The Secret Job Hunt Advice I Give to My Family

Thank you everybody for the wonderful compliments on the New York Times story last week! Your support is much appreciated, and I'm glad to hear the system is working as well for you in practice as we designed it to work in theory!

One of the really rewarding parts of my job is sharing the career advice I've gathered over the last decade with all of you, our loyal readers. We've been fortunate to have some of the best career advisors in the country help us, and I've shared with you their best thinking in this newsletter or the Wednesday "Executive Coach."

But, you know, my family and friends don't necessarily believe me!

I'm from a big Italian (and Scottish and German and Irish) family. I'm blessed to have 36 first cousins! And whenever they're job-hunting, they send me an email like this:

"C'mon, Marc, I know you send that stuff out to everybody, but what's the real juice on using TheLadders.com and is there a secret stash of jobs you can give me access to?"

Well, Readers, I'm going to put aside that old Scot proverb that says "blood's thicker than water," and share with you the same advice I share with my family. (And, no, there's no secret stash of jobs!)

Here is my "secret advice" for those 36 first cousins, and for you, my favorite subscribers:

1. Get your resume professionally written. Why? You're way too close to yourself to be objective and know what's really important to recruiters. Trust me, you need a pro.

2. Fill out your bio! We had a focus group in Chicago last week, and you know what the common theme is among people who use TheLadders.com successfully? They've filled out their bio. If you've already filled out your bio, make sure it's updated and chock-full of information. The more information you provide, the more likely you are to connect with a recruiter.

3. Apply for jobs! Yes, believe it or not, that's sometimes overlooked.

4. Use any offline networking tools you have - your social network, alumni or past work colleagues' networks - to find additional "side entrances" to the jobs you've already found in step three. We're great at getting you the job info, but a real live person is still the best way to get the inside scoop.

And that's it, Readers - it's a simple system to use because we designed it that way.

And, you know, every time I mention my #1 piece of advice, to get your resume written by a pro, to my friends and family, I'm greeted with the skepticism and the concern that a professional resume might be right for everybody else, but not right for them.

And then I get cc'd on emails like this one, from a subscriber who worked with Peter Newfield at Career Resumes (one of our experts) to get his resume and bio professionally done...

I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that I received an offer for my dream job today! After signing up on TheLadders.com I initially received very little interest and was a bit discouraged. BUT, after you totally re-created my resume and Bio there was an almost immediate pickup in interest. As of acceptance, my Bio had been searched 409 times and reviewed 62 times by recruiters.

I don't know if many get back with you but I wanted to let you know that it was the best money I have spent and wanted to express my heartfelt thanks in working with me to create a document that I am confident landed me the new position.

Keep up the terrific work! Oh and by the way GO CHIEFS!!!
Thanks a million!

Kevin Wilson

Yeah, yeah, I hear you... "sure it's right for Kevin, but is right for me?"

My secret answer, Readers?

Well, like a final Sopranos episode, I'm going to leave it up to your interpretation....

OK, Readers, take my family advice and give your job hunt a secret boost this week!