Friday, October 22, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
10 Ways to Network If You’re Unemployed
Every major study of employment conducted over the past 20 years confirms that the way that most people find jobs is through some type of personal connection. A tip from a friend who knows that her company is hiring. A personal introduction to a manager who’s expanding his department. Or a connection made at an industry networking event. People hire people they feel safe and comfortable with, and personal references increase the likelihood that you’ll be a safe hire.
So, how can you build your personal network and increase your chances of finding your ideal job? Here are some quick tips:
1.Create a blog that centers around your professional expertise. Then fill it with posts. Done right, your blog will be more effective than any resume in communicating the level of your professional knowledge and insight.
2.Make sure the name or tagline of your blog clearly conveys your special professional skills.
3.Create a series of posts that teach me something about what you do. Include pictures, diagrams, samples and even a portfolio of your most effective work product. No matter what your specialty, from driving a truck to running a hedge fund, there is plenty of material you can create to educate others.
4.Read and comment on other bloggers’ sites. Every day.
5.Let the other bloggers in your industry know you exist. Send them your posts. Start a conversation. And ask them to add your blog to their blogroll so the search engines find you and rank you.
6.Go to industry events. Go online and check the monthly schedules for all the professional organizations in your area. Then attend with a pocketful of business cards that includes all of your social media contact information.
7.When you meet someone you’d like to work for, follow them on every social media channel. Read their blog, follow their tweets, read their LinkedIn profile. Learn everything you can about them so you can stay in touch and send them articles and links you know they’ll be interested in. Help them and there’s a good chance they’ll help you.
8.Follow staffing and recruiting professionals on Twitter, facebook and LinkedIn. Their blog posts and tweets are full of useful information that can help you refine your resume, hone your interviewing skills and alert you to job openings.
9.Clean up your online networking profiles to ensure that there is nothing embarrassing or potentially offensive. No photos of you drinking, smoking or engaged in any potentially disturbing activity. Untag yourself from any potentially offensive photos that exist on any of your friends’ photo pages. Remove any offensive or vulgar language. Then modify your privacy settings so your most personal information remains private and unseen except by your closest friends.
10.Search for and connect with similar professionals on all the major social media platforms. Start conversations with them, participate in online forums and contribute to their groups. Create a Twitter list that includes only these professionals so you stay focused like a laser beam.
Remember, by leveraging these social media platforms, you get a chance to reach not only your contacts, but the entire constellation of contacts that are just one or two degrees removed from you. And you never know who’s hiring.
Every major study of employment conducted over the past 20 years confirms that the way that most people find jobs is through some type of personal connection. A tip from a friend who knows that her company is hiring. A personal introduction to a manager who’s expanding his department. Or a connection made at an industry networking event. People hire people they feel safe and comfortable with, and personal references increase the likelihood that you’ll be a safe hire.
So, how can you build your personal network and increase your chances of finding your ideal job? Here are some quick tips:
1.Create a blog that centers around your professional expertise. Then fill it with posts. Done right, your blog will be more effective than any resume in communicating the level of your professional knowledge and insight.
2.Make sure the name or tagline of your blog clearly conveys your special professional skills.
3.Create a series of posts that teach me something about what you do. Include pictures, diagrams, samples and even a portfolio of your most effective work product. No matter what your specialty, from driving a truck to running a hedge fund, there is plenty of material you can create to educate others.
4.Read and comment on other bloggers’ sites. Every day.
5.Let the other bloggers in your industry know you exist. Send them your posts. Start a conversation. And ask them to add your blog to their blogroll so the search engines find you and rank you.
6.Go to industry events. Go online and check the monthly schedules for all the professional organizations in your area. Then attend with a pocketful of business cards that includes all of your social media contact information.
7.When you meet someone you’d like to work for, follow them on every social media channel. Read their blog, follow their tweets, read their LinkedIn profile. Learn everything you can about them so you can stay in touch and send them articles and links you know they’ll be interested in. Help them and there’s a good chance they’ll help you.
8.Follow staffing and recruiting professionals on Twitter, facebook and LinkedIn. Their blog posts and tweets are full of useful information that can help you refine your resume, hone your interviewing skills and alert you to job openings.
9.Clean up your online networking profiles to ensure that there is nothing embarrassing or potentially offensive. No photos of you drinking, smoking or engaged in any potentially disturbing activity. Untag yourself from any potentially offensive photos that exist on any of your friends’ photo pages. Remove any offensive or vulgar language. Then modify your privacy settings so your most personal information remains private and unseen except by your closest friends.
10.Search for and connect with similar professionals on all the major social media platforms. Start conversations with them, participate in online forums and contribute to their groups. Create a Twitter list that includes only these professionals so you stay focused like a laser beam.
Remember, by leveraging these social media platforms, you get a chance to reach not only your contacts, but the entire constellation of contacts that are just one or two degrees removed from you. And you never know who’s hiring.
