Wednesday, July 20, 2011

blogging4jobs

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 04:17 AM PDT

google plus, google minus, social media at work, corporate social media, social media policies, social media policy, google plus for business

If you have been living under a rock or are just not social media savvy, you may not heard about Google+ which is Google’s newest foray into the social media platform industry. Called Google Plus, the platform which is only accessible via invite has surpassed 10 million users in just over two weeks. The shear amount of activity and growth in such a short period has generated a lot of conversation in social media circles. Conversely Facebook took nearly two years to surpass the 10 million mark. Of course that was 2004 t0 2006, and the adoption rate of social media by the general public has grown by massive proportions.
I’ve spent some time on Google+ and am enjoying testing out their new platform. However, it’s a new platform, and I can’t imagine how businesses and professionals who are struggling to use social media for their companies are going to adapt to using a third tool. For many, using Twitter, the 140 character mircoblogging platform proves to be too too much.
The hype surrounding Google+ is happening because of three separate groups of individuals:

Social Media Influencers. People like Chris Brogan, Jason Falls, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Robert Scoble are driving conversations. I watched as in under 10 minutes Robert Scoble reached 500 comments on a single Google+ thread, reaching the maximum comment engagement level.

Affiliate Marketers & SEO Experts. These individuals are looking for a way to drive traffic to their websites. There are literