Online Reputation Management example
Yes, recruiters will Google for information about you as soon as you are among one of the last candidates left. Once you are in that situation and your future company is having a look what information is available about you online it is too late for you to change it. To give the recruiter the right picture, the one that YOU WANT him / her to see, this practice is called Online Reputation Management.
There are some myths and some true facts about recruiters searching online for you on Google, Facebook or other social networks. Fact is that a good recruiter will sooner or later Google for your name and have a look what he can find out about you but not all applicants will be searched for as a first step, recruiters simply do not have the time to do so and spend hours for every candidate. Nevertheless it is important to take care of this step before you apply or actually constantly take care about it. If you have a super standard name such as Will Smith (even better because there is a celebrity behind) or in Hungarian Kovács László the chances are fairly small that the recruiter finds information about you since there are thousands of others with your name.
But from the beginning, think as a recruiter and do a simple search for yourself in Google and see what you will find. Depending on how active you are online you will find several information such as you Facebook profile, maybe your Twitter account but also maybe sports results from school times or anything else that has been published about you, not only by you. As a matter of fact you have 10 results in Google on the first page and I think that will be enough information for the recruiter to find out more about you. Now you want the person searching for you to find exactly the things that you want to have there. Maybe in your Facebook profile you posted pictures of partying with friends or bathing naked in Lake Balaton and you do not want your future employer to see that but rather the interview that you have given with the magazine which has very good authority in your environment or you want to show the recruiter your work you have done as a photographer, the speech you have given at that conference which was uploaded to YouTube or simply your LinkedIn profile to see your work career again and maybe even see recommendations from your colleagues. It is up to you what you want him to see so now lets go and influence that.
The practice this is done with is called Search Engine Optimization or short SEO. The way to influence search engines to make them rank the pages that you would like to see up there. One main factor for search engines to evaluate the ranking of a page are links. Links coming from page A linking to page B. Now what you need to do is find ways to link from a page to e.g. your homepage, your LinkedIn profile and so on. This is hard work to find and do it but it is worth it. If you have a LinkedIn profile for example you have the possibility to link you Twitter account or your website in the profile, that will help you to rank that page for your name. SEO is an own industry (There are SEO Jobs in Budapest as well) so it is fairly complex but the basics you can of course read on Wikipedia for example.
Once you decided which 10 results the recruiter ideally should see about you it is time to start gathering some links and soon you will have a clear first result page about you, hiding the bad and just showing the good sides of yourself. Of course a too clean result might be a bit too obvious, so leave some room for humanity in there. If you are interested in this topic have a look at the Wikipedia article about Online Reputation Management, you can find a lot of useful information there to go on with. This article was rather as a hint to start doing it, its a long process so begin before your application.
Beeing interviewed is the last and hardest part of applying for a job. You are now been judged – not only on your skills but also on your personality and behavior. Companies and businesses are always looking for the right candidate for the position and a perfect fit that meets the firm values and culture. Most of the recruitment tactics are taught when pursuing high degree studies, like a Master degree in management, it gives a better understanding of what you, as a future manager/director, should expect. Learn more about the different online courses available for a MBA degree, by trying this site.
However, if you don’t have the time to take a class, here are some recurrent questions asked during interviews. When looking for a job, maybe even desperately, there are few things you can prepare for every interview because one of these questions will be asked for sure. It is not only the preparation for the job offer, the new company and so on, you want to be ready for some personal questions which will come up and you will have to answer them right away. You don’t want to spend too much time thinking about the answer, knowing that under stress it might take you longer than usual and create a discomfort – don’t let that discomfort overcome your confidence. So here are 10 standard questions popping up in nearly any interview.
- Can you list your 5 core competencies?
- Can you list 3 – 5 positive characteristics about yourself?
- Can you list 3 – 5 negative characteristics about yourself? (Very Important: Be honest with yourself)
- Can you tell why especially you should get the job and nobody else?
- Can you explain which additional value you can bring to the company?
- Can you list your 3 biggest successes in your career?
- Can you list 3 failures during your career? (same as point 3, be honest)
- Can you describe why this particular position is perfect for you?
- Can you explain why you want to join a new company
- Can you have a 30 to 60 seconds, inspiring, convincing speech about yourself?
In 2010 there has been a very big European wide study about what jobs are the most popular among students. So these results do not only represent Hungary but Europe though Hungary was also represented in the study. So according to the study the most popular student jobs in Europe are the following:
- Office job (assistance, reception)
- Catering / Gastronomy
- Research / graduate assistant at the university
- Private lessons for other students
- Retail sales
- Production
- Promotion work
- Programming
- Self Employment
- Accounting jobs
I think that in Hungary many students work in the catering industry such as in restaurants, bars and so on. Also promotion work seems to be quite popular.
