From Spreadsheets to Sticky Notes: 7 Strategies for Managing Your Job Search

Article originally published on Glassdoor 

When you’re actively looking for a new job, you can’t afford to wing it on the organizational front. Whether you apply for five jobs or 100, you’ll soon find yourself buried in an extraordinary number of resumes, cover letters, job descriptions and interview invitations. If you don’t keep them carefully organized, you may not identify the right opportunity — or worse, you’ll flounder when the right opportunity comes along.

If you want to stay on top of all of the applications, LinkedIn requests and other digital paraphernalia that go along with your job search, it’s time to break up with your bad organization habits. Here are seven techniques that will help you overcome the most common job hunt organization issues so that you know the where, what, who and how for your next interview:

1. If you aren’t good at organizing… figure out why

Organizational skills aren’t one-size-fits-all. There are just as many ways to be disorganized as there are to be organized. Instead of haphazardly applying “organization tactics” to your job search, try to identify specific ways that you tend to be disorganized and troubleshoot those issues directly.

For example, do you tend to lose hard copies? Digital apps will be where it’s at for you. But if you forget anything that isn’t written on pen and paper, a paper calendar or sticky note wall will be a better solution. And if you aren’t sure how you like to stay organized, try something new. If you’re usually an Apple Calendar kind of person, start using a paper planner, or vice versa.

2. If you have a hard time following up… use a spreadsheet

When your job search is in full swing, it’s way too easy to send an email and forget it. Not only can this cost you when you aren’t following up at appropriate intervals, but it can also make you feel like you’re constantly treading water without getting anywhere. Your job hunt becomes an overwhelming, never-ending headache instead of a systematic, purposeful journey.

Combat this by starting a detailed spreadsheet that tracks all the pertinent details of your job search, such as the company, job listing and contact details. As you move through the job hunt process (and the interview process), highlight the steps you’ve “completed” so you can show yourself just how much work you’ve done along the way.

3. If you need reminders… go high tech

There’s nothing wrong with manual spreadsheets that lists all of the job search details you need to know if it’s working for you. But if it’s not working for you — if you frequently forget to update the spreadsheet and you’re never quite sure about what your next step should be — you need to take your job search into the 21st century with a free online project management tool like Trello or Wrike.

Using a project management tool as a job seeker allows you to organize all of the job search details and automate when and to whom you should send a follow-up note. You can also adjust your settings to automatically receive reminders when it’s time to update the individual jobs or check in on the progress of the hiring manager.

4. If you’re a visual person… try sticky notes

The sticky note wall is a tried-and-true organizational method that works for writing a book, setting goals and yes, getting a new job. First, pick a large wall you can divide into 3-4 columns. At the top of each column, mark out a different stage of the job process or your job search to-do list (e.g. “Draft Resume,” “Apply,” “Interview”). Then, write each job on a sticky note and set it in its appropriate column. As you work through your job hunt and make progress, move the sticky note to the next step.

Not only can it be very motivating to see your progress in such a visual way, but it is easy to get a quick snapshot of where you are in the process by simply glancing at your sticky note wall. Pro tip: You can also use the “Sticky Notes App” on your phone or computer if a digital version of the sticky notes would save you the wall space.

5. If you forget the details… keep thorough notes

If you’re speaking to one or two prospective employers each week, it can be tough to remember who’s who and what you talked about. If you don’t take careful notes, you may unwittingly repeat yourself or send a thank-you note to the wrong person and reference the wrong conversation. Talk about awkward!

If that sounds like something that could happen to you, use a free tool like Microsoft OneNote or Evernote to keep track of the meetings you have. For extra memory help, pull the LinkedIn photo of the person you’re speaking with into the note sheet and capture notes like the person’s company, job title and location. Not only can you look at a picture of a real person when you’re in the midst of a phone screen interview, but you can also easily go back and remember who you spoke with when you’re considering job offers or writing thank-you notes.

