The Gradlife - Working your way into work experience

The Gradlife - Working your way into work experience by Lydia Randall Question: Do you have any work experience?Since travelling the UK this autumn and attending grad fairs, I’ve asked this question on numerous occasions. What I found most surprising, however, is at least 4 out of 10 students would look at me with an expressionless stare and say ‘no’.Now, not having any work experience can sometimes be justified, understandable and, in some instances, even expected â€" depending on your circumstances. However, the concern for me was the lack of understanding around the importance of trying various form of work experience.In order to address the problem, here’s a brief explanation on what work experience is, and why it should never be overlooked.Work experience is…A form of employment for a set duration of time, carried out to acquire certain skills, knowledge, and industry insights.They’re usually temporary positions but, depending on the individuals performance, these short term roles can sometimes lead to future e mployment opportunities being offered.So, what does this mean for you? In simple terms, work experience is a credible way to help improve your chances of becoming employed.And despite the strange misconception that work experience is only for final year students, and that year placements guarantee you a graduate job, I’d just like to clarify that this definitely isn’t the case.A Randall fact…   Here’s a quote that someone once said to me: ’No experience will ever be wasted, but time wasted has no experience.’ Dr. G.Whyte (see, even this quote wasn’t).These words were said to me after I decided to take a voluntary role in Namibia. I was only able to make a temporary difference, which never felt enough, and when I came back it seemed as though my experience was not helping me to get the job I wanted.However, that experience played a fundamental part in my role today.   I found, by showing a range of work experience, my CV would host a more diverse set of skills, whilst being less conventional.Transferable skills…So, although I wouldn’t always have directly related experience, I was still able to show employers that I could easily adapt, I was hungry to learn and would be committed to working hard. Employers know that you won’t always have directly relevant experience, but your job is to show with the experience you have, and how those are experiences transferrable.And the more you have, the easier it is.You just never know how one experience can change your whole future, and what doors it could open. So gain as much work experience as time and circumstance permits, and try and keep it around your areas of interests.Finally, always do it to the best of your ability, even if you’re unsure of how exactly it will benefit you.The best time to look for work experience…If you’re asking this question, then chances are you should already have started.Work experience can start at any time, and at different stages it doesn’t always have to be with the biggest businesses or last for months on end.My first ever taster of work experience was in year 8, which was known as ‘take your daughter to work day’. My second was in year 9, where I spent a week working in the Old Bailey which was amazing.Next, I helped out with a few charities, until my first official job at 16, working as a Christmas temp in a shopping centre.All of these experiences helped me gain some valuable skills, and allowed me to and have something to show on my CV. There’s never really a perfect time to look for the right work experience role â€" you just need to get yourself out there.So, why should I find work experience? Work experience is absolutely vital to getting ahead in your career, for a number of reasons.Firstly, it allows you to put into practice all the subtle institutional practices that you learn from school, college, uni, such as time management, self-discipline, accountability, hard-work etc.It’s also how you begin building your CV. Without any work experience, employers are unable to assess your skills or suitability for roles.To put it simply, your CV is like a proposal and your work experiences are the features and benefits. They help tell an employer why  you’d be the best fit for a position, allow your skills to stand out from the crowd, and give your application more personality.So, whether you’re still at school, you’re at university or you’ve already graduated never turn down the opportunity to take on more work experience.It could just be the difference when it comes to finding your next role…Lydia Randall is reed.co.uk’s first representative exclusively for graduates. If you’re looking for some one-to-one advice, comment below, or tweet Lydia @reedcouk. Still searching for your perfect position?  View all of our current vacancies nowFind a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clickin g Submit you agree to the

The Road to Me 2.0 How I Got My Book Deal - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Road to Me 2.0 How I Got My Book Deal - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kujECd4GZrg] Subscribe to my podcast series Im going to start a series of posts on the road to Me 2.0, which will be my first book, due out on Amazon in November and book stores nationally next April (2009). It will be published by Kaplan Publishing. You might know this brand name as the creator of study guides for the SATs or GMATs, amongst others. They also offer Kaplan Test Prep courses. Todays post is on how I got my book deal. Ill be 25 years old on Sunday, so Im sure this will be inspiring to any millennial out there. The idea! First off, I always hated writing, presenting and reading and now thats most of what I do (didnt find my passion). I spent 8 months trying to get a job without professional networking. Its not because I wasnt qualified, but more so that the jobs I was applying for were already filled by others who had connections. I had 8 