Finding a job over the Internet is fairly normal these days. There was a time when the Internet was an overrated channel as far as job hunting was concerned but not these days. With all social job hunting sites and networking sites out there, many have found it easier to find jobs online. Communities such as Linkedin, Facebook, and even Twitter are great for reaching out to people, find new contacts, and find out about those not-so-public job openings. If you are involved in these communities and play your card right, there is no reason you can’t find a job online fast. And then there’s Adwords. Believe it or not, Adwords can be a great channel to pursue to get your name out there. You’ve got to choose the right keywords and do a whole lot of research, but the opportunity is certainly there to find a job using a combination of all these tactics.

So what do I mean by playing your cards right? It’s one thing to be involved in these communities and hoping for the best. It’s another thing to have a clear strategy and implementing it step by step. It’s not enough to just have a social media strategy or just an Adwords one. You have to pay attention to both channels. Here is how:

• Landing page: your landing page is where people find out about who you are and what you do. You want to make a lasting impression here. Don’t direct traffic solely to your Linkedin profile. It may work, but it’s always better to have your own landing page so you can track your traffic and find out how you can optimize your page.
• Domain: always buy your own domains. Preferably, you want to register your own name as well as a few more specific domains with your core keywords (e.g. BestITanalyst.com).
• Content: make sure your website has all the information a recruiter would need to decide if you are right for a job. Give them an easy way to get their hands on your resume. Don’t go overboard but do share the right kind of information.
• Keywords: do focus on long-tail keywords, but make sure your visitors know what your website is about. Have a descriptive title for your own website and develop the right information structure to help your visitors find more information about you.
• Profiles: you should get your name out there as much as you can. Don’t just focus on Linkedin. There are many other communities you can be a part of. Use a service such as DandyID to manage your social media profiles. Once you have all your profiles ready to go, you can push them on your website.
• Social Networking: be involved on social networking websites. Ask and answer questions on LinkedIn. Participate in Facebook groups. Join rooms on Friendfeed. Blog on StumbleUpon. You get the point.
• Adwords: approach your job hunting process as you would promoting a product. If you have the budget to spend a lot of money on Adwords, make sure you do it the right way. Focus on more specific terms and structure your campaigns the right way.
• Analytics: don’t leave things to chance. Track your traffic and find out how they interact with your website. It’s good to know what pages your visitors are visiting the most.
• New Media: you do want to test things out on your website to see what works the best. You can create a video resume and push it on your website.

There is really no major difference between advertising yourself or a product on Adwords. The audience will be different, and the keywords may be different in nature as well. Think of yourself as a product and market yourself the right way. If you play your cards right, you are going to get a lot of traffic to your website (through SEO, PPC, and Social Media) and get surprise job offers. The job market may be tough but there are jobs out there. You just have to better market yourself and get the word out.