About two weeks ago Rand and Scott posted a Whiteboard Friday explaining how to get an SEO job. I think it is a great resource for SEOs who already have a lot of experience, but what about those who don’t? How are the inexperienced supposed to get their first job at an internet technology company? The following is how I did it.
Please Note: I use my job hunting materials as an example throughout this post. I do this merely as a example for people to work with. I do not have any need to distribute my resume, cover letter or applicable e-mails for the traditional reasons, as I am currently employed at a company I love. Please don't take this as an attempt to unfairly sell myself. I am honestly just doing this for educational purposes.
Research Yourself
The first step to getting your foot in the door at an exciting tech company is to take control of your online identity. It should come as no surprise that potential employers are going to Google, Myspace, Facebook, and Linkedin you. (Holy misuse of the English language, Batman!) Make sure you control what they are going to see.
Put yourself in their shoes - Pretend you have an ultra conservative grandmother. If you would feel embarrassed if she saw a specific image or read a specific fact about you online, politely ask the poster to remove it. Keep this mindset while checking the following websites:
- Facebook - Do NOT just untag photos. I did this a year ago while job hunting and now I don’t know where all the worst images of me are posted. Furthermore, do not assume that your friends' privacy setting will protect you. They won't.
- Linkedin - If you don't have one, get one. If you do have one, update it.
- Myspace - ummm delete it? Kidding, but try to clean it up as much as possible.
- Flickr - It's going to be rough, but you need to look pessimistically at each photo and each comment and decide how they reflect on you.
- All other websites you participate in - Are you applying to IBM but have dugg a bunch of anti-Microsoft posts? Remember, companies have many loyalties. (I have a friend who was applying for an internship at IBM and the interviewer jokingly mentioned how much Microsoft sucks. It was a trick to see my friend's reaction because many IBM departments currently work closely with Microsoft.) Don't be so easily fooled.
Own your Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
- Create a personal website with your name as the domain - When someone searches for you, the search engines will give a matching domain name more weight than an average page that simply mentions you.
My Google SERP includes DannyDover.com (#3) and the social profiles I listed on its contact page (#4 & #6)
- Include links to all of your online profiles with your name as the anchor text - Include your typical usage of the site so the page has original content and is not just a list of links. This shows people you are plugged in and pushes your social profiles up on your SERP.
- Highlight your best work - Create a collection of your work, with the best ones highlighted (block via robots.txt to avoid duplicate content if the work was originally posted elsewhere).
Find Your Dream Company
- Contact companies that you know and respect - I recommend sending a short and/or really convincing e-mail to the appropriate people with a noteworthy and short subject line. Remember, these people receive hundreds of e-mails a day. Make your e-mail stand out without asking for a ransom.
Below is the e-mail that got me this job. Feel free to personalize it for your own use. Looking back on this, I recommend you make it shorter. I got lucky.
Subject: Quick InquiryNote: Rand said contact him later. It was Gillian who said yes and eventually gave me this job ;-p
Dear Ms. Muessig,
Thank you for taking the time to read this. My name is Danny Dover and I have done a lot of research on your company and I am very interested in getting involved.
I see you and your company as the leading resource for SEO and Internet education. I am writing you this letter because I want to know how I can help change the face of the Internet with you and your colleagues. How can I become involved with SEOmoz? Any opportunity you could grant me including an internship, mentorship or even a discussion over coffee would be intensely appreciated and beneficial to my continued education.
Similar to your co-founder Mr. Fishkin once was, I am a student at the University of Washington and I am an avid web developer and entrepreneur.
Although I am very happy to be at the UW, I have reached an academic wall. I have taken all of the university's Internet related and web development classes. Unfortunately, the UW has chosen to dedicate most of its resources to computer science and has failed to grasp the increasing importance of the Internet.
I have met with advisers, professors and department heads and they all agree that the UW is dangerously lacking focus on the Internet but say that the knowledge required to teach classes is not available.
I believe you and your company have the required knowledge. I would love the opportunity to try to benefit your company and add to my education. I appreciate you taking the time to read and consider this.
Thank You,
Danny Dover
Resume and referrals available upon request.
- Talk to people you know - Most people get their first jobs by utilizing their connections. Track down and talk to your friends about possible job openings. They are your greatest resource.
- Search Craigslist - Many companies (especially startups) ignore the traditional recruitment websites and post job openings online for free on Craigslist.
- Search Monster and Jobster - Other more traditional companies use these standard professional websites. Don't ignore them.
- Search the SEO marketplace - There are currently over 500 companies offering more than 200 jobs looking for people like you. It should come as no surprise that many people have already gotten jobs from using this marketplace.
Research the Company
- First and foremost, figure out the culture of the company - Is this a company that you will really want to work at? Does it sound to good to be true? Is your potential boss an idiot? Try to figure these things out before you apply.
- Read and comment on the company's blog - This helps to understand the culture of the company. Don't comment if you don't have anything valuable to say (advertisements for yourself are not valuable in blog comments).
- Search their site for anything related to hiring - If you are lucky, you might find a gold mine of information.
- Stalk important employees online - I am only half kidding here because it is likely potential employers will do this (at least to a small extent) to you. If the company is small, you should know at least the basic facts about the key employees (titles, roles, and big achievements). This will further help you understand the culture and operations of the company. All of this will be very useful at the interview. (Truth be told, I actually recognized everyone at SEOmoz before I actually shook their hands for the first time. I also think that knowing Rand attended the University of Washington without graduating helped me write an e-mail that was able to get his and Gillian's attention.)
Resume
Many people put a huge emphasis on the intricacies of creating a resume. I have heard of people who obsess over things like paperweight, finding the correct shade of white and whether or not to add perfume to the paper (The answer is no). In my experience, it is always the words on the resume that have gotten me a job, not fancy tricks or paper.
The important resume factors are:
- Write a specialized resume - I always write a resume tailored specifically for the job in which I am applying. Of course, I do have a general resume. I use it as a template and rearrange it based on my research into a particular company.
- Write a creative cover letter - Make something that stands out without confusing people. For example, see the cover letter that got me this job and Rand's favorite applicant of all time. Note: both of these worked because the creators researched the company culture before making them.
- Use a legitimate resume layout - Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). List your most important traits first and keep everything organized. Never, I repeat NEVER, use the default Microsoft Word resume template. On the same note, never make your resume two pages (see below to download the template I use).
- Content - This is paramount. Choose your words carefully and always present yourself in the best light. Don’t lie, but do feel free to show off your skills.
- Spelling and Grammar - Have as many people as you can read over your resume. If you are a student, show it to appropriate teachers/professors. If you are not, show it to your smart friends. Failure to have perfect spelling and excellent grammar on a resume is a great way to get eliminated.
Feel free to use my resume as a example on how to sell yourself and as an aid for good word choice. Here is the PDF with my example information.
This template was exclusive (until now) to my family and was originally given to my brother, Josh, when he went to graduate school. Feel free to download the template file below:
Portfolio
For any job in the SEO industry, a resume is not enough.
- Do a case study - This should be specific to your skills and demonstrate quantitative results. Include the status of the case before, what you did to improve it, and what the results were afterwards. Although the case study write up that I did is in a different format, it is still a good example.
- Help people - Not sure what to do for your case study? Contact a local charity and ask if you can help them in someway. If you want to be a web developer, offer to work on their website. If you want to be a SEO, see if you can make them rank for some tough keywords. Be sure to bring up this experience at interviews. (Thanks TigerAdvertising)
- Always speak their language - Nobody likes talking to someone they can’t understand. However, people do like to be impressed by people who are more knowledgeable. Use the knowledge you gained from researching the company to determine how to express yourself.
- Numbers - Make a one page summary of your results of your case study. Include graphs and tables where necessary.
Interview
This is your big chance. Act like a Boy Scout and be prepared.
