We are now in a recession and a thoroughly Web 2.0 environment. This is an unprecedented combination. We've had a job market driven by interactive and social media for a while now, and some of us have made it through few recessions before. But both? In some ways, the job-hunting world seems upside down. Now SWOOSH readers have some advantages over the competition. In this article, we'll explore some very 2009 advice for competing in the job market: preparing yourself, finding opportunities, and approaching employers. Be sure to heed it before 2010 when it'll be totally obsolete!

First: Prepare yourself:

Before you start really looking for jobs, make sure you'll be able to present yourself when you find them. Here are some tips about the resume and other materials, especially tailored to today's web 2.0/recession job market.

The Resume:
The key to a resume in any economic climate is to make it immediately clear what you did when, for whom and for how long. We've written about how to write a winning resume before here and here. Because of the larger number of job-seekers who are going to apply to fewer postings these days, your resume has about 20 seconds to make its main points. Use clear formatting, bullet points, quantifiable and contextualized achievements, and always tailor the resume to the specific posted job you're applying to. Maintain several versions and change it whenever you apply to something. And there's never a reason for it to be longer than 2 pages (one page is ideal). You can't read more than two pages in 20 seconds. Yahoo Hotjobs has a good article about this.

The Portfolio:
For creative professionals, the days of getting the job using just a physical printed portfolio are gone. And the days when a few jpgs or pdfs sent to the right person will get you the job are fading fast. Graphic Designers, Illustrators, Web Designers, Copywriters, and Video professionals must have an online portfolio to stay competitive. In addition to speeding the hiring process, having an online portfolio shows you're client-focused, with a keen eye to the convenience of your audience. If you don't feel like buying a domain and learning how to code, you still have some excellent options:

* Coroflot - this site is hot right now. Upload, organize and share your samples with everyone. No charge. They also have a job board, and some other good job-seeking resources.
* Behance - very similar to Coroflot, beautiful interface, and full of cool features. Also free.
* Creative Hotlist - Liaison has recommended this to job seekers in the past for it's excellent interface and organization, however, with it's small fees it seems to be losing ground to the free services. Still a great resource.
* Carbonmade - Another good site where you can post a portfolio for free.
* Myspace - I'd recommend that you never point a potential employer to your myspace profile, no matter how professional it looks. Yes, it's easy and convenient to navigate and update, but Myspace has too many associations with unprofessional stereotypes. Don't risk it. I recommend you make sure your screen name is not your real name and/or maybe just tone it down a bit. That way, employers are less likely to find your myspace in searches, and when they do it won't be damaging. The same can be said for Flikr, Photobucket, and Deviantart - all excellent sites that should be set to "damage control" mode when you're job seeking.
* Vimeo - If you're a video producer without your own domain, this is a very cool video site that's quite a bit more professional than youtube and others.
* Youtube - If you use Youtube, you'll need to go the extra mile to make sure it doesn't look like the majority of youtube content, which is generally pretty unprofessional. There is some risk with Youtube of developing a negative association, much like Myspace. But at the moment, it's still a solid resource.

Second: Find opportunities

Once your resume and online presence is the way it needs to be, then of course you'll need to find opportunities. Despite the recession, there are still many good creative and marketing opportunities out there. But with more people out of work, and fewer companies posting jobs, you won't find jobs posted where they would have been a year ago (though do make sure you're still checking out all the job boards listed here in the SWOOSH sidebar). Many jobs are being filled through smaller professional networks (these days, everyone knows someone amazing who's looking for work) or through more limited posting. So the challenge is to get into those networks and find those more selective job lists. Pounding on the pavement, blasting your resume, and Google searching simply won't get you there. You've got to make friends, ask questions, build relationships, and stay involved. AKA: networking.

The basic rules of networking are the same now as in any job market, and there's an excellent SWOOSH article all about it. Here are some networking tips specific to today's job market:

* Linkedin. If you're already on Linkedin, use it more. If you aren't yet, now's the time. It's basically a professional version of Facebook. It's free to create a profile. You can keep things confidential, screen your contacts, recommend others, and be recommended. You can also browse jobs. If you're actively looking for work, spend some time tracking down former colleagues and writing recommendations of them. Just don't use this as a substitute for a tailored resume or cover letter.
* Facebook - There's some debate on this, but if you're looking for work, you might as well maintain a Facebook presence. Social networks routinely cross over into the professional world, as we all know. Now's the time to catch up with people you used to go to school or work with.
* Meetup - In this free online tool, you can create or join a social group organized online. Graphic Designer, Web Developer, and other professional meetups usually talk shop, but often trade job tips and leads as well.
* Twitter - Believe it or not, this is a professional networking tool. There are some great job tweets out there. Make sure you are well acquainted with Twitter, so that when you get wind of the helpful job tweets, you can capitalize. And if you find a job you aren't a fit for, you can tweet your followers to spread the word.
* Again, I'm not feeling good about Myspace here. Unless you're a band or a spammer, myspace is presently not a great career tool. Unlike Facebook, myspace has too many unprofessional and negative associations to be helpful in most careers.

Third: Approach employers

So once you start getting leads, you'll need to present yourself through some sort of introduction to your potential employer. That's usually either an email, a phone call, or an online application. Wonder how your target employer would like to be contacted? Just ask. Check their site, email the HR director, call the reception desk and instead of asking for a job, ask for information. Every employer has different hiring needs and procedures. You can't rely on the same methods for every one. Find out how your target employer would like to be contacted, and do that. Liaison exclusively uses the online application (With the consistently large numbers of candidates our small recruiting team works with, we rely on this system to ensure we give each candidate fair consideration - and we do respond to everyone who applies). Our FAQs answer a lot of questions about that.

In any case, the rule of thumb is this: employers are people too. You don't want employers to see you as just another applicant, and employers don't want to be just another lead you're developing. No one likes being cold-called, spammed with a resume, or "marketed to". Approach your target employer by speaking to their specific needs, usually in a cover letter that explains how your skills and experience match 4-5 of the requirements of their job or company (Liaison's online application provides a space for this). Finding work is not about getting an audience and "selling" yourself as much as it is about finding ways to build a partnership to achieve common goals. The more you see it as a two way street, the more you'll have an advantage over the competition.

I recently posted a job where I asked (twice, in bold letters) for the candidate to put their salary requirements in their application. Eighty percent of candidates ignored this. Eight - oh. This was not an automatic disqualifier of course, but it immediately gave us some idea of who had really read the job description and who hadn't. Who was applying everywhere and who really wanted to work with us. Who paid close attention to detail and who didn't. Who was ready to come to the table and who was just seeing what's out there.

First rule: Read the job description. There seems to be an enduring fallacy, which seems especially prevalent now that there are lots of folks looking for work who aren't accustomed to job-seeking: This fallacy says "Cast a wide net." Submit to as many jobs as possible as a way of "improving odds" or "getting your name out". Don't do it! It's good to pursue multiple opportunities simultaneously of course, but higher numbers don't really improve your chances at landing the right job if you're not paying attention to each individual application and adapting your approach to each job description and hiring procedure. I wrote a SWOOSH article in 2006 about how to put yourself in the top 10% of any candidate pool. It is not a numbers game. It's a scavenger hunt. Now more than ever.

Not as tough as it seems

The economy and the way we navigate it are changing fast. Jobs seem scarce and competition intense. But jobs are there and a smart job seeker can get them. And now, you as a SWOOSH reader have some key advantages. Just remember, if you take the time to really do things right, you'll pull ahead. Job seekers have more power than they realize, even in 2009. Use it wisely, and before long it will pay off big.