Online Career Tips

By: J. Mason
Online Career Tips Staff 

While you’re busting your hump to get your resume seen, you may be getting reviewed by potential employers you didn’t even know about. If you have an online presence on places liked LinkedIn and Facebook you’ll want to make sure your “working” traits and skills are portrayed tactfully, and with lots of SEO.

[5 Tips for Improving Your Visibility on LinkedIn]

Not familiar with the term SEO, well you should be. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It includes things like keywords, metatags, the title of a page, description and more. This is how search engines find you things when you do a simple search on places like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The higher items appear on the page, the more relevant they are to the search. If a potential employer enters terms looking for someone with IT experience, specifically with Microsoft CRM integration then the results they get will vary based on the profiles on the site. When you write out your resume and profile make sure to include “hot words”, items that will be picked up in a skim. Since people don’t read the full extent of a page, they skim it, they’ll be looking for certain words.

To make yourself stand out from the rest of hungry job hunters do some research on terms for your industry. Try integrating key terms that give a better idea of the work you do, while making you more visible to the employment recruiters out there.

[related: Don't Hurt Your Job Search By Being Passive]

By J. Thompson
Online Career Tips Staff

Okay, you’ve found the perfect job. You took the time to craft your resume so it emphasizes the strengths and the skills that make you the ideal candidate. You entered all of your profile information into the online applicant tracking system. Almost done! You’re ready to press the submit button and then you see it. The small, blank field on your computer screen—Cover Letter. However, it’s optional. You recall a conversation about cover letters being as outdated as dinosaurs. But, only a few months back, you read an article suggesting that in this recovering economy a resume without a cover letter goes straight into the waste basket. So, do you take more time and write a cover letter?

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By J. Thompson
Online Career Tips Staff

Everyone is unique, but on a resume it can be a challenge to stand out in the eyes of a recruiter or hiring manager. Emphasize what know makes you most valuable to an organization. It’s not about your point-of-view, it’s knowing what the recruiter and hiring manager are looking for. Remember, they’re searching for someone who represents the best solution to their business problem.

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