How to Combine Your Online and Offline Job Hunting Strategies

How to Combine Your Online and Offline Job Hunting Strategies Executives are getting a lot of advice telling them that online job hunting is the way to go, however many people have forgotten that some traditional ways of finding a job still work. By combining both online and offline skills you can create a killer job hunting strategy that covers all the basis. Know Your Marketing Methods When you’re looking for a job you may not be selling a product or a service, but you are selling yourself. As such it’s imperative that you understand the different forms of marketing you’ll be doing. Outbound marketing requires actually going out to meet prospects. In this case your prospects are potential employers. This includes going out to networking events, making in-person connections and cold calling. Inbound marketing is when you have systems in place so that employers come to you. This would be where social media, blogging, keywords and LinkedIn come into play. Start With Methods That Work Best for You While you could try to do everything at once, chances are you’ll just set yourself up for failure trying to incorporate a bunch of new techniques at the exact same time. What you can do is choose your methods from each marketing group based on your strengths. For instance, if you’re more comfortable meeting people in person then don’t focus so much on cold calling. Furthermore, if you know you’re way around LinkedIn and feel more comfortable with it then stick to it instead of trying to learn every social media avenue on the internet. Once you’ve gotten a solid understanding of these first methods then move on to layering others. Find Ways to Combine Inbound and Outbound Strategies Most people don’t realize that it’s actually quite easy to combine online and offline job hunting strategies. They tend to automatically assume that you have to stick to one or the other. The truth is that once your inbound strategies are set up one can easily help the other (and vice versa). For instance, you can use LinkedIn to make connections but then go the extra mile and actually set up a phone call or lunch meeting with them. You can also reverse this. Let’s say you meet someone at a networking event and would like to remain in contact. You can connect with them on LinkedIn or add them to your email list with a reminder to check in on them every once in a while. This may not seem like much but there’s a reason the old saying “There’s always room on the extra mile” rings true. Make it a Habit The act of combining offline and online job hunting strategies is more about creating a habit than actual technical know-how. You essentially just have to keep reminding yourself that you have more tools at your disposal. One way to ensure that you use both offline and online job hunting techniques is to set reminders on your phone’s calendar. For instance, if you have a networking event marked on your calendar make sure to add a note that says “Add connections from event on LinkedIn” so you don’t forget. Be Well! Lisa Lisa Rangel - Executive Resume Writing Services