6. If you’re losing motivation… make a list of reasons you’re searching

If you find yourself putting off your job search or simply not looking forward to any part of the process, you’re letting the discomfort of a job hunt distract you from the reason you’re looking for a new job. Get back in the right headspace by bringing the focus back to what motivates you.

Make a list of the reasons you’re looking for a new job — toxic workplace, skipped over for a promotion, low salary, etc. — and keep it in a prominent place. Not only will this motivate you to stick to your plan and find a new job, but it will also prepare you for the interviews ahead by keeping your deeper purpose of your job search front and center.

7. If you’re feeling burned out… schedule some downtime

Little tasks can pile up, especially if you’re managing a full-time job during your job search. Instead of spending a whole day on your job hunt once a month and getting frustrated with your lack of progress, set short but regular periods of time to check in and make consistent progress. A half hour two or three times a week will ensure that you’re responding to hiring managers at appropriate intervals and staying on top of new opportunities as they come out.

A job search is a job of its own: you’re practicing time management, patience and even customer service as you balance your search with your current job. But you don’t have to let the complexity of all the resumes, cover letters, applications and interviews throw you off. Just find an organizational method that works for you so that the energy you put into the job search pays off with a new job — not a new headache!

Searching for a new job? Comment below or contact one of our expert recruiters today! Find the closest CFS location to you here.

Read the original article posted on Glassdoor. 

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4 things you must remove from your LinkedIn profile

Article originally published on Forbes

More and more, people are forming their first impression of you from the results of a web search on your name. When people are evaluating you in a professional capacity, they often go directly to your LinkedIn profile. But even if their research starts with Google, they’ll end up at LinkedIn because your profile will most likely be one of the top results.

So you need to be concerned about what you put in your LinkedIn profile — making sure it’s authentic, compelling to your audience and aspirational — positioning you for the future. You need to be equally focused on removing things from your profile that will get in the way of your success. You want all of the content to “wow” those who are making decisions about you.

Here are four things you should remove from your profile in order to make a positive impact on readers.

1. Wrong or irrelevant endorsements. Delete endorsements for the skills that you don’t want to be known for; they just muddy the waters. Personal branding is about being known for SOMEthing, not 10,000 things. That means you need to make your skills pure — positioning you for what’s next, not creating confusion among readers. “Is this person a marketing exec or a real-estate agent?” Make a list of all skills that are relevant to who you are and where you're going without looking at your LinkedIn profile. Then, take a look at the skills for which you have been endorsed. Is there a strong correlation? And make sure your top three skills perfectly reflect how you want to be known. Those are the ones that show up prominently when someone is looking at your profile. Viewers need to click “view more” to see the rest of your skills. And don’t worry about offending anyone. LinkedIn will not send a note to those who endorsed you when you remove their endorsements.

2. Experience that distracts from your brand aspirations. If you started your career in retail and now you’re all about pharmaceutical research, you want to diminish the past (unless you have a really good story about how it supports what you’re doing and what you want to be doing). Of course, it’s important to show progression in your career, so you may want to group roles from the past under one category like My Proving Ground or Internships and Early Career Experience.

3. Low-quality images. I’m not just talking about your headshot. Any images you added to your profile in the summary or experience sections need to be high-quality and appropriately cropped. Nothing says “lack of attention to detail” like blurry, badly cropped, trite, or unflattering images. Of course, this is most important when it comes to your headshot. If you use a selfie, a photo where you crop out others, or a photo your mother took of you at last year’s family outing, it’s time to remove and replace. Invest in a professionally photographed headshot that projects you in the most positive and powerful light. And avoid full body shots. Let viewers see your face.

4. Third-person writing. Let’s face it, everyone knows you wrote your own LinkedIn summary and experience sections. It’s much more transparent and direct to write in the first person than to pretend that your publicist wrote your content. When you write in the first person, you create a conversation between you and the reader, and that helps you establish a more authentic relationship with them. I am seeing more and more profiles using the first person (even from CEOs – who probably do have someone writing it for them) but not everyone is there yet. It’s time for you take the third person out of your profile and get comfortable with me, myself, and I.