internships, 7 leadership positions and straight As at College, but as I tell everyone, today that isnt even enough. So this was certainly me pushing out to hiring managers in hopes of getting a full-time job upon graduation, which I eventually did. After over a year, I experimented with this blog, an award, a TV podcast series, freelance writing and a magazine. The result, after 6 months, was a press article in Fast Company. This article was found by my companys PR group and sent to a VP. Instead of being interviewed for a position that was aligned with my passion (outside of the company), I got to co-create it. Once this happened, I knew I had a story. My motto was the goal of personal branding is to be recruited based on your brand, not applying for jobs. Cool huh!? Trail #1 the publisher reach out At this time, I really didnt understand the publishing game, so I figured I would do some research. I came across Wiley Sons who wanted me to write them a proposal. Without naming names and how I was treated, lets just say that after a few months they rejected my proposal. Like everything else, the first job you apply for or book deal will be the hardest because everyone wants to see your previous results. There is even a section in a book proposal template where they want you to cite the amount of books you sold previously. This first attempt failed BUT it really helped me outline the entire book and collect my thoughts, so it was a necessary evil. Trail #2 the agent spamming A few mentors told me that in order to get a book deal, you need an agent. Agents take about 15% of the revenues for your book for the lifetime the book. The good side is that they have the burden for finding the offer and negotiating a competitive rate. I sent a pitch to 70 agents using www.agentquery.com. Here are some of the lovely notes I received: Come back when youre a celebrity. Sorry I dont have time to take on another project. Please mail me the entire manuscript. Haha are you serious? Most people would give up right? Not when youre passionate, determined and believe in your project. I went back to the drawing board and starting writing the book. I finished about 4 chapters, collected 60 research reports and about 30 or so expert quotes at that time. My idea? I wanted to attach personal brands to the book to give it credibility. Trial #3 one last stand A few months later I met Paul Gillin, who is the author of The New Influencers and forthcoming book called Secrets of Social Media Marketing, at a SNCR conference. I knew that Paul had authored a book after my management told me. I asked Paul what I should do next and he said just go for it. Sounds simple huh? Its easier to accept guidance from someone else sometimes. Even though I knew I had to do it, that advice pushed me forward, so I thank him (especially because an unnamed author laughed in my face). I went back to the drawing board and wrote another 6-page proposal. I had come a long way at this point, with an established brand. At this time, I heard back from one agent that wanted to work with me. He was an ex-Yankees player, who published some Yank-books. Im not a baseball fan, but I have lived in Boston forever. Mission accomplished Instead of spamming 1,000 publishers or agents, I targeted two: McGraw-Hill and Kaplan Publishing. Why these two? They publish a lot of books for my audience (Gen-Y) and have educational brand names that support my project. It was January of this year and I was expected to hear back, while on a cruise ship. A week before the one agent who wanted to represent me dropped off. I continued and got a book deal 2 days after I returned from my cruise. The rest is history!

Branding Yourself To Be Headhunted - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Branding Yourself To Be Headhunted - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Part 1 â€" A “headhunter’s” mission So, you’re looking for a new career opportunity, either because you have lost (or expect to lose) your current job OR because you are one of the many ready to “test the waters” now that the economy is getting better. In fact, there are about 108 million currently employed people interested in new opportunities at this time (according to recent surveys from Manpower and LinkedIn.) If you are like many job seekers, chances are you will think it’s a good idea to contact a “headhunter” and seek his or her assistance in finding a new job. And, while that may indeed be a wise move, you should also know that it’s not always a wise move. Let me begin this blog by dispelling some common myths about recruiters, aka “headhunters,” i.e., what we do and, equally important, what we DON’T do. A true “headhunter’s” mission is to IDENTIFY, QUALIFY, ATTRACT and then LAND the TOP performing talent for a client company. (And, yes, the COMPANY is the client in this transaction, NOT the job seeker.) Contrary to what appears to be a popular belief, our job is NOT to help a person find a job. Moreover, we are NOT career counselors; we are NOT outplacement firms; and we are NOT staffing agencies. These three types of organizations focus on the candidate and do indeed help him or her find a job. Conversely, a “headhunter” focuses on finding the best talent for a company’s opening and then determining if there could be a mutually beneficial fit between that client company’s needs and the candidate’s skill sets, professional background and career aspirations. Focused on a niche You should also know and understand that “headhunters” almost always focus exclusively on a niche market (or markets). For example, my recruiting firm specializes in placing top candidates in sales, engineering, management and research development in the industrial sector with most positions being, more specifically, within the chemical industry. So, if you are seeking an opportunity in, say, the advertising industry, not only could I NOT help you, I wouldn’t even try because that industry is not within my niche. Virtually