A modern job hunting campaign is by nature quite complex. While the internet has offered a variety of new communication channels, it also creates increased rivalry for prime jobs and potential challenges for job seekers.

Job hunts need to be thought of as a highly personalized, highly targeted marketing and selling process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network is your lead generating engine.

So where does the Net fit in? At AA-Careers, we recently listed a job on a job search site and got 500+ applications in a workweek. For one opening. That’s crazy competition.

Had the right job hunter contacted us ahead of our posting that job, they could have secured the job prior to getting all that competition. How? By knowing someone at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone was aware of the job for at least 10 days before it was posted. Who in your extended network might know of a job that’s coming open soon?

So the good news is that job boards give you a sense of who is hiring, and for what kinds of careers. But once those jobs are posted, the competition is fierce. You can still compete, if you have a well honed resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing – so you don’t stumble at a critical point.

Another issues to be aware of is how easily you can be investigated on the internet. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some pictures and comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing larcenous, but enough to sway our thinking about who to hire.

AA-Careers provides a comprehensive set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.

Be careful out there, and good hunting!