Here’s some hot news about the latest changes to Linkedin’s search algorithms. Don’t yawn…this is exciting stuff! I’ve added a slide show too, so you can see how these will work from now on. In essence Linkedin searches will become much more responsive to your inputs, ‘learning’ what you are looking for and better matching your skills and preferences to the results that matter to you.
First, here’s Chris Crum’s excellent introduction:
By Chris Crum
It doesn’t come with all the
fanfare of Facebook’s Graph Search, but another important social network has
just revamped its search engine.
LinkedIn announced some new search
capabilities, which it describes as “smarter and more streamlined,” and though Facebook’s
Graph Search has plenty of ramifications for businesses, LinkedIn is used
almost exclusively as a business tool.
“We’ve unified the search
experience so you no longer need to search for people, companies, or jobs
separately,” explains LinkedIn’s Johnathan Podemsky. “Now, all you need to do
is type what you’re looking for into the search box and you’ll see a
comprehensive page of results that pulls content from all across LinkedIn
including people, jobs, groups and companies.”
They’ve also added auto-complete,
suggested searches, a “smarter” query intent algorithm, enhanced advanced
search, and automated alerts. As you search more on LinkedIn, the algorithm
learns more about your intent to improve your results. Enhanced search includes
filers like location, company, school, etc. Searchers can save their searches
to be alerted when results change.
“No two professionals are alike on LinkedIn,” says Podemsky. “This means
even if you search for the same thing as someone else, your results will be
customized to you. LinkedIn’s search efforts are founded on the ability to take
into account who you are, who you know, and what your network is doing to help
you find what you’re looking for. And we’ll continue iterating on this with better
ways to surface new kinds of content across Linkedin as well as more
personalized results.”
The changes will start rolling out today, and should be available to all
within the coming weeks. According to the company, there were 5.7 billion
“professionally oriented” searches performed on LinkedIn in 2012.
Fast fact: 82% of resumes are summarily rejected, even if you qualify for the job. While the reasons are many, the very first reason is this: the visuals are all wrong. No one will tell you that your resume is ugly. But if your resume is an assault on one’s vision the moment they open the file, they simply will move on to the next person. Too many instances of that, and your job search ends up being a long, frustrating endeavor.
ReplyDeleteBefore delving into the specific instances of ugliness and their corresponding 1-minute makeovers, I’ll emphasize that even the prettiest resume in the world, if founded on poor content, will still fail. The makeovers below are best applied when your content, experience, and achievements are strong, in order to visually engage the reader. All that said, let’s avoid the three ugly resume moves that are holding you back.
1) The Structure Is Strange: This happens when jobseekers strive to make their resumes look like they’re not cookie-cutter. While seeking uniqueness in your presentation is a worthy endeavor, avoid going overboard. An overabundance of design elements – multiple bullets, multiple shades of gray, tabs to the middle of the page, and tables with no real purpose, all add up to look like a circus.
1-Minute Makeover: Select two or three design elements, and use those either once or repeatedly. For example, use one style of bullets. Those can be in the expertise section at the top of your resume, and again in your experience section to highlight your achievements. Or, use one element of gray shading. That can be applied to your name and to every heading on the resume.
2) The Font Is Funny: Certain font choices do not promote reader engagement. Utilizing multiple or different color fonts breaks up the reader’s rhythm – and not in a good, attention-getting way – just in an ugly way. Particularly for candidates at the six-figure level, there should be no reason to rely on visual gimmicks such as this to hold the reader’s attention.
1-Minute Makeover: Choose one font that you find appealing, then vary it throughout your resume. For example, your name can be in all caps. The headings can be in small caps. The body can be in standard font. The company descriptions can be in italics. Additionally, restrict your choice of font color to basic black.
3) The Readability Is Rough: Experienced professionals typically have extensive history to present – ten years or more. However, just as in real estate the mantra is, “location, location, location,” in resume writing, the mantra is, “white space, white space, white space.” A resume without white space is just plain ugly. Furthermore, it hampers readability when the content is crammed onto the page.
1-Minute Makeover: Equalize your margins on all four sides of the page. Minimum should be ½”, standard is ¾“, and margins should be no more than 1”. In the body of your resume, skip lines and be consistent about it. For example, if you skip a line between the employer’s company name and your title, do so every time. Another visual enhancement is to use the paragraph spacing before and after feature in Microsoft Word to add space in between bulleted items.
These 1-minute makeovers can do wonders for a resume that offers strong content but weak visuals. Keep the structure, font, and readability standard, then be creative and innovative in your content. That’s how to escape the resume ugliness and put forth a beautiful presentation that captures the right attention.
So create your account http://goo.gl/KT9pV