February 9, 2011

How to find communications jobs in Seattle

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By Kristen Fife
NWjobs

Q: I recently moved back to the Seattle area after living in Chicago for a while. As a result, my current role (at JPMorgan) has become "temporary," and I am looking for a more permanent situation. My current job is primarily communications. It seems to me that my skills should transfer well to almost any industry. Most of the companies hiring in Seattle are not in the financial industry, and I'm beginning to wonder if the fact that I work at a bank is getting me filtered out from the beginning, before they even consider my qualifications. Any thoughts on this?
-MH, Seattle

Kristen says: Welcome back. You are correct in your assessment that your skills should be transferable across industries.

The first thing you need to do is make sure your resume is highly targeted for each position you are looking at in other industries. You may need to rewrite your summary of qualifications and reposition your skills based on each targeted position. It is vital that you are hitting the keywords as many times as possible within the first page of your resume so that you rank highly in keyword searches that employers are running for candidates. Make sure you are using keywords contextually in solid examples of what you have done, not just as buzzwords. Twitter can be a powerful branding tool for your profession, and social networking experience is now a necessity on resumes for your field.

Once your resume is targeted, you need to start networking. LinkedIn is going to be an invaluable tool for the groups you can join, as well as the decision-makers with whom you can connect. Check out the Communicators and Marketers Jobline for local opportunities, and participate in local AMA (American Marketing Association) meetings and online forums. Local Chambers of Commerce can expand your professional network. Consider joining Digital Eve, an online community supporting women in technology; it’s one of the local hubs for tech industry jobs. Making connections is going to be key to your success.

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1 Comments

JackRodriguez on August 21, 2011 2:58 AM | Reply

Hope this helps: Careers in Communications

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