Are you frustrated because you're not getting the job interviews you deserve?
If so, stay tuned because I have 5 simple tips for you that will help you
land almost any job interview. Hi there, I'm Heather Austin from
professoraustin.com and The Career Club on Facebook and on this channel I teach simple solutions
to help you launch a career you love, so if you're new here consider subscribing.
I know how frustrating it is to submit an online application that goes nowhere.
Over the years I've quickly learned that getting a job interview comes down to
one thing, knowing the right people. Let's jump into the 5 steps that you
can use today that will help you land almost any job interview. Tip # 1,
clean up your social profile. According to a survey done by SHERM the Society of
Human Resource Management 84% of organizations use social media to find
talent. Your social profiles can be a huge asset to your career search. Here's
a couple action steps that you can take today to clean up your social profiles.
First, you want to make sure you check your privacy settings. Although it's
important to be visible enough for employers to find you, you don't want to
expose too much information. Hiring managers like to see profile
details such as work history, education, special skills and location. Meanwhile
you can keep friends photos and other aspects of your timeline private. Another
thing you can do today to clean up your social profile is to delete any
unnecessary or inappropriate photos and posts. Remember to also remove any
inappropriate photos that you are tagged in and it doesn't hurt to let friends
and family know that social media is a big part of your job search and you
could go as far as cleaning up posts with poor grammar or punctuation. A good
rule of thumb is to remove anything that you wouldn't want a
potential employer to find. Another tip when it comes to cleaning up your social
profiles is to update your introduction and about sections. This is one of the
first places that employers go to see if you are a good fit. These sections should
reflect your best written content and should highlight skills that are in
demand and any characteristics that you have that make you unique. This leads us
to tip # 2, revitalize your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is the world's
largest professional network with over 500 million users. According to ad week,
87% of recruiters use LinkedIn as their number one hiring tool. Think of
your LinkedIn profile as your online resume. It's one of the quickest ways to
reach potential employers. Make sure it is up-to-date and optimized for keyword
searches. To help you revitalize your LinkedIn profile, I've created a resource
just for you. It's called the 10-point LinkedIn Optimizer Cheat Sheet and I'll
link it up in the description for you. This leads us to tip # 3 get
your career documents in order. This includes your resume, your cover letter
and even your list of references. When it comes to your resume, remember you only
have 6 seconds to grab the attention of your audience. One of the best ways to
make your resume stand out is to include a personal branding profile right at the
top, below your name and contact information. For more information on how
to create the perfect personal branding statement, I've created a video just for
you. I'll provide a link in the description below. Also make sure you
have a really good list of references. Include at least three business
professionals that can vouch for you and give a good statement or testimony about
you as a person and how awesome you are. This leads us to tip
# 4, conduct informational interviews. This tip has worked for me
time and time again. In fact, I was hired for one of my teaching positions because
I conducted an informational interview. So here's the story... After my oldest son
was born, I wanted to transition from the corporate world into a position that
allowed a little bit more flexibility. I knew that I loved teaching, so I
contacted a department chair at a large University in my area. He agreed to sit
down for 15 minutes and do an informational interview with me. During
the interview, I asked him "what can I do now so that in one year I can teach for
you in your department." Well one hour later, I was offered a teaching position
and was teaching in the classroom four weeks after that. The department chair
told me later that my resume would have never made it past the applicant
tracking system they had in place. On his desk, he had over 200 resumes
printed out. The candidates had come from schools like Harvard, MIT, Yale and that
just wasn't me. But because I showed initiative and a willingness to do what
it takes to get the job done, he hired me on the spot. This leads us to tip # 5.
Network, network, network. Networking is one of the best ways to build
relationships. These relationships lead to referrals and many businesses today
hire based on recommendations by current employees. The reason why organizations
hire referrals is because it costs less, is faster, decreases the turnover rate
and produces an overall higher quality employee.
Start by building relationships with others that can help you in the
interview process. This can be past or present teachers, classmates or even
professors. This can be people that you go to church with or individuals that
are in the same community organizations as you. Find people that
work in an industry similar to yours and connect with them. Use private email or
direct message features in LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to send a
direct message to your contact. Let them know exactly what you are looking for
and how they can help you. For example, are you hoping for an informational
interview or would you like to be notified in case they hear of a job opening.
Express your thanks to them for the time they're taking to help you get an
interview. Finally be patient with the process. So let's recap. The five simple
strategies to land almost any job interview. Tip # 1, clean up your
social profiles. Tip # 2, revitalize your LinkedIn profile.
Tip # 3, get your career documents in order. This includes your resume, your
cover letter and your reference sheet. Tip # 4, conduct informational
interviews and then the final tip, # 5, network network network. I
have a question for you. What have you tried recently that has worked well or
maybe something that hasn't worked well in getting a job interview? Make sure you
post your comments below. If you know someone that can benefit from this video
make sure you share it with them. Go ahead and hit the like button below and
subscribe to this channel for more videos just like this. Thanks for tuning
in guys and I will see you in the next video!