Searching for a new job? Comment below or contact one of our expert recruiters today! Find the closest CFS location to you here.

Read the original article posted on Forbes. 

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How to stand out in your job search

As you blankly stare at your computer screen, you can’t help but ask yourself, “Am I really doing this again? Am I really applying for another job?” Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Despite countless applications, the only thing you have to show for your efforts is automatic email responses and endless frustration. How can you get past this phase and into the interview room? How can you stand out from your competition?

Use the right vocabulary

Competition in the job market is fierce, and you need a winning resume. Hiring managers spend less than 10 seconds looking at a resume and it’s your job to ensure that yours doesn’t land in the “rejects pile”. In order to do so, you must choose the right vocabulary. When you skim the job posting, pull out key words and sprinkle them throughout your application. Not only will this catch a recruiters’ eye, but it will ensure that you make it through applicant tracking systems as well.

Key words are only step one; your entire resume needs to feature strong vocabulary. Consider the following bullet point: “Answered phones and took messages for the main office.” Now when you make a few edits it looks like this, “Maintained open lines of communication between clients and the main office.” The latter is a much stronger description.

Gain relevant experience

Whether you intern or volunteer, experience is essential. After all, many entry-level jobs tend to ask for 1-2 years of experience. What better way to do so than through internships? They will provide you with a foundation to build off of and teach you the necessary skills you’ll need throughout your career. Nowadays, there are many paid internships or ones that can be used for school credit; it’s a win-win.

Volunteer work is another great way to gain experience. It shows hiring managers that you are passionate about certain causes, and that you’re willing to further develop your skillsets. In addition, volunteering offers you a way to take on leadership positions, which hiring managers look for when they review applications.

Stay current on industry trends

In order to stand out in an interview, you need to wow the recruiter with your knowledge. Not only do you need to know terminology, but you need to stay on top of industry trends as well. Your interviewer could test your knowledge and you want to be ready to impress!

Stay informed by following industry-related blogs. There are thousands of blogs you can subscribe to. Doing so will give you topics to discuss in your interview, put you ahead of your competition, and expand your knowledge exponentially. Another great way to stay current is through social media. Many companies and news sources utilize Facebook/Twitter as a primary information source these days, and it shouldn’t be overlooked.

Have questions about your job search? We want to hear them! Comment below or contact one of our expert recruiters today! Find the closest CFS location to you here. 

6 mistakes stopping you from landing the job

Article originally published on The Muse

Some people make the job search process harder than it needs to be. Obviously it’s not their intention to make an already difficult journey any longer. But sometimes job seekers (unwittingly) do things that work against them.

So, if your search has dragged on longer than you’d like, see if one of these reasons might be the culprit. Just know that before you start reading that all of these behaviors are totally fixable once you identify them. 

1. You Keep Your Search Between You and Your Laptop

Getting a job is a team sport, and savvy people build teams of advisors who work to help them succeed through support and advice. For example, some people are best at helping you identify strengths and weaknesses. They can review your resume, make introductions, and provide honest feedback.

Others will encourage you when you’re ready to throw in the towel. So, don’t let your computer be your only confidant. Reach out to your network for help and support. 

2. You Only Apply Through Traditional Means

Whether you’re targeting smaller firms or big brands, don’t forget that many companies pay a referral fee to employees who find the next hire—meaning there’s something in it for everyone when you get referred. And, it’s the best way to get hired.

So, don’t be afraid to ask friends, relatives, and contacts to refer you to open positions where they work. So long as you’ve done your due diligence beforehand and you’re considerate about it, they’ll likely help you out if they can.

3. You’re Only Going After Big Companies

If you cannot name five up-and-coming organizations in the industry you’re targeting, you don’t really know the sector as well as you think you might.

Lesser-known companies may not be as sought after as the Google’s and Microsoft’s of the world, but they may just have a culture where you’ll thrive and the opportunity you’re looking for. If you’re pursuing big-name firms because they’re all you know, you need to expand your search. 