- Bring your resume - Bring several hard copies and keep them in a manila envelope to keep them safe. Additionally, bring your resume in PDF format on a thumb drive in case someone wants more copies. Lastly, keep a copy of your updated resume on your website. You never know what the interviewer might expect.
- Dress up - I am an adamant believer that it always helps to dress up at a professional interview. Men, wear khakis, a dress shirt, a tie, dress shoes, and black socks. Women, your clothing is beyond my expertise. However, as a rule of thumb, always dress conservatively and avoid looking fake. If you dress seriously, people will take you seriously.
- Believe in yourself - You should know as much as you can by this point. Don’t stress, and if you don’t know the answer to an interviewer's question, be honest. Interviewers spend all day listening to BS. It is refreshing to talk to an actual human being.
- Follow Up - Send a short and simple thank you after your interview. It is easy to do and makes a great impression.
Convince Them That They Need You
(The extent of this will differ depending on how much the job is needed and whether or not it is an internship, apprenticeship, part time, or full time job. My situation was extreme because my formal education was not getting me where I wanted to go.)
- Make them an offer they can’t refuse - When I applied here, I offered my (limited) services at no charge and promised to provide all of my own resources (computer, software, etc). As an intern I realized that money was not the immediate goal. I had found a company that promised to provide me with valuable experience and I was ready to take a short term loss (in money and energy) in return for big rewards later. Employers will generally keep an intern as long as the intern is bringing more value to the company than they are taking away from it. As an intern, expect to take on a lot of tedious tasks (I read and categorized every blog post ever written on this website), but be sure you are at a place you love.
A Little Bit of Something Else
- Be yourself! - They will either like you or not, and there is nothing permanently you can do to change that.
- Luck - Sometimes there is nothing you can do. At some point while job hunting you will fail. I have failed several times and I fully expect to fail many more times in the future. I have been able to learn from my mistakes and have constantly improved myself. Through this constant process of improvement I have guaranteed that I will be successful at something. The catch is it most likely won’t be what I expect.
Stop Reading and Start Doing!
- Start Now - I have read a million blog posts containing excellent advice. The reality is these didn't help me at all until I started putting what I had learned into practice. Right now, you should print this out and start doing everything on it. Go get yourself a job!
I look forward to hearing from the more experienced SEOs in the comments. Please let me know how I can improve this guide. If any of you (experienced or inexperienced) decide it would be preferable to contact me privately, please feel free to e-mail or private message me. If that's not your style, feel free to contact me on Twitter (DannyDover) and/or Linkedin (Danny Dover). Thanks!
Good roundup. But "I am writing you this letter because I want to know how I can help change the face of the Internet with you and your colleagues" sounds a bit BS to me...
Yeah, I know, I'm looking to improve on my thumbs down ranking :-D but that's my opinion on such emails and letters to seek employment. Be original, intelligent and skip BS like that.
lol, I am really glad you called me out on that. I actually toned that sentence down before I sent the e-mail. I left it in (although edited) because I feel that as sad as it is, people like to be sucked up to.
Point taken though, there is a big difference between a someone being nice and a 'yesman'. I was closer to the latter in my e-mail
Danny,
You're an incredible young man and once again you've done a great and generous service; not only for this community, but for job seekers everywhere and in all fields.
Your article should be provided to every college student seeking an internship as the gold standard for achieving success in this ultra-competitive market.
In all of the years and all of the hiring I've done, it has been the very rare instance indeed, to find an individual of your caliber and combined demonstration of - loyalty, servitude, humility, passion and intelligence. To accomplish all of that before you started on day one - remarkable.
Well done.
Sean,
You are far too kind! Thank you for all of your positive feedback. It keeps me going ;-) You really don't know how much it helps.
Actually, Danny, Sean's right on the money on this one. I was at a marketing round table at Cornell last week and we spent a fair bit of time with the undergrads and grad students describing how they can get their foot in the door for all sorts of marketing jobs. This advice is invaluable.
One point I would add under "Convince Them That They Need You" is that companies keep all employees as long as they bring value - not just interns. So, during the interview, it's crucial for candidates to focus on what they bring to the company, not the other way 'round.
