A: It’s more than 25 words long. A sincere ad will as much try to screen people out as in. For example minimum requirements often means exactly that. If you don’t know the difference between thermal underwear and a thermal coupler – you shouldn
I subscribe to several e-newsletters. One perennial favorite is Dan Kennedy’s. Dan is a professional marketer like my co-author Jay Levinson. His latest newsletter contained the following quote which is applicable to job hunters: "The spider looks for a merchant who doesn’t advertise so he can spin a web across his door and lead a life of undisturbed peace!" The two main reasons businesses of any kind fail are: 1. They don’t market and advertise. Sadly most new business owners spend their money and their time on everything other than marketing. 2. They don’t market the business effectively. You can spend a ton of cashola on marketing and not get any results if you are not following a proven direct marketing system. Take a look outside your door and make sure that there isn’t a spider getting ready to spin his web. So how about you job hunter? Are you spending your money and time focusing on the right things? Is your list of prospects honed to a razor sharp edge? Is it a list of your top 10 employers or top 100? My experience is that a list of 10 employers is doable. A list of 100 is too…
Everyone’s face lights up when they see one of those little envelopes that are peculiar to "thank you" note cards – those tiny little 4 x 4 white envelopes with barely enough room to write a name and address on the front and a return address on the back. Fold your resume and cover letter together carefully until they fit inside and then mail. Don’t use labels, address each one by hand Use this technique around any holiday – Christmas, New Year’s, Fourth of July, etc. Use a small size tasteful stamp. If you feel you can afford it, use a stamp with your picture on it. In Canada you can put any picture you wish on a stamp. Details of their Picture Postage program can be found here: http://www.canadapost.ca To really get noticed, use a stamp with their logo on it and send them the rest. Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.
Non-Guerrillas do the following when they are looking for a job: -write a resume that details their responsibilities, -ask their friends and neighbors if they know of any job openings, -respond to newspaper ads, and -a few of the tech savvy ones will reply to job board postings. That’s it. That’s not enough anymore because that’s the bare minimum everyone else does too. Non-Guerrillas can count on the competition for the few advertised or known jobs to be fierce. Good luck to them. Your resume is a marketing tool. Does it include a statement about your background that’s so powerful that it transforms the reader’s initial scan into a lengthy read and then into a call to you? It has to. When you send off your resume, whether you’re replying to a specific opportunity or trying to uncover a hidden need, your resume needs to be read if you want to be considered. Many people are under the false perception that just because they’ve gone through all the trouble and agony of producing a resume, someone is actually going to read it and care. The fact of the matter is that you have somewhere between 6 – 10 seconds to…
Stand Up and Stand Out I get a lot of flack for some of my ideas but between you and I — frankly you know you’re doing something right when people start copying you’re work. My eXtreme 1-page resume make overs are a good example. I’ll save you the boring details but suffice it to say the average resume is a boring collection of pulp fiction. Here’s a typical resume Download john_walton_before.pdf and here’s the same resume reduced to one page Download john_walton_after.pdf with the salient features up front. Which would you be more inclined to look at and read if you where an employer – especially if it was sent unsolicited and you had no clearly defined open position? The answer is the "After" one. And that’s the ONLY right answer. If you’re the type who likes to copy or extrapolate you’ll find 25 more examples here but I warn you they’re not free. Having said that – what’s your time worth? if you make $50k per year it’s $25 per hour. If your experience with unemployment fits the norm then every extra day you look for your next gig costs you $200. The average job search is 180…
via www.fastcompany.com
Nice to finally make it into FAST COMPANY – if only for the lingerie;-)
I was reminded the other day of a comment I made at a speech I delivered following the Tech-Wreck crash in 2000, "the key to networking is to find people you can network with." Fortunately, for those of us who are terminally shy the Internet has made it possible to network from our computer keyboard and avoid those awkward mixers most people associate with networking events. There are many of online networking sites now to facilitate networking. All of the sites are based on the “six degrees of separation” principle which recognizes the actor Kevin Bacon as the center of humanity. Each site has slight variations on how you build and grow your network. The following are the leading sites for job hunters who want to e-network their way to success. Linkedin.com From a head-hunter’s standpoint, LinkedIn has it all. From a job-hunter’s standpoint LinkedIn represents an opportunity of a lifetime to establish a powerful network of influential colleagues and friends, Linkedin.com {www.linkedin.com} is my favorite. You can open a linked in account for free. It works by first requiring you to set up your on-line profile and then invite your friends to join your network. After people join they…
The Ultimate Resume Guide Your typical resume is a bland lifeless boring 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper which most hiring managers dread reading. Like a Black & White television it’s capable of getting your story across but – as they say – it ain’t very engaging. It’s competing for their attention in a world of MTV and You Tube. Guerrilla Job Hunters use modern marketing principles like graphics and color to grab a reader’s attention. This guide takes you step-by-step through the process of building a resume that will make employers beg to interview you. It’ll help rev up your current resume OR show you how to do a 1-page Guerrilla one. As a bonus you’ll get 25 One-page Guerrilla Resume make overs to "borrow" ideas from. Just click here: and refer to "You Inc." the zebra in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. We’ll send you the latest version. How to use research as a competitive advantage in job hunting The most obvious change in job-hunting is the advent of the Internet. In the old days people would wait for the Sunday paper and check the classified section to see who was hiring or they’d…
We don’t have a lot of money to give you but we sure have fun together on the weekend!
Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audi…
Job hunting need not be a lonely isolating ordeal. It can actually be a little fun [yup I'm serious here]. IMHO everyone should have a job-search buddy. The main objective of your "buddy" is to keep you motivated and honest with yourself. Few people can work well in isolation, [cave men like me are an exception] but that’s exactly what happens when you’re looking for a job. You’re typically sitting at home night and day doing research, making calls, and writing letters. Life can become very lonely very quickly. sometimes it’s tough to stay motivated. I think it’s important to have someone else to bounce ideas off who will make a "big deal" over your daily accomplishments, because you’re not likely to do it for yourself. – Your buddy can be looking for a job too but that’s not a necessity. – The number one rule: be honest with each other. – When someone is slacking off, the buddy needs to ask why and try and help work through the blockage. – Your buddy needs to hold you accountable, for both the quality and quantity of leads you are following. – Your buddy’s main jobs are to point out opportunities…
