OK folks…I’m going to vent a little and hopefully help you out in the process.

I cannot tell you how many times I run across profiles of “Amazing Web Developers” or “Web Design Rockstars” who have not a lick of online presence.

My response? “Oh…REALLY”???

So here are a few tips that I would like to share if you are a Web Designer or a Web Developer in search of a new job:

• Have a website.
• Have a good website.
• If you have portfolio goodness: Put it on your website.
• If your prior work products are under an NDA: Make up new stuff.
• If you are a usability or interface architect / engineer: Link to the sites you worked on and describe what you did.
• If you are a Web Developer, I really don’t want to see a static HTML website.
• Put your resume’ somewhere on the website.
• Make sure I can FIND your website.

Bottom line: Show me.

You know that a future employer will ASK for portfolio items. You know they will ASK for work product…why make it harder on yourself?

So please…put yourself out there, make it visible. Make me want to CALL YOU.

Do it for the children.

Jen

So here’s the situation:

A contractor is contacted by several different staffing companies/recruiting firms to fill a specific contracting job at a particular company. The company is large and obviously uses many different agencies to assist them with their need.

The natural inclination for a job-seeker is to say yes to as many agencies as they can find in hopes that their resume’ will get into the right hands.

WRONG.

By taking this approach, especially for contract positions, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Attempting to game the system is a very bad move which may result in you not being considered at all without regard to your skills or availability to do the job.

I know you are thinking…”What? That doesn’t make any sense at all”!!!

So let me lay it out:

Companies that have contract positions typically engage with more than one agency to fill their need. This makes sense for a company to do this as it broadens their reach into the candidate marketplace without up-front cost.

Generally speaking, there is a limited candidate pool for any specific requisition–especially if it is a difficult-to-find skill set.

So naturally, a candidate may be contacted several times by different agencies for one requisition.

Now, here’s the hard part:

If a candidate is submitted by more than one agency for the same requisition, and the company is interested in the candidate…it sparks a chain of events that can lead to the candidate not being considered at all.

• Who submitted the candidate first? Agencies have to prove who was faster on the trigger. Often…this literally comes down to minutes or seconds.
• Who actually worked the candidate…promoted them? Again, has to be proved by the agency.
• Did the agency have permission from the candidate to submit them to a particular requisition?
• What is the company policy as it pertains to multiple submissions? Generally..it is the one who got there first.

So you see the problem…if a candidate engages with multiple agencies for the same requisition…it sets up an agency brawl internally with a company.

More often than not: A company will avoid the unpleasantness of jumping in the middle of an agency brawl and forego the candidate altogether.

NOW do you see why this is a bad plan?

So to all the contract candidates out there…please don’t try to game the system…it just doesn’t work. You will end up hurting yourself in the end. If you get a call from an agency…go with the first one that calls.

But what if the agency is doing a bad job of representing me???

It does behoove you to continue to follow up with the agency & make sure that you are properly represented to the company.

If you do not feel as though the agency is doing its best to get you in front of the client, write a letter to the agency disallowing them to represent you for this position any longer. Be sure to include details like when you were contacted, who the recruiter is, etc.

Get in touch with any of the other agencies that called (I assume you kept a list), and write them a letter giving them permission to represent you. Also include the disallow letter to the other agency in your communications. This assists the agency when presenting you to their client.

Using this strategy, you keep your nose clean and there is no question in the company’s mind which agency is allowed to present you as a candidate for the contract job.

I hope this helps…happy hunting!

Job Seeker Tips Episode 1: The Resume’ from Jennifer Wojcik on Vimeo.

In the current economic situation we find ourselves in, some people will face lay-offs or Reductions-In-Force. With downsizing occurring daily and companies unable to stay afloat, it is inevitable that many will find themselves unemployed.

As a recruiter, I have seen many job seekers who are woefully unprepared to face stiff competition for the remaining jobs. It frightens me that quite a few people don’t have any idea how to effectively look for a job, much less interview well and get hired.

Over the next several blog posts, I will outline strategies that will help job seekers to organize their search, open minds to other opportunities, create their own opportunities and successfully utilize agencies and networking to once again become gainfully employed

We will begin at the beginning: Crafting an image.

Job Seeker Tip #1: Create a Resume’

This may seem obvious to most, but there are a surprising number of people that have never written a resume’. The resume’ is a basic framework within which to communicate your skill-set, aptitudes and background. I get many questions about what should be on a resume’ and the answer is: It depends. If you are a seasoned professional, it is not likely to be prudent to include jobs you had in college. On the flip side, if you are relatively inexperienced, it may be a good idea to include High School club leadership positions, or volunteer activities. The idea is to communicate to a potential employer that your skills would be ideal for the position they are hiring for.

I am often asked if a person should have more than one resume’…my answer: Absolutely! I am of the opinion that the resume’ is a fluid document that should be tailored to each individual position applied for. This strategy allows you to highlight which portion of your skills are applicable to the potential position at hand. This is also true for the “mission statement” portion of the resume’. There should always be a “mission statement” at the very top underneath the contact information. It needs to be specific. I see many that say something to the effect of “My goal is to be the best employee ever, please hire me”. This simply doesn’t work…its empty and meaningless. A better mission statement would be “I am a multi-million dollar sales producer with a desire to make XYZ Corp. the preeminent supplier of widgets in the United States Midwest Region”. That’ll get their attention!

Underneath the mission statement should be a block containing short descriptions of your most desirable skills. These can be bulleted or denoted otherwise. This will be the portion that is tailored to the individual position.

Many people wonder if there is a difference between the timeline resume and functional resume’ in the eyes of employers. The answer is once again: It depends. If you are a serial entrepreneur or consultant, the functional resume’ is often the best choice as it highlights the skills rather than the timeline. For most of us, however, a timeline resume’ works best. This is simply where you list your positions in chronological order with dates, position held, etc.

Be sure that the resume’ is well organized and readable. Remember that the point of the resume’ is to draw the reader into the document. If it is poorly written, verbose, or disorganized, it will likely be passed over. Spelling and diction are important here as is voice. Always be sure to use active voice when describing your accomplishments. An example of this is “Organized and coordinated a cross-functional team to deploy a new file-sharing system”. Passive voice sounds more like “I helped IT get the new file-sharing system installed”. Which sounds better? Active. Think of active voice as action words; doing words. Installed, motivated, designed, organized, etc.

Questions often arise as to the length of resumes’. I think that a resume’ needs to be long enough to tell your story. Many will say that it needs to be X number of pages in length…I don’t subscribe to that theory. If it takes 4 pages to tell your story, then so be it. Once again, the first few lines in any resume’ should be compelling enough to draw them into the rest of the document. Think of it like a movie trailer…you get just enough information to cause you to want to see the whole movie.

Using a resume’ writing service is fine, but I typically find that most people can write their own without too much difficulty. If you are stuck, find some templates on the web and then tweak it, or use a template that you like as a framework. After all, no one is more familiar with you experience and skills than you.

Above all, be honest. Don’t embellish your accomplishments or make things up. Any recruiter or company worth their salt will see that coming a mile away. Don’t be shy about your experience or accomplishments, but tell the truth. Everything on your resume’ should be verifiable by a third party.

Be sure to see the video complement to this series posted on YouTube and here at YouGuru.net

Stay tuned for Episode 2: Utilizing Social Media for Job Searching