Excellent article, though. Keep up the great work.
Besides your own website, the best way to build your portfolio: Charity, charity, charity. Contact a local animal shelter, women's shelter, or children's charity with an un-optimized site and offer to help fix it for free. They'll be happy to hear from you.
Having a few well-optimized sites already under your belt (plus references) puts you further along. Plus, you get to practice!
Excellent advice, I am adding it to the guide right now
Blast from the past time--here's the email I sent to Rand when I responded to a job posting he put on Craigslist (heh, "Mr. Fishkin"; I'm not quite as polite to Rand now...):
Opens mail.yahoo.com
243 unread messages! Looks like cousins are still sending chain letters to Yahoo address. Chooses not to alert cousins to Gmail.
Searches for "seomoz"
Finds 89 messages matching "seomoz"
Goes to last page of results. Finds sent message titled, "Re: Opening for a new team member at SEOmoz.org"
Opens cover letter.
Closes Yahoo mail and marvels at own ability to downplay complete lack of job experience, total lack of marketing education and utter desperation for job at SEOmoz.
c'mon jane! paste your cover letter! all the cool kids are doing it...
I am really glad you posted that. Thanks Rebecca
I feel like if I'd walked into my interviews here after reading the above, I'd have done even better. I had the bare bones of everything Danny's recommended, but nothing like what I could have had and nothing like what I think you need now, a year and a half later.
I also think that in the near future, the total ignorance I had of SEO, aside from what I'd managed to unearth before my interview, will be unacceptable. I'm hearing more and more stories from my friends who are still at university that SEO and Internet marketing are becoming more common subject matters in advertising and marketing classes (thank God).
I stalked the SEOmoz staff online before my interviews, too :) I wasn't nearly as good at it as I am now but I figured they'd be doing the same thing to me. It turns out they didn't!
For an internet job, I think pointing to a functioning website is pretty important. Thankfully, I had one that wasn't too awful and wasn't a blog about my cat. Although in a pinch, that might be better than nothing. My aunt has a blog about her cat and it's not that bad.
Great piece, Danny. Your email to SEOmoz definitely didn't go unnoticed and it's obvious how successful your campaign to get Rand, Gillian and Jeff's attention was!
Oh! And make sure to put the accents on résumé. I'm sure that's what got me the job. Definitely.
Ironically, I didn't add them because I was afraid of encoding errors. Turns out my real concern should have been the apostrophe in the title.
Excellent Post. I think the following have become critical:
LinkedIn - Like you said - get it, have it, network like crazy. It is getting more and more popular and is almost the modern day equivalent of a business card/resume. It might not get you the job, but not having one can be a red flag.
MySpace - make sure your main photo and screen name are respectable enough, and then just set it to private. Then only your friends can see it and you can talk about sex and getting drunk all you want.
Own the first few pages of SERPs for your full name. This doesn't mean you need your own website - though you should - but you should be able to control the first few results even if it is a profile on another website, or a squidoo page, or a nice blog on blogger.
But you should have your own website. Have it showcase whatever you want to do professionally.
If you want to be a writer, it should be full of good blog posts and articles and links to places you've guest blogged, etc.
If a designer, it should look fantastic.
If a programmer, make sure you have some cool javascripting going on, or maybe a few free wordpress plug-ins or themes you've made (even if no one else downloads them - this can be impressive to an employer).
If you want to be an SEO, try to rank for something competitive, and have your resume posted there (BrentDPayne does a good job of this).
And like was mentioned above, there are a lot of things to do for experience long before you have a job.
We live in a fantastic time. The most critical equipment needed for production in the world today is the personal computer.
And if you're not crazy about the brand of processor or having all of the bells and whistles, you can buy something decent for about $500 (or less).
And you can make that much money by working part-time at a pizza delivery place for about a month (or less).
Then, just start doing whatever it is you want to do - for free. Make a lot of stuff (content, websites, etc.), learn from your mistakes, keep the best looking stuff, get rid of the rest, get your name out in the community - and things will happen!
