How to make yourself hire-able

The New Year has come, and with it, many people reassess their careers and decide that it's time to move on to new roles, as part of their new year's resolution. Whether you’re in the midst of a job search or are ready to look for your first job, it’s always important to take the steps necessary to make yourself hireable. This is something you can do even if you don’t have a lot of experience. So, if you’re ready to kick your job search into high gear, here are three quick tips to consider:

* Start Your Own Blog

One way to make yourself hireable in the eyes of recruiters is to start your own professional blog. Making this effort works in your favor in a number of ways. First, it helps you to boost your web presence, which you need nowadays to stand out from the crowd. Second, it helps show employers that you are a subject matter expert in the field you’re attempting to make ground in. Third, it offers prospective employers a wealth of resources to look for in the event that they ask for details about your background.

A web blog is the perfect way to not only showcase your knowledge, but build knowledge as well. It’s the perfect transition for those trying to switch careers or those entering the professional world for the first time. But the best part is that you can easily start one with no worry of overhead because they are free. I suggest using Blogger for ease of use. Other options are WordPress and LiveJournal.

* Get a LinkedIn Page

Another great way to make yourself stand out among your competition is by signing up for a LinkedIn profile. You’ve probably heard of this great site for professionals, but if you haven’t, you’re really missing out. In social media circles, LinkedIn is considered to be the professional equivalent of Facebook. Not only can you create a virtual résumé that is easily searchable via all of the search engines, but you can connect with other professionals for networking purposes and have those you’ve worked with before give you recommendations.

Having a LinkedIn page ups your credibility in the eyes of hiring managers and recruiters. So it’s a good idea to build yours – just don’t forget to link to your blog.

* Obtain a Professional Email Address

If you don’t already have a professional email address, now is the time to get yours. While foreverlazyjohnny@hotmail.com may have been an hilarious email address in high school, now's the time to get one that tells the story that you’re now ready to be a professional. Afterall, just imagine what a recruiter would think if he spotted this email on your résumé or online presence? Not exactly a rousing testament to your work ethic, right?

The standard route to take when choosing your professional email address is to use some variation of your name like johndoe@yahoo.com, jdoe@gmail.com or johnd@hotmail.com. But if you really want to look impressive, you could register a domain under your name with a service like GoDaddy, and get a website up in no time. This way, you will be able to sign up for an email address through your own account (ex. john@johndoe.com), post a quick résumé on your site, point to your LinkedIn page and blog, and have the ultimate professional email address. Now that's professional!

Sometimes it’s not easy to think of ways to get your foot in the door when you don’t have a great deal of experience in the field you’re pursuing. But taking free or low-cost steps to build your presence beforehand could make you more hireable then you could ever imagine.



In Bliss,

Coach Sandy


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