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Episode 81: The Evolution of Job Hunting: Tools and Tactics · Voices for Voices®

• 0:00
  Justin Alan Hayes: Chapter 3, the First Floor.
• 0:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: Once the foundation of a house is laid and solidified, we are then able to continue the house construction process with the first floor.
• 0:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: We talked about building your foundation in Chapter 1, because if you decided the best way to build a house was to start with the first floor instead of the foundation, you would soon find out that there was no solid structure for support and your house would consequently collapse.
• 0:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: Once you have a solid foundation, cover letter, resume, linkedin profile and clean additional social media platforms in tact, you are now at the point where you can begin the job search process.
• 0:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: Job searching has evolved over the years, from mailing your cover letter and resume to a perspective employer to now, in some instances, being able to apply for a position with a couple of swipes and taps of a finger on your smartphone.
• 1:07
  Justin Alan Hayes: Knowing the ways to apply for a job opening is important, since each company can choose their own method and process, so let us go ahead and jump into some specific job searching criteria, starting with identifying the geographic locations that you would be comfortable working in.
• 1:27
  Justin Alan Hayes: I am referring to not only the town, city, state that the employer is located, but also how comfortable you are with the commute time and required methods of transportation.
• 1:39
  Justin Alan Hayes: The term commute in its simplest form is the amount of time it takes you to travel to and from a location, whether your method of transportation is one or a combination of the following a motorcycle, scooter, subway, train, bus, automobile or airplane.
• 2:02
  Justin Alan Hayes: The reason we want to start our job search with the geographic location of the potential employer is because, if the furthest you have commuted previously is 15 minutes each way, then you have to determine if you would only be okay with a commute time of 15 minutes or less, or if you could tolerate a commute of, let's say, an hour each way for a commute totaling two hours each day.
• 2:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may have heard the saying time is money.
• 2:32
  Justin Alan Hayes: Time is money in this case because, as we will talk about in a later chapter, you will want to ensure that you are being compensated for, one, the time you spend commuting and, two, the non-monetary loss of time with your family, which is tough to put a specific monetary value on.
• 2:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: You are in a good spot.
• 2:55
  Justin Alan Hayes: Once you determine the geographic locations, you would be comfortable working.
• 3:00
  Justin Alan Hayes: We then move into the stage of identifying what prospective employers are situated in your pre-determined geographic locations in the industry that each serve, such as healthcare, financial services or steel, as examples.
• 3:16
  Justin Alan Hayes: This particular task can be completed with an internet search.
• 3:20
  Justin Alan Hayes: Let's say that through your search you have found that there are five employers in the geographic area you selected, with two serving the healthcare industry, two serving the financial services industry and one serving the steel industry.
• 3:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: The industry of the employer is important because a job serves the needs of two specific entities One the employer and two you.
• 3:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: So if you were an employer in the steel industry, one of many characteristics you would be looking for in a job applicant would be whether one the applicant has steel industry experience or whether two the applicant has taken an interest in the steel industry Via a class project or a positive word-of-mouth recommendation from a friend or family member who works in or has experience in the steel industry.
• 4:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: If, as a job applicant, you do not have steel industry experience or a drive to earn it, you may not be the best fit for that particular company.
• 4:25
  Justin Alan Hayes: This is not to say that not having the industry experience of the employer is a bad thing.
• 4:31
  Justin Alan Hayes: It just means that the road to earning a job there may take more of a winding approach as opposed to a straight path from point A to point B, you may be wondering how the employer finds out this information about job applicants.
• 4:46
  Justin Alan Hayes: One way the employer obtains this level of information is from the foundation you and the other job applicants built in chapter one.
• 4:56
  Justin Alan Hayes: It is okay to eliminate an employer from your job search based on the industry not being a great fit for you.
• 5:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: This gives you the ability to focus your time, energy and resources on those employers that serve the industries that match your experience and interests.
• 5:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: Once you have identified your ideal geographic areas in the industry that those employers service, it is time to maximize your network of friends, family, former students you had classes with former teachers or coaches, to name a few To determine if any of these individuals works at, or has worked at, any of the employers you are researching for potential employment.
• 5:41
  Justin Alan Hayes: A quote you may have heard before is it is not what you know, it is who you know.
• 5:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: While this is not 100% correct, the percent of accuracy is rising higher each day.
• 5:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: Earning a job is extremely competitive because you may apply for a job that 25 other candidates also applied for, but if you are the only candidate who applied that already knows someone who works at that potential employer, you will be one step ahead of those candidates that do not.
