In an online marketing world where SEO is critical, businesses and bloggers pay close attention to optimizing content for SEO and strategically choosing keywords to increase their chances of showing up high on Google search results. But what about the rest of us? You know, us professionals, who also want to put our best foot forward and make sure that content that best represents us shows up high in Google search results for whatever objective we might have such as personal branding, job search, or even just networking? A service has now emerged to bring the same SEO benefits that …
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I recently had a chance to meet the younger sister of a high school friend who was in transition for the first time since college graduation. “I used to always have jobs lined up for me and never had a challenge finding work.” Heard that one before, right? How about, “I received all of these LinkedIn invites, but I thought they were such a nuisance!” Indeed, the only positive thing to come out of not digging our wells before we are thirsty is to finally realize the power of LinkedIn in helping us build out our personal brand, professional networking, …
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I hope that the title to this blog post knocked you out of your comfort zone, because that was my intention in writing this guide. Don’t get me wrong: LinkedIn is still an essential part of your job search, and having an optimized LinkedIn profile and networking with others on that platform is still a prerequisite in helping you land your next job. But where LinkedIn may have been the ultimate differentiator for the job seeker two years ago, it no longer is. Instead, it’s time to start thinking about investing more time in utilizing Twitter for your job search. …
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Whenever I speak to a large group or consult with a client on social media, I have a tendency to overwhelm my audience with the so many things that they could be using it for. That leads to a growing fear for those that aren’t active in social media that it will become a total time suck. On the other hand, for those that start to get active and see its professional and personal benefits, they can’t seem to find enough time to cover all of their online bases. Which leads to the question that I am often asked: How …
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There is no doubt that the current recession continues to have an impact on the growth of social media. Job seekers are now looking for networking opportunities by embracing social media and joining and then becoming active on sites like LinkedIn as part of their job search strategy. This make sense because social media is also where recruiters may find you and where companies may perform background checks on you and your personality. Don’t you want to put your best food forward in your job search and show off your talents to the best of your ability since everybody’s watching? …
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Whenever I speak about social media and the job search to those that are unemployed, I always have a few attendees who “see the light” and get excited about blogging. They see the advantages of blogging to start sharing information through social media and establishing their personal brand as part of their job search strategy. The problem is that they don’t know what to blog about! If you are unemployed or soon to be in career transition, there are lots of things that you can be blogging about. I don’t mean blogging about your job search experience, either. I’m speaking …
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I was recently interviewed by Her Campus, the premier source of information for female students and “a collegiette’s guide to life,” about the topic of LinkedIn for the college student and advice for those who are getting ready to graduate and need help with their job search. In the past I had written a post on LinkedIn for the College Student with the message that you can never be too early to start your networking. I also have written on LinkedIn profile tips for college students. My interviewer, Betty Jin, took my advice to the next step by writing what …
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What is #JobChat? JobChat was created by Perri Gorman (@BeTheButterfly) and Neal Schaffer (@NealSchaffer) to serve the need of professionals and job seekers looking for advice on professional networking as well as how professionals can better utilize social media as part of their career management, personal branding and job search. Perri and Neal bring a unique combination of contrasting yet similar skills to the table to host the live chat sessions on Twitter: Perri is a former financial services recruiter and Neal a former technology sales and business development executive who also played the role of a hiring manager. Both are currently social media consultants helping both professionals …
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The inspiration for this blog post comes from someone I consider to be a true thought leader in social media, someone who I had a chance to finally meet in person recently: Jeremiah Owyang. He wrote a blog post back in 2008 entitled “Stop Fondling the Hammer, and Focus on the House,” and I didn’t even read this obscure post until my friend who has taught me a great deal about social media, Roderick (@Fogfish), recently mentioned in a Twitter Direct Message that he “was fondling the hammer too much” and followed that with a link to Jeremiah’s blog post. …
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As social media begins to envelop every part of a corporate organization, it becomes important that every employee begins to have a certain level of literacy in using social media tools. This becomes even more important in outward-facing rules where “social business” is changing the way companies engage with present and potential customers over Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs. At some point, just as companies emerged that used the Internet as their platform (Amazon, Netflix, etc.), we will see new companies arise that purely use social media as their platform. And when that happens, it is a natural that they …
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In 2010, the landscape for jobseekers continues to change as the world around us changes. As social media begins to envelop almost every part of a corporate organization, and as more corporate employees are required to use it as part of their professional jobs, the impact it has on the jobseeker is tremendous. However, most companies are still trying to figure out how to use social media, and initial planning usually starts with the social media marketing strategy. What hints for the jobseeker might social media strategies that businesses implement have? A lot.
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As you probably already know, I am very active on LinkedIn as a LinkedIn Open Networker or LION. I accept all invitations, and I respond to each invitation with asking my new connections how I might be able to help them. I often get the following response, which I again received just this week: Hi Neal, I do have a question you may be able to help with. I’m attaching my resume so you can get an idea about my skills and experience, but if you were in my shoes, what would you do in finding an opportunity in the …
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I have given many presentations on social media and your job search. Everybody is finally “getting” LinkedIn, but few are looking at Twitter or even Facebook as platforms which could aid those in transition in their job search. Today I want to talk about one strategy that I discuss on Twitter and your job search, and a story of how one Windmill Networker found success through thinking outside of the box and integrating the people he meets on Twitter with LinkedIn with real-life! Personal branding is important in your job search to help differentiate yourself from all the other job …
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It’s no surprise that jobseekers flocked to LinkedIn with this past recession after realizing that most recruiters were already heavy LinkedIn users and were using the social networking platform to find new talent. So many jobseekers are utilizing LinkedIn that some are calling it less of a professional networking site and more of a jobseeker’s networking site. It is unfortunate that some professionals are turned away from LinkedIn because of this as they miss out on a lot of professional networking opportunities. Windmill Networking on LinkedIn as part of your job search strategy is obviously important. But many jobseekers are …
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I just finished giving a presentation on utilizing Twitter for your job search today to an audience of in-transition professionals. While most of the professionals had a LinkedIn account (albeit half of them joined LinkedIn while being in transition), only a handful of them were on Twitter. There is still a lot of confusion and fear about Twitter, and it takes a little while before you have your “Aha!” moment and become an active Twitter user. If you’re already on Twitter, I hope this gives you a new perspective on Twitter. If you’re still new to Twitter, jump aboard! There’s …
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