4. You (Always) Communicate Assertively

Many people strive to project a sense of control and competency. That makes sense because in order for others to have confidence in you, you need to have confidence in yourself.

However, if you overdo it, you can turn people off. Allowing yourself to be honest—when networking, for example—can help others connect with you more easily.

Nobody wants to be sold anything, and most people are not impressed by bravado. Remember that being vulnerable from time to time may be one of the best things you can do for yourself as a job seeker.

5. You Doubt Yourself

Some people spend precious emotional energy assuring themselves that the hunt is taking as long as it is because they simply aren’t good enough. And when you stop believing in yourself, you’re in trouble. 

Don’t rush into a decision like taking a position you feel uneasy about or heading back to school simply out of fear. Instead remind yourself of all the reasons you might not be getting a call back that have nothing to do with you (like if you’ve been applying to roles you truly aren’t qualified for).

6. You Don’t Play to Your Strengths

The other day I worked with a student who had an unbelievable talent for numbers, yet the roles she had applied for only marginally allowed her to use her unique talent. So, while she had a skill that differentiated her from others, she wasn’t targeting jobs that allowed her to demonstrate what she did best. 

Ask yourself what it is that you excel at, and don’t be scared to use these attributes as a starting point. Target roles that would maximize your talents: You’re more likely to get a call back—and achieve greater job satisfaction and career success after you’re hired.

Are you a status quo job seeker—someone who’s afraid to be bold? The time may have come for you to create a plan that fits you. Be creative. Generate big breaks for yourself by going against the norm and trying what has not been done before. And above all, sidestep these common mistakes, which are only getting in your way.

Have questions about your job search? We want to hear them! Comment below or contact one of our expert recruiters today! Find the closes CFS location to you here. 

Read the original article published on The Muse.

Back to Basics: do’s and don’ts of social media

Do you use Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram? Are you part of generation X, Y or Z? If so, then you might have all three! Now the question is, how do you represent yourself on those platforms? Your online presence contributes to your personal brand, and hiring managers will check your social media before they even speak to you. Whether or not you get the job could all be contingent on what they see, so consider these tips when applying for jobs:

Do: Be Mindful of What You Post

Ask yourself, “Would I be okay with my grandmother seeing this?” If you answered no, then you probably don’t want a potential manager seeing it either. Once something is posted on the Internet, it’s there forever- even if you delete it. The same idea applies if you’re trying to delete an account all together. There is always a grace period to “reactivate” your account. In other words, your content is never truly gone.

Don’t: Post Negative Things About Work

This is an unwritten rule. If you’ve done it in the past, then what’s stopping you from doing it again? Not only does it reflect badly on you, but it also reflects badly on the company. And no company wants to be associated with such an employee.

If you have a work issue, then you need to take it up with the proper channels within the company or through HR. If it’s just a case of stress, talking to a friend is always a better choice than resorting to a social media rant.

Do: Keep it Current

When applying to a job, make sure to update your social media profiles, especially your LinkedIn! Is your work history up to date? Do you have a current photo on your profile? Is everything filled out correctly? If you don’t take the time to complete your profile, then what does that say about you? A recruiter or hiring manager might think that you can’t get a job done, that you’re unmotivated or that you simply don’t care. This is not the first impression you want to make. After all, they are the ones who decide whether or not you get the job.

Don’t: Get Too Political

If you see a great article or hear a great speech that you want to share, then by all means post it! But, if you are incessantly sharing and posting about your political opinions, then others might be put off. Just as you would be careful to discuss politics in the work place, you should be careful on social media as well. If a potential manager sees how passionate you are about certain things, they may question how well you’d fit in at their company.

Social media has many benefits: learning the inner workings of a company, discovering breaking news, communicating with distant friends and family, etc. However, social media can also cause a lot of harm. Simply remember these tips, be mindful of what you post, and stick to the basics!

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