New Career Website Lets Job Seekers Upload Video Resumes

A new career website that launched on Monday aims to be a one-stop shop for hiring managers and job seekers. GetHired.com was co-founded by Suki Shah, 28, who was inspired to create the integrated site after running his own medical diagnostics company and experiencing difficulties with the hiring process.

“We created GetHired.com out of a pure need that we experienced in the market for both employers and job seekers,” he told Mashable. “There is no solution that currently integrates job postings, prescreening via audio and video, applicant tracking, interviewing, and social recruiting.”

His goal is to streamline every task of the job search into one place. On GetHired.com employers can search for candidates, sift through multimedia resumes, schedule interviews (and sync those appointments to their iPhones) and video chat with potential hires.

Job seekers can upload a video of themselves explaining their background and expertise, or answer employer-submitted questions via an automated phone system and upload the sound bites to their profiles.

“Companies often spend tens of thousands of dollars or more for a fraction of these capabilities. We’re thrilled that we are able to make GetHired.com available for free,” Shah said. For the time being, the site will be free for hiring managers, but eventually charge a nominal fee (about $25 bucks) per job post. It will always be free for job seekers.

The company announced on its blog that GetHired received “$1.75 million in an oversubscribed round of seed funding.”

While LinkedIn is a great tool for job seekers–letting you identify who’s viewed your profile and which keywords they used to find you, GetHired.com features a great deal of tools for hiring managers. And unlike LinkedIn, only employers can view job seekers’ multimedia resumes on the site — a job seeker can’t sign-in and check out their competition. Job seekers can also set their profiles to “private” and only allow managers at jobs they have applied for to view their profiles, rather than any hiring manager.

Having audio and video gives each candidate a chance to be heard, Shah said.

“A stand alone, paper based resume is arguably the most discriminating component of the hiring process today. We all know that job seekers are much more than what an 8.5 by 11 piece of paper can represent. And if that is all that employers ask for, candidates may be disqualified for a number of reasons — for example, like the school that they may have attended,” he said. “When you integrate video and audio into the hiring process, you give every applicant an equal opportunity to be seen and heard by an employer. As a result, employers often report that they hire candidates that they may have otherwise overlooked.”

Hiring managers will be able to posts links to GetHired, along with job descriptions, and refer job seekers to their site where employers can manage all applicants in one place. Right now, Monster and Career Builder are the most popular, general job-seeking sites.

Recruiters have long used social networking sites to hire and check out candidates, but could GetHired be another tool in their arsenal?

Source:  Kate Freeman for Mashable Business.

Nine LinkedIn Mistakes That Hurt Your Jobs Search.

By Leslie Ayres for Work Goes Strong.

I’m on the record that if you’re in the world of business and you are building your career, you absolutely must have a presence on LinkedIn. And if you’re actively on the hunt for a new job, that goes double.

A jobseeker who is not leveraging the magic of connecting through LinkedIn is missing the boat.

LinkedIn is the place to be for business networking. In the past years, it has grown to more than 100 million users across the globe, and any one of those people might be the one to connect you with your next great career move.

As an executive recruiter, I use LinkedIn as one of my main resources for finding and evaluating candidates, I check the LinkedIn profile of every promising candidate so that I can get a better idea of what they’re all about. If I have two similar candidates, the one with the better LinkedIn profile has the edge.

Here are some of the common mistakes people make.

1. Not using status updates.

LinkedIn isn’t like Facebook, where people share that they’re drinking a cup of coffee or that their new kitten is adorable. Status updates on LinkedIn should be about your industry or profession. Every week or so, post a link to an article about your industry that you recommend, let people know about a business event you’ll be attending, or even share a short press release about your company. When you post and update, it will stay on your profile, and you have shown the people who check you out that you are involved and engaged.

2. Not joining groups.

LinkedIn groups are a fantastic way to learn what people in your field are talking about. Join groups of people who do what you do; LinkedIn lets you join up to 50 groups. For instance, I belong to career coach groups, resume writer groups and recruiter groups, as well as groups for college and corporate speakers, and so have access to my colleagues in these fields, and even after 30 years, I learn something new every day. You can also join groups talking about subjects you want to learn about, so you get the inside view. Even better, you’re able to directly contact people you share a group with, and you’re much more likely to get a response.

