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Posts Tagged ‘Search’

You’ve heard it before: at least 80% of all the jobs are found through the “hidden” job market, also known as the “unpublished” job market. These are jobs typically landed through word of mouth and referrals as opposed to the hit-or-miss method of answering ads, posting your resume to internet databases, or other techniques meant to target the remaining 20% of all jobs in the published market.

It stands to reason that if the vast majority of the jobs are to be found in this hidden market, that you should spend the majority of your job search time working to crack it. But, as you may have reasoned already, accessing the hidden job market requires that you take charge of your search, reaching out and building strategic relationships, taking proactive initiative, and making yourself visible in the right circles.

That’s right. It requires that you use networking strategies. And, the thought of networking leaves many people feeling nervous and unsure. For an introverted or shy person, the idea of networking can even cause serious anxiety and fear.

What is networking exactly? If you believe, like many people, that networking is simply approaching everyone you know to ask for a job, it is no wonder you feel uncomfortable! That isn’t what networking is. True networking is about building strategic relationships that involve a win-win, reciprocal exchange of information, support, and/or referrals.

When defined in this way, networking ceases to be so scary. But, it also requires that you expand your view of networking. No longer is networking just something you do every now and then when you are conducting a job search; building and strengthening your network is something that you should be working at all the time. But, if you find yourself facing an immediate job search, and your networking skills are rusty, don’t fret. Here are some tips to get you moving.

1) When you first start out to build your network, it will be helpful for you to think of networking as a research project. Networking isn’t just about the quantity of contacts; it is about the quality. Don’t be afraid to reach out to decision-makers and people “in the know” within companies and industries of interest to you. These are quality contacts. Explain your career plans and ask them if they would spend 15 minutes talking to you and answering some questions. Most people will be flattered and say yes. When you do get in front of them, NEVER ask for a job, but DO ask for advice and referrals. These meetings are traditionally known as informational interviews.

2) As mentioned above, your networking efforts should emphasize building quality relationships. But, don’t discount the importance of quantity. As much as possible, you should also expand your network. Friends, relatives, people you went to college with, contacts you have made in your community, doctors, the salespeople you come into contact with…they are all part of your network. You won’t want to spend a large amount of time on this, but at least make a comprehensive list and call or send a letter reestablishing a connection, informing people of your search, and asking for advice or referrals. Again, notice that it isn’t about asking for a job. Just ask for advice and referrals.

3) Prepare, prepare, prepare for your networking meetingsespecially those that take the format of an informational interview. Prepare lists of questions about the company or the industry. Do your research so that you know something about the person you are meeting with and the company they work for (you might be amazed at what a simple Google search will turn up). For some people, role playing is helpful. If you are working with a career coach, this is something they may be able to help with. But a friend or close family member could also help you. There is no better antidote for nervousness than being prepared. 4) Getting out from behind your desk and making yourself visible is crucial. Join and then take part in events held by professional associations and other groups. Attend workshops and trainings in your field or industry. Attend job fairs to meet directly with hiring decision-makers. Volunteer your career-related skills in your community. If you are an expert at something, offer to speak on the topic to various groups. Job searching can be a time of anxiety and diminished self-confidence for many people, but don’t hide at home behind your computer. Get out and meet people.

5) Yes, I just told you not to hide behind your computer, but the internet will play a role in any comprehensive networking campaign. Creating and maintaining a blog on your area of career expertise is an extraordinary way to build your credibility and visibility. Social networking sites like LinkedIn, MySpace, and FaceBook are increasingly popular ways to expand your network. Consider writing articles on industry and profession-related topics and then offering them as free content to webmasters (make sure the article is credited to you and includes a way to contact you). You can also participate in online discussions on topics related to your career focus. Just remember that you shouldn’t “hide” behind a fake name like many people do. Your purpose is to expand your visibility and credibility, so you must use your real name.

6) Finally, show your appreciation and follow up on every single contact with a thank you note. True networking is based on cultivating and nurturing long-term relationships, so you should always be thinking of nice things you can do to show your appreciation, or ways that you could return a favor. Besides being common courtesy, your efforts in this regard will pay you back by further strengthening your relationships and helping to keep you visible.

Happy networking! Even if it feels a little uncomfortable at first, just get out there and do it. Make networking a part of your daily routine and plan to spend the majority of your job search time on networking activities (approximately three-fourths of your time is a good estimate). The more you network, the faster your current job search will come to a successful conclusion and the faster and more successful any future job searches will be.

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Search engines use something called an algorithm to determine which pages will be displayed higher for the keywords entered into the search engine. An algorithm is a step-by-step mathematical formula that produces results based on the data the search engine has compiled. Imagine an algorithm as a number-crunching machine. The algorithm is like a complicated formula that sorts information into a more useable format.           

