The U.S. economy added 163,000 jobs in July, the most in five months. However, the unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 8.3% as more and more workers scramble to enter the job market. This has created an uneven recovery heading into this fall’s presidential election. Fortunately, a cure exists in applying SEO to job-hunting.

As both: a) an expert on jobs, careers and workplace issues and b) a recruiter specializing in high technology, I came to realize several years ago the benefit of applying SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to job hunting and recruiting. As a result, I built up the largest, non-profit, professional SEO group in the Chicago area with almost 600 members. Our main objective is to explore cutting-edge SEO techniques.

Tomorrow, Saturday, August 4^th starting at 10:30 a.m. at 200 S. Wacker we will host our first ever symposium devoted to analysis of one’s online presence. Two major goals are: a) to evaluate one’s Internet footprint (or lack thereof) and b) to suggest improvements.  These techniques can significantly increase a job seeker’s chances of getting noticed by prospective hiring companies and being hired.

The BLS reported two alarming statistics today: a) paltry jobs creation and b) a spike in Americans involuntarily working part time. Only 69,000 new jobs were created in May as the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2%. Furthermore, the number of reluctant part-time workers, because they could not find a full time job, rose by 200,000. This means that the total number of U.S. workers who are either unemployed or underemployed (i.e. involuntarily working part-time or just giving up and as a result not being reported) reached 23,200,000 or a gain of 400,000 over April. This is 1 in 6 of all Americans! Fortunately, a cure exists in applying SEO to job-hunting.

Because of my coverage of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) over the last several years for several media outlets, I have come to realize its importance to energizing job searches. As a result, I launched the largest, non-profit, professional SEO group in the Chicago area with almost 600 members. Our main objective is to explore cutting-edge SEO techniques. On Saturday, August 4th starting at 10:30 a.m. at 200 S. Wacker we will host our first ever symposium devoted to analysis of one’s online presence. Two major goals are: a) to evaluate one’s Internet footprint (or lack thereof) and b) to suggest improvements. These techniques can significantly increase a job seeker’s chances of getting noticed by prospective hiring companies and being hired.

If you would like more information about this topic, attend our upcoming symposium or to interview Mr. Sargis about his expertise on jobs, careers and workplace issues, please call 312-944-4000 or e-mail ssargis@strategicsearch.com

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported this morning that the unemployment rate fell .1% to 8.1% in April. Unfortunately, only 115,000 new jobs were created, which was a drop of 5,000 from March. Furthermore, the number of both unemployed and underemployed (e.g. involuntarily working part-time or just giving up and as a result not being reported) stayed the same at 22,800,000! This is 1 in 6 of all Americans! Fortunately, relief exists in the new form of networking: Link Building.

After several years of reporting on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for numerous media outlets, I came to realize the importance of applying SEO to job hunting. As a result, I built up the largest, non-profit, professional SEO group in the Chicago area with almost 600 members. Last week I hosted a special symposium focused on Link Building, which is one of the most important SEO tools. It is the new, electronic version of adding contacts to your Rolodex. As applied to job-hunting, it helps link high-quality connections to one’s online presence (e.g. blog or website) by providing what search engines call “Link Juice” or increased reputation. Candidates can leverage this increased reputation to enhance their chances of being found and hired by desired employers!

Please click here to view the Power Point presentation on Link Building.

Employers only created 120,000 jobs last month, which was 50% of the number added in the prior month. It was the first time since November that jobs creation fell below 200,000. Most of the one-tenth of a point drop was due to fewer Americans seeking work and not more workers finding jobs! However, relief exists in the new form of networking: electronic networking.

As an executive recruiter over the last 25 years, I have found that over 70% of my most qualified candidates were uncovered by networking. Today is no different. However, new, electronic methods of networking exist. Two are: 1) leveraging social media sites like LinkedIn and 2) Link Building. Like in past times when you swayed contacts to be added to your rolodex, Link Building is an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) adaptation where by you convince high-quality contacts to link to your online presence (e.g. blog) to provide what search engines call “Link Juice” or increased reputation. Candidates can leverage this increased reputation to increase their chances of being hired by desired employers! To learn more, I invite you as my special guest to an extraordinary symposium I am hosting on Wednesday, April 25th starting at 5:30 p.m. entitled, “Link Building In 2012 And Beyond.”

You may recall that I run the largest SEO (Search Engine Optimization) group in the Chicago area with over 545 members. I do so because: 1) Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo are the new Yellow Pages 2) SEO is the field concerned with ranking high with search engines and 3) most of these practices can be adapted to improve recruiting practices especially for hard-to-find technical candidates.

Yesterday, I recruited one of my group members to teach a seminar on keyword research, which is the main building block of SEO. From keywords all good SEO flows. Please go to http://www.meetup.com/chicago-seo/events/50837422/ to learn more about this seminar and to http://www.jsingerdesign.com/Keyword-Research.pdf to view the handout.

The main points were:

1. You need to start with a long list of keywords and then reduce that to  a select few that really has the most impact for what you are recruiting for.
2. Do not use more than 5-6 keywords on a page.
3. As a rule-of-thumb expect to spend up to 5 hours doing keyword research before actuating your SEO efforts for recruiting.
4. Google has a free tool that can accomplish a lot for you.

Employers created 227,000 jobs last month. Five areas stood out: a) Professional & Business Services, which added 82,000 b) Leisure & Hospitality added another 44,000 (on top of the 44,000 in January; food services single-handedly has added 531,000 jobs since a trough in February, 2010) c) Health Care, which continues to add jobs and rose by 61,000 (Has added 360,000 over the last 12 months) d) Manufacturing, which added 31,000 (on top of the 50,000 added in January; Durable goods manufacturers alone have added 444,000 jobs since January, 2010) and e) Mining, which added 7,000 (on top of the 10,000 in January and has added 180,000 jobs since October, 2009). As a result, there are a lot of new opportunities for job seekers. Unfortunately, there also is a lot of competition. The key is to standout with keywords!

My cutting-edge research on applying SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to job-hunting demonstrates that employers are increasingly searching for specific keywords when uncovering talent. Therefore, it is imperative for candidates to: 1) thoroughly investigate what keywords employers are searching for (not just ones they personally feel are appropriate) and 2) sprinkle their resumes and online offerings (e.g. blog posts) with those suitable keywords. This will increase the likelihood of being both discovered and hired by desired employers! To learn more, I invite you as my special guest to an extraordinary symposium I am hosting on Tuesday, March 13th starting at 6 p.m. entitled, “Guide To Keyword Research.”