing, compensation packages, company headcounts, legal actions, revenue and more. All of this information can be used judiciously to strengthen your campaign. You can wow your interviewers, outdo your competitors, negotiate a better compensation package and thus build a better career with the data you’ve mined. Now get moving and use the career tools available to you, all of them!
Susan Reynolds is a senior partner at NewMarket Careers in Santa Clarita, a job search and career strategy firm geared toward managerial, executive, technical, and senior level professional careers.
For more information, please call 661-702-1345 or email sreynolds@newmarketcareers.com .