© 2024
Market Presence
Welcome to this fifth module, spending time understanding the main routes to job opportunities and building your market presence, so recruiters and employers find you
Tackle the module in bite size chunks, don’t feel the need to do everything in one go. Allow plenty of time to digest and apply the information covered
The module includes helpful ‘Activities’ for you to complete, it is strongly recommended that you undertake them to get the most out of the content and the key learning points
Allow yourself time to reflect and take on board the advice, key messages and suggested tasks contained in the module to enable you to move your job campaign forward
This module will
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Provide practical and effective ways to increase your market presence
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Identify and explain the four main routes to finding opportunities and jobs
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Build your knowledge and confidence to exploit each of them effectively
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Enable you to optimise the value of your network, social media and LinkedIn
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Ensure you effectively manage recruitment agencies and the speculative market
A balanced and structured job campaigning is essential
There are four job campaigning routes, as shown below
Networking and Social Media
Recruitment Agencies
Speculative Approaches
Online and Traditional Adverts
Two key learning points are that
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Networking and social media have become increasingly important
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Campaign time should be allocated according to relative value added
Networking
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Has become the single most important route to finding jobs - networking is now an accepted and encouraged route to finding work, with no taint or negativity, other than in your own mind
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Works because its the lowest risk and lowest cost way to recruit - the vast majority of employers see networked candidates as lower risk, especially if they come recommended from a trusted source
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Only works well if you become comfortable and confident doing it - the only barriers to successful networking are in your head!
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Is an accepted route to a job, without stigma or embarrassment - it may feel a little daunting and cringe worthy at first if you are not used to doing it but, once you get going, networking can be fun and enjoyable
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Should be undertaken regularly, not just when looking for a job - networking isn’t just for when you are looking for a job, once you get going, keep it going even when you are happily back in a job
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Needs to be researched and implemented in an organised way - behind the relaxed deliver and conversations, you need to be organised and track what you have said to who and what the next steps are
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Taps into everybody you know and everybody they know - networking is about both the quality of interaction and the quantity of people you ‘get on the radar’ with
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Seeks to build relationships, gain information and listen to advice - networking is about developing positive relationships and being valuable to each other
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Starts with brainstorming your network as illustrated on the next page - make networking a learning and growing experience
As illustrated below, your network of contacts has a number of tiers
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Tier one – the people you personally know and have a direct connection with
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Tier two – people that your tier one contacts know or have a connection with
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Tier three – the contacts of your tier two people who may also be helpful to know
Once you have brainstormed your list you will need to
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Divide it into your 'A', 'B' and 'C' network contacts i.e.
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Your 'A' list people = highly likely to have valuable info, opportunities and contacts
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Your 'B' list people = likely to have helpful info, opportunities and contacts
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Your 'C' list people = the rest, who may turn out to be more useful than you thought
You are not contacting people to ask for a job
Rather, you are
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Letting them know you are looking for opportunities
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Seeking advice, guidance and any helpful information
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Inviting them to let you tap into their network of contacts
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Opening the door to being able to keep in touch with them
The key aspects of making contact with any and all of the tiers of your network are that
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You must take control of doing the networking and not pass on control to other people
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Ask for people's details and do the proactive contacting yourself, don't delegate it
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Take full responsibility for actions needed, so no pressure is put on your contacts
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It's a two way street – be as useful to them as you are hoping they will be to you
Start with the people you feel most comfortable with and know best
From there 'work your way out' to other individuals and target groups
If you are comfortable then the recipient will be as well, so try to be relaxed
Don’t worry about what order you cover the bullet points, go with the flow
Keep in touch and, wherever possible, have a call to action for you or for them
Don’t worry if they don’t get straight back to you, they may be busy themselves
Be a good listener as well, networking is a two way process of mutual benefit and value
In relation to each social media route you are active in remember
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Recruiters often 'social media screen', so don’t have anything detrimental on show
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Your seeable values, behaviours and personality must be work congruent
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Never post rude or negative comments about previous jobs or employers
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You only get one chance to make an online first impression – manage it well
Google yourself and
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If needed and possible, repair or remove anything damaging or negative you find
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Spot ways of adding positive messages and enhancing your online credibility
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Follow recruiters and organisations that advertise jobs in your target job market(s)
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Manage your 'personal brand' – how you portray yourself in posts and tweets
LinkedIn key points include
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Used increasingly to identify and approach part time candidates. A surprisingly high and growing percentage of employers, recruiters and head-hunters now use LinkedIn to source candidates
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Tell your story – paint a clear visual picture that makes them want to talk to you. Attention spans are short, so you need to quickly hook them into wanting to make contact
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Profile must be clear about what you can do for potential clients or customer. Remember, the focus is exclusively on what you can do for them, not what they can do for you
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Use a decent, professional picture of only you in an appropriate environment. Proud though you may be of your exploits on your last holiday, now is not the time to put them on display!
