How to make the Perfect Resume?

Your traditional printed resume must be supplemented now with a 21st century version that is compatible with e-mail and with Internet and database search technologies.

• Changing the content of your resume - small but very important changes
• Cyber-safe resume - protect your privacy, your identity, and your job (current, if any, and future). Don't skip this step!

Keywords in your resume - tips to increase the probability that your resume will be included in the serach results when employers search through resume databases, like those used in big-company applicant tracking systems and most web job sites.

Changing the format of your resume - a couple of short cuts for emergencies plus:

• Converting a Word document to ASCII text - compatible with the Internet technologies, safely transits e-mail systems (see Using Your ASCII Resume, below).
• Polishing your ASCII text resume - it doesn't have to be boring. You can jazz it up (a little).
• Sample ASCII text resume - cyber-safe, with keywords added, and polished to look more interesting
• Personal Resume Web Page -- Add simple HTML tags to your ASCII resume, and do some "search engines optimization" so your resume will be found.
• Basic HTML tags will get you started, and here's help viewing your Web Page as you work on it.

Some final touches will make your Personal Resume Web Page more employer-friendly and optimized for the search engines.

• Adding META tags should help with some of the search engines.
• Using your ASCII text resume - now that you have an Internet Resume, use it!
• E-mailing a resume - usually the fastest way to respond and generally preferred by recruiters and employers, but not as easy to do well as you might think...
• Keeping Your E-Mail Out of the Spam Filters - a new complication to the resume e-mail process.
• Cutting-and-pasting your resume into Web job site resume and profile forms makes things move more quickly and, hopefully, minimizes the extra spelling and gramatical errors that can happen when you are typing text directly into a resume/profile form.

You do still need your traditional printed resume:
when you have developed a relationship with a specific potential employer or a trusted recruiter who has requested your complete resume. when you respond to an employer's ad or an off-line opportunity through the USPS (or "snail mail") system. It's a good idea to include a plain, scannable version of your resume with your printed resume when you are responding via regular mail. Then, if you are the "right" candidate for the opportunity, you resume may be scanned, particularly by companies with more than 500 employees that may have an internal applicant tracking system.

Finding Jobs Online

So, where do you find the jobs? Most people start with the big Employment Sites. You cannot, and should not, ignore the big sites, particularly if want to work for a large employer. However, there are many more resources for your job search now than just the big sites.

Assuming that you know what you want to do and where you want to do it, check out these pages of Onlinejob-Hunt new Guide to Finding Jobs Online. We've had to expand this page to a guide because of all the new resources that are developing.

If it has been a couple of years since you've searched for a job, start at # 1, and go through the whole list. Just need a quick refresher? Pick a topic that particularly interests you:

• Finding Employer Websites - jobs from the source!
• Finding the Jobs on the Employer Website - where are they hidden?
• Leveraging Employer Websites - differentiate yourself with information
• Associations and Alumni Groups - very effective for networking
• Recruiters, Staffing Firms, & Head Hunters - can help or hurt
• Job Sites - new things to consider and new sites to use
• Classified Ads - very effective
• Job Aggregators - new and powerful

Starting you online job search

1. PREPARING FOR YOUR JOB SEARCH

Decide What You Want to Do
It's impossible to find a job if you don't know what you want to do. It is the first question you will be asked when you say that you are job hunting. If you don't have a good answer, people will be unable to effectively help you (and they may wonder how seriously you are looking for a job).

Get Comfortable with Your Computer and Being Online
You won't spend all your time in front of your computer (or you shouldn't), but you need to feel comfortable. It may increase your job market "value" and market competitiveness.

Get Support for Your Job Search
More "heads" are definitely better than one - the old cliché is absolutely true, so don't do your job search in isolation. A solitary job search can be demoralizing, and it can also be more difficult because you'll only have access to what you find by yourself. Leverage the experience, expertise, and network of friends and colleagues, and don't forget to help others, too. You will all be more successful.

