Are you looking for a new job and don't know where to look, what to do and who to speak to? After having exhausted your professional and personal networks, it's likely that you would have approached head hunters and recruitment consultants.

With no results to show for your efforts, you are probably ended up depressed, and clueless. Here is what you can do to make the recruitment market work for you.

Be found

First things first. If people do not know you, you cannot get a job. So, make it easy for the recruiters and companies to know and find you when they need to. Post your resume on leading job portals like Naukri, Monster, Shine, and TimesJobs. Upload your profile on professional networking portals like LinkedIn.

These are the first places that a prospective employer or a recruitment consultant will search. Make sure that your cell number and e-mail ID are updated even on networking portals. Do not fret about sharing your cell number since these portals are rarely the source for telemarketers.

On job portals, make changes to your resume at least once every three months. When a recruiter searches for an accountant in Mumbai, the recently updated profiles figure on top of the search.

Include industry jargon and technical words related to your role in your resume since searches are based on keywords relevant to the role. Compare your profile with online ones of similar professionals.

On networking portals, make friends and connect with people in your industry. Encourage people to post recommendations of your work. All of these make it easier for recruiters to find you when they have job opportunities.

Understand the CV

Your CV or resume does not get the job offer; it only helps you get shortlisted for an interview. However, it can cost you the job offer if any information provided in it is found to be incorrect during the background verification process.

Thus, the focus of a good CV is to be truthful and convince the recruiter to shortlist you for the first interview. Think of it as a marketing tool, whose primary aim is to appeal to the customer, the HR manager in this case.

Since every job that you apply for is different, you cannot have a one-size-fits-all resume. Tailor it to the job description provided by the recruitment consultant and use words that are same or similar to this description while referring to your work experience.

Choose a standard layout borrowed from any leading job portal since the recruiter is used to scanning a resume in a few seconds to determine a fit for a role. Do not make it an autobiography spanning six pages.

The best resumes are often one page long obtained by compressing or cutting out portions that are not relevant to the job. Get inputs from at least two people before sharing your resume. They will help you increase the impact and eliminate inadvertent grammatical and spelling errors that could cast you in a bad light.

Master the communication

Whenever you receive an e-mail from a recruiter, respond within a day and always include your resume. Do not start a new e-mail thread otherwise it will not be read. If you are initiating a conversation, make sure that the subject line of the e-mail should contain the position you are interested in. Again, attach the CV.

Source : EC