3. Having the wrong jobs showing first.

By default, LinkedIn will list your jobs in reverse chronological order, which can create problems if you have part-time or volunteer work that overlaps with your professional jobs. The good news is that LinkedIn now lets you move positions into the order you want. (Don’t get too creative, though – recruiters still want a chronological story about your experience.) For part-time or volunteer work, consider putting that in the Additional Information or Associations section.

4. Not creating a solid headline.

In your Basic Information section, there’s a field for a Professional Headline. Think of this as the title on the book of you, and include a couple of lines about what you do. This headline will appear next to your name on your profile, so it’s the first thing people see every time your profile is viewed, and it’s also there whenever you are listed in search results.

5. Failing to use the magical Summary section.

The Summary section is the secret sauce of LinkedIn, because it’s where you get to write whatever you want without being tied to a timeline or company names. Use it wisely by writing a few to-the-point, friendly and personal paragraphs about what you’re all about. This section is where you get to tell the overview of your story and your situation, and visitors to your profile will read it before they ever get to the Experience section.

6. Your LinkedIn profile be a mismatch with your resume.

You absolutely have to present a consistent story of your experience. Job entries on LinkedIn should be pared down from what’s on your resume, but it’s absolutely imperative that the companies, dates and job titles on your LinkedIn profile are an exact match for what’s on your resume. If your information doesn’t mesh, then instead of a recruiter or hiring manager thinking “wow, this person looks great!” they’re left wondering “can’t you keep your story straight?” Don’t let that happen to you. Whenever you update your resume, update your LinkedIn profile, too.

7. No photo.

Recruiters and hiring managers want to know what you look like, so put your photo up on LinkedIn. Yes, even if you feel shy about it, and even if you think it shouldn’t matter what you look like. Choose a photo that is professional, shows just your face (preferably with a warm and inviting smile) and that is easy to “read” when it’s shrunk down to a tiny icon.

8. No recommendations.

The power of a personal recommendation is at the core of why LinkedIn is so valued. You need to have strong recommendations from people on your profile if you want to show yourself as connected and respected. If you have less than five recommendations, use the LinkedIn function to request a testimonial from former bosses, coworkers and clients.

9. Failing to add your LinkedIn profile link to your resume.

What’s the point of beefing up and polishing your profile if people can’t find it? Make it easy by adding a hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile in the contact section of your resume so recruiters and hiring managers can find you quickly.

Managing your LinkedIn the right way can open doors and create recognition for you. Don’t sabotage your search by making these mistakes.

LinkUp’s Job Search Mobile App Stays Current.

By Anthony Carranza for digitaljournal.com.

Minneapolis – LinkUp is a job search engine online based in Minneapolis that uses a unique approach by aggregating current jobs from company websites.

The job search engine, LinkUp continues to evolve its mobile app functionality. Job seekers can take advantage these days from the convenience of their smartphones and use this app that distributes your jobs through its “Job Search Engine app”.

Once upon a time, newspapers and the classified section was the go to resource for the latest job posting and openings. With the advent of the mobile phones and its post revolution, owners of multi-touch devices can quickly search for jobs via these powerful apps. This has forced not just newspapers to revamp their job distribution posts and create apps of their own, but other companies in many different sectors have made the leap in the age of technology.

LinkUp proclaims that because of its constant updates, upgrades and new features built within the app they are rated among the best in the market. Did you know they were nominated by About.com as the Best Job Search engine? In fact last year they received this outstanding award. My own experiences using this Job Search app its definitely got useful information for job seekers by location.

The advantage of LinkUp and for job seekers who you will use it can find an app for the Android, iPhone and the iPad. In addition, you can visit the Twitter and Facebook page to learn more about what it is they offer.

The company has also partnered with Hire*A*Droid, which will allow employers leverage more exposure to their jobs, according to the LinkUp press release.

If companies still consider mobile as an option or a strategy in today’s market it’s an outdated idea. It’s a must and a requirement to start tapping into the millions of possibilities this brings to the company’s growth in terms of business.

LinkUp’s job seeker quote of the month

“Hi, I just wanted to take a moment to let you all know how much I appreciate your website. It’s probably the most useful of all the ones out there. Monster.com is mostly junk jobs I call them, I post my resume there and all I get is Insurance company sales jobs, not real jobs at all. I thank you for your efforts. In this economy, this is exactly whats needed, true, reliable, information. I’ve been using it for a while, have shared it with friends/family, and Facebook. Thanks again,” -Rick B