Job searching seems like such a daunting task for most people. If you are currently employed, it’s hard to find the time to engage in a job search. If you find yourself unemployed unexpectedly, it’s hard to know where to start. Last week I talked about this on my post for US News & World Report – How to Start Looking for a Job. Check out the 7 tips to gain momentum in your search.
This is a guest post by Derek Pangallo.
Hi, I’m a political scientist in Washington, DC working on and writing about political new media and online advertising. Reach me: derek.pangallo(a)gmail.com
Stand Out
No matter the industry you seek to get ahead in, you want a resume that makes a splash. In this post I’ll share some practices I’ve come up with that make you more appealing to the recruiter, and let you get some passive feedback from them. This isn’t an article encouraging you to add your twitter profile to your resume. In fact I’ll make a point to discourage it. The focus is leveraging technology to make your resume work better.
Every hiring manager has a different process, so we must acknowledge that some people read the resume before the cover letter. It’s also likely you’re resume will never be printed unless you get called in for an interview. For these reasons, the first overall impression of the resume is of utmost importance.
Micro-Managing Perception
The best way to control the first-impression experience of your resume is to use the PDF format. Word documents look messy with all the rulers and toolbars, plus on a foreign computer’s dictionary, your ethnic last name will get the dreaded red-squiggly underneath. No point in racial profiling yourself.
What’s really great about PDF: using Adobe Acrobat professional, you can set the initial view properties of a document point-by-point. I have my resume set to “fit to page” upon opening, so the recruiter gets a bird’s-eye view before ever deciding if I’m worth scrolling down for. Even though you can’t actually read any of my experience or skills, you have to admit it’s a damn sharp resume. Interest acquired, awe accomplished.
You can also set options on the document like “full-screen viewing” and “hide all controls”; don’t do this. When opening a PDF like this up, Adobe gives the warning “this document is trying to take control of your computer” or something — that’s not the first impression we’re looking for.
Link Click Tracking
There are a couple ways to get feedback once your resume is in the figurative hands of a hiring manager. The easiest is to shorten the links in your resume using http://goo.gl. Add the shortened URL as your link, leaving the display text as the actual destination. On my resume it looks like this:
Blog: www.derallo.me
If you hover with your mouse, you can see the link points to http://goo.gl/cTRpE. For the end user, there is no difference after clicking, but we can now track when and how many times the link was clicked. Just add a “+” symbol to the end to see a link’s analytics: http://goo.gl/cTRpE+
You can use this method regardless of where you are directing your visitors. Periodically checking the “all-time” clicks on your links will give you an idea of how many recruiters bothered to click through to your blog, Linkedin, or portfolio.
If you want even more data about outbound clicks on your resume, you’ll need to be directing traffic to a site you control and have a Google Analytics account associated with it.
Google Analytics
Using Google’s Free analytics tool, we can massage out even more data about the appeal of your resume. We can see exactly which job recruiter did the clicking, what city they were in, how long they stayed on your site, and much more. I’ll presume that you have a Google Analytics account and have it installed on your site.
This time around our desire isn’t to make links shorter, it’s to make them longer. You may have noticed longer URL’s with “UTM” codes in them. These are codes that tell Google Analytics where you were referred from. Organizing for America and Twitter both use this prominently in their emails.
For your first tagged URL, use the Google Analytics URL Builder. You enter the URL you will be redirecting to, then enter a campaign Source, Medium and Name (somewhat overkill for our purposes, but all three are requires.) I use one character, “r”, for source and medium, and change the “name” field for every resume I send out. Now you can tell exactly which resumes earned you clicks, drill-downing into that data.
Intelligent Use of Landing Pages
A quick word about where you’re actually directing traffic: make it count. Have a custom page on your blog just for talent-seekers. Also, optimize your LinkedIn profile make an impression. One way to do this is to rearrange profile elements so your recommendations are at the top. And definitely make sure LinkedIn users outside your network can see your photo — this is not the default setting.
What I’ve found
I’ve been utilizing these techniques for a few months now, and here’s what I know for sure: most of the jobs that call you for an interview still only clicked on one of your links. The lesson is that your resume only needs one link. Make it count. Depending on the job you’re looking for, link to your LinkedIn, your blog, or your portfolio. Don’t make it your twitter account unless you’re applying to work at Twitter, or your last tweet is always the first thing you want a prospective employer to see.
Questions/Improvements? Leave a comment or reach me on twitter, @derallo.
Post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney
Last month the Council of Public Relations Firms reported results of its fourth quarter member survey in which 80 percent of firms reported 2010 revenues that exceeded 2009 numbers and two-thirds of firms reported double-digit revenue growth in 2010. Nearly 60 percent of respondents expected PR budgets to be higher in 2011.
In addition to that report, here are six signs that PR agency business is improving:
New business channels are delivering
According to the Council of PR Firms, “New business pipelines seem to be opening wider. A full 56.4% of firms reported that new business prospects were stronger than a year ago, with the vast majority firms (76.4%) citing social media as one of the strongest expected growth areas. Other areas where firms were expecting the most new business growth included consumer marketing (listed by 58.2% of firms), issues and crisis management (30.9%), and corporate communication (27.3%).”
More agencies are looking for senior talent
In times of uncertainty PR agencies are not likely to bring on senior talent. During the lowest points of the recession there were mostly entry-level and intern (some non-paid positions) available, but hiring has rebounded and the interest in mid- and senior-level talent is an indicator that agencies are optimistic again.