Another great post Danny!
I may print out all of your best blogs posts, bind them together and give them to my son for a Graduation present. (I can be a real cheap bastard sometimes).
Great point about customizing your personal website based on what you want to be. It is a very simple idea that I think too many people don't put into action.
I always really enjoy reading your insight on the blog. Thank You
P.S. Please don't make your son hate both you and me!
Good post danny,Couple of points - agencies can still be good to get you work - as is Monster (i had around a dozen calls the day my CV went up there - apparently a lot of recruiters trawl it daily)
Also dress is important, even tho my current boss is a scruff (sorry!) our director's and every interviewer appreciate the effort and professionalism shown by turning up in a suit (however if its a soho design agency it may not be appropriate)
CV wise, keep it brief as they'll look at it quickly, and tailor each CV to each application.
Interview - google your interviewer, look up their past (tho dont tell them!) to get some insight, sign up to the company's blog/emails and read anything you can on them. Look at digg/forums to see if you can find them or their work...
Oh and listen to "eye of the tiger" on the way to the interview and wear your lucky charms :)
Really great advice, Danny.
I commented on the dress code thing above - suits are generally common in the UK (not in the office, you'll be pleased to hear, but in the interview).
Otherwise an exemplary set of recommendations. Well done. You would be amazed at how many people don't proof-read things and fail to to basic research into the company.
The only other thing I wanted to say was that while all the reputation management stuff is a very good idea (and many employers no doubt do dig through your online history), it isn't something we have ever really done at Distilled. I have done the odd bit of googling of prospective employees (typically after the interview, when I have basically decided they have got the job). I don't have time to google every applicant and I don't particularly care if there are a few stupid college photos of people out there. God knows I'm glad people didn't generally have megapixel cameras on their phones when I was at university... I have no problem with people being both professional and occasionally doing things they wouldn't do in the office.
Having said that, we're not IBM and there are definitely more conservative recruiters...
Have I just triggered a rash of drunken applications?
One other thing was about the CV question. We typically send people through a wufoo form that asks atypical interview questions (that might be a trick we got from this here blog) and only see CVs after the first filter. Under our model, I definitely like the 1 page CV. Order by most impressive and by the time I'm done reading the first page, I will know what I think. Anything less impressive (i.e. 2nd page) is just details.
Wanted to end with one more positive comment though - this guide or something like it should be a required step on the process to applying for first jobs. Really first-rate stuff Danny.
Good points will,
One other personal bug of mine is SEO agencies that ask for you to do some "SEO example work" for them - whilst its good to get knowledge thats generally what the interview is for - and in other industries its a well known tactic to get free work done for you - so be wary of agreeing to do an SEO analysis for any agency - either they like you or not.
Had a seo agency ask me to do a full analysis of their site once, i simply replied either they liked me or not (they did :) ) but i wouldn't spend a few days of my time doing work for them for free.
Tomorrow SEOMoz will be bombarded by candidates claiming they are from University of Washington :)I got my current job because I had a privilege of learning about SEO from SEOMoz resources and blog. Because of this community I also became an SEO addict. My friend who recommended me this place came to Egypt for holiday last month and he read SEO materials while lying on the beach. Another addict!Thank you, guys! You do more for people than you are aware of.
The line of anxious Huskies already goes around the corner.
Great Post Danny.
I would add to the whole "no experience without a job, no job without experience argument" that we as webmasters can invest about $50-$200 in our own site and compete with an existing site.
That way you can walk into an office with real world examples of your work and how you have taken initiative and are beating other established companies with what you've gleaned from the classroom and what you've learned online.
I've always said to others who want to get into this field and make a professional name for themselves, to make or work for a smaller website that competes with larger ones, and not the other way around. The former is much more impressive.
I cant stress that enough - so many students i know are stuck with "i've no experience" and thus denied entry level position to gain said experience.
