We’ve build several dozen articles designed to teach Restaurant Managers how to sell their expertise and skills to Recruiters. This article is designed to help Candidates find ways to promote their skills. It is more important to avoid making mistakes than it is to learn how to complete a task. Your resume is worthless if you believe that handing it out to employers is the sole purpose of the resume.

Recruiters have been encouraging their Candidates to build a strong social profile for years.

“Lack of social media identity can cause concern by prospective employer, non-professional or poor profile can indicate poor match for companies.” J.ScottRadel, Cleveland, Management Recruiter,  http://www.geckohospitality.com

“Companies, recruiters are looking at your Facebook and LinkedIn pages before they are even calling a candidate. Are your pages professional? Do they present you in the right light? Pictures of you chugging a beer or doing a shot of liquor will make a prospective recruiter wince.   Your picture should be a head shot, and you should be dressed professionally, you need to set the right impression. Be careful of your 'likes' these also paint a picture of the type of person you are.  What groups do you belong to, on-line?  Are you involved in professional groups, do you participate in discussions. These are all things that will give a recruiter a reason to call.”Marty T., Eastern Pennsylvania, Management Recruiter,   http://www.geckohospitality.com

Step 1: Promote Your Brand

It is easy to focus on promoting your brand while you are employed. It is easy to keep your LinkedIn and Blogs up when you are sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring. We are motivated by need. Losing a job creates several needs, and fears. That is why the savvy job seeker works to improve their brand and promote it, long before they need a job.

If you wait till you need a job to build your brand then you can expect to waste time experimenting, testing, and refining. This is valuable time needed to promote.  Intelligent managers are constantly promoting. This gives them time to smooth out their performance, discard what doesn’t work, and improve what does.

It can take months to build an effective LinkedIn Profile. This is one of the most important online tools a Candidate will ever have. It has one purpose – to build trust. LinkedIn is like networking.

It is not about you. Do not focus on yourself but on your ‘customer’. Promotion is about building a network of friends and colleagues who are willing to work together for building a relationship. Their similar needs and motivations bring them together. This is a perfect place to post your resume and press kit.

Step 2: Job Seeker Press Kit

Do you have a press kit? If you currently have a professional blog then you also have a press kit. Standing between you and your dream job is a recruiter. This person must sort through hundreds of resumes and match candidates to open positions. These people become experts at spotting careless errors. They have no rapport with you. You have less than 15 seconds to impress them. There are better ways to find a job. Many of them put the power of finding a job in your hands. A press kit offers something you can ‘give away’ that will enhance your resume.

Step 3: Follow Up

One of the best ways to build trust is to interact with the hiring manager. Some Candidates have learned the value of sending thank you cards. Every career coach tells their clients to do this. Every Recruiter wonders why they don’t.

Your thank you can include the URL of your blog, LinkedIn, or website. It has one purpose, to give the HR manager a piece of paper to file. If the hiring manager has a hand written note they may be more likely to consider you for the next job. This is one way to land a job before it is posted.

Step 4:  Listen and Build Trust

Lack of trust is the #1 reason that networking doesn’t work. Networking isn’t about you. It is about building relationships that lead to your next job. It is about building a brand. It is about building trust. Candidates who build trust are more likely to be considered for a job.

Networking also gives you an opportunity to listen to stories. When a hiring manager opens up and shares a story you are instantly getting an insider’s look to the problems at the top of their priority list. Keep reading through our blog at https://www.geckohospitality.com/hospitality-employment-agencies/. There are more than two years worth of articles designed to help Job Seekers find their dream job.