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Using Technology for
a
Successful Work Search
I. Ways To Make Your
Computer Work For You
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Word Process Your Résumé and
other employment related correspondence.
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Hone Your Skills by practicing
your typing, word processing, or presentation development skills.
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Develop a Web site and post
your résumé there.
II. Use Internet
Resources - There are a number of
helpful sites job seekers can utilize:
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www.webster.com - Mirriam-Webster on-line. Look up the meaning of a
word or access their thesaurus.
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online.onetcenter.org -
O*Net online is an occupational information site that is helpful when
writing your résumé. Gives general information about occupations along
with descriptions of common tasks.
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www.rileyguide.com - The Riley guide is an on-line resource for
career related information.
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www.ajb.org - America's Job Bank and America's Career Infonet are
components of CareerOneStop. With AJB you can search jobs and post your
résumé. America's Career Infonet is an extensive on-line career
resource library where you can find wage information and career
information.
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www.iowaworkforce.org -
Iowaworkforce.org links to statewide and local Labor Market Information,
jobs in Iowa, and jobs with the State of Iowa.
III. Schedule
Your Time
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Use a calendar to
track more than just your interviews. Many of the e-mails you
establish have calendar features. Make the most of your calendar to
plan your week.
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If you are unemployed, make getting
employment your full time job.
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Schedule your time and then follow
the schedule. For example, you can plan to
fill out applications at employer sites in the morning (keep in mind,
you will probably not be able to hit more than 3 in a 4 hour period of
time)
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Schedule follow-ups; this includes
calls and letters.
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Schedule internet work search time.
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Track any "send-outs" you do. Note
the company name, address, telephone number and contact person.
IV. E-mail Tips
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Set up a professional sounding e-mail
address using one of the free e-mail services.
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If your e-mail address is corny
sounding, you may be taken less seriously as an applicant. Avoid things
that sound unprofessional.
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Avoid using a friend or relative's
e-mail address. This way you can access the account from various
locations and don't have to depend on someone else for access.
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An e-mail account is easy to set up
and there are a variety of sites that offer free accounts.
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Know your e-mail address and be sure
you note the password so you can remember it. Giving out an incorrect
e-mail address is like giving out an incorrect telephone number.
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Check your e-mail on a regular basis
- if you are a serious job seeker, this means at least 3 times a week.
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If an employer left a message on your
answering machine, return it in a timely manner. If you e-mail a résumé
to an employer or complete an application online, it is reasonable to
assume the employer may try to contact you through your e-mail address.
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E-mail your résumé to yourself and to
a friend for review before sending it to an employer.
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You don't typically know what kind of
software programs a perspective employer has. You can copy and paste
your résumé into your e-mail, or attach your résumé to your e-mail. If
an employer specifies a format, try to send your résumé in that format.
If there is no specified format, rich text or text formats work well.
Before you e-mail the résumé, send it to yourself and to a friend. Open
it. Does everything still look as you intended?
V. Ways to Apply
for Jobs On-line
VI. Résumé Preparation
The employer you are applying to
determines how you prepare your résumé for electronic submission.
For electronic résumés there are three popular file
formats, all coded in ASCII American Standard Code for Information
Interchange: plain text, rich text, and hypertext.
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Plain Text: Advantages: it
is the most popular ASCII format. Microsoft Notepad is a common text
editor program - pc's, Macintoshes, UNIX Workstations and mainframe
terminals recognize these text files. Disadvantages: a plain text
résumé is just that - plain -- there is no formatting.
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Rich Text: Advantages: it
provides formatting options that plain text doesn't. It is compatible
across word processors. Disadvantages: Destination computers may not
recognize a rich text file. Rich text is not supported by some e-mail
editors and sending a rich text file in the body of an e-mail will
result in unreadable text.
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Hypertext: Advantages: You
can publish your résumé directly to the world wide web and take
advantage of HTML tags used by search engines to index pages of
information. Disadvantages: You have to have a web browser, internet
access, an HTML converter application or knowledge of manual HTML. Web
résumés must attract the interest of employers and recruiters on their
own.
VII. Responding to
Internet Job Listings
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Read the application instructions and
follow them.
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Use the e-mail address from the ad.
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If a job code is specified, make sure
you include it.
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The employer may ask you to send your
résumé as an attachment in a particular format - i.e. a Word document.
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Use the right Subject.
In the Subject line be sure to use the job title or
job code cited in the ad.
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Include a cover letter in the body of
the e-mail message. The cover letter
introduces you and encourages the reader to look at your résumé. It
should not be a summary of your résumé.
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Make sure your résumé is formatted
for e-mail. If you copy and paste your résumé into the body of the
e-mail, make sure it will look good in all e-mail systems. Shorter text
lines are important so that text doesn't wrap in funny places.
VIII. One Résumé -
Four Versions
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Print Version -
The "attractive version" is one you print and mail or
hand to contacts and interviewers. Contains styles and formatting:
bullets, italics, bold.
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Scannable Version -
No fancy design highlights, may have bulleted lists.
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Plain Text Version -
This version is ready to copy and paste into on-line
forms or post in on-line résumé databases. Advantages: you can spell
check what goes into the résumé builder, you can easily build résumés
into a number of sites by copy and paste instead of having to type
information in separately on each one.
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E-mail Version -
Another plain text copy, but formatted for the length
of line restriction in e-mail.
IX. Preparing Your
Résumé for E-mail
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Open your formatted, "attractive"
résumé.
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Select all the text and change the
font to a non-proportional 12pt, such as Courier 12.
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Save your résumé as a "text only"
file.
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Open this new file in Notepad.
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Set the margins to 1 inch all around
if they aren't already.
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Review your résumé carefully -
replace unsupported characters.
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If you see long lines of text, use
the word wrap feature under the Edit menu to insert "hard" returns.
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Copy and paste the text of the résumé
into the body of a test e-mail message.
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Create a short cover letter and
insert this in the message.
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Send a test copy of this e-mail to
yourself and to a friend who is using a different e-mail program before
sending it for the position you are applying for.
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