Thus if your true entry level - anything, such as a portfolio of personal projects a'la your name, that demonstrates knowledge of seo and social media (linkedin, facebook, blogging etc) is a serious step up from your competition.
Experience is a huge difference!!!
Danny, congratulations on the job and another great post! I love your step by step style that really drives toward the final point of "Stop reading and start doing!". I am still working on your "Beginner's Checklist for Learning SEO" but the failings are all mine (CSS is not always my friend but I will win it over yet).
As an employer I have interviewed far too many people who failed on many of your points, especially in controlling their online identify. I will always check online profiles extensively and am amazed at the things that I have found such as a gun collection profile which was a fast track to elimination. I am not hiring for SEO but every one of your points applies to any job in any industry.
In terms of what to wear to the interview - that is a tricky one but I agree with dress to be taken seriously. My rule of thumb is to learn the standard of attire for the company you are interviewing with and dress one step above.
I am sure you won't be interviewing for some time and I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Keep working at CSS! It takes a while to get the hang of, but it is now essential for a professional web developer/designer SEO. I enjoy hearing your updates.
Best of luck!
This ia one of the best threads on seeking employment in the SEO field that I have seen in some time. Great job Danny and with all of the follow up advice, it is a goldmine for someone looking to get into the field. As someone pointed out, it could also translate to other fields.
Here is what I would add:
1. With regard to having rankings to show online, print out screen shots and bring them with you. It will save time for the person you are intereviewing with - and of course, the do change, right? :)
2. Back in the day, people who did SEO had to know all of the different skillsets used in the field. Today there is enough segmentation in the field where you could focus on a niche segment of the industry and sell yourself as a specialisst such as PPC Expert, Link Builder, etc. and of course, we prepared to show/share examples of that as well.
Great advice,
Could you expand on your first point? Do you mean bring screen shots of being number one for a competitive keyword? I am not really sure what you mean.
If you have obtained top rankings for any words or phrases, you can do the search, then save the results as a PDF then print it.
Suit? No. Very few in the industry wear suits. You want to look nice, but a suit is way too 20th century. Look nice but business casual is quite appropriate most of the time.
The smartest thing you can do is to get the top industry blogs in your RSS Reader (including this one), read/study them, and be prepared to talk about the current issues in the industry. Better yet, engage with the writers via comments. Even better, interact with the top industry professionals via Twitter. Know them and have them know about you. Relationships trump all in this (and most businesses) when it comes to making hiring decisions.
as i said depends on agency - soho or brooklyn based chilled out group of 25yr olds no it'd be inappropriate. But if your inhouse it'll be at a big brand and then they'll appreciate the professionalism and attitude shown by wearing a suit.
eg. Would you trust your banker if he was in shorts and Tshirt or in a good suit? :P ok i dont trust bankers but you get the idea...
High up people dont always appreciate that someone fresh faced and talking all this "techno mumbo jumbo" actually gets it, so its an added advantage that can sway it your way - "yes i look young, inexperienced etc but i'm showing how professional i can be"
An old entrepreneur/investor gave me this advice once:
If you're the one asking for money, you need to be the one dressed more professionally.
I don't really know how that fares with this current topic, but I so rarely get to pass that advice on.
As for an actual suit? I think most people will be impressed enough with a dress shirt, nice pants, tie and a sport jacket.
You can put a much better wardrobe together with that as your standard ensemble.
If you were to wear a suit every day - you'd have to have 4 or 5 suits in order to not become too stale in your appearance.
But I work from home and wear shorts and/or a robe most of the time - so I might not be the best one to give advice.
lol vingold - indeed theres a difference between european (or british) dress code and US - but your a lucky man working from home!
Professionalism always works better when you display it, but i'll always dress to my audience!
I was just going to say the same thing - I think most people would wear a suit to a UK interview even though no-one really ever wears a suit to work in our office...
The last item of your list is key - not only for getting a job but to get work done.
I know blogs get a lot of hype in search related fields but many people could benefit professionally from writing one. Again, it's a double edged sword - a salty blog post and your resume finds it's way to the bin.