After the user has entered all this data into the algorithm “machine,” sorted information begins coming out the other side. In this case, the data is a ranking of websites indexed by the search engine based on the keyword the user has already entered into the algorithm “machine.” By using a complicated formula, the search engines can determine the best quality websites online without having to rely on human editors to physically visit each site and determine that site’s quality. The job of the search engine is to provide the best searching experience for their users. To ensure that users keep coming back, they want to make sure they produce results that are relevant. This is an important part of SEO that we’ll be discussing at great length: relevancy.           

The algorithm helps determine which pages are most relevant. For example, if a user goes to a search engine and types in “snow tires,” the search engine uses their technology to determine which pages most closely relate to snow tires. The job of the algorithm becomes finding the best information related to a particular keyword. The search engine then displays the results in order of relevancy.

Remember that there are many factors that contribute to how search engines work, and some of them are closely-guarded secrets. Google, the most popular search engine, keeps parts of their operation under wraps to prevent fraud and dishonesty. 

Web Spiders and Bots 

In the old days of the Internet, a website would often have to be submitted directly to a search engine in order for listing on that search engine. This was often the only way to gain a listing on a site like Yahoo! because directory listing sites relied on human editors to select the topics and contents of directory listings. Some search engines had rudimentary ways to search pages on the Internet. The problem is that search engines hadn’t yet developed the ability to filter results very well. By using a search engine, the user couldn’t be assured that he or she would even come upon pages related to the keywords typed into the search engine.           

Today, however, no submission is necessary in order to be listed in search engines. Because technology has evolved, search engine listings are much more refined and certainly more user-friendly. Today’s search engines spend lots of time, money and research in order to provide a searching service that will give the user the best web experience possible. In fact, the search engine business model relies upon this fact. The more people that visit a search engine, the more web traffic that site will receive. The more web traffic, the more people will see advertising on that search engine. Since search engines frequently rely upon advertising to support the site, this works out for everyone. The user gets better search results and the search engine gets more users to their site.           

How do search engines provide an improved web experience for their users? One technology development that has improved the typical web search is the spider or bot. A web spider is a program run by the search engine. Instead of relying on the slow speed of a human editor, search engines can now rely on computer programs that never need to stop searching websites on the Internet. The sole purpose of these programs is to “crawl” the web all day, every day. These computer programs are, in essence, looking over every single website they encounter. These programs search through websites, checking links, and examining keywords. The spiders will also look at HTML elements within the pages like page descriptions, meta tags, and page titles. Basically, these spiders are used to compile a large amount of data from sites on the web. Here is a list of elements within a website that are scanned by search engine spiders: 

Text within the website Links within the website Page descriptions embedded within HTML Keywords embedded within HTML Photos and photo descriptions and alternate text 

All of this information is then compiled into a series of databases maintained by the search engine. This database is what eventually helps search engine users find the information they want. When a user goes to a search engine and searches for the term “kittens,” the search engine will then go to the database of all indexed information. The search engine will look for the keyword “kittens” within all of those databases, and then presents this information to the user. In order to give the best results to the user, the search engine will also sort this data by relevancy, putting the sites that are most related to the keyword or words at the top of the listing. By “indexing” all these sites, including their links and keywords, search engines can then provide a rank for each of these pages.

Search engines are an important part of the growing online economy, mainly because they are becoming an important part of how people use the Internet. Just 10 short years ago, Internet users weren’t using search engines very often, but favored index sites like Yahoo!, and for good reason. Index sites generally had human editors that chose websites based on topic and posted them in a hierarchical way where there were main categories and sub categories that got more specific. For example, under the heading “Arts and Humanities,” were more subtopics like “Artists, Art History, Visual Arts” and more. When users clicked on any of these subtopics, they would see even more subtopics. The directory of sites by topic allowed the user to find the exact topics they wanted and verity, with the help of human editors, that those pages contained good information. The sites listed were usually reliably accurate in regards to what the user was seeking and still exist to this day.           

On the other hand, search engine technology was far behind today’s standards ten years ago. By using older search engines, users would likely come up with search results unrelated to their keywords. Back then, the technology hadn’t evolved to accurately find and filter search engine results. By simply using some shady techniques, a webmaster could get his or her site displayed for totally unrelated keywords. For example, a site selling herbal supplements might be able to get their site to show up in search engines under search terms unrelated like “education” or “home mortgage.” The result was that search engines were fairly unreliable and not as many people used them. Today more than 85% of web users use search engines to find the pages they want.           

Currently there are several ways in which users can find the web pages they want to view:

First, they can use search engines. More than eighty-five percent of web surfers use this method in order to find what they’re looking for.
Users can go to websites they’ve heard about on TV, radio, and print advertising. Examples include traditional advertising that lists a website as part of normal advertising, like listing fedex.com in a Fed Ex ad. Another example is an advertisement for a specific website like Monster.com or eHarmony.com.
Users can click on ads they see online. Many sites display advertising on them, and users can follow those ads to find the sites they want to visit.
Users can find websites they learned about from viral marketing techniques, a topic that will be discussed in greater detail in a later chapter. This includes links that have been sent to users by a friend or recommended by someone they know, like word of mouth advertising.