Are you job seeker paparazzi?

You keep applying for jobs. You keep chasing the employer, the job, the photo opportunity. You are ruthless in your pursuit.

You apply online. You apply through Indeed.com and Monster and CareerBuilder and Dice.com and the Michigan Talent Bank and company websites and your school/community college/college/university/alumni association and other associations and LinkedIn and Facebook and many, many more cyberspaces.

You show up everywhere...at job fairs, open houses, career fairs, pink slip parties, networking events and association meetings.

Resumes and application stuff jammed in your pockets, you seek out and pursue wherever and whenever employers appear in public. You push past the other job seeker paparazzi and the bodyguards to get to the employer celebrity.

You have sent out dozens, hundreds, even thousands of resumes and applied everywhere.

But then you wait. You wait for them to review your application, your resume, your cover letter, your portfolio, your references, your LinkedIn profile and all of your documentation, your stuff. And you wait for them to deem you worthy. You wait for them to decide if you are good enough.

Why would someone call you in for an interview? What makes you special or at least different from all the others clammering for the job?

Your resume, your application is identical to, or very much like, every other resume and application. Maybe the words are a little bit different, but all that documentation looks pretty much the same.

How can you separate yourself from the crowd? How can you stand out from everyone else? How can you get their attention, interest, appreciation and respect?

The answer is in what you do next, what you do AFTER you apply.

What are you doing AFTER you apply? Are you acting like the ideal candidate who is active, patiently persistent, taking initiative, creative, interested and enthusiastic?

Or are you passive, annoying, impatient, a problem not a solution, tedious and boring, angry and hostile, demanding and a time waster?

What are you doing AFTER you apply?

For help in learning and putting into practice ways to speed up your job search success, visit JVS at www.jvsdet.org, join our LinkedIn group NextJobs~JVS Detroit, follow JVS Detroit on Twitter and/or email me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org.

Ten Job Hunting Myths

THE MYTHS:

1. Without an excellent resume and cover letter, you'll never beat the competition and get the interview.
2. The best way to find a job is by using the Internet.
3. Resumes are screened to find the best qualified candidates.
4. If you are qualified and you apply, you deserve an interview. If you don't get the interview or even any response, you are not qualified for that job opening.
5. If you ask everyone you know to help you find a job, someone will find one for you.
6. It's not what you know, it's who you know.
7. If you follow up with an employer more than three times, you are being a pest. And pests don't get jobs.
8. If someone says "No" to you about a job, they mean "No."
9. To win the interview, you have to sell yourself by telling them how wonderful you are.
10. I can't find a job because of the economy. It stinks and the best jobs are going overseas.

LET'S GET REAL!

1. Most interviews come from initial contacts without a resume or cover letter.
2. The best way to find current leads is by using the Internet. The best way to find a job is by developing other leads.
3. Resumes are screened to find keywords and potential problems.
4. Being qualified is not enough. First you need to get noticed.
5. If you ask and expect everyone you know to help you find a job, you'll lose a lot of friends.
6. It's not who you know, but who knows and appreciates YOU.
7. Following up the right way is persistence. Following up the wrong way is pestering. And most leads become interviews after a minimum of 7-10 follow ups.
8. If someone says "No" to you after an interview, they very likely mean "Not now."
9. To win the interview, you have to ask questions, listen to the answers and tell them what they want to hear. Most people can't sell. They talk too much about themselves and don't listen to their customers.
10. There are always jobs for people who develop the right contacts, get involved in the business, and show employers how they can improve the bottom line.

Learn the right way and find the resources you need for your job search success at www.jvsdet.org and www.ParnossahWorksDetroit.org. Join us at NextJobs~JVS Detroit on www.LinkedIn.com.

You can reach me, Walt Tarrow, at wtarrow@jvsdet.org.

Posting Your Resume Online

Happy New Year!

I just learned of a website for posting your resume online.

And it turns out that Emurse.com has been on the Net for over three years! And that was even before Globalpitch.com came on the scene.

If you know of other websites where you can post your resume online, please share.

But with so many websites and so much information, how do you choose what's best for you?

You could spend every hour of every day searching for good info, good advice, and find endless amounts of helpful, useful stuff.

What should you consider when using a website, a service, a tool for posting your resume online?

The top consideration has to be if your resume is going to be found and read by the right people.

So, who are the right people? At the very least, the right people should be those who can influence, directly or indirectly, hiring decision makers. Or put you in touch with, connect you with, those with influence.

Or the right people could be the decision makers themselves.

Are they going to visit the depository where your resume is being stored?

I've been told by a number of those decision makers that they don't have the time or the inclination to search for resumes because they already have too many resumes coming after them. Resumes sent to them have overloaded their personal resume banks and folders.

So why bother posting your resume online?

Well, if it doesn't cost you anything, why not?

But, if it does cost you, then you might want to rethink that value proposition.

Posting your resume online on websites like Emurse.com or Globalpitch.com for free might be worth the investment of the time and effort it takes to construct your resume, but don't count on much of any response from the employers out there.

