The Online Job Search Is Not Enough

This is a guest blog post by job hunter Sally Lawton.

Career Websites make it seem as if all you have to do is post your resume, and abracadabra, the phone will be ringing off the hook with glamorous job offers. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Checking the count of employers viewing my resume on Monster makes it very clear that job seekers must dust off their offline job skills in order to make the internet job search work for them.  

For all of the pizazz that career websites offer, it is ultimately the tried and true methods of pounding the pavement, networking, and polishing your resume that will guarantee success. Indeed, those who maintain these skills will have the most success with all aspects of their job search, both online and off. I was reminded of this quite unexpectedly during my most recent, and successful, job search.

As any self-respecting Internet nerd would, I began my job search online. I posted my resume to several career Websites, both traditional and 2.0 types, I made sure that those searching for me on Google would find me at my professional best, and I faithfully trolled the job boards each day and applied to even the most remotely interesting positions. With the Internet at my command, it was easy to ignore offline job search techniques, but on one lazy Sunday morning, I read the newspaper classifieds, and methodically circled, with a red pen, the ads of interest. To accentuate this almost anachronistic job search, I responded to the ads with paper copies of my resume. I even went to the trouble of using a good weight resume paper, something that would never occur to me in an Internet job search. Much to my surprise, it was not my well-distributed online profile that landed me my soon-to-start position, but it was my offline Sunday classified browsing that brought me success.  

Finding my job in such a low-tech manner made it very clear to me that an Internet job search is ultimately much the same as the traditional job search. While you can cover more ground on the Web, at the heart of the internet job search are tried and true job search principals. While the Internet might help you package yourself more accessibly, a fancy online profile will not make up for a poorly written resume and a lazy job search.

Comments

[tom summit]

Great point. Your example goes to the heart of the problem for online job sites. They basically use the same model as the classifieds in a newspaper. The trend is toward more personalization and a business model that is pay for performance. But the bottom line, is that candidates need a process and to work at job change. Bottom line, it will be worth it, it is your life. www.genotrope.com

[Marilyn J. Tellez, M.A.]

Congratulations on finding a new job by using Neanderthal methods. I don't even advise people to answer ads either. You were lucky!

Here goes with my spin. 1. Know yourself well & what your transferable skills are. 2. Research about where you would like to use them.
3. Network, even include some volunteering.
4. Going & setting up informational interviews.
5. Submitting a proposal, not a resume to an employer who you interview.
6. Send out lots of thank you notes.

(I'm humbled by being listed in the 2007 & '08 editions of: What Color Is Your Parachute? the all time best of books on life/work planning).

Enjoy your new job & get the book for the next time you need to change jobs. MJT