Adapting To Job Search Trends

The employment landscape is changing.  Whether it's for the better or worse is up for debate, but there is no doubt that employers are using new tools to streamline the hiring process.  It is up to you to adjust to some of these new job search trends if you want to move ahead in this market.  Let's go over how you can adapt to these new fads:

Resume Scanning.  Many organizations are now employing resume scanning technology to quickly parse through applications.  These devices will search resumes for specific keywords.  Those that don't contain them will be rejected.  You need to put these words into your resume, but you can't just insert them at random.  Each of your employment descriptions should have keywords strategically inserted to make the best impact.

Social Media.  You won't get ahead in this job market if you don't use social media.  You should have accounts on all the major social networking sites.  Some of the best candidates are found on these sites, so companies are increasingly searching them for potential employees.  An added benefit to this is you will gain more expertise in using these sites.  Nonprofits are increasingly looking to move their services into this new realm, so having social media knowledge will give you more marketability. 

That's all I have for now.  Have you noticed any other trends in job seeking?  Feel free to list them in the comments section below.