Job Search Newsletter: Sarah Johnston's The Briefcase "Briefs" Job Search Newsletter - Issue #16

In this issue: Current resume trends, latest LinkedIn features, how is COVID impacting moms in the workplace, fashion in the business world today, track your email opens, and more...

Hello Dear Reader:

I'll spare you the standard "I'm thankful for..." November blog entry and will get right to the good stuff.

โ–ถ๏ธ The BLS October Jobs Report showed a stronger than expected October. Employers added 638,000 jobs last monthโ€”the sixth straight monthly gainโ€”and the jobless rate fell a percentage point to 6.9%. While this is great news, it's an important to remember not to fixate on the unemployment numbers. YOU are not competing against the other millions of unemployed job seekers in the US. YOU are competing with YOU and the small population of people with a similar skill set in your market. The news stories are not your reality. ๐— ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐—ผ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—ท๐—ผ๐—ฏ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต. A scarcity mindset sees limitations instead of opportunities. The universe is not against you.

โ–ถ๏ธ LinkedIn rolled out a few cool new features this month, including a Career Explorer tool for job seekers looking to change careers. As a career junkie, I had a lot of fun playing with this new resource. It lets you match your skills with real job titles and also shares insights from workforce data. They also just released a new "video intro" feature. This tool gives companies the option when posting a job on LinkedIn to invite the most qualified candidates to answer up to two questions over video from a list of options that include questions, such as "Tell me about yourself," & "Describe your most challenging project." I wrote a post about this today.

I hope that you find value in this month's issue of the Briefs. I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you. Thank you for reading and sharing my content and for trusting me to be your job search guide. I'm thankful for you.

Reach out and say hello this week. I'd love to hear from you.

As always, I'm rooting for you,

Sarah

Resume and job search resources

What will executive resumes look like in 2021, and what executive resume trends will continue or commence in the year ahead? Resume writers and recruiters weigh in on resume trends and tactics. Four major executive resume trends rose to the top of the list for 2021.

Executive resume writing services can help you add $5K to $100K to your salary. Here are the best options based on quality, career support, cost, and more. (Spoiler alert: The Briefcase Coach was named the best resume writing service for experienced executives!)

Big job sites like LinkedIn and Indeed are great โ€” but if you're looking for something more specialized, make sure to check out some of the smaller job boards. You might find opportunities you would have missed.

Job candidates have more leverage than they once did.

REPEAT AFTER ME: Companies donโ€™t necessarily hire the best person for the job, they hire the person who best positions themselves for the opportunity (whether that be through personal marketing, getting a referral or being a known candidate)

Marketing 101: Different is better than better. How are you differentiating yourself from the competition?

Fashion and business

A year ago, my professional "uniform" included shift dresses and pumps. With my new work-from-home lifestyle, I wear sneakers almost exclusively.

Doubling down this Thanksgiving during the Covid-19 spike might be a stressful pill to swallow. But there's still a lot to be grateful for, and expressing gratitude to the people you work with and for can mitigate stress, grow your motivation and maximize productivity. What are you thankful for this year?

Career coaches share ways their clients over 50 got hired in the pandemic. I love this real, practical advice from one of my favorite career writers, Nancy Collamer of Next Avenue.

Work trends

The pandemic is forcing moms out of work at great financial, societal and marital costs.

This week, we look at how pandemic-related data shifts tripped up artificial intelligence, with implications for its predictive capabilities. Plus, South African banking faces new client needs, and a very fishy McKinsey project.

Job Search Hacks

If you are using Gmail, did you know that you can get an alert when someone opens your email?

If you are job searching, this insight is POWERFUL especially if you are sending a cold message to someone at your target company.

How does this work in real life?

Let's say you identify 15 companies (link: guide to creating a target company list) that hire people like you.

Head over to LinkedIn and type in one of the companies in the search bar and land on their LinkedIn company homepage.

Once you get to the homepage, look under the banner on the right and click "see all employees on LinkedIn"

From there, use the all filters search tool to figure out who your (potential) boss would be if you worked there. (Quick video tutorial here)

Head over to Hunter.io search for their email address.(Quick video tutorial here)

Craft a great targeted email (love the example Austin Belcak recently shared) requesting an informational interview.

Leverage the Mailtrack Gmail extension to see when they opened or forwarded the email.

Can you do me a favor?

Iโ€™m on a mission to help job seekers land amazing jobs. Would you consider doing one of the following:

  • Forward this newsletter to your job searching friends

  • Recommend me as a paid speaker for your company events on networking, job searching or leveraging LinkedIn

  • Recommend my services to high performers wanting to work one-on-one with an executive resume writer / or experienced interview coach

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