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Regularly send out invitations, regardless of how busy you are with projects or tasks. This should become a weekly or monthly task for as long as you are economically active, regardless of whether you have work or not
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Use the 'Experience' section of LinkedIn profiles to identify target invitees
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An up to date strong profile and employment history make you more discoverable
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Make sure your communication settings allow target organisations to make contact
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Indicate that you are ‘open’ to part time job opportunities and actively searching
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Be inventive with your header to make it interesting, punchy and eye catching
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Don’t make your profile a copy of your CV – make it stand out from the 'online pack'
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Use search words and phrases that you know target organisations are looking for
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Join relevant groups to expand your networks, participate in relevant conversations
With Facebook
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Project a professional positive image or keep your private life private
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Use the 'Jobs on Facebook' feature, where employers list job opportunities
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Populate the 'Work and Education' section with jobs/achievements/etc
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Be selective about the organisations you 'like' – they must 'fit' your campaign
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Join groups that reflect your job ambitions – show passion and engagement
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Use it to research organisations and people pre-application and pre-interview
With Twitter
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Use a snappy bio to introduce yourself and share info on target roles
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Tag your location and link it to your LinkedIn or Facebook profiles
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Follow people who might be useful, it’s a less formal way of connecting
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Follow popular job opening hashtags that employers use to find applicants
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You are what you tweet – make sure you look like the sort of person they want
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Be bold and tweet organisations of interest speculatively to enquire about jobs
With recruitment consultants, agencies, head-hunters, and search agencies, remember
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Don't take anything they say or do personal, for them it is just a transaction to enable them to earn a fee. They are intermediaries between you (the 'seller') and the employer (the 'buyer')
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Some agencies are more friendly and relationship driven than others but, at the end of the day, you are just a product they are selling for a fee. Their focus is not you – it is to fill their client’s vacancy and earn their fee
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Don’t get upset if it sometimes feels like you are doing their job for them and doing a lot of running around, its all part of the game. Their job is to present credible candidates to clients - everything else is your job
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For them it is a process – don’t take negativity or unresponsiveness personal. It may not seem fair (particularly as they are the ones being paid to do a job!), but you need to accept that it is your job to be chasing them
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It isn’t their job to keep in touch with you – it’s your job to keep in touch with them. It is very easy for you to drop off of their ‘radar’, they are juggling a lot of assignments and focused on filling them, so don’t take umbrage
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They are either 'transactional' or 'relationship' driven – manage them accordingly. Spot the relationship driven agencies and cultivate them, manage the transactional agencies politely and efficiently, but don’t expect any empathy!
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Build and maintain positive contact with 'relationship' driven recruiters. Be proactive (not reactive) by keeping in touch, following up and politely chasing. Ideally, no more than six recruiters should be proactively chased at the same time
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Before contacting recruitment agencies about a specific job opportunity you have seen, you need to be clear on what you have to offer. Google key words to find relevant agencies e.g. ‘recruitment agency’ ‘accountancy’
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To assist you in preparing your STAR evidence you may find it helpful to use the 'Evidence Log' document by CLICKING HERE
Increasingly, recruitment agencies and employers are using applicant tracking systems (ATSs) to manage their recruitment process
Where they are doing so, the key learning points and issues for your to be aware of include
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They are used to sift, filter and short list candidates using pre-set algorithms
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The algorithms identify and match pre-set key words/phrases/qualifications/acronyms
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Unless you achieve a pre-set level of matching (e.g. 80%) you will not be short listed
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To ensure that you pass the minimum matching requirement you will need to
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List the key words etc. from the job description and person specification
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If you don't have much to go on, research info about similar jobs being advertised
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Focus on including the key words etc in short bullet points or bites of info
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Don't worry about using complete sentences, just make it understandable
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If a 'key skills' section needs completing, keep your evidence punchy and relevant
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Use job titles that are in common use or generic, even if not exactly what they were
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It is has been a while since you uploaded your CV then tweak and reupload it
There are 100s of online job boards and more are regularly added to the mix
Googling key words will generate an endless supply of them e.g. ‘job board’ ‘marketing’
To get you started the following are thirty of the most popular generic job boards
There are lots more!
A more detailed list of recruitment agencies can be accessed by CLICKING HERE
Online job advert key points include
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Select relevant sector/job specific preferred job sites and sources
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It isn’t the easy options – you are up against the most competition
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Offers no opportunity to build rapport and personal relationships
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Don’t allocate too much time at the expense of other campaign routes
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Don’t be seduced by the absence of human contact and remote access
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Focus the campaign on target jobs types, don’t fire off in all directions
Traditional job advert key points include
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Significance has declined substantially, but they are still out there to be found
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Don’t look for a 100% perfect fit, 80% is good enough if the job interests you
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Understand and follow any instructions to ensure you are not disqualified
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Draft your responses before filling in any hard or soft copy application forms
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Respond with key skills, strengths, achievements evidence and experiences
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Double check your responses or, better still, get a fresh pair of eyes to do so
Speculative campaigning key points include
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Identify and contact organisations you are interested in working for
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They may have needs now, or in the future, that they haven’t yet advertised
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You are endeavouring to be 'on their radar' before they decide to go to market
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Put out lots of 'fishing lines', you won't know which ones will ‘bite' and when
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Essentially, you are looking for a problem they have that you can solve for them
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Speculative letter content will vary but will always have three key elements
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Your reason(s) for writing e.g. 'I am writing to you because ......'
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Your key hook(s) e.g. 'In particular I would highlight ……'
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Your call to action e.g. 'If I may, I will ……'
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Example or template letters that may be useful to you can be found by CLICKING HERE
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Useful links to identify and research companies can be found by CLICKING HERE
This module has enabled you to
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Understand what the four main routes are to increase your market presence
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Pursue each of the four routes to the jobs market in a structured way
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Manage your time and resources across the four routes to best effect
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Confidently and effectively network and use social media appropriately
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Approach and manage recruitment agencies to your best advantage
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Plan and build an efficient and timely speculative campaign