5 Rules to Blog For Professional Advancement
The website Technorati claims that there are more than 100 millions blogs crowding the web. The types of blog vary enormously ranging from personal diaries, fiction, hobbies, experiences, opinions (professional and personal), and reviews.
Many professionals have created blogs as a way to stay active and involved in their professions when between jobs, to keep their skills sharp and as a tool for self-promotion. But even the best intentions can go awry if the professional blogger doesn’t adhere to some hard and fast rules to blog by:
1. Keep your posts professional – There is room on the web for dating blogs and movie review blogs, but they don’t belong on your professional blog. Too many bloggers blur the line between personal and professional and end up with a blog that has no distinct identity. They intersperse posts about their weekend exploits with friends with professional observations concerning project management dynamics on complex software development projects. Big mistake. The readers of your professional blog are looking for insights and expertise dealing with their specific professional concerns. They’re not interested in your social life, your sporting achievements, your kids or your vacations. And make sure you maintain professional and appropriate language throughout your posts. There’s no need for profanity or vulgarity to make your points.
2. Stay on topic – Pick your topic, then write about it. Repeatedly. If you’re a professional recruiter, there are plenty of topics for you to explore without having to resort to throwing in a post about sports marketing. I understand that you may be a Renaissance Man (or Woman), but your professional blog is not the place to display your mastery of all topics, just the one that matters most to you and your professional audience.
3. Post regularly – There’s nothing more frustrating to your readers than discovering your blog and becoming interested in your perspective and ideas only to discover that you haven’t added a new post in over a month. If you’re committed to your blog, you’ve got to maintain a regular posting schedule. We understand that not every post can be an epic – and we really don’t have time to read epics every day – but we do require that you post something. Seth Godin has made a fortune and extends his international reputation daily with blog posts that are sometimes as short as a single sentence. Regular posts are essential.
4. Keep your content current – You should expect that your readers are current with the latest news and trends in their industry, so your content must be current also. If you’re writing about social media and write a post that references a study done in 2007, you appear dated and out of touch. To maintain the impression of authority you must stay on top of your industry’s news and keep your posts current and useful.
5. Engage with your readers – There’s a reason that a blog is considered social media. It provides you with an avenue to actually engage with like-minded readers around the world. Make sure that you enable comments and actually respond to every comment submitted. You’ll build actual relationships with brilliant and talented professionals who can provide expert insight, intelligent and thoughtful ideas, and useful contacts that can help build your professional network and advance your career.
By John Heaney on September 21, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Advancement, Featured, Networking, Social Media, The Search, Workplace
The website Technorati claims that there are more than 100 millions blogs crowding the web. The types of blog vary enormously ranging from personal diaries, fiction, hobbies, experiences, opinions (professional and personal), and reviews.
Many professionals have created blogs as a way to stay active and involved in their professions when between jobs, to keep their skills sharp and as a tool for self-promotion. But even the best intentions can go awry if the professional blogger doesn’t adhere to some hard and fast rules to blog by:
1. Keep your posts professional – There is room on the web for dating blogs and movie review blogs, but they don’t belong on your professional blog. Too many bloggers blur the line between personal and professional and end up with a blog that has no distinct identity. They intersperse posts about their weekend exploits with friends with professional observations concerning project management dynamics on complex software development projects. Big mistake. The readers of your professional blog are looking for insights and expertise dealing with their specific professional concerns. They’re not interested in your social life, your sporting achievements, your kids or your vacations. And make sure you maintain professional and appropriate language throughout your posts. There’s no need for profanity or vulgarity to make your points.
2. Stay on topic – Pick your topic, then write about it. Repeatedly. If you’re a professional recruiter, there are plenty of topics for you to explore without having to resort to throwing in a post about sports marketing. I understand that you may be a Renaissance Man (or Woman), but your professional blog is not the place to display your mastery of all topics, just the one that matters most to you and your professional audience.
3. Post regularly – There’s nothing more frustrating to your readers than discovering your blog and becoming interested in your perspective and ideas only to discover that you haven’t added a new post in over a month. If you’re committed to your blog, you’ve got to maintain a regular posting schedule. We understand that not every post can be an epic – and we really don’t have time to read epics every day – but we do require that you post something. Seth Godin has made a fortune and extends his international reputation daily with blog posts that are sometimes as short as a single sentence. Regular posts are essential.
4. Keep your content current – You should expect that your readers are current with the latest news and trends in their industry, so your content must be current also. If you’re writing about social media and write a post that references a study done in 2007, you appear dated and out of touch. To maintain the impression of authority you must stay on top of your industry’s news and keep your posts current and useful.
5. Engage with your readers – There’s a reason that a blog is considered social media. It provides you with an avenue to actually engage with like-minded readers around the world. Make sure that you enable comments and actually respond to every comment submitted. You’ll build actual relationships with brilliant and talented professionals who can provide expert insight, intelligent and thoughtful ideas, and useful contacts that can help build your professional network and advance your career.
By John Heaney on September 21, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Advancement, Featured, Networking, Social Media, The Search, Workplace
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