Most available jobs are not job postings

Regrettably, some of today`s less informed job seekers believe that the Internet has transformed the job search into a nearly effortless process. They hastily update their resumes and post them on several online databases. These jobseekers then sit back and wait for an employer to call. Most of them wait a long, long time-often in vain. Even in the age of the Internet, a job search still requires hard work. Having a plan, using multiple search methods, and asking for help all increase the chances of success.

Matthew Mariani, Job search in the age of the Internet: Six jobseekers in search of employers, Occupational Outlook Quarterly, summer 2003, pp. 3

I`m not suggesting you shouldn`t send in your resume to online job postings.  But the facts are this:  there are usually so many applicants chasing those secure jobs especially in the government or a large corporation that HR clerks can`t processes all of them.

 

Many times poor resumes are automatically discarded. Large companies don`t have time to dwell on each and every resume, and not every resume is scanned into the system.  In this economy, HR departments are scaled down—the organization isn`t employing or hiring as many people as the good times—so there are fewer resources in house to process the ever-increasing volume of resumes that come in.  The result is that HR only has enough resources to evaluate the first 50 or 100 resumes that come in for a posting. If you`re not in that initial lot—and how would you ever know—then you`re resume is not even considered.

Even if your resume is looked at, if there is little to catch the eye of the reader in a quick scan, chances are the resume will be screened out, not in. Too many job searchers have old-fashioned, ineffective resumes.  Get an up-to-date resume, one that conforms with current resume conventions, to optimize your chances in a competitive online world.  Get a professional rewriting of your resume to attract the attention of a reader!

Even with a good resume, the fact of the matter is that job postings represent only about 10% of the jobs available at anytime in the workforce.

You can`t be faulted for this mindset of thinking the only jobs available are those you see in the newspaper or online. After all, it makes sense, doesn’t it, that if a company needs an employee, it will  tell everyone about it (through a posting) so they can fill the position quickly?  Well, put yourself in their shoes.  If you put up a posting, and get 1000, or 10,000 resumes, all that does is dramatically increase the cost—in terms of time, people, and money—to add to the hiring process.  Companies are trying to minimize costs in this economy, not engage in costly hiring processes.

What other way is there of finding a job?  What is a more effective way to find a job in this economy? 

Find out the answers to these questions and more from George Dutch, a certified job change expert at http://www.jobjoy.com.  Register here for his free webinar `Secrets of a Successful Job Search. More information please Visit this site www.jobjoy.com