The best employment guide I've ever seen. I looove it when tips are followed by personal examples and useful resources. Thumbs up! I am truly impressed!
Great read. I loved Rands Whiteboard Friday video on getting an SEO job, but you outline everything leading up to the job interview.
I got my SEO job from an internal promotion. I already had my foot in the door, so seeing the groundwork from an outside perspective was nice.
It was nice to see that you made an effort to outline all the various social outlets that can get you in trouble with interviewers. Much like a business, it is vital that people manage their reputation online, especially when considering how much research can be done via the internet.
This is some great information about finding a job in that big world out there. For every topic that you briefly descirbed there are thousands of resources that can be found. Finding a good job is one of the most important things that anyone does in their lives.
Just real quick some things that I think are extremely important are networking and practicing for that wonderful interview.
Networking will be your best resource when trying to find a job. In fact, most people find their jobs through networking. I even found the job that I currently have through connections that I made years ago. So it is important to make sure that you always keep the goodwill of everyone you have ever known. You never know when they will be able to offer you a helping hand. Don't lose any contacts that you make because I can assure you that sooner or later you will find a use for them.
The interview is an interesting thing. Some employers will ask some of the most outrageous questions, that you will begin to wonder what you really got yourself into. Don't be so quick to judge all of these questions have a purpose behind them. What I suggest is to research the common questions that employers ask and practice responses that you would like to give.
Once again like I said Danny, you briefly discussed some of the key points in trying to get a job, but there are loads of information on each of the points you discussed. Great article thanks for the tips and keep at it.
Lance Wilson
Passion and working for less than the standard rate so you can get the skills to make a career of things is exactly how I went about it. From being a fine dining restaurant General Manager whose hobby was SEM I was able to transfer my knowledge into managing PPC campaigns for clients of a top SEM/SEO agency.
And yes, go do it. That has been the most valuable lesson I've learned after reading for so many years the greater skills gained and lessons learned is when I stopped pondering the perfect way to do it and did it.
Excellent post. Great basics on How to create your Online Presence and getting the exposure you need.
Really informative article for anyone that is trying to get a job an SEO job. I liked a lot of the advise that you wrote about in this article because it was filled with informative tips for newbie's to this field. I was just curious if anyone else could come up with information for people that is not included in this article?
hey danny. great resource.
are speaking specifically to those with little experience? you threw me off with "never make your resume two pages." i'd have a hell of time trying to fit my skills and experience on only page. most resumes i see are at least 2 pages with 3-4 being the average. that is, for experienced candidates but i would think that less experienced candidates could also fill more than a page of relevant info.
just curious how you determined that 1 page is best.
I've heard the "keep it to one page" rule a lot as well, so I typically adhere to it as a best practice. It's less stuff for your interviewer to flip through, and it forces you to pare things down to the absolute essentials.
kimber, interesting perspective.
I have never heard of an acceptable resume being more than one page long. Where is it that you work where most of the resumes you see are two or more pages? Are the people applying really experienced in a specific area? It is cool to see how things work at other organizations.
In UK its acceptable to have 2 pages, indeed i'd say it was expected - 1 page is too short to detail yourself well, but be clear - straight to the point - and if in doubt the great thing about the UK is agencies are usually very helpfull in helping out with your CV :)
I think the 1 or 2 page rule really only applies either very early in your career, or if you've pretty much only had one or two jobs your whole life.
I only put down the last 10 years or so in my resume (just the highlights at that) and by the time I include the standard things like volunteering and community positions, misc. licenses and certifications, education, etc. - it takes up every bit of two pages.
And then I look a little bit like an idiot when I'm in an interview and I am telling them I did something similar in my past job and they say "oh, I didn't see that on here".
My advice: If you can keep it to one or two pages, good for you. But don't feel pigeon-holed by it. Put the important stuff first and make the whole thing easy to read and scan.
Plus, if you're like me and your jobs have been all over the place - always try to keep a handful of resumes on your hard-drive geared toward different jobs and industries.
