Build a Dream Team For Your Job Search

Since many coming through my studio doors are actively job searching I am excited to share this guest blog post with you: Meet Mir Garvy (photo coming soon!), owner of Job Market Solutions in Raleigh, NC. We all know Raleigh is hot for jobs right now, but it’s also hot for job competition and getting your foot in the door may be harder than ever. She and her team provide resume and cover letter writing services and get your Linkedin profile where it needs to be to attract the attention of recruiters and companies (and hey hey, this is where a gorgeous new headshot comes into play!). We updated her team photos in the studio recently; since resume writing happens via email, these photos are the perfect way for clients to “meet” their writer. Read on for her for her tips for creating a successful job search and see our updated headshots of her experienced writers below!

Build a Dream Team to Accelerate Your Job Search

If you listen to or read about successful people, you’ll begin to see certain patterns. One pattern I notice is that whether we’re talking about an Olympic athlete, a beloved politician, or an Academy Award winner, they all had people who helped them succeed.

No one advances in a vacuum.

It’s no different for a job seeker. If you want a better job, conduct a better job search. And the best job search begins when you draft a team of helpers. There are three kinds of professionals you should consider hiring if you want to land a job that fits you perfectly.

Career or Life Coach

If you’re not sure of the direction your search should take, a career coach will point you in the right direction. A career coach will clarify and advance your thinking process, saving you time and trouble if you are new to the work force or considering a career change.

If you are miserable in your present job, if you are ready to enter semi-retirement, or if you’ve always dreamed of a career in an unusual or limited field, a career coach should be your first stop, even before you have a resume.

A second kind of coach is the interview coach. When you know what kind of job you are aiming for, the interview coach will help you prepare so you present yourself in the best light. He or she will practice and role play with you to build your confidence and to develop the skills that help you navigate an interview.

Hire the interview coach after you have a current resume.

Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer

Of course, every job seeker needs a resume, a concise but thorough, impressive, and well-formatted one. At Job Market Solutions, we can help with your resume, with your LinkedIn profile, and with your cover letter, too. We’ve helped over 2,500 people secure the jobs they wanted.

Headshot Photographer

Although your resume won’t show a photo of you, no LinkedIn page is complete without one. The stats say that LinkedIn pages with a photo attract 14 times as many views as those without one. Your face is the first thing visitors to your page see. The right photograph will make people want to read about you. The wrong photo (or no photo) will prompt them to bypass your page.

Forbes wrote about how your LinkedIn photo determines much more than you think.

I always encourage job applicants to hire a professional photographer for a LinkedIn profile photo. You’ll use it on your own LinkedIn page, but you can also use it on your Facebook page, your Twitter feed, or on your blog or website.

You might be thinking that you or a friend can take a good enough picture, but I’ve seen multiple things that can go wrong. To name a few: bad lighting, unflattering clothing, bad cropping, focus that’s too sharp or too soft, colors too intense or faded, a facial expression that’s not friendly or is “too friendly,” a pose that is too casual or too formal, or an image that doesn’t really look like you in real life.

A photo taken by a trained portrait photographer gives the message that you take your career seriously, and that you’ve invested time, intelligence, and money in your professional life.

Have you drafted your dream team yet?                 

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About Mir Garvy, MS, CPRW – My resume writing firm helps job seekers just like you land jobs with companies like Amazon, SAS, Google, Duke University, Travelocity, Cisco Systems, GlaxoSmithKline, Expedia, and IBM. www.jobmarketsolutions.com