However, these jobs are fine as long as they are temporary. More and more students are now pushing their studies toward master’s degrees in order to get a well-paid job at the end. Even current employees are registering for online courses, like Masters in Organizational Leadership, in order to obtain a promotion in their own company.
If anyone knows any Hungarian study covering the same topic, that would be absolutely great. Please leave a comment if you know a resource.
No Thanks!
All of us know that HR managers have less and less time to check CVs (Curriculum Vitae) and that’s why it makes sense to really invest time and effort into your CV, in fact 32% of all applications are turned down within less than 60 seconds and 13% of the HR managers even decide within the first 30 seconds after viewing the application if the applicant will or will not get the job. HR careers and jobs in management are in the rise, and that’s why your application needs to stand out, without breaking any guidelines and by following the basics. Soon there will be some blog posts about how to stand out from the rest and how education plays an important role. Here are some basics to go by, which should fulfill your application, simply by taking the negatives and transforming them into positives. Why do HR managers turn down applications so fast? What are the top reasons for that? Educating yourself and taking a Human Resource Management course can help answer that question. Remember HR managers must obtain great management and leadership skills in order to be successful.
Why do HR managers turn down applications so fast, what are the top reasons for that?
- (43%) Requirements and competences are copied from the job opening into the application
- (42%) The CV is too long and has too big, hard to read text blocks
- (25%) The CV is 3 pages or longer
- (23%) Only a CV was attached to the application, no motivation letter
- (16%) The CV just did not match the job opening
- (11%) The email address in the CV seemed very unprofessional
Of course there are other clssics that lead to be turned down such as too many typing mistakes within the application or obvious fake facts which can be simply identified by overlapping timings.
So what you can take out of these 6 top reasons why a CV gets turned down and you might not get the job. It is as simple as turning the negative facts into positive and simply do it right. Let me have my suggestions.
- Mark the important requirements and competencies and give the answer in your CV and / or motivation letter but do not copy them 1 by1 rather show by your experience and knowledge that you have these requirements. HR managers will see that.
- KISS – Keep It Short & Simple. Of course not too short but for example list your experience and give examples on the last 2 what exatly you did there. This even leaves you space to talk about your space in the interview about something that the interviewer does not know yet.
- Similar to point 2, even if there have been many steps in your carreer and you have done a lot try to point out the highlights, what you are most proud of and what is the most reputable for you.
- Of course a motivation letter belongs to every application only if it is stated differently in the job offer. Even than do not send a blank email with “Attached is my CV” to the HR manager. Use the space and every possibility to present yourself because an application is nothing else but putting yourself in the right light.
- Of course your CV should match in general the job description, though it does not have to be 100% but you should have some experience in the field you are applying for.
- This point means not that you are not allowed to have a free email address such as gmail.com, hotmail.com or in Hungary freemail.hu but register your name as an emailaddress, e.g. apply with firstname.lastname {at} youremailprovider {dot} com/net/org/hu. An email from cuteflower1981 {at} emailprovider {dot} com/net/org/hu will land in the trash within seconds.
I hope these 6 steps help you to improve your CV and application a bit. This is just the first resource about how to apply best I also try to get some voices from HR persons about that in order to give you more resources and tricks what makes your application crispy and successful.
Just now beginning of August 2011 I started this website about Jobs in Budapest because during my time when I was searching for a job I got really unsatisfied with the situation that there are no really good websites offering jobs for foreigners in Budapest. Most job websites in Hungary are available in English as well but the job descriptions are still in Hungarian. If you find an English job opening most of the time Hungarian is required as a language but it is not stated in the opening itself, so it is blindly expected. That I would like to change with BudapestJobs.net where ideally all openings are in English and it is clearly stated if a job requires Hungarian language or not.
BudapestJobs.net is completely free and offers companies a great way to post their job openings as well as job seekers a perfect interface to find jobs and apply. There is also the possibility of uploading your CV so that registered companies and HR people can find you and maybe invite you to an interview.
Additionally there will be a nice database of tips and tricks for job seekers, the application, the CV and the motivation letter as well as news and facts about Hungarian companies and international companies with an outlet or office in Budapest. Also, we would be glad to help if you wish to reconvert in a different field or believe a better education could help achieve your career goals. You can find out here how following online classes for a degree in organizational leadership could help you improve you management skills. Of course I am hoping on many job openings by companies or headhunters because that’s what makes a good job website.
Happy applying and good luck. You will find the job that suits you, for sure.