Using Social Media in Your Job Search

An increasing number of employers are using social media sites to recruit and to advertise for employees. The majority of open jobs are not posted on job boards, but are found through networking. According to JobVite’s 2013 Social Media Recruiting Survey:

• 94% of recruiters across all industries have adapted to social recruiting
• 78% of recruiters have made a hire using social recruiting
• 93% of recruiters are likely to look at someone's social media profile
• The order of preference is 1. LinkedIn 2. Facebook 3. Twitter

This article covers why use social media, referrals are everything, and how to get started.  

For more info on how to use social media, click here.

Curriculum Vitae Use

A curriculum vitae is a document one uses to apply for employment. It provides detailed information about an individual's educational and work history. Often called a CV, it is much more comprehensive than a resume and therefore it can be much longer. There is no limit to how long, but it must include only information that is needed to illustrate your academic and professional experience. A lengthy CV isn't better than a short one if it contains irrelevant data.

CV features covered in this article include:

• What Should You Put on Your CV?
• CV Mistakes to Avoid

To learn more, click here.

Putting Together a Career Action Plan

A career action plan is a road map that takes you from choosing an occupation to becoming employed in that occupation to reaching your long-term career goals.  The career planning process is ongoing, and bi-directional, meaning you can move back to previous steps when you need to gather more information or clarify your choices.

Your career action plan will be made up of these goals and the steps you will have to take to reach them.  Here's what you need to do: 

• First brainstorm to come up with a list of all your goals. 
• Then break your goals down into short-term and long-term goals.

For more info about writing a career plan, click here

Why you need a career plan

Developing a career action plan can be achieved only after doing a thorough self assessment with a complete exploration of viable career options.  The career planning process is ongoing, and bi-directional, meaning you can move back to previous steps when you need to gather more information or clarify your choices.

For example, a counselor can't set your goals for you. He or she will just help you clarify them and assist you in finding strategies to reach them. You must amend your action plan over time as your goals change, your priorities change, and your career grows.

For more info about writing a career plan, click here

Develop a Career Action Plan

Of desirable career options, one must choose choose an occupation after examining them carefully and determining which one is the best match. After doing a thorough self assessment and an exploration of career options you should develop a career action plan.   

The career planning process is ongoing, and bi-directional, meaning you can move back to previous steps when you need to gather more information or clarify your choices.

Once you have identified an occupation to pursue, you then develop an action plan ncluding the educational or vocational training requirements.

For a discussion of a Career Action Plan see the article here.