iamacp.com – I Am A Computer Programmer
All about the daily work issues of a Java/J2EE Computer Programmer

There are many ways a job seeker can look for work. Most people know about using job hunting sites like CareerBuilder, Dice, Monster and countless others. Many others people use social networking sites like Facebook, and LinkedIn to develop a professional network. What most people don’t give much thought to is to actually putting out a site dedicated to promoting themselves. This is a very important but often neglected step which will limit your potential opportunities if not done.

Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to find work is one of the best ways you can use to  start increasing your opportunities. I’ll tell you my story below:

My Story

Every time I was in the job market over the past 5 years maybe 1/2 a dozen times I would always talk to a ton of recruiters. Almost everyone of them at some point would ask me to email them a copy of my resume. It got to be a real hassle if I was away from my computer for more than a few hours. Well, about a year ago I decided to finally do something about it. I created a  site just dedicated to promoting myself and my resume.

I had used Google Analytics  (Google’s web site traffic analysis tool) previously on this site and am always curious about the visitors to my sites and  the statistics surrounding those figures.  I figured I might as well add tracking to my resume site so I can see if can learn something. What I never began to think about was that recruiters were actually starting to contact me about finding me as a result of a search in Google. This was pretty cool despite usually having no interest to go to the location the jobs were in.

As of today I have had  25 keyword searches on Google that have brought 32 visitors to my resume site. Many of them were looking for specific skills and locations (Charlotte, Boston, and Louisville being the common ones).

How You Can Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization)  To Find Work Today

• A Resume Site Posted Is Better Than No Resume Site: If you have a resume you might as well create a site and post it. You will loose out on opportunities from recruiters if they don’t see you in the search engines.

• Long Keyword Rich Resumes Generate Organic Traffic: I could never understand why they used to tell you to keep  your resume short and brief as possible. I have several years of professional experience and have a very long several page resume. Recruiters and employers rarely if ever complained about this. Most of them saw this as a asset and thus would contact me non stop. If you want your resume to be picked up in the search engines and job sites more often you should use as many keywords related to your job that apply.

• Read About Search Engine Optimization: Reading  about search engine optimization will give you ideas on how you can apply these principals to promoting yourself. You don’t have to be a expert either. Just understanding the basics will help you in promoting yourself and  can  increase your job opportunities promoted.

As  you have seen using SEO (search engine optimization) to find work is a often overlooked but very valuable technique to help you find work.

We all get buy at work sometimes and and occasionally forget the the importance of pursing side projects.  It’s still very important to pursue side projects for many reasons. I will attempt to discuss the reasons below:

Why Is Pursing Side Projects Important?

• Technology Outside Of Work Is Important: You may not get to work with the technology you are truly interested in at work. If you’re working for a insurance company  for example you may never get a chance to  develop games for android devices. Another example can be said let’s say you’re doing some Java development for the government and you have a interest in making a game in C#.

• It Keeps Your Mind Fresh: Learning different ideas and technology outside work exposes you to new ideas. It will allow you to think more creatively and learn new ways to do things that can be applied to different projects.

• It Can Keep You Employed: Learning different technologies outside of work can help you develop the skills you need to get your next job. For example lets say your dream job is to work for a game company and you design a design a  online Java game. You can use this game as part of your portfolio and show it to prospective employer.

These are some of the most obvious and important reasons to pursue projects outside of work.