Take a Knife to a Gun Fight Thats Like Going Without JibberJobber ! (Organize your job search!)

Take a Knife to a Gun Fight Thats Like Going Without JibberJobber… ! (Organize your job search!) I started my job search naively. I thought I was pretty awesome, and if you only read my resume you would get it and, in short, Id have a bunch of job offers my first month on the market. Boy was I wrong.  This started a journey of trying to figure out the job search stuff, including strategies and tactics, and how to work with recruiters.  Or, I should say, what my role is, and what a recruiters role is.  I also began to understand better the role of HR from the unemployed side of the equation One thing I learned is that many recruiters and HR departments have a tracking system, usually called an ATS, or Applicant Tracking System.  You, my friend, are the applicant.  That is not too far away from being just a number in their system.  But dont get hung up on that I want to focus on the idea that these entities that play such a big role in the outcome of your job search use a tracking tool.  The process of tracking all of the people who apply, and how they match up against one another, and where different people are in the hiring (and onboarding) process, is just too complex to track without an tracking tool. Why, then, would you not use a tracking tool? HR would not track all of that information with a homemade Excel spreadsheet, or a notebook, or sticky notes. You, as a job seeker, are doing yourself a great disservice if you think you can organize and track your networking, where you apply, which version of what resume you applied with, when you need to follow-up, etc. with anything less than a job search organizer. I hate to say that HR and recruiters are your competition, or the enemy, but as a job seeker you know that many times you are working against them.  They dont share information honestly or openly because they dont want to give you false hopes, or get themselves in a legal bind.  Why would you let these people, who have such a huge impact on how your job search ends, have all of the high power tools, while you are monkeying around with memory and an Excel spreadsheet? I beg you to get serious about the tools you use in your job search.  (that means, get on, and USE JibberJobber!) And once you land your dream job, keep using JibberJobber.  There is no job security in todays market, and your next job search could be days, weeks, months or just a few years after you land said dream job.  Not using JibberJobber between job searches is doing your career management a disservice. You know you need to network what better tool than JibberJobber to help you manage and organize your network, even when you are not in a job search? Imagine how prepared you will be when you get a layoff notice, if you have not been neglecting your career management! Those who are best prepared for a job search started networking, and working on their personal brand, and using JibberJobber, even before they needed to. Take a Knife to a Gun Fight Thats Like Going Without JibberJobber… ! (Organize your job search!) I started my job search naively. I thought I was pretty awesome, and if you only read my resume you would get it and, in short, Id have a bunch of job offers my first month on the market. Boy was I wrong.  This started a journey of trying to figure out the job search stuff, including strategies and tactics, and how to work with recruiters.  Or, I should say, what my role is, and what a recruiters role is.  I also began to understand better the role of HR from the unemployed side of the equation One thing I learned is that many recruiters and HR departments have a tracking system, usually called an ATS, or Applicant Tracking System.  You, my friend, are the applicant.  That is not too far away from being just a number in their system.  But dont get hung up on that I want to focus on the idea that these entities that play such a big role in the outcome of your job search use a tracking tool.  The process of tracking all of the people who apply, and how they match up against one another, and where different people are in the hiring (and onboarding) process, is just too complex to track without an tracking tool. Why, then, would you not use a tracking tool? HR would not track all of that information with a homemade Excel spreadsheet, or a notebook, or sticky notes. You, as a job seeker, are doing yourself a great disservice if you think you can organize and track your networking, where you apply, which version of what resume you applied with, when you need to follow-up, etc. with anything less than a job search organizer. I hate to say that HR and recruiters are your competition, or the enemy, but as a job seeker you know that many times you are working against them.  They dont share information honestly or openly because they dont want to give you false hopes, or get themselves in a legal bind.  Why would you let these people, who have such a huge impact on how your job search ends, have all of the high power tools, while you are monkeying around with memory and an Excel spreadsheet? I beg you to get serious about the tools you use in your job search.  (that means, get on, and USE JibberJobber!) And once you land your dream job, keep using JibberJobber.  There is no job security in todays market, and your next job search could be days, weeks, months or just a few years after you land said dream job.  Not using JibberJobber between job searches is doing your career management a disservice. You know you need to network what better tool than JibberJobber to help you manage and organize your network, even when you are not in a job search? Imagine how prepared you will be when you get a layoff notice, if you have not been neglecting your career management! Those who are best prepared for a job search started networking, and working on their personal brand, and using JibberJobber, even before they needed to.