all true “headhunters” operate this same way. OK, let’s assume that you are in fact seeking a new position in a skill set that falls within my market niche. Does that mean I can or will then work with you? Not necessarily. Since a company pays a “headhunter” a fee somewhere between 25% to 33% of the successful candidate’s first year’s base salary, the company, is expecting us to present to them ONLY candidates that meet two criteria: • First, anyone we present must now be doing the work (or very similar work) within the area of hiring interest (referred to as “current relevant experience”) • Secondly, the individual must have a proven track record of quantifiable accomplishments and achievements So if you read the first bullet point carefully, you begin to realize that, in general, “headhunters” cannot present to a company an unemployed candidate. Now, what this does NOT mean is that an unemployed person can’t (or won’t) be considered for the open position. What it DOES mean is that the company will NOT pay a “headhunter” a fee to hire from them an unemployed candidate. Why? The company expects the unemployed professional to be going after opportunities themselves and not coming to them with a “price on their head.” All too often the unemployed waste too much time with “headhunter” (recruiters) when they would be better served going after opportunities directly. I would be doing a disservice to every unemployed person if I didn’t point this out. As you further analyze the first bullet point, you also realize that, as a “headhunter,” I can’t present candidates who have transferable skills but aren’t doing the job at hand. Let’s say, for example, that I am working on a business development position for a company that sells industrial chemicals. You may be a great sales professional with a proven track record of quantifiable accomplishments and achievements selling financial instruments, but I can’t present you on the position I am recruiting for. It doesn’t matter how great your sales skills are. It doesn’t matter how well you build relationships. It doesn’t matter how “transferrable” your skills and background are, if you are not currently doing what the position requires, i.e. selling industrial chemicals, I can’t present you. Now once again, it doesn’t mean that the company won’t hire you. What it does mean is that they won’t hire you from me. Their comment to me would be, “Skip, why do we have to pay you $20,000 for someone we have to train and take a risk on?” They may train you and they may take a risk on you, but not for an additional $20K. On the radar Thus, to get on a “headhunter’s” radar, your branding requires that you have “current relevant experience” coupled with significant quantifiable accomplishments and achievements. If you do, then seeking out a “headhunter” is a wise move on your part. If not, then spending your time directly marketing yourself is your most productive approach for finding a new career opportunity. Bottom line: never, never wait until you need a job to connect with a good headhunter that is in your field of expertise. NEXT WEEK: Part 2 Want to be ‘Headhunted’? Here’s How! Author: Skip Freeman is the author of “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever! and is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The HTW Group (Hire to Win), an Atlanta, GA, Metropolitan Area Executive Search Firm. Specializing in the placement of sales, engineering, manufacturing and RD professionals, he has developed powerful techniques that help companies hire the best and help the best get hired.

10 Step Expert Guide to Blogging Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Step Expert Guide to Blogging Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career This is the final post in a series about blogging your personal brand. I’ve written a post for beginners, as well as intermediate and advanced users. Please review those posts before reviewing this one. 1) Podcast your brand on your blog Whenever I talk about podcasts, I typically think of video, but many bloggers choose to record their voice or an interview through the telephone or a voice recorder and then publish it. You can do the same and there are services that will aid in the publishing process, such as PodBean.com. Audio podcasts are great for people who are scared to show their face or are in situations where they dont have the necessary equipment to shoot video. Video is the best way to interact with your audience, especially if youre charismatic and personable. People can get a sense of you from reading your posts, tweets and social network messages, but when it comes to real interaction and emotional connection, video is king. Purchase a webcam or a video camera and hook it up directly to your computer using a USB connection. If you want to be a professional, and possibly interview other people for an internet type show, then you may want to buy a microphone, a sound amplifier and possibly an HD video camera (they cost less than $1,000 now). Then youll want to get the video on the top video sharing websites in the world. To do this, all you need to do is upload it on TubeMogul, using the name, description and keywords that you feel will be optimize the video for search engines (as well as the video sharing search engines). TubeMogul will put your video on YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, and more. Finally, youll want to use the embed code from the video on either sharing site to use on your blog. You can either post the video as a blog post or decide the transcribe it, in addition to placing the video on the post. 2) Lifecasting The two best lifecasting sharing sites are Qik and UStream.tv. I recommend getting comfortable doing audio or video podcasting before you decide to do live video. When it comes to live video, you have to be authentic, and be cautious as to what you say and do. When you sign-up for one of these services, you are given your own branded web