Friends, outplacement counselors, your school or college's career center or placement office, members of your church (or temple or where ever you practice your religion), former co-workers, your local government, your federal government, one of the independent job hunt support groups, career counselors, and/or a job search coach can help you enormously. They will help you find resources and contacts, keep your spirits up, give you ideas, help you explore you options, and give you a boot in the pants when you need one.

Collect Information
Identify the jobs, employers, and locations that interest you, and then find out what you can about them. The Web is a treasure trove of useful information (just be cautious about believing everything you read!).

Pull Together Your Resume, Including an Internet Version
Once you know the job you want and have collected information, you need to create your resume, actually, two or three versions -- for print, for e-mail, for completing online forms, and for a personal resume Web page -- with "keywords" for recruiters to find.

2. IMPLEMENTING YOUR JOB SEARCH

Select a FEW Job Sites to Use
It has been estimated that there are 80,000 Web job sites. And there are thousands of other sites that have job openings -- company Web sites, professional association Web sites, Chamber of Commerce Web sites, college alumni/ae Web sites, etc. That's more options than you could probably use in a lifetime!

How do you navigate through all of this to your new job?

Finding the Jobs
Read this article to learn about all the many places that jobs are listed, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. You'll want to check them all out to find the ones that work best for you.

Choosing a Job Site
Don't post your resume or leave a profile on any site until you have read this article. Not every job site is a good, or even a safe, place for you to post your resume or to leave contact information! So, learn how to spot an unsafe site before you get started.

Using Web Job Sites
Then, read Job-Hunt's article on to see how Web job site usually work, what services to use and what services to avoid.

Dirty Dozen Online Job Search Mistakes
Job-Hunt's famous list of pitfalls (with some solutions, too).
If you have identified potential employers of interest to you, track down and visit the employer's Web site. Frequently, particularly for larger employers, the company Web site will also have job opportunities posted.

Follow Up Relentlessly and Politely (Off-line, too)
When you have identified a job you want or a company you want to work for and submitted your online application, send your resume, with a targeted cover letter, to the recruiter and hiring manger (using paper and a postage stamp). Then call to see if they've received it, and what is happening with the job that interests you.

Don't assume that every e-mail message you send is received and read! Currently, spam (bulk unsolicited commercial e-mail) and computer virus-generated messages in circulation comprise an estimated 70% to 80% of all e-mail traffic. Companies and people have responded to this deluge of junk e-mail by using filtering software in an attempt to separate the "good" mail from the "bad." So your message and resume may be deleted or diverted by one of these electronic gate keepers. Following up via phone and "snail mail" is a necessity. Be politely persistent.

Spend More Time OFF-Line than ON-Line (Off-Line is Where the Jobs Are!)
The Internet is an awesome information source, but think of it as a "tool" in your job search toolbox. You will be hired by a person who will probably want to meet you and talk with you before offering you a job. So, use the Internet's vast information resources to help you, but don't limit your efforts to this on-line world.

Reality is that the vast majority of jobs (estimated at 85% or 90% of them!) are NOT posted on a Web site or even advertised in your local newspaper. They are never advertised at al! These jobs comprise "The Hidden Job Market."

The people hired in the HIdden Job Market jobs are known to the organization before a job opportunity has been documented or, sometimes, even recognized. They are the "friends of the friends" of the hiring manager or of another employee. Don't be discouraged! You can find those jobs, and the Internet can help you get started.

Networking Resources
If you belong to a professional association, look for a "career center" (or something similar) on the association's Website, or go to a few meetings to see if you can connect with other job seekers.

Track Your Search
Set up a process for Tracking Your Job Search so you know when and where you left a resume, what job sites have worked the best for you, etc. Over the course of time, you may lose track of the sites that you used, and having some records of your activities will help you know where to go to delete or "inactivate" your resume when you get a job.

IN CONCLUSION
Yes, it is a LOT of work to find a new job! There are very few true short cuts, but the Internet has increased the apparent size of the job market, automating the application process while also adding some new complications (like protecting your privacy). In a way, the Internet has made it more difficult to find a job.

You will survive this process, and you will succeed at finding a great new job! If you're lucky, you will also learn a lot about yourself and make a bunch of new friends in the process. Now, go for it!!

Good luck with your job search!