PR is an asset in today’s trust-deficit world
Corporate reputation can change rapidly and businesses appreciate and turn to trusted counselors. Says Ad Age, “following several major PR cries last year — think BP oil spill and J&J recall — marketers are all too aware of the need for communications professionals and their agencies.” Experienced agencies can help with reputation management and also help navigate the new rules of communication which require more transparency and more rapid communications, include multiple stakeholders and more government involvement and require mapping a course through a more disperse media landscape.
The technology industry continues to thrive
The technology industry did not suffer nearly as much as it did in the last recession in 2001. In fact, internal marketing budgets at tech firms are growing. Forrester Research reports that “marketing agencies and services firms stand to be the big winners as tech marketers plan significant increases in external agency spend in 2011. As technology marketing budgets grow an overall 8% in 2011, use of external agencies is also set to grow by 40% or more in some areas. External services firms should prepare to capitalize on this additional demand for their services.”
Growth in response to market demand
A recession can be a great time to shop if you have the funds, and many agencies saw it as an opportunity to grab market-share through acquisition. There was a flurry of acquisition activity in the third quarter. In addition a number of smaller, individualized firms are popping up, indicating the market is demanding more, rather than less, PR.
Evolution of media creates opportunities for clients
The shrinkage of authority media creates opportunities for clients to serve as publishers. PR agencies are working to convince clients of the possibilities that exist online – for promoting discussion and delivering content – and that web sites can and should go beyond being just media kits. Traditionally this role was handled by digital agencies but more and more PR practitioners are getting in the game. According to Ad Age, “As social and two-way conversation-themed strategies advance, the role of the PR industry will continue to grow within the marketing mix. According to many within the industry, this past year saw many marketers realize the conversation game lies directly in the wheelhouse of the PR industry. Digital revenue, which drove a huge number of bottom lines into the black for PR shops, will continue to do so in 2011.”
Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.
You always want to start off on the right foot with your new employer. How the offer process is handled will impact how the relationship starts – or ends. That’s what I talked about for my post on US News and World Report’s On Careers blog this week. Here’s an excerpt:
You’ve gotten a job offer, and now it’s time to evaluate it. You should congratulate yourself for getting this far in the process.
But remember, a company needs to know you’re just as excited about them as they are about you. You need to manage the relationship with your possible next employer correctly to solidify the relationship and for everyone to feel like this is the right decision.
When you’re at the point of getting an offer from a company, most hiring managers will assume a few things:
- You’ve discussed the opportunity with your family
- You’ve given the job serious consideration without knowing the exact package or contractual arrangement
- You want to work there
If fact, they assume this when you provide your references, even before they extend an offer. That’s your cue to ask any pending questions about the job or the company. While your reference checks are in progress, that’s when you should to start considering the opportunity like you have an offer in hand.
Read the rest and the tips about how to ask for more time if you need it: When You Need Time to Consider a Job Offer
LinkedIn released data last week in regards to the months people are generally promoted worldwide. In the US, the best months for promotion are January and July. I wrote a post for US News and World Report’s career blog about how to position yourself for a promotion in the coming months.
On another note: The job market is heating up. We’re busier than ever with PR and communications requisitions coming in for agency and in-house PR roles. With more opportunities opening up, it’s probably a good time to give your resume an update or two. Check out my post this week on the questions your resume should answer on US News and World Report’s On Careers.
Post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney
More than ever before, PR is being chartered with generating our own content and not just shaping media content. As Fleishman-Hillard SVP Brad Mays says, “You are the Media.” This emphasis on content has created a need for more content generators, and in some cases, the hiring of “corporate reporters.”
I asked Lindsay if this was indeed a hot trend. She says that although her firm hasn’t received searches that are specifically for corporate reporters, she has heard of many PR departments that are hiring writers and many of the communications directors searches she has going on are very focused on finding someone with strong content creation skills. HooJobs has had several content focused positions recently, including a content manager position.
Writing has always been a big part of the PR role and reporters have long been scaling the wall and joining the PR ranks. But I’m not talking about bringing journalistic skill sets to the PR field…I’m curious about whether the notion of hiring your own corporate reporter will take off.
I’ve found several interesting examples:
- Last Spring, Eloqua hired Jesse Noyes, a former reporter for the Boston Herald and Boston Business Journal, as a corporate reporter. Eloqua intends Noyes to create content that will inform, educate and entertain those in Eloqua’s market.
- The LA Kings made Rich Hammond, who has covered the Kings for the past decade and previously wrote for the Los Angeles Daily News, its in-house reporter, in order to, in his words, provide “better, more comprehensive Kings coverage than ever before.”
- In 2008, Miller Brewing Co. hired a corporate reporter, James Arndorfer, to write Brew Blog, which was intended to be less of a corporate blog and more of a news-oriented source of fresh content. Brew Blog shut down less than six months later, but not until Arndorfer famously (well, famously in the sense that it was reported in the Wall Street Journal) broke the news that Anheuser Busch would be announcing a new brew – before A-B or the trade press had a chance to report the story.
- Cisco retains an A-List stable of freelance writers, including Bill Bulkely, Elizabeth Corcoran, Jason Deign, John Dodge and Marc Gunther, to write and report for its news@cisco page.
- In addition to the value that journalists bring to the PR department, there are all sorts of implications and opportunities for missteps when hiring a corporate reporter. Exhibit A: Chevron hired a reporter to tell its side of a story on rain forest contamination and pre-empt an expose on 60 Minutes.
Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.
This blog is to share my recruiting experiences and discuss thoughts on the job market, PR industry and technology.
Alison Kenney is an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience.
