Job hunts need to be thought of as a highly individual, highly targeted marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network is your lead generating machine.

So where does the Internet fit in? At AA-Careers, we recently posted a job on a job search site and got 650 responses in a week. For just one opening. That’s crazy competition.

Had the right job hunter contacted us ahead of our posting that ad, they could have secured the job prior to getting all that competition. How? By knowing someone at our organization who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone was aware of the job for at least a week before it was posted. Who in your extended network might know of a job that’s coming on the market soon?

So the good news is that job boards give you a sense of who is hiring, and for what kinds of jobs. But once those jobs are posted, the competition is extreme. You can still compete, if you have a well honed resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing – so you don’t stumble at a critical point.

Another problem to be aware of is how easily you can be checked out on the internet. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some pictures and comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing larcenous, but enough to sway our thinking about who to hire.

AA-Careers provides a comprehensive set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.

Be careful out there, and good hunting!