Creative Career Hacking

The not-so-well-known ways to find and apply for jobs online.

Stephen C. Murphy

About me

Hi, I’m Steve. I’m a volunteer career coach and speaker. I still have to earn your trust, but here’s a couple reasons you might listen to me:

• My last 4 job presentations have been viewed 20,000+ times on SlideShare alone• My resume template has been downloaded 2500+ times• I am the owner of a strategic marketing firm – and let’s

face it, job hunting is marketing yourself!• I’m not going to sell you anything

Finding a job sucks.

Let’s lay it out there – looking for a job can be a real drag. I’m not going to argue that.

Instead, I want to pump some life back into your job search with some less-than-obvious approaches that just might jive with you.

The “normal way”

1. Search Indeed, Monster, and CareerBuilder2. Apply for roughly 600 jobs3. Wait for reply4. Keep waiting5. Wait a little more…6. Repeat

So what’s wrong?

1. High competition2. Time consuming3. Hard to track & follow up4. Insanely demoralizing

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

- Rita Mae Brown

So let’s all make a commitment:

A quick word…

Not all these hacks will apply to every career path.

And not every person will use every hack.

Instead, use these as guidelines to help you leave behind your comfort zone and start applying creatively.

Onward!

Get help from strangersHack #1:

Your resume is still #1

Without a strong resume, it won’t matter how many jobs you find and apply to. The resume is still the most important job tool, and I doubt that will change for a long time.

So you need a good one…

Use Reddit to get critiqued

The website www.reddit.com is one of the largest internet communities.

They have a discussion group specifically setup for resume critiques – so go have some strangers give you some unbiased reviews!

Use Reddit to get critiqued

1. Sign up at reddit.com2. Visit www.reddit.com/r/resumes3. Remove all personal information from your

resume (your name, phone, email, and employer names)

4. Upload your resume online somewhere (try DropBox or Google Drive)

5. Create a new reddit post and ask for critiques!

Be prepared to get some brutally honest reviews – but remember, its all anonymous, so try to be open minded to the advice!

Sample Post

Example:

Why this is awesome:

• Anonymous, unbiased advice from passionate community of volunteers and experts• Get more than one opinion to see if anything

sticks out• See what other people have gotten critiqued on

their resumes• “Borrow” inspiration, styles and wording from the

community

Tweet, tweetHack #2:

We all know about LinkedIn…

I’m not going to touch that one. You’ve probably heard a million times that you should be looking for jobs there.

But what about that other social network?

Whoa, are you serious?!

It turns out Twitter is chock full of job listings without as much competition.

To find them, we need to master Twitter search.

How to use Twitter Search

• Go to search.twitter.com• Click on “Advanced Search”• Enter your keywords (i.e. Marketing) in the “All

these words” box• Enter “jobs” and “careers” in the “Any of these

words” box• Enter your location • Enter a date range

This search would find jobs in the NYC area, posted in the past 10 days that contain the word “marketing”

Sample Search

The last search we did provided a live feed of all postings that matched our criteria. Here, we see a list of jobs in the greater NYC area posted within the past 24 hours.

Sample Results

Why this is awesome:

• Real time results let you react quickly and find new jobs• Less competition gives you a better chance to

land an interview• Less formal than LinkedIn, so it is easier to

engage with the poster by tweeting at them

Power searchingHack #3:

Hey, what about…Google?

We don’t hear too much about Google in the job search circles.

But with a little MacGyvering, you can turn the search engine into a powerful job hunting tool.

Understanding Search Operators

Search operators are techniques to get laser-targeted search results. Here are some examples:

Using search operatorsThere are a few we want to focus on: “xyz” – adding quotation marks specifies words that must be included in the results

site:abc.com – by using site and colon followed by a website, we restrict results to only that site.

job OR career – using capital OR means the results can include any word listed

-careerbuilder – using a dash before a word removes it from your search results, helping filter negative words

Using Search Tools

Google also has a feature called “Search Tools” in its search results page, which let you further drill down to get more specific results. This includes:

Date: Pick how recent you want resultsLocation: Change location of your searchSorting: Sort results by date or relevance

For example, this search will bring up the following results:

• Must contain the words “marketing” and “manager”• Must contain either NJ or NY• Does not include posts from Indeed, Monster, LinkedIn or Glassdoor

The last search we did gives some job listings directly from company sites – which you might not find on the job boards

Sample Results

This is tricky, let’s try another…

And one more…a little different

Why this is awesome:

• Find jobs and people that are difficult to find on the standard job boards• Get targeted search results with unlimited

customizations• Use it to search all the job boards at once!

Real time alertsHack #4

Back to Google!

Did you think we were done with Skynet…I mean Google yet?

They have another lesser known tool that helps you stay up to date on your job search…

Google Alerts

Google alerts is a free service that monitors the web for any keywords you choose. When it detects something new, it will send you an email with the new link.

And best of all, we can use our search operators from the last section to make even better alerts!

Using search operators in google alerts, we can create an alert that is automatically sent to us as often as we like – in either real time or as a digest.

Sample Results

Why this is awesome:

• Get alerts for new jobs as they are posted• Find jobs not listed on the normal job boards• If you’re following specific companies, get any

news and updates about them to keep you in the loop!

The fortune is in follow up

Hack #5

OK, following up is not a hack

…but keeping tabs on your entire job search with a single online tool is.

By managing all your job applications, communications and contacts in one place, you’ll be more prepared and inclined to follow up regularly and make progress.

Enter Job Hero

I came across this new tool while on Reddit, and after some back and forth with the CEO, I was able to get a demo account to explore. What I found was incredible.

One place to manage it all

Track each step, meticulously

Indeed integration

Easily save jobs

Why this is awesome:

• Organize your entire job search• Become a master of the follow up• Store all your recruiter contacts and documents

in one place, online

Go all in

Hack #6

Here’s a few tips for the brave

Not all job applications are created equally. Sometimes, you really have to put all your chips into the pot to stand out.

The next few slides give real life examples of “all-in” job search techniques.

Be found for your name online

Be a human, not an applicant

Show ‘em you love ‘em:

Nina noticed AirBnBdidn’t have many listings in the middle east – and put in some elbow grease to show them the size of the opportunity, and how she could help make it happen.

What she did

That’s it from me

What ideas will you come up with?

Shameless self plug…

I own a marketing agency in Red Bank called Red Bamboo Marketing.

We help growing companies grow faster with strategy, communications and digital marketing solutions.

If you know someone that could use our help, I’m always open to a kind word and an introduction J

Thanks!

Stephen Murphywww.redbamboomarketing.comwww.linkedin.com/in/sbcmurphy

Have a question? Don’t be shy! I’m here to help.