Are You Missing Out on Potential New Positions?

Could you actually be “hiding” from recruiters and employers and not even know it?  Statistics show that 90% of employers search online for candidates; and although social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and job boards are great places to start—and be discovered if your actual resume isn’t online—you’re missing out.

We have many sample resumes on our Web site; and almost every day, we’re contacted by recruiters and hiring managers looking for candidates who match the qualifications of positions they are trying to fill.  They found the resumes on our samples page by completing a keyword search on Google or some other search engine.  Many times, recruiters aren’t going to job boards to look for qualified candidates; they are simply typing desired (or required) skills, areas of expertise, and specific qualifications into a search engine and then contacting the candidates who pop up.  So how can you be the candidate who gets discovered by recruiters and hiring managers conducting search engine searches?

Use a Web Resume

Simply stated, it’s your resume on a Web site.  Your resume Web site has its own URL—which you can add to your LinkedIn profile, printed resume, networking/business cards, and pretty much anywhere else you can imagine.  When a recruiter completes a keyword search the search engine will pull up your resume for those matching keywords.

A Professional Blog

Do you have a professional blog where you talk about your experience and skills, passion for your industry, or provide advice to readers?  Consider adding a page to your blog that includes your resume.

A Professional Web Site or Portfolio

You could go the extra mile and create an entire professional Web site or portfolio that highlights your career experience, includes a bio, samples of your work, a copy of your resume, professional headshot, and a contact page with links to all the sites you are currently networking on such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  If you opt for this route—which I think is a great idea—be sure to include the links to all the sites you’re on, a copy of your resume, your e-mail address so they can contact you about relevant opportunities, and a compelling (but not too long) career biography that highlights some of your greatest professional accomplishments.  You can always direct recruiters and employers back to this site to learn more about you as a candidate—and find other ways to connect with you as well.

As a side note, practice due diligence and safety when posting your information online.  You don’t have to give your street address; and frankly, I would never include it online.  You can provide your e-mail address in order to allow a potential employer to contact you; or you could include your LinkedIn profile address.  If you have a P.O. box and are comfortable providing that on your Web resume, you could do that as well; or just simply provide your city, state, and zip.  Providing a phone number is really up to you and how you feel about putting that information out on the Internet.

Make yourself available to recruiters—but not vulnerable online.  Be smart about which information you post, but be diligent in getting yourself out there to be discovered.

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