There isn't any rule that says every job you apply to has to get the exact same resume.
And in fact, you're probably better off if you don't.
couldnt agree more vingold
I definitely agree that there shouldn't be standard rules. I personally like short resumes, but have never thrown one away for being the 'wrong' length.
I like the short version even if you are hugely accomplished. In my opinion, Tony Blair's CV (ignoring which bits of his leadership were 'accomplishments') should read pretty much 'Currently [whatever he's doing now]. Previously UK Prime Minister 1997-2007'. I don't care about less important stuff... I think having a very short CV with your best bits makes it clear there is other stuff and that's good fodder for interview.
This is a strong opinion, weakly held. Give me a good argument and I'm sure I'll change my mind.
And this one is for people hiring - there are absolutely ZERO rules regarding an acceptable length for a resume.
I was part of a group culling through some resumes for an open position once. I thought one of the applicants came across as very skilled and experienced, and while not a perfect fit - they probably deserved an interview.
I passed it to the next person for their review and they said "Vin, this resume is like 3 pages long.".
"So?" I replied.
She looked at me and said "Everyone knows that a resume shouldn't be any more than 2 pages long, why would you even look at this?".
It turns out this particular person thought that there was a "standard" rule about resume length and was discounting anyone who went over 2 pages.
She didn't even read them.
Sadly, this is how most people go through resumes. They look for a quick reason NOT to read one so they can get down to a small enough batch to actually take a closer look.
I've also seen people discount someone because of their education (major, name of school, etc.) - even though the education was 10 years earlier.
This is idiocy. I feel that about 3 years out of school you've forgotten pretty much everything you haven't actually used in your job. And anything you didn't learn in college, you've probably learned on the job.
So even though a person may have a BFA, if they've been working as an assistant analyst to a company controller for the last few years - I think its ok if they don't have an accounting or finance degree.
They either know it or they don't. And a degree is not the only sign of knowledge.
If you're hiring someone and you have these kinds of litmus tests - you're probably passing on some pretty cool and outstanding people.
great post on personal reputation management
You may already know but that title comes up very strangely in the RSS feed. Or, at least in the feed read using google reader. The ' becomes ’
On the actual subject it sounds like good advice whatever field you want to get into.
I fixed the title. Thanks!
Danny, your words are so true about starting in SEO, hell I was numbering documents by hand as my foot in the door to SEO
Also, it's quite funny you saying delete your myspace page, I actually deleted mine about a month ago because it was in the top ten for Dudibob and pictures of me wasted aren't too professional ;)
Really good post there Danny!
Impressions mean a lot but even if you are starting out in the industry you should make sure the company is right for you.
Ask the interviewer why they like working for the company and if there is anything that makes their company stand out from the rest. It's a good reversal tactic and you can usually get a good idea if you will get on with the people there.
What a great post!!! I´m just starting on the SEO world and that post just have fascinated me, it´s the best guide to apply a job I have read, simply and great.
A young company have gave me the opportunity to start working as SEO, even though two months ago I had no idea about SEO. I´ll keep very well your advices :)
I totally agree with Daniel's post, here are a few aspects one must have in mind when applying for a job:
-Great attitude
-Show passion
-Be proactive
-Be creative
-Self confidence
-Show you know the latest trends on your field of expertise
Brave move to throw it all out there like this, but it's obvious you did your homework and that's the important lesson here. Good stuff. Definitely the turning point for anyone really interested in the field is stop reading and start doing.
Good work! I didn't know you were in the Informatics school! Congrats! Thank goodness you aren't studying Communications or something that is beneath your ability!
Danny, you clearly belong at the Moz. Keep the blog posts coming, you have a great writing style.
It would be good to see you getting deep into some SEO issues - you're not a newbie no more!
Hey Danny,
Really very useful information. This guidence is very useful for getting proper job. I like it.
Thanks.
When you are new to field these are following things you should be highlighting:
Overall its tough, keep working to get good employer. https://www.idealwebtools.com/blog/how2-decide-employer/ - my experiences with new employer is here.