Don’t wait until you need a job to update your phone and download your mission critical mobile apps for job search. They are your tools for managing a continuous job search, which is the new normal.
- Mobile versions for all job search sites that offer QuickApply from your phone after you have created your profile and uploaded your resume:
2. Video interviewing apps
3. Outlook
Most employers will send you interview invites using interview scheduling apps that allow you to save your invite in multiple formats. However, some still just email you an Outlook invite. You can’t download it into your work Outlook calendar. So might as well configure your personal Outlook calendar with your job search gmail to ensure that you can easily accept interview invites.
4. Gmail
Why gmail? Because you won’t have any issues with functionality, receiving interview attachments and you already need it for being able to do interviews through Google Hangouts. Remember, create a work gmail address that is your name. Nothing crazy, skanky, wacked, weird, drug related, crime related, unprofessional, embarrassing…..just your name. If it’s an email address that you wouldn’t want to use with your mom, daughter or grandmother, you never use it for job search.
5. Google Voice
I love Google Voice for your personal work mobile number, especially if your company doesn’t give a work mobile. It allows you to forward all of your calls to your personal mobile but allows you to keep that personal mobile number confidential. It also is incredibly useful because it sends you notifications via text and email when you have voicemails, transcribes the voicemails and also offers full texting functionality. And archives all of the texts. This functionality is very useful for job search.
6. Google Drive
When you are going to use QuickApply for all of the job search sites, just upload your constantly updated resume onto Gdrive to make it much easier to apply from your phone. You need access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup.
7. Office 365
Need to be able to view, edit, and create documents with the familiar Office interface optimized for mobile phones and tablets? Then Office 365 is a good option.
8. Google
Yup. Plain old Google. Why? Because I want you to google your name and see what comes up. A lot. And if you find old links tied to your name that have to be removed, contact the webmaster and see if they will delete the content. After that, submit a removal request with Google.
If you have kids in college, check everything including photos and videos. Tagging is a terrible thing if you just spent 250k on college and your kid is tagged in scandalous photos. That has got to be addressed in advance of a job search.
9. Google Docs
Companies are going to want to share documents and also have you send them information. Much easier to have this already on your phone. You get smart editing and styling tools to help you easily format text and paragraphs.
10. Profile Photos
You have to have a great profile photo. It’s not optional. If you don’t include a photo, it’s a red flag to Recruiters. If you include a bad photo, it’s worse. Remember, you need a shoulders up shot that has a nice smile and is professional, and industry appropriate.
Millennials typically know that they can’t have a bad profile photo. Xers and Boomers….not so much. I love Camera+ because it allows you to retouch and pick a portrait filter to enhance a photo. You don’t have to pay for a professional photographer to have a job search ready profile photo for all of the job search sites.
It’s what is sounds like. An app that fixes stuff that will stand out in profile photos. My advice- small tweaks on acne and shading. Don’t go crazy.
ResumeBuilders
Why didn’t I include a mobile ResumeBuilder? Because I wouldn’t ever recommend building your resume on your phone. It requires a high level of focus and spellchecking. I cannot begin to emphasize how hiring managers will pass on a candidate with spelling errors in their resume, email correspondence or texts. That’s right. Recruiters use texting apps that are integrated with their Applicant Tracking System and save all text history to the candidate profile. Yet another reason to really watch any written correspondence in any format with employers.
I created ResumeGenie with safeguards to protect job seekers from creating sloppy resumes that don’t get them advanced.