Tips help job seekers make the most of internet job search
With
numerous employers utilizing job search boards, in addition to proprietary
company systems as the avenue for searching for employees, job search
candidates need to understand how the systems are used by employers.
"Many
job search candidates apply online to either job boards or corporate
websites, but they really do not understand the technology behind
the systems," said Kathy Sweeney, president of The Write Resume,
a resume writing and employment coaching firm, based in Phoenix,
Arizona. "It is important to understand how employers search and
what a candidate can do better to be at the top of the list of potential
interviewees."
According
to Sweeney, there are two ways that employers can choose to search
for candidates on job boards. They can either pay to search for
candidates in the job board database or post an advertisement for
an open position. While conducting their search, employers can sort
resumes received or conduct their search for candidates by geographic
region, level of education or requirements of the position.
In
addition, when employers pay to only search a database of candidates,
they can select an option that only includes candidates who have
posted their resume in a certain amount of time, such as the past
30, 60, 90 or 180 days.
Sweeney
says the most important aspects from a job candidate's perspective
are three-fold, with each being equally important. First, the candidate
must have "keywords" in their resume that match the industry in
which they are seeking a job. Job boards rank candidates based upon
'relevancy,' meaning that the more terms the job seeker has in their
resume that match the key words either posted in the employer ad
or used by the employer searching in a particular industry, the
higher they will rank in the list of candidates.
"If
one candidate has five words on their resume and another candidate
has only two words the employer is using in their ad, the individual
with more words that match is going to show up higher on the list
of resumes which the employer will review," stated Sweeney.
Candidates
do not need to have a "keywords" section on their resume, as many
of the systems search throughout the entire document and will highlight
the words as they appear.
Sweeney
warns, however, that the system may only search for present tense
words, such as sales, instead of the word sold, so having both terms
in the resume will be helpful.
Second,
the job seeker must update their resume at least every thirty days
in the system. Most employers will only search for candidates who
have posted their resumes within the past 90 days, as they assume
that a candidate whose resume was posted after that time may have
already found another job. Updating the resume by adding a new training
session or additional keywords will refresh the resume in the job
board system and rank the candidate higher.
"If
two candidates have the exact same keywords in their resume that
the employer is searching for, the person who has updated their
resume most recently will show up first," said Sweeney.
Finally,
job seekers also need to understand that some computer systems only
read text formats. If candidates are posting their resume into the
system with fancy bullets, lines, bold or underlining, it may kick
their document out of the system.
Sweeney
says converting the resume to an ASCII text format is the best way
to ensure that the resume will be compatible with all job search
systems.
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