Have you read Winning the Zero Moment of Truth by Google’s Jim Lecinski? I highly recommend you do.
You might think it’s an odd choice for an executive recruiter to recommend to job seekers. Here’s why this book – and its compelling message – is a really valuable aid in your job search.
I’ve written before about why job ads have disappeared to make you aware that the majority (some say 90%) of jobs are now filled by recruiters and companies searching the LinkedIn database to find their preferred candidates.
Clearly, there are huge time and cost efficiencies in this approach. Instead of wading through 200+ applications for every role, recruiters can reach out directly to people with exactly the skills and experience they want.
But I really do understand the frustration of many job seekers when positions aren’t advertised. You feel that, without the chance to even be considered for a job, you’ll never get one.
Hey, it’s okay.
You’re good at what you do. You will get another job.
And the new system is better for you. It really is.
Why?
I’ve never liked having to send the “you were unsuccessful” letter to good candidates. They didn’t miss out because they weren’t good. It was just that they didn’t fit a particular brief.
And I really don’t like that good people, like you, spend hours and hours responding to job ads, only to get the dreaded rejection letter.
(And I apologise on behalf of all those lousy recruiters who don’t even bother to send the letter.)
So it’s a good thing that you’re not wasting your time applying for jobs you won’t get and being burned by unprofessional people in the process. Now you can put that time to better use.
Let me tell how you can compete – and succeed – in the current market.
In Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, Jim Lecinski talks about how today’s consumers make their purchasing decisions. They have so much information at their fingertips – everything from online reviews to comparison websites. Marketers have to carefully manage a product’s first impressions or they will turn off customers and lose sales.
For you, as a prospective employee, the Zero Moment of Truth is when a recruiter looks at your LinkedIn profile.
You probably won’t get the chance to send this person your CV. They are going to judge you on what they can see right now.
So to effectively manage your personal Zero Moment of Truth, your LinkedIn profile needs to do the best possible job of selling you to an employer. It needs to articulate your key achievements and transferable skills.
There are plenty of resources on how to write your LinkedIn profile, including I’m On LinkedIn, Now What? by Jason Alba, so I won’t dwell on that here.
But what you definitely do need to focus on is HOW you get that recruiter to look at your profile in the first place.
That’s going to be the subject of my next article so please follow me to make sure you don’t miss it.
I’m sending you my best wishes for your job search success.
Richard Triggs is the Founder and Managing Partner of Arete Executive, one of Australasia’s leading executive recruitment companies. He has championed the practice of helping people to “headhunt their own job” and you can find more advice about this in his book Uncover the Hidden Job Market (available from Amazon or richardtriggs.com). You can also subscribe to Arete’s newsletter at areteexecutive.com.au for useful information and resources.
Richard has an organically built network of over 20,000 connections on LinkedIn and you are warmly invited to join his network. Follow Richard and Arete for their latest news.