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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While recent social media conversations tend to be about Facebook and Twitter, I find that many professionals and businesses aren’t maximizing their LinkedIn presence. There are many that simply don’t know what else they can be doing on the platform, while others still believe in some of the many common fallacies about the social networking platform for professionals that exist. Social media is a tool, and you can only leverage the tool by thinking outside of the box and applying it to your situation. Believing in what you hear about any social media platform, without taking the initiative and experimenting …
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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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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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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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