Differences Between Your Job Search and Your Parent’s Job Search

If you’ve ever had a conversation with your parents about their early days of job searching, then you know some of the stark contrasts between the job search of 10-20 years ago and today’s job search. LinkedIn, one of today’s trendiest job searching social media tools, wasn’t even around back then. Heck, my parents didn’t even finish college! Today, that’s an absolute must to gain entryway into the corporate world.

Given this change in the professional world, job seekers need to be aware of and stay on top of the current trends and, then, adapt accordingly in order to optimize their chances of success. Here are only four of the major differences between the job search of your parents’ days and your days and how a video resume can help you stay on top:

• Self-branding is the new trend.
  When employers open their inbox on a Monday morning over a cup of coffee and a doughnut, it contains more than just your application inside! Throughout the process, you literally become just a piece of paper in a stack of potentially hundreds of resumes. Employers don’t have the time or resources to look through all of these, so job seekers must engage in self-branding strategies that can differentiate their applications from the dozens of others. Depending on your field of work, you might even be expected to create a portfolio or your own personalized business cards! Fortunately for us less designed-inclined folk, a video resume offers a great alternative, allowing us the opportunity to make our mark, tell our story, and create a resume that gets us noticed above the others.
  
  
• You have an online reputation that can make or break your hire.
  Yes, employers do very actively seek out your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other information about you that is floating around on the Web. And they take this culmination of information—your “online reputation,” we shall say—very seriously. According to an infographic created by Column Five for Rasmussen College, 37 percent of employers who screen candidates using social media have found information that has prevented the candidate from being hired. Don’t let this be you! Instead, take control and let a video resume and Jobma profile be your online reputation and first impression instead.
  
  
• LinkedIn can get you hired.
  LinkedIn wasn’t founded until May of 2003, meaning that it wasn’t even around in your parents’ early days of job searching. Now, job seekers are getting interviews and even getting hired through this popular professional site. According to an article by Time , 89 percent of recruiters have hired job candidates through LinkedIn. Make sure to link your LinkedIn profile with your Jobma profile in order to share your video resume on this very successful platform.
  
  
• Specialized skills are a must.
  My mom recalls showing up to a job interview and being asked to take a timed typing test as a “skills test.” Now, employers look for specialized certifications that are tailored specifically for an advertised job position. Now, a high school education is no longer enough. Use a video resume to show employers that you have more than hard skills. Draw their attention to the strengths you have other than specialized skills. Even if they may not consciously realize it, employers value soft skills more than you might think! Some even value soft skills more than hard skills.

Don’t fall behind! Keep up with the trends and get started on your FREE video resume trial today with Jobma.