Any tips for a job search?

I'm in the market for a new 9-5 job. I currently have a job but would like to see what else I can get. Are any things I can use to help improve my chances or at least make sure potential employers are seeing my resume more than the competition?

I was thinking of starting off by buying the domain for my firstlastname.com. Do a little seo on it and it should easily show up for a search of my name (it's fairly uncommon).

I've also been updating my resume on career websites everyday. It seems that they only get views for the first day or so after updating.

krigarwa said:

Any employer will understand that you made that site yourself and therefore the information on it is next to worthless for them.

Click to expand...

So according to your logic if you put together your own resume its worthless... thats ridiculous

go ahead and create your website, it shows your technically advanced enough to create a website, a huge plus. then list some personal hobbies and a link to a updated resume. you will stand out from the other joes.

I'm not sure about the web site with your name, I mean it can't hurt unless it really sucks but here are some key resume pointers that I have learned after working at several Fortune 100 companies:

1. When you post your resumes to the major job boards make sure you consider the insertion and number of keywords. For example, if you are into IM then add words like SERP. SEO, page rank etc. Many of the recruiters do their searches based on keywords alone.
2. Brevity is not necessarily good; if you have had multiple positions and job functions but two page is almost always sufficient.
3. If you are old or young no dates! Keep them guessing!
4. Also, create flavors of your resume for targeting different positions and vary the keywords accordingly.
5. Use power words as well like budget, direct reports, P&L responsibilities, dotted line, etc. Know the jargon of your target industry at least as well as the recruiter does.
6. Go back to the boards every couple of weeks and update and save your resume. Recruiters often narrow their searches to recent resume activity.
7. I estimate that it takes ten opportunities to get one good job offer for a newbie so that means multiple irons in the fire! Finding a job is almost a full time job in itself so if you aren't spending hours searching that means you are planning on being lucky. I never had much luck other than what I made for myself.
8. Add all appropriate certifications but nix the unimportant ones.
9. Really, nobody gives a shit about your hobbies until you get past the recruiter then the social touches such as being a golfer or your into triathlons work.
10. However, social networks such as Linked-In are useful! Get into a network after all everybody has at least one friend that seems successful and he or she can open doors or at least give you visibility.
11. And that's your main goal: get past the recruiter who usually knows less about the job than you do to get that interview!
12. Practice the interview questions on the boards and know how to answer the tough ones such as why are you looking or why did you get laid off.
13. Exercise to keep your mind fresh!
14. Oh yeah and do a Homer and Google yourself! If you find some incriminating Facebook pages well clean your act up and remove the photos with the stripper!
15. Check your finances and your credit score out with one of the free agencies. Big firms want to know if you are in trouble nowadays!

Wow I got carried away! Hope that helps and good luck with the job search!

The best advice I can give you when looking for a job is to NOT look for one in Craigslist.. it's probably one of the guys here

Thanks guys. I think I'll try the website. Maybe just redirect it to one of my job networking profiles for now. I also like the wikipedia idea. I never thought of doing that. At the very least I can make sure that when someone searches for my name the first few links are ones I want then to see.

Wikipedia might consider your page a vanity page and remove it. I have had it happen to a few author friends of mine but please prove me wrong because then my own page will be up there in five minutes.