Three Ways Youre Sabotaging Yourself

Three Ways Youre Sabotaging YourselfThree Ways Youre Sabotaging YourselfWhile youre reviewing the thousands of job openings and employers on Ladders this week, here are three ways you just might be sabotaging your own job search (without realizing it)1. Can a stranger read your resume?Print out your resume. Take the top third and rip it off. Hand it to somebody you dont know.Can they tell you, without asking you any additional questions, what you want to do next?For too many of our subscribers, the answer is no. The reason is that youre trying to do the wrong thing with the top third of your resume. Youre trying to tell people about your character and your abilities and your many, many different skills and your flexibility and too many thingsYou know what the person who is reading your resume is trying to find out?Does this gal, or guy, want this job that I have to fill?Obviously, given that youve spent the time to create a resume and send it to them, they know you want a job. But do you want this particular job?Is it something that youve done before? If so, did you like it? If so, do you want to do it again?Because you spend all of your time with yourself, it seems so very obvious that you want the type of job that youre looking for.But strangers dont know that. And, chances are, youll most likely be hired by a stranger.So its important that you make it easy for people who dont know you.Show them, at the very top of your resume, what job you want, and why youre qualified for it. Youre not naming every skill and experience, but youre giving the reader a sense of what you can do.If they cant tell, by reading the top third of your resume, what you want to do next, then youre never going to get to the next step.2. Did you talk to a live person today?The netz delivers you news, information, funny cat videos, electronic books, fashionable shopping, and, via Ladders.com, the latest and greatest job listings at the professional level.So hooray for the internet.But her es the truth - the internet is not going to hire you.No, youll be hired by a living, breathing, thinking, smiling person.So the question is did you talk to that person today? Did you try to?Its important, while youre searching, looking, peeking and applying to all those great jobs you find at Ladders, that you also realize that you need to make talking to people, live, in person or on the phone, a priority.Have you called your old contacts? Returned the call from the company that perhaps youre only mildly interested in? Have you taken a former colleague to lunch? Did you call back the recruiters youve met over the past six months? Drop by a conference?Connecting with people, live, in person or on the phone, is essential to getting hired. Too often, we fool ourselves into believing that self-directed activity is the best way to get hired. Its not. Connecting with others is.If youre more of an introvert, more comfortable communicating by writing than by speaking, you can still connec t with others. Im not going to mislead you and say that its better, but its still sufficient if you write thoughtful, sensible blog posts, comments, emails and contributions on industry-related topics and threads. But its important that youre connecting with others, not just yourself.When it comes to getting hired, you need to ensure that every day is a talk to a person who could potentially hire me day.Because eventually they will.3. What email address do you use professionally? If youre using AOL, or your local cable provider, you could be inadvertently shooting yourself in the foot.Only 4% of new users at Ladders sign up with AOL email addresses these days. If youre still using AOL to represent yourself professionally, it could be sending a signal that youre uncomfortable with new technology and that you havent prioritized keeping your skills up-to-date.Using your local cable providers default email - whether its bellsouth.net, optonline.net, or tampabay.rr.com - increases the chances of a typo leading to a missed connection. Because people dont pay as much attention, or care, to what theyre typing after the sign, using less-familiar domains in your email should be avoided.Just over 49% of new users at Ladders use gmail.com. Because Gmail is well-known for its utility, ease-of-use, and power, using Gmail as your address is a smart move that also sends the message that youre up-to-date with the times.Whats before the sign is important too.Common household or joint email strategies such as jimandnancy, smithhousehold, or bluthfamily are not good email addresses to use for your professional job search. Professionals are accustomed to writing directly to other professionals. Requesting that they email your spouse kids when contacting you is awkward.The best email address is your first name, followed by a dot, followed by your last name, at gmail.comsheldon.coopergmail.comIf thats taken, then for the purposes of your job search, add next years number to you r addresssheldon.cooper.2017gmail.comYoure probably going to be using this email address into the New Year anyway and starting now makes you seem ahead of the times. And everybody wants to hire somebody from the future, right?So those are the three things you might be doing to sabotage your own efforts in the job search, Readers. Avoid them and prosper.