• 6:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: Even better would be a scenario where your connection is in HR, because an HR employee may have additional insights you can glean, such as who the hiring manager is or how many other individuals have applied for that same position.
• 6:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: You can maximize a connection at a possible place of employment by contacting your connection via whichever communication method you are most comfortable with and asking if you can chat either in person, over the phone or virtually, such as Skype or FaceTime or Zoom, because you have an interest in learning more about the organization.
• 6:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: Through my experience, I have found that people, generally speaking, will take the time to have a discussion with you if you communicate in a polite and respectful manner.
• 7:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: One caution is to ensure that you make your best effort to not waste yours or your connections time.
• 7:10
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you are meeting for a half hour, do not spend 20 of the 30 minutes catching up and only leave 10 minutes to discuss the reason you wanted to meet in the first place.
• 7:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: The topics you plan on discussing should include the company and industry, the connections, position and department at the company, and if you would be a good fit there If, after the discussion, you still feel good about the company and industry.
• 7:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: It is then acceptable to ask your connection if it would be appropriate to send your cover letter and resume in case the connection or someone in the department knows of a current open position for which you may be a fit.
• 7:52
  Justin Alan Hayes: Now you can start to visualize how having a connection at a potential employer could give you a small leg up on your competition From here.
• 8:01
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may or may not have communication with this connection for a period of time.
• 8:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: Either way, it is okay.
• 8:08
  Justin Alan Hayes: Before utilizing the connection, someone you know, make sure you or someone you know and respect has vetted the connection as much as possible.
• 8:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: Meaning if you know that the connection has had a less than stellar past, you may not want to have that person in your corner during your job search journey.
• 8:28
  Justin Alan Hayes: This does not mean to turn away completely, but be clear with the perspective employer that, while you do know the connection, you want to be considered for the position based on your own education, skills and experience, not theirs, since you should not stop your job search until you are hired.
• 8:48
  Justin Alan Hayes: After you go through the exercise of identifying and establishing communication with your connections at a potential employer, you will want to search and locate them on LinkedIn to add them as connections.
• 9:01
  Justin Alan Hayes: Using a connection on LinkedIn means you will see that person's updates in your news feed, which is a function that you can view at your convenience anytime you log on to LinkedIn.
• 9:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: Just as you will want to add and follow professional connections, you will want to also add all the companies you have identified as potential employers.
• 9:23
  Justin Alan Hayes: This gives you the opportunity to gain more familiarity with the organization, because more and more organizations are now including their mission statements.
• 9:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: You can now view current job openings and companies are able to view who is following them.
• 9:40
  Justin Alan Hayes: This function of LinkedIn can lead to you being contacted by a recruiter for a job opening, even if you are not contacted directly by a recruiter from a company you are interested in.
• 9:52
  Justin Alan Hayes: As I alluded to earlier, many organizations are now posting their job openings on their LinkedIn page.
• 9:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: Some employers also give you the ability to submit your interest in a job opening by applying directly through a quick-apply method that only takes a few seconds and can even be completed from your smartphone.
• 10:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: The quick-apply feature electronically sends your LinkedIn profile to the recruiter at the organization of choice and gives you the ability to upload your cover letter and resume to the quick-apply action message.
• 10:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: This is a much more streamlined and efficient process than sending your cover letter and resume through the United States Postal Service.
• 10:35
  Justin Alan Hayes: Simultaneously, you also want to search for and identify the company websites you are interested in possibly joining to learn more about them, as well as searching and applying for open positions, which are often posted on a company's website.
• 10:51
  Justin Alan Hayes: The location of open positions on a company's website may vary, so in many instances there will be a link in the site's navigation titled Careers, career Section or another variation of those terms.
• 11:06
  Justin Alan Hayes: Click on the career link and you will be automatically directed to that company's career section, where open positions, employee recruiting, videos and other career-related information is posted, along with the ability to create and maintain a job search profile specific to that company.
• 11:25
  Justin Alan Hayes: Once you have identified the career section of your company's of interest, your next step will be to create your job profile for each and every company you are interested in joining.
• 11:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: These profiles can take anywhere from a couple of minutes to more than 30 minutes each, depending on the requirements of that particular organization's HR department.
• 11:46
  Justin Alan Hayes: Again, each company can decide whether or not to have a career section on their website, and it is their decision as to the layout, design and available functionality.
