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Dear Joanna,
I’m almost finished working on my resume and cover letter with my Employment Counsellor at JVS Toronto. I’m following the professional branding approach with my documents.What is the best way for me to write the headers so that it looks professional and can get noticed by the hiring managers?
Signed: Header to Header (H2)
Job seekers often tell me that they find Twitter to be the most intimidating of all the popular social media platforms. Maybe it is because of those awful career ending mistakes we hear about. Maybe it’s just difficult to figure out how to use, and being such a public tool, new users (especially job seekers) are nervous to make a mistake on it.
Twitter is, however, a very popular platform for employers, and as such is an important place for job seekers to be. It’s also a pretty good source of jobs — many employers choose to advertise their positions on Twitter. Employers will also look for you on Twitter, in hopes to learn more about you and figure out whether you are social media savvy enough to not potentially embarrass yourself or them online in the future.
When you sign up for Twitter, make sure that you consider the following elements:
It’s actually really easy to start using Twitter — you can start by reading and following, rather than contributing anything. Twitter offers some good advice to new members, telling them that:
reading Tweets and discovering new information whenever you check in on your Twitter timeline is where you’ll find the most value on Twitter (…) the real magic of Twitter lies in absorbing real-time information that matters to you.
Other excellent advice on following, tweeting and developing a voice on Twitter is offered on their Help pages.
Once your profile is set up, as a job seekers you should focus on:
Start off by searching for and following companies, professional associations and people who are relevant to your work. Read their tweets, and try to learn about how they use Twitter and what opportunities you might have to engage with them.
Slowly begin to engage with potential employers by retweeting, responding to their questions and tweeting them appropriately. Challenge yourself to not just retweet — try to develop an authentic personal voice which is thoughtful and pleasant. You can allow yourself to engage and comment on non-work related topics (such as sports events, arts or culture), but make sure to keep it polite and light.
To find relevant job leads, use Twitter’s search bar. Use a search that combines the word “job”, a job title, and location: e.g. “job+marketing+Toronto”. Do that search regularly. Identify target companies and follow them for future postings. Some companies actually have a Twitter account that is dedicated to employment, such as the City of Toronto’s @CityTOjobs.
Engage with individuals on Twitter and try to find ways to meet in person to network, by messaging them directly (called DM) for information interviews or other in person opportunities. Your goal is to develop the kind of rapport which can lead to people recommending/referring you for jobs or information interviews.
Twitter can be a very effective tool for branding, networking and getting job leads. Use it daily (for 30 minutes or so); gather information, share information and offer your expertise to others. Also, keep in mind that employers are likely to check out your profile to assess your personal style, social media skill level and your professional network, when considering your for jobs.
In this overcrowded job market, it’s difficult to stand out and be noticed by employers. We know that for each job advertised, the vast majority who apply will not make it to the interview. There’s not a lot of consistent data about this, but an expert in the field claims in a Workopolis article that the “Top 2%” of candidates make it to the interview”.
The Workopolis article suggests that to be seriously considered for a position, job seekers could try various strategies such as selectively applying for the most suitable jobs, preparing a resume that highlights how they could “stand out on the job”, and targeting applications to a each posting (i.e. not using generic resumes and cover letters).
Explaining how you can “stand out on the job” is probably the most difficult task facing candidates. Developing a strategy to achieve this goal is described by job search experts as “personal branding.”
Personal branding represents the actions taken by job seekers to stand out and be noticed. It is the process of identifying your most important employment assets, and developing and implementing a strategy of communicating this information to employers.
The goal of personal branding is to stand out in a crowd. It’s commonly known as a strategy used by corporations to attract customers and investors, but is just as useful for job seekers to be noticed by employers.
As a candidate, you have a unique set of skills and assets to offer employers. It is up to you to ensure that they notice you and respond to your candidacy.
1. Identify your job target.
Make sure that you are 100 percent clear about the jobs to which you intend to apply: know the job title(s), industry and type of company. This will help you determine which of your skills and background are the most important to focus on when describing yourself
2. Understand the needs of the employer.
Clarify the most important skills and assets needed by employers for your target job:
3. Figure out your most important assets.
Identify your unique strengths as a candidate, which may include:
A candidate cannot just be “good enough” for a job. You need to figure out which of your strengths are unique and which provide you with an advantage over the many other candidates vying for the position. Perhaps your biggest asset is your flexibility and willingness to start at the bottom of the ladder? Maybe you have solid experience and specific product knowledge that many do not?
4. Develop a branding statement.
Based on what you have learned from job postings, develop a clear, honest and compelling statement, which you can use to describe yourself in simple terms. Keep in mind that if you have multiple goals, you might need to develop a few different versions of your branding statement, which focus on various combinations of your assets.
Write out your statement, learn to say it with ease and confidence. Be ready to talk about it and to explain it further, if asked. You might need to share examples from your work history to demonstrate your claims about yourself; have those ready.
5. Spread the word!
Take every opportunity you can to include your branding statement (or a version of it) in your communication with employers:
Approach your branding strategy in a proactive and deliberate way. The more planful and detailed your strategy, the better you will be at making sure that you are the tree that stands out in the overwhelming forest of candidates vying for that perfect job.