That's up to chance.

Good Luck!

Job Search Experts - Whom Can You Trust?

Thousands and thousands of job search experts everywhere.

Search online and there is no shortage of job search wisdom.

But whom can you trust?

A job seeker forwarded an article to me entitled "Debunking 5 (Un)employment Myths" and asked for my thoughts.

Here are the five myths as presented by the writer:
Myth #1-The greater your qualifications, the better.
Myth #2-You should always "dress for success."
Myth #3-Most jobs are not advertised.
Myth #4-Send enough resumes and the phone will ring.
Myth #5-Once you have a job, it is best to "stay put."

The writer addresses each myth with a reality and a follow up strategy.

For a copy of the full article, please contact me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org.

As for my thoughts, I disagreed with most of his realities and questioned his strategies, BUT I appreciated how his advice provoked my thoughts and challenged my job search beliefs.

To decide if he was to be a trusted source, I looked for evidence of his credibility as an expert. An Internet search for the author resulted in finding copies of the article but nothing more about him.

And a website given for more information about the author, www.scatterseeds.com, remains "currently down for maintenance."

Soooo...the jury is still out.

As for job search advice, in general, ask questions of, and advice from, everyone. You never know who knows the right answer. And the right answer may not be the right answer for you, or the right answer at this time.

Take nothing as gospel, as the absolute truth. Try it out if you can, give it a chance, see if it works, and, if it does, or even if it doesn't, share your experiences with others.

So, whom do you trust?

Bottom line -- you start by trusting yourself.

The ABCs of Job Search - Part 1

A is for Apply.

Apply to every job that you meet at least 1/2 of the requirements.
Apply to everywhere you want to work even if the company is not hiring; especially if the company is not hiring. They will be hiring some day and you will be at the front of the line; maybe there won't even be a line, just you.

B is for Build Connections.

Build connections to keep your application, your resume, you out of cold storage and moving on to the next step, to the interview and beyond.
Build new contacts and forge those contacts into connections to advise, to inform, to support and to refer you to other connections.

C is for Care.

Care about the job opening and act like it.
Care about the company and act like it.
Care about the people that work there and act like it.
Care about your network, your connections, your family, your friends and ACT like it.

Should You Pay To Get a Job?

Simply put, NO!

You have two important factors to consider.

First, what exactly are you getting for your money?

Second, can you get it for less or perhaps even for free?

There are people out there in the wide, wide world who want your money, are not concerned about how they get it, and not interested in providing you anything of value, anything that would help you.

You may be confused. You may be discouraged. You might be desperate. You certainly are vulnerable. And there are predators who will take advantage of you.

What exactly are you getting for your money? Is it possible for someone to GIVE you a job? Of course, that is what employers/companies do. But why would some one or some company charge you for the job? They might charge you for expenses such as tools or licenses but be clear about the employment arrangement or contract before agreeing to anything.

Recently, an alledged employment service advertised immediate hiring for delivery and customer service jobs for anyone. Anyone who showed up at their office and paid $30 for a "uniform" which happened to be an oversized T-shirt with their company name on it. The job was delivering the same flyers that brought the people in to pay the $30 in the first place!! And many of these new employees never earned a penny.

Other employment services claim to provide jobs or leads for a fee, but none of these jobs or leads are exclusive to them. You can find these leads advertised all over the Internet or by simply contacting the companies directly.

What exactly are you paying for?

There are employment and career services that will teach you how to create a resume or create one for you for a fee. Even if they create one for you, you still have to provide all your background information. What exactly are you paying for?

And can you get these things for less or for free?

There are many ways to get a resume and look for jobs that cost only the time and effort you put into it. No fee.

Just get in touch with me and JVS at wtarrow@jvsdet.org, on LinkedIn, at 248.233.4231 or check out our job bank at www.parnossahworksdetroit.org.

And it's free!

Is Time Off Really Time Off?

Taking it easy can be really, really hard!

I just returned to the office after a two week vacation.

My outgoing voice mail message said I was out of the office and although I extended the option to leave a message, I also directed callers to contact the main office number for immediate assistance.

I had three messages left over the two week period.

BUT, even though I had set my Outlook Out of the Office Assistant to say I was not available for two weeks, and not counting blocked spam messages, I had 897 emails in my inbox...

A friend has said that you really pay for your vacation with way more work once you return to your job.

How much time and effort are you investing in your job search right now?

Every day that you take time off when you could be working on finding leads, following up and through with your applications and resumes, and making contacts and forging connections is time added to your job search.

Little bits of work every day are solid investments in your job and career future.

Schedule regular daily tasks that are simple and doable instead of saving them up for big frantic flurries of activity.

When it comes to job search success, slow and steady does win the race.

Meet and mix with hundreds of business contacts! Join us at the JVS Business Connnections event on Wednesday, October 21st. Register by clicking on the event flyer at http://www.jvsdet.org/pdf%20files/business%20connections%20flyer.pdf.