Want to be Found; Create An Internet Presence

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Yogi Berra, former Yankee great and longtime Mont clair resident, once commented about a particularly popular restaurant: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." The same might be said of how the Internet is generally used to find jobs.

Most people use the Internet when they are actively seeking a new position by searching listed job openings or by posting their résumés on various job boards, such as Monster.com. Individuals do, in fact, find jobs that way.

Although, according to the Department of Labor, the number who do amount to less than 10 percent of job seekers, it doesn't hurt to use those job boards unless you are concerned your current employer might find out. Because Internet job postings usually result in employers having to sort through large numbers of responses from unqualified candidates just to find a few qualified individuals to consider, recruiters have started using the Internet in other ways.

Recruiters, like Jill Krumholz of Charleston Partners in Rumson, are using the Internet to identify the best candidates for open positions, including those who may not be looking for a job at the moment. Recently, for example, she was conducting a search for a senior benefits professional at a large global technology company.

"The first thing I did was to Google the term 'global benefits conference,'" Krumholz said. By looking at the conference presenters, she was able to identify several candidates for the position. After doing further research, she contacted a few of those individuals and was able to find a well-qualified candidate to present to her client.

To take advantage of these recruiting trends, savvy careerists are creating an Internet presence instead of just looking for a new job on the Internet. That means the next great job opportunity, and the people who can help them get it, will find them. In that way, their names will pop up when recruiters and prospective employers are looking to fill a position for which they would be appropriate, even when they are not actively in the market.

That Internet presence starts with an online profile, one that describes who you are professionally. Web sites such as myspa ce.com and facebook.com allow you to post profiles that are both social and professional, while oth ers like linkedin.com focus only on professional profiles. In addi tion to helping those seeking to fill positions discover you, having a professional profile online facilitates networking with other professionals.

Be certain that wherever someone finds you on the Internet, what they see portrays you in the way you want to be de picted.

"Employers are now routinely running Web searches of candi dates' names and all known e- mail addresses before they consider someone for a promotion or a new job," says Lena West, author of the e-book "The Blogos phere Cluebook" and chief strategist at XynoMedia Technology, a Westchester, N.Y., firm. "They want to see how you represent yourself online."

West advises: "While photos of your family are acceptable on social (but not on professional) net working sites, pictures of you drinking with your friends or with body paint at the Giants game are not."

There are a number of ways to increase your professional stature on the Internet beyond posting a profile:

Use the Web to develop a business network for yourself by joining professional organizations and participating in online discussions of topics on their Web sites. Offer insights on the impor tant issues facing your profession. Ask and answer questions. Offer help to others where appropriate.

Have something to say that is insightful about the industry online. Write a blog that comments on current issues facing your industry. If you don't have the time to write a blog, write comments on the blogs of others in your field. You can also answer industry-related questions on Web sites that post questions, such as "Yahoo! Answers."

Write reviews on Amazon.com about books being read by people in your field.

Laurie Murphy, chief executive of PeopleAreKey, an executive search firm in Cranford, says "passive candidate-recruiting techniques" are now commonly used by recruiters to identify job candidates. This includes using search engines like Zoomin fo.com, which pulls together information about individuals from Web sites across the Internet.

With companies reducing hir ing in anticipation of a tougher economic climate, it is even more important today to create a Web presence. Once the economy starts to improve, there will be a need to fill jobs quickly. Having your name appear where people doing the hiring are likely to look is important if you want to be found.

A veteran human resources executive, Lee E. Miller is the author of "UP: Influence Power and the U Perspective -- The Art of Getting What You Want" and the co-founder of YourCareerDoctors.com, a Web site devoted to career success. Mail questions to Lee@YourCareerDoctor s.com.