Be Discoverable
In the summer of 2021, career expert Alison Doyle recommended ten strategies for a successful job search including: Make Sure Companies Can Find You. She discusses how employers “actively source passive candidates.” This recruiting technique is both done manually and with the aid of technology.
In addition to using social and networking media sites to post job opportunities, recruiters mine these websites (such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) to find your information such as your resume, skills, and experiences. Doyle recommends that your resume contain keywords, job titles, qualifications, skills, and affiliations. I recommend that you update your resume quarterly or at least annually so that when the resume mining software catalogs you, your most to-date information is found. You don’t want to be recruited for what you did a decade ago.
Keywords
Resume keywords preferred by recruiters might not be those that you might choose to describe yourself, but you should use their keywords for those are what they are searching. A year ago, Indeed published a career guide suggesting 269 Keywords To Use. While making a good first impression and including more details, the incorporation of these keywords into your social media profile and your resume will help companies build a more accurate picture of your capabilities and potential value to hire you in the future. Achievement keywords such as award (#3), finish (#11), succeed (#13), accomplish (#14), and of course, achieve (#20) highlight completed projects, received awards, and reached goals.
Qualifications
Course completions and skill certifications are valuable to include on your resume. Allowing companies to discover your unique skill set might help your next job search. These are separators!
The Racing Officials Accreditation Program (ROAP) offers a certificate course as an introductory path into jobs such as clerk of scales, horse identifiers, outrider, paddock judge, and patrol/placing judge. By including specific certifications, future employers can identify what level of experience you might have with a specific skill.
Many frontside horse racing jobs may seek Microsoft Excel experience. What better way to distinguish yourself with a Microsoft Certification? A resume bullet point that says Excel doesn’t convey the depth of your knowledge. In this example, the gamut spans from the basic formatting to the ability to write macros with pivot tables somewhere in between. These certificates forecast your pace and ability to pick up relevant skills.
On some of my resumes, I list my certificate of completion of the IMS 200 - Basic Incident Management System - Agriculture course. While many employers may not be interested, I have shared it with those who might want a candidate familiarized with incident facilities, resource management, and the management of communication during biosecurity outbreaks and disasters.
Who Dis?
In today’s modern world, you are your smartphone. Phone number management is also important to be discoverable. You, the potential job candidate, want to have it relatively easy for someone to reach you by phone. In the early cellular days, phone numbers were not portable between providers.
Each time you change your number, you risk becoming permanently disconnected from somebody on your network who may want to reach out about a potential future job. Broadcast your number change to everyone to keep the communication pathways open. Don’t forget to back up your contacts.
Earlier this summer, LifeHacker suggested that You Should Change Probably Change Your Phone Number. The blog site advises:
“But between unrelenting spam calls and texts, as well as general privacy concerns, there’s a case for changing your phone number now, even if it seems like doing so would invite more chaos than good.”
Unless you are efficient in updating your colleagues, friends, and family, you’ll be getting a lot of “new number, who dis” texts. If you agree with LifeHacker, I would advise you to hold off on a number change during a job search.
Professionally, you may have always been reached on your company’s mobile. Moving on to the next company severs you from a well-used channel for your network to find you when job possibilities arise. Make sure that you spread the word when you change jobs.
From 2013 to 2020, I had six cell phone numbers when becoming an ex-pat to work in Canada at Hastings Racecourse and Woodbine Racecourse. I started with a USA-based number and added a Canada-based number to a personal cell plus a Canada-based company phone. By the time I moved to Ontario, I dropped the USA cell to save money and swapped one company phone for another. When returning back to the States at the start of the pandemic, I also briefly had a ‘burner’ phone which didn’t work on US networks, until I had a USA residence at which I could acquire a new USA-based cellphone. In the last couple of years, I have been amazed by the number of comments from industry peers who lost contact with me. To some because of my cellphone number changes, I was out of sight, out of mind. (BTW, if the number you have saved for me doesn’t start with 346, we need to exchange digits again.)
Literally, those looking for horse racing jobs, like any other career path, need to continually work to make sure they stay discoverable.
Highlighted Opportunities
Jobs posted under Highlighted Opportunities are those sent directly to the newsletter by the employer. For those hiring who want to have their positions included in the newsletter, please email me, ovals at yahoo dot com, with “StandingStart Jobs” in the subject field.
Employer: Prairie Meadows Racecourse
Opportunity: Racing Admin Assistant
Source: Prairie Meadows
Posted: 2022-09-02
Description: Company Job Posting
Zia Park
Opportunity: Assistant Starter/Valet
Source: Penn Entertainment
Posted: 2022-08-30
Description: Company Job Posting
Employer: Zia Park
Opportunity: Clocker
Source: Penn Entertainment
Posted: 2022-08-30
Description: Company Job Posting
Employer Zia Park
Opportunity: Track Maintenance
Source: Penn Entertainment
Posted: 2022-08-30
Description: Company Job Posting
Opportunities
The Opportunities section is a curated listing of positions harvested from the internet. The subjective selections are meant to demonstrate the diversity of available horse racing jobs and are in no way meant to be complete and exhaustive.
Employer: Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort
Opportunity: Racing - Starter Assistant
Source: Indeed
Posted: 2022-09-13
Description: Indeed Job Posting
Employer: Bally’s Corporation
Opportunity: Harness - Assistant Racing Secretary
Source: LinkedIn
Posted: 2022-09-12
Description: LinkedIn Job Posting
Employer: Hollywood Gaming - Mahoning Valley
Opportunity: Public Address Announcer
Source: Google
Posted: 2022-09-08
Description: PublicAddressAnnouncer Job Posting
Employer: Keeneland
Opportunity: Security Bus Driver
Source: Indeed
Posted: 2022-09-08
Description: Indeed Job Posting
Employer: Lone Star Park
Opportunity: Mutuel Teller
Source: Google
Posted: 2022-09-06
Description: KXAN Job Posting
Editorial Comment: I was employed in this position in 2004 prior to the current owner. The position had strong training and coaching, thus making it a great gateway position for those new to the horseracing industry. It was a fun place to work, but I may have been biased by the fact that the year I was there Lone Star Park hosted the Breeders’ Cup.