Use these three tips for your job search by Hireclub Founder Ketan Anjaria

I recently had a chance to catch up with Hireclub’s founder, Ketan Anjaria. Hireclub is a unique web site that provides highly affordable career coaching. Hireclub has a website, job boards and certified coaches to help members prepare for their job search. It also has an amazing community of supportive job seekers and coaches.

I first came upon Hireclub’s Facebook group when I was searching for a graphic designer. A friend sent me an invite, and I was able to hire someone within 24 hours. Since then, I’ve seen posts on my Facebook feed for open positions at companies, negotiation advice, and most of all, moral support and coaching during a tough job search.

The community itself is an extension of it’s founder, Ketan. Clearly a vibrant extravert, Ketan’s entertaining personal Facebook profile posts about his home cooking adventures (he is a former chef), his daughter, and his experiences building Hireclub regularly show up on my feed. Ketan has brought this transparency to building the Hireclub community. Jobs posted to the group are required to list an employer contact, a mechanism that helps candidates avoid the frustration of dealing with non-responsive job portals. The group does not allow recruiters or agencies to post, and bans any multi-level marketing posts. These rules have created a warm and supportive community for the over 27,000 members who participate.

Ketan has been growing Hireclub since 2011, and recently made it his full time venture. Over the years, he has seen what works and doesn’t work for job searches after helping more than 500 people find jobs. Here are his three tips for a successful job search:

Present yourself as a specialist - pick one single role to focus on.

“The biggest thing I see is people think they are a jack of all trades but when we coach them we realize they do have a great set of skills in one area. Specialists win in this market, especially at larger companies. Figure what your focus is and tailor your resume to a single role. This might mean you have different resumes for different roles. I know some of you are thinking, but my skill in xyz, but where’s the last time you hired a plumber who was also a chef? Think like a hiring manager, they are hiring because they need someone specific to help them.”

For more job advice: How to Set Your Compensation Range for Your Next Salary Negotiation

Think of ways to bring value when you network.

“I think the best way to network is to talk about what help you can provide. Treat all conversations/interviews like they have brought you on as a consultant. Shift the power dynamic and say “How can I help you?”. Once you have established value and expertise it’s much easier to ask for help when you needed it.”

For more networking advice: How to Leverage Your Network to Get a Job in Another City

Get a career coach!

“All the top CEOs have coaches to help them succeed. Don’t do your job hunt alone. Working with a career coach can greatly speed up your job search. The US Average to find a job is 6 months! With HireClub we are seeing that go down to 2 months or less. In the tech world most jobs are at $80k salary or up, so spending a couple hundred on a coach is an investment in yourself that can pay itself back 20x or more. Plus the job search alone is brutal. Support is a large part of what we do in our community and coaching.”

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