page, where you can use your phone or your webcam to film yourself or other people. While you are lifecasting, people can view this page and see you live, while having the ability to type messages to you. Its your ability to get to know your audience more and visa versa. The end result of your time spent lifecasting is a video recording that you can embed on your blog as a post. If you choose to do this, you should give a summary of how your session went! 3) Start your own mailing list If you want to start a mailing list, then make it different than your blog. A lot of the best bloggers use mailing lists to give their most loyal subscribers additional tips and strategies for signing up. Typically, your readers or viewers that care enough about you and your material will signup for your mailing list to receive more content. Before starting a mailing list, you should think about how busy you are and if youre able to spend time on such a project. Also, youll want to decide how many emails you want to send in a specific period of time and the value that list will receive. Your mailing list and blog should market each other, which means youll want to add links to cross-promote both and any other products or services you want to sell. I recommend the following three email marketing services for your mailing list: iContact, Get Response and Contact Contact. For an example of how a newsletter is attached to a blog, please review Shoemoneys blog. 4) Place advertisements There are many different kinds of advertisements you can place on your blog to drive revenue (passive income). Before you start calling, emailing and Facebooking possible blog sponsors, youll want to create an advertising page on your blog, so people can see the sizes of the ads, what theyll be receiving in terms of traffic/subscribers and the different options and packages you have. To find advertisers, you should Google terms relating to your blog and click on companys that are paying for AdWords. You can also find good sponsors by emailing people who comment on your blog and through natural (organic) search. Email them your pitch and then a link to your advertising page, so they can make a quick decision. Ive seen a few different kinds of advertisements on blogs: Text links 125/125 graphic (possibly animated) 46880 header banner 180180 single post banner Product / website review posts Sponsored blog posts You should charge based on your monthly visitor stats, feed subscribers and overall blog credibility and reputation. If you want to see how much traffic youre bringing in, I recommend Quantcast. Alex Shalman has a great advertising page on his blog if you want an example. 5) Setup an affiliate program Affiliate marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliates marketing efforts. You only get paid for when you people click on advertisements on your site and pay for a companys products or services. There are many affiliate programs out there, such as Amazon Associates and Yahoo! Affiliate Programs. Dont expect huge returns unless you already have a lot of inbound traffic to your website. The money you make from affiliate programs (possibly with other bloggers) will help fund your ongoing blog initiatives and upkeep. If you have deeper interest in affiliate marketing, then you should visit Zach Johnsons blog. 6) Poll your readers As a blogger, you should be interested in what your readers think of your blog, the types of posts youre doing and any topics they would like to learn more about. Also, you may just want to poll them to gather quick feedback, to measure your success or out of curiosity. The best poll service for blogging is Polldaddy, which is actually integrated into WordPress.com now. 7) Build a team blog A team blog is a blog that has multiple authors. The are a lot of benefits of having multiple contributors to your blog, such as having a variety of voices, more content and saving your time for other purposes, such as marketing the blog. If youre an expert blogger, you should have a strong network of fellow bloggers to select for your team blog. Using WordPress, you give bloggers permission to write entires and then submit them for your review. You should give them the right to use their avatar, name and a link to their own blog. Ive seen team blogs with over authors and they are highly successful. Blogs like Mashable, TechCrunch and The Huffington Post have a lot of bloggers, which allows them to become more of a business media site. You can do the same! 8 ) Use your blog at a platform A blog can lead to bigger and better things. The most notable are speaking engagements and consulting gigs. By showcasing your interest in receiving those opportunities, you are more likely to garner them. So setup pages with those titles on your blog and if youve spoke or consulted in the past, use endorsements, video and a topic outline to show people what youre made of. You can also use your blog to sell more of your products, services and introduce people to other sites you own. Your blog will allow you to promote anything you want! 9) Write an eBook / book After writing hundreds of blog posts, you will naturally want to tie your writings into a book of some sort. Some of you will try and get a literary agent and a publishing deal in order to get your ideas out there, while others will draft an eBook that captures many of your posts. You can sell the eBook and market it on your blog. If youre interested in having a physical book, youll want to have more original content for that, but the eBook doesnt have to always be original. ) Start more blogs When a single blog (or team blog) isnt enough, you can always start multiple blogs. Obviously, its going to take up even more of your time, so think through your current situation before you make the jump. There arent too many bloggers who are willing to have yet another blog to build content for. The ones that do, usually do it on a completely different topic to satisfy their other passion.