• 11:58
  Justin Alan Hayes: For the sake of being on the conservative side, when you sit down to create your profiles, make sure you have at least 30 minutes of uninterrupted time available, including silencing your cell phone and powering off your television.
• 12:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: The basic information required in most job profiles is your name and contact information.
• 12:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: You will also have the ability to upload your resume and cover letter, geographic preferences, ability to relocate, education, volunteer service and any professional experience you may already have.
• 12:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: There is also an area on most profiles to include website links that may be helpful for the organization to learn more about you as a candidate.
• 12:44
  Justin Alan Hayes: This area is where you will want to copy and paste the URL of your LinkedIn profile.
• 12:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: See how each area we discuss is building on the previous.
• 12:55
  Justin Alan Hayes: One area that we will cover in a future chapter, but which you may be asked to include in your job profile, is salary expectations or salary requirements.
• 13:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: You want to enter the dollar amount that you are asking for the organization to pay you as an associate per hour or per year, referred to as salary.
• 13:15
  Justin Alan Hayes: Money is always a touchy subject.
• 13:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: Many of us think we should be paid more than what the free market is willing to pay for our services, but be careful not to price yourself out of a job opportunity because of stubbornness.
• 13:30
  Justin Alan Hayes: Do an internet search for elements you will want to consider and include when deciding what you will ask a company to pay you.
• 13:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: Here is what a hypothetical search may look like.
• 13:40
  Justin Alan Hayes: What is the average salary for someone with a finance degree in Los Angeles, california, at Sony?
• 13:48
  Justin Alan Hayes: Many different websites will populate on your screen to filter and choose from.
• 13:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: One website I would check out.
• 13:55
  Justin Alan Hayes: To give you a starting point is Glassdoor.
• 13:58
  Justin Alan Hayes: I do not recommend using this site exclusively in your salary research, because some individuals that post their salaries tend to exaggerate high or low and some companies withhold what information actually gets populated for you to see.
• 14:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: The companies withholding of information pertaining to salaries sometimes also relates to the withholding of past or present company employee reviews about company culture, people and working conditions, to name a few.
• 14:33
  Justin Alan Hayes: In addition, I would also refer to the career services department at your local college or university for a reference point as well.
• 14:43
  Justin Alan Hayes: Make sure that you maximize each job profile you create to the fullest potential.
• 14:48
  Justin Alan Hayes: When you set up your job profiles, there is usually an option for you to create what is called a job alert, a job alert within a job profile is a tool where you are able to identify your geographic preferences and the department you are interested in, for example, los Angeles, california, and finance From here.
• 15:10
  Justin Alan Hayes: You can then set up the frequency that the job alert will send you email updates on the availability of open positions that meet your specific personal criterion.
• 15:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: I recommend setting these up for each organization that you have an interest in.
• 15:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: The last area I want to cover in this chapter is similar in nature to the job profile in automated job alert emails, but instead this tool aggregates the open positions from all companies that subscribe to their service within your personally selected parameters and sends you an email with all pertinent details, such as job title, job description option, to apply, to name a few.
• 15:54
  Justin Alan Hayes: This aggregation tool is offered with LinkedIn, as well as indeedcom and other similar aggregation sites.
• 16:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: I am only naming the most popular aggregation sites at time of publishing, since new aggregation sites are created on an almost daily basis.
• 16:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: The LinkedIn aggregation tool creates your job alert with your already established profile and other specific information, such as geographic locations, industry and job type, layered on top.
• 16:28
  Justin Alan Hayes: Indeedcom does everything LinkedIn does except use your LinkedIn profile, which could change one of their next updates.
• 16:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: We have covered a lot of information in this chapter that allows you to get your job search up and running, which I know will be extremely helpful for you at any stage of your professional career.
• 16:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: The following job search preparation worksheet gives you an opportunity to document some of the key information that would be helpful in maximizing your job search while it is still fresh in your mind.
• 17:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: Job search preparation worksheet.
• 17:07
  Justin Alan Hayes: Please list the following Prefer geographic locations.
• 17:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: Companies located in preferred geographic locations.
• 17:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: Industries of experience and or interest.
• 17:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: Companies at companies and preferred geographic locations.
• 17:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: Industries of experience or interest, such as company name and contact information for each Job.
• 17:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: Profiles created, which includes organization URL, frequency updated user ID.
• 17:45
  Justin Alan Hayes: Username and password for each profile.