How to Find a Job (when the economy sucks) Part 1 of 3
13. Jan, 2009 
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I recently gave a webinar on job hunting for Recruiters that were unemployed, under-employed or unhappily-employed. It seems to me that there is a need for this type of information, especially in these “interesting” times. That being the case, I have decided to post the slides and notes from my webinar here for all to use. Please pass on these notes to other recruiters, HR personnel, or anyone looking for a new opportunity. (Although it is slanted towards HR personnel, anyone can use the startegies cited herein.)
The title of the webinar was “Confessions of a Job Search Strategist.” Enjoy…
2002 was not a happy time for me; at least, not initially.
I was in a position where my wife laid off, I was laid off, I had a little one to take care of and bills that would not stop coming in. So, being the responsible man of the house I began looking for work in the the most common ways: Online job boards, newspaper classifieds, career fairs and networking groups. And the more I did those things, the more frustrated I became because I was not getting the results I needed. For the matter, neither was anyone else I was associated with as several people at the time were looking for work and all doing the same things I was.
And then it hit me, I said to myself, “Jim, do something different…” (And so I did)
I reflected on my many years in Recruiting and how I found people for opportunities I was trying to fill; then I simply put the process in reverse. The end result was a sort of push/pull strategy. On one end of my process, I would strategically circulate my resume to companies I was interested in and on the other end, I would position myself to be found by recruiters looking for passive candidates.
In our time together, I am going to show you things I did to find work in the last recession. I am also going to show you things I wish I had done in the last recession. Finally, I am going to show you how implementing all of what I show you here will place you in the most-desired position of all; referring jobs to others because you are already gainfully employed.
In preparing this webinar, I knew from experience that there were a lot of recruiters with profiles on Linkedin and inside Recruiter Networking groups, but I was curious as to how many actually had their resumes posted on a homepage somewhere. So I did the following search:
intitle:resume -jobs -sample -template -apply -submit recruiter education
At the time I ran this search, I found 16 resumes in the first 50 results. I also noticed that there were 11,900 results returned and all of them were not resumes. When I added city names and states, the results were (of course) significantly less. For example, when I added Houston, TX (194 results), San Francisco, CA (294 results) and Atlanta, GA (237 results). Of course, I could have played with that a bit more with area codes and other criteria, but I would still get a low return.
All of this suggested to me something that was very ironic; recruiters (overall) tend not to put their own resumes online. Go figure…
As I reviewed the resumes that returned in my search, what was also surprising was the fact that Recruiters did not classify themselves by the type of recruiting they did. As a Recruiter you know, going through a long list of search results can be tedious. Why not make it easier for the next Recruiter or Hiring Manager or HR Generalist? Should you decide to add your resume to a homepage, give it a title that would catch the attention of a recruiter.
Here are a few ideas:
- Resume – I Recruited 25 Executives in 2007
- Resume – I Staffed 18 Startups in 2007
- Resume – Technical Recruiter – 5 Years Experience
- Resume – I Recruit Recruiters
- Resume – Recruiting Healthcare Professionals since 1997
- Resume – Call Center Staffing – I put butts in seats
End Part 1
ABOUT THE WRITER
Jim Stroud is a Social Media Development Manager for EnglishCafe, the premier English learning community for global professionals. Prior to EnglishCafe, Jim Stroud amassed a decade of recruiting experience consulting for such companies as Microsoft, Google, MCI and Siemens. Jim Stroud also produces iLiveOnline, a how-to blog on all things internet.
The advice is good and i hope it helps folks to find the right employer. The problem is that economy is only going to get worse….I am lucky because i am retired already.
hey, this IS helpful. i`ve been looking for a jos for 6 months now. i will recomand resumebar to my friends. thank you.
Good website i like it very much. the information in this are very useful. thanks for giving the good site.
very good advicer. and very interactive. it`s fun to read. makes you want to read more. it`s nice to know about people`s real life experiences.
Thank you friend for giving good advice and tips for resume related matter. Really I also had many confusion about the resume, but I like your nice tips. It is so helpful.
The advice seems to be practical and helpful. The slides in the article make it intersting and easy to read.
Good informative blog. The info that is provided is very useful. Thank you
This article looks great with full of online resume tips and beautiful idea about making good resume. This is very informative while making resume. Thanks friends for this article and resume tips.
This is very helpful. It is always a good idea to get a new perspective on any job search. Thanks!
Excellent article. This will undoubtedly help lots out there finding it difficult to find a job during the current recession period. Great work, keep going
Hunting for a job is tough, but with the help of these tips it can be made easier. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Wow, this was indeed an excellent article and bookmark worthy resource. Will surely share it with some of my job seeking friends.
First of all, its great of you that you’re sharing your webinar experience here with us. Thanks loads for doing it as it’s really helpful.
Good advice for job seekers. This was really well thought out post and I’m eagerly waiting for part 2!!!
With the way things are and they way they are predicted to keep going in the job market, you can never get too much advice. That said, this was a good article. Thanks for posting it!
I loved this article because it gave me some new ideas. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience with us. Can’t wait for part 2!!!
This is an insightful article full of some great tips. Great advice for people directly impacted by recession.
Job searching during a recession is a difficult task. But here are some helpful tips I can pass along. Needless to say, longing for PART 2 to come. Hope I’ll see it soon
This is fantastic, thank you. Your perspective can be very valuable in many job search situations. Your tip for title is very helpful. I will definitely apply this.
Thanks again, I’m going to email the link to a couple of friends who are looking for jobs at the moment.
This is fantastic, thank you. Your perspective can be very valuable in many job search situations. Your tip for title is really great. I’ll definitely apply this.
Thanks again, I’m going to email the link to a couple of friends who are looking for jobs at the moment.
Its a superb article and the ideas are really praiseworthy.The visuals are also great.
A nice article and i loved going through it.The post is great and its really true.
Thanks for the advice! It’s always great to take your past experiences and use them to your advantage today!
Nice post. Being recently laid off for the first time in my 20 year career, I am finding it really tough to find a new job. Im glad to have found this site as most of the tips make sense to me. Keep the posts coming.
Really good article. Sound advice for the bad times we are facing. Hope I can put some of your ideas to use very soon!
Practical information to consider, looking forward to
reading parts 2 & 3.
Insight to a strategy that has its merits. If nothing else is
working, this makes sense.
This is a very good strategy to get a job during these hard times. Thanks for the article. It will help all of us during these times of crunch.
Very informative – I’ve been doing the same hunting to no avail. While I do still have a job – I don’t like it. Now’s not the best time to relocate, but it never hurts to look for new opportunities right?
Valuable information giving nice tips for Freshers like me. Thanks for the article. I will suggest Resumebear for my friends too.
Very good article! With the economy and job situation where they are, this is just what many people need to get back on track.
Great job and looking forward to going through the site more thoroughly.
Work is hard to find these days, at least using the internet to find jobs eases the job searching stress of ‘driving all over creation’, to put it mildly.
Everyone,
Wow!
Thank you for all of the kind words. I really appreciate that. I hope these tips help you and others find work.
Cheers,
Jim Stroud
TheRecruitersLounge.com
iLiveOnline.net