Could Your Job Be Outsourced Overseas Most Likely! - Career Pivot

Could Your Job Be Outsourced Overseas Most Likely! - Career Pivot Could Your Job Be Outsourced Overseas? Copyright: michaeldb / 123RF Stock Photo Jobs are being outsourced overseas! If you have been following the U.S. presidential campaigns this is a hot topic. Jobsâ€"and particularly manufacturing jobs have moved to places where labor is the least expensive. This has been happening since the beginning of time. As the gig or freelance economy continues to emerge, more jobs will be outsourced overseas. What Services Are Outsourced? Any service that does not require close, face to face interaction with the customer can be outsourced. Let me give you an example: Last weekend I lost my house and car keys while on a long walk. My wife was out of town. I had no way to get back into our condominium. (No, we do not have a lockbox or key hidden somewhere!) I performed a search on my iPhone for a locksmith, found a 24-hour locksmith and called them. The nice lady who answered the phone took down my location and told me a technician would contact me within 15 minutes. The technician called me and discussed my problem. He arrived a short time later and spent an hour trying to open the door. He eventually gave up and drilled out the lock. The number I called had a 512 area code which is my local area code in Austin, Texas. Where was she located? My guess is India, but she could have done her job anywhere. The locksmith was an independent contractor and lived a short distance from our home. The only job that could not be outsourced was the one that required direct interaction with me and the lock on my front door. I use a lot of services that are location independent. These include my bookkeeper, editor, webmaster, writers, etc. Listen to the most recent episode Is your job location independent? If so, it can be outsourced overseas. Oh, by the way, the politicians cannot stop this from happening! What ProductsAre Outsourced? Manufacturing businesses typically move to where labor is the least expensiveâ€"with one major exception. That exception is when the cost of transporting the product is a significantly large. When the transportation cost is a major factor, products will be made closer to the consumer. Manufacturing of desktop computers has typically been based in the US but moved overseas as sales declined. Apple is even moving manufacturing of the MacBook Pro back to U.S. because of transportation costs and the fact that they can automate almost the entire manufacturing process. Manufacturing is starting to come back with a few jobs. Manufactures will build any product at the lowest costsomewhere overseas when transportation costs are not a major factor. The only thing that politicians or the government can do is slow it down. What Can You Do to Protect Yourself? If you provide a service (i.e. accountant, IT support, lawyer, doctor, nurse, vet, banker), the closer your business is to the customer the better. The jobs least likely to be outsourced overseas are probably nurses. Despite this, an accountant or corporate lawyer can easily be outsourced overseas. The best way to protect yourself against this is to work yourself into a position that requires you to have direct contact with the customer. The other way to protect yourself is to become a freelancer and have clients anywhere in the world. By the way, I have had clients on 4 continents and 8 countries since starting Career Pivot. Manufacturing If you are in manufacturing or manufacturing support, beware of the transportation costs. So many products I currently use fit in the palm of my hand. Manufacturers can build these products anywhere due to their size and weight. A good example is that a single, small individual can now pick up a televisionâ€"this used to require two large men to do the same thing. As much as one of our presidential candidates wants to move manufacturing back to the U.S., this does not make sense. In fact, manufacturing is leaving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to move to Mexico due to rising wages and general proximity of Mexico to the US. Your job is at risk. Previously I wrote that your job can be SMACedâ€"Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud technologies will affect almost all of our jobs. Your job could be eliminated or outsourced overseas due to these technologies. The politicians and government cannot protect you. You need to protect yourself. Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

6 Tips for Using Pinterest and LinkedIn to Find a Job - CareerEnlightenment.com

4. Network With CompaniesAs of  June 2013, there were 3 million LinkedIn business pages, and as of  July 2013, there were 500,000 Pinterest business pages. Those numbers continue to grow, so go where the businesses are. If you have a list of dream companies to work for, look them up on Pinterest and LinkedIn. Follow them, and then interact with them.Heres the thing about business accounts: theyre run by actual people. If youre engaged with the content theyre creating, commenting, asking questions, and offering ideas when appropriate, the person behind the companys postings will start to remember you. After developing a relationship, you can ask about positions, or even offer your services as an employee. It might not always go exactly as hoped, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.5. Network With RecruitersJust as businesses are connected through LinkedIn and Pinterest, so are recruiters and employment agencies. Connect with them and develop relationships, and pay close attention to the job listings they share through their profiles. As shown on  Social Media Today, roughly 48% of recruiters post position openings to LinkedIn and nowhere else, so by developing relationships with the recruiters before the jobs are posted, youre putting yourself in a good position to land a job interview and quite possibly the job.6. Engage FrequentlyIf youre not staying in the forefront of your audiences mind (and you do need to think of potential employers and recruiters as your audience), youre going to be forgotten. While you dont want to become an annoyance, engaging frequently through Pinterest and LinkedIn is important. Share content, update your status, and on Pinterest, add images to your job-specific boards. You dont always need to engage directly with the businesses or recruiters you want to work with, but you  do  need to be present, adding value to your profile and demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of your field of expertise.ConclusionAs businesses shif t their focuses to social media and online strategies, they will continue to shift their job searches to these same platforms. In 2012, 73% of all recruiters used social media to fill a position (a 15% increase from 2011), so if you want to land a job, you need to engage through social outlets. Think creatively, share your work visually, and always look for ways to stand out from the crowd.Have you used social media for your job search? Did it work?Laura Williams is an online contributor and business owner who writes about small business tactics and career development.

