Learn How to Master a Job Search
Simple Action: Job search discussion group
Brad and I facilitate one of the largest and fastest growing job discussion groups on LinkedIn and the Internet. The discussions are lively, helpful, informative, and dynamic.
Are you missing an opportunity to find a great opportunity, improve your interviewing, and cut your job hunt timeframe in half?
If you pick up one tiny morsel of information that generates a new job lead, scores a point in an interview that leads to a another invitation to come back, or improves your job hunting productivity and slices an entire month off your job search – would the investment of joining the discussion group be worth it?
What a stupid question! Of course it’s worth – especially since it’s FREE and the quality of information exchanged is extremely high.
This begs the question of if you’re not a member of our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group, you’re probably not taking advantage of the numerous opportunities the Internet offers for discussions, information, audio, video, and a wealth of other free material on how to conduct an effective job search.
There are many great discussion groups on LinkedIn. You might be reading this blog post if you’re a member of one of those groups, like Career Rocketeer, Grafton, or Exec-u-net. There are just a few of the other great groups/publishers of outstanding content for job seekers. There are Yahoo discussion groups, Ning Groups, and hundreds of blogs focused on job search, interviewing, networking, and personal branding. Many outstanding career coaches publish their own blog with great content being posted every single day.
Shame on you if you’re a candidate in thick of a job search, and you’re not taking advantage of all the FREE job search resources available to you.
Here are some questions to think about if you are in a job search:
- What discussion groups do you belong to on LinkedIn?
- Do you follow the LinkedIn Q&A – posing questions and answering questions?
- Do you participate in Yahoo Job Search Groups?
- Do you participate in Ning Groups on Job Search?
- What blogs do you follow on Job Search?
- Do you frequently scan iTunes for new podcasts on Job Search topics
- Do you look for new videos on Youtube regarding job search topics?
- Are you active in following job search experts on Twitter who are recruiters or career coaches?
- Do you have a master list of all the job search Internet Radio Shows being broadcast on a weekly basis
As an Executive Recruiter, one of the things I measure in candidate is a level of learning, personal growth, and professional development. I’ve seen many a 55 year-old with a much higher level of personal growth than many 25 year-olds. Job Search is no different than your trade, professional expertise, functional discipline like accounting or marketing.
I’ll ask at the end of an interview “what else are you doing in your job search to learn how to improve your job search knowledge, skills, and capability? You guessed it – Duh — and a blank look.
If you want to master your sphere of influence, you’ve got to become an expert. To differentiate yourself and leverage your skills/knowledge as a competitive advantage in a job search, you’ve got to learn everything there is about job search best practices and what top talent does to consistently find and obtain the top job opportunities.
Small caveat to following “experts”: Some “charlatans” pass themselves off as understanding the job search process and they don’t have a clue – if you follow their advice your job search will either take longer or fail completely.
However, the vast majority of publishers, facilitators, content generators in this field are great individuals who have done deep research and are willing to share that information with you. In a future blog post, I’ll be sharing some of the better FREE Internet Resources.
To see all our FREE Resources for job seekers, browse our extensive library and archives of examples, templates, and audio programs.
Barry
P.S. Join our LinkedIn Discussion Job Search Discussion Group today and get access to our brand new Self-Assessment Matrix for Determining the Effectiveness of Your LinkedIn Profile. Are you visible to recruiters and hiring managers?
Tags: Job Hunting, LinkedIn Job Search
Job Search Mistakes, Job Search Preparation | Barry Deutsch August 15, 2009
About the Author
Barry Deutsch is a founding Partner of IMPACT Hiring Solutions, co-author of "You're NOT the Person I Hired", and "This is NOT the Position I Accepted". Barry is an award-winning international speaker, retained executive recruiter, and expert on hiring and retaining top talent, and executive job search.
