LinkedIn hired me to write three articles for their job seekers audience to offer guidance on how to build a target company list for a job search and then locating the right contact at those companies to approach.  Here are the links to my recent articles published  on LinkedIn.com:

How to Build a List of Target Companies for Your Job Search http://bit.ly/K2RXbR

Finding the Right Contacts for Your Job Search http://bit.ly/JfBzpi

Savvy job seekers are sending email correspondence directly to new and existing contacts to follow up on job postings, to ask for job lead referrals and to inquire about exploratory job interviews. Normally, job seekers know what they want to say and get to the point in the body of the email on the email’s purpose. But then they get to the subject line…..”What do I write in the subject line?” is the question I am often asked.  After all, it is the email’s first impression—it is critical to get it right! Well, here are a few ways to successfully tackle this head scratcher of a dilemma. NOTE: no tactic will work each and every time, but using your judgment to choose which tactic can work best to capture the reader’s attention can improve the odds that your email is read. (more…)

One of the best online sites for jobseekers is indeed.com. Indeed is the #1 job site worldwide, with over 60 million unique visitors and 1 billion job searches across more than 50 countries each month. I recommend it to my clients and use it in my job search coaching process. Indeed lists jobs from a huge assortment of job boards and company listings, so rather than visit all the popular job boards and employers’ websites one by one, you can “one stop shop” at Indeed. It can save precious time that you can use to contact people directly—a key activity of a successful job search. You can set up Job Alerts from Indeed with pre-determined, filtered job searches of jobs you want to be emailed to you. And best of all, it’s all free. But many jobseekers don’t take advantage of all the capabilities that Indeed has to offer. Here are a few that can help you take your job search to the next level:

1. Indeed Resume – Indeed has over 60 million visitors each month. Millions of job seekers have created a Indeed Resume. Creating an Indeed Resume is an extremely easy way to help you get noticed, as simple as uploading your existing resume to your profile. “Because Indeed Resume is open to all companies and free to search, your resume can be found by many more employers than would be possible with a traditional job board’s resume database,” says Sophie Beaurpere, Director of Communications for the company. And another bonus, she adds, is that “you can also use your resume to apply to jobs directly through Indeed.”

2. Indeed Mobile: If you’re one of the millions of people with an iPhone, iPad, or Android smartphone, there’s an Indeed app for you. Actually, says Mike Werch, a Communications Manager with Indeed, “you can use Indeed to find jobs and save your searches on the go with any web-enabled mobile device.” And as with the regular Indeed site, the apps are free. Go to indeed.com/mobile for more information. (more…)

Consulting, Temporary, Freelance, or Contract Work—these terms can mean different things to different people. While each word can conjure an impression of a different level of employee with various employment arrangements (Contract/Consulting work can imply higher skill level and longer term assignments; Temporary work can mean seasonal, short-term, lower skill level jobs; and Freelance work brings about the image of a free spirit creative soul floating from one inventive endeavor to another), these terms meant the same thing to me when I was a recruiter:  the work was interim and the employee was not a direct hire employee of the firm.  For the sake of this article, these four terms will be used interchangeably, but I acknowledge each can be defined differently by various organizations and people.

So why should job seekers consider this type of work?  The main reason is because employers of all types are employing this way of hiring talent as part of their year-round staffing strategy.  The chances are the job function you perform is now being classified as a consulting or temporary job within that organization.  If you don’t consider positions in this classification, you may miss out on a number of great opportunities.

Why would an employer make a previously direct hire position now a contract job? Here are some of the benefits experienced by an employer when they hire a contract employee. By knowing these reasons, you can devise a strategy as to how and why a company should hire your skills set as a contractor increasing your chances of being hired: (more…)

Your resume and job search has to now contend with iPads, iPhones, Android phones, Blackberries and every other type of old and new tech device in between. The job search and the recruitment model is going mobile like the rest of business and every other industry—if they are smart and want to stay ahead of the competition. So how can job seekers be ready for these technological adjustments and what should they expect? (more…)

New Year. New Job. New Opportunities. “But I have been looking for a job, Lisa, so searching for a job is not new for me. I need to recharge my efforts to get results…where do I start?” If this is you, I empathize. For some, this is a new year that brings new perspective. For others, it is just another day in a life that has been focused on looking for a new position. If you need to pump some new mojo and energy into your search to get results that you want and land that next job faster, here are the six things you can do today…or even this week: (more…)

Job boards don’t suck…however, how most job seekers use job boards to find a job does suck, to be blunt. I think job boards are a treasure trove of information that is consistently undiscovered and underutilized. Job boards receive a bad rap from most job seekers, since most job seekers are using them improperly. To be clear, there are five kinds of job listings, each listed with a few examples, and five ways are using job boards more effectively: (more…)

Read this U.S. News & World Report article where I am interviewed by Careers Expert Miriam Salpeter in her On Careers Column on 10/23/2011.

When you’re looking for a job, it’s easy to fall into the trap of applying and waiting to hear from an employer to see if you won a chance to interview. What’s the problem with this “apply only” strategy (also known as “spray and pray”)? It puts too much power into other people’s hands. Job seekers who seize control of their searches have a much better chance of landing opportunities than those who spend all of their time looking for open opportunities and applying. Lisa Rangel is managing director of Chameleon Resumes, contributor to Michelle A. Riklan and David Riklan’s, 101 Great Ways to Enhance Your Career, and author of the ebook, The Do-It-Yourself Branded Resume Kit.

As a search firm recruitment leader for over 13 years who partnered with Fortune 500 and boutique firms to source top talent, she sat on the proverbial “other side of the desk,” hiring people to fill clients’ positions. She advises job seekers to take steps to ensure it’s easy to find them for the jobs they want. “Posting an ad to recruit for an open position is one of the last tactics a recruiter wants to use,” Rangel says. Once a position is available online, many recruiters receive a plethora of ill-qualified applicants. [See The 50 Best Careers for 2011.]

Rangel advises candidates to distinguish themselves from the rest of the applicant pool using these techniques: (more…)

I attended the Career Directors International Summit led by Laura DeCarlo (@careerhero) this past week held in the colorful Savannah, Georgia. What a week it was! The general theme validated for me was that having a self-made or professionally done resume is not the sole magic elixir to landing your next job. It is a component, not the only step needed to be taken.

So what else is needed, you ask?  Job seekers today need to approach their search with the hiring manager’s mind set in hand. It is no mistake that this year’s conference featured Martin Yates, the author of the highly successful Knock ‘Em Dead career books and former recruiter, and Shally Steckerl, the sourcing and recruiting industry rockstar. These two gentleman punctuated job seekers need to think creatively when approaching and being discovered by hiring decision makers.  Here are a few ways how:  (more…)

JOB SEARCH AUDIT QUIZ

The job search is not yielding what you have hoped up to this point. You feel stale, uninspired and ineffective. Or maybe you are happy with your initial results, but now the activity has weaned a bit and you want to step up your game? Below is a short list of questions to quickly assess the quality of the quantity of your job search activities to help you determine (1) Am I doing the right activities? and (2) Am I doing enough of the right activities? Take this job search audit quiz now and be honest with yourself…it will help you identify the activities that will get your results and ensure you drop the activities that are dragging you down: Here we go:

1. How many hours are you spending on job boards?
2. How much time are you spending tweaking your resumes and cover letters?
3. How much time are you spending researching companies to apply to?
4. How many companies do you add/modify/delete from your target list each month?
5. How many hiring managers, line managers or knowledge resources are you speaking to each week?
6. How many outbound emails are you sending to targeted decision makers or knowledge sources each week?

What does it mean?

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