How to Use Technology to Upgrade Your Job Search

How to Use Technology to Upgrade Your Job Search Shout out to Nathan for this awesome guest post! You are a joy to work with and a wonderful writer! I look forward to reading many more of your posts, and business tips!   The job search market is changing thanks to new technology. Gone are the days of presenting your career accomplishments on one or two pages of paper. Employers are now able to easily tell the difference between resume embellishments and hard skills. Prospective employees also have their fair share of advantages too. Use Your LinkedIn Account to Balance Your Resume Do you have a LinkedIn account? If you answered no, you’re missing out on an opportunity to present your work in a new light. LinkedIn accounts allow you to present additional information which may not fit on your resume. Network connections can endorse you for different skills which give employers a better picture of your skills. You can also include links to relevant work you’ve produced online or to projects you’ve worked on. Check Your Work Twice Remember the last time you found a typo on a webpage? It probably left you feeling as though the author doesn’t take the extra few seconds to double check their work. Don’t fall into the same trap with potential employers. Comb through your resume and make sure it is 100 percent error-free before passing it out. Have a trusted friend or industry mentor look through it as well. This way you’ll be sure to present yourself in the best light. Revamp Your Social Media Account When was the last time you went through your social media account? Those old photos from college which may make you cringe will likely make employers do the same. Before you begin your job search, sit down with your accounts and remove any photos, posts, or information you wouldn’t be comfortable sharing in a job interview. Double check that your account comes up in searches and that you can be easily found. At the very least, up your privacy settings on information best kept between close friends. Use Your Phone to Apply Online Create a mobile-friendly version of your resume and save it to your phone so you can easily apply for new jobs which spark your fancy while on the run. You’ll be able to maximize the amount of time you spend looking for new jobs and reduce the risk of forgetting to apply when you get a chance to sit down at your computer. Keeping an online resume allows employers to find you easily and may lead to interviews without you having to apply. Grow Your Online Network Social media offers you the opportunity to connect with influential figures in your field of interest and potential mentors. Avoid falling into the creepy trap and broach connections in the same way you would in person. Share content you find interesting and blog about your passions. Prospective employers will likely search your profile when they receive your application. Create Your Own Website Developing your own website is an excellent way to showcase your online resume in more detail. Get creative and supplement your content with links to projects you’ve worked on in the past and new content relevant to your industry. Include your contact information as well as what services you are available for and interested in providing. Make sure to include this link in your social media accounts for employers to easily find you. Show Your Personality in a Video Skype and other video interviews are becoming more common. A video is another way to showcase your personality, your sense of humor and give prospective employers a better idea of who you are. For your next cover letter, consider filming a short video which provides additional information about you not included in your resume. Don’t go on for too long â€" employers are usually pressed for time and likely have a short attention span. A video cover letter will help you stand out from other candidates. The job search process has changed a lot over the past decade. Step up your game and use technology to give yourself an extra edge while you hunt for your next career move. With a little bit of creativity, you’ll be on your way to landing your dream job. Which of these tech tips do you plan on using next time you upgrade your resume? Have another tip I didn’t mention? Share them in the comments, and subscribe for more advice for your life and career. About the Author:  Nathan Sykes is a business writer with a passion for tech and IT. To see more posts by Nathan, read his blog at Finding an Outlet or follow him on Twitter. Get everything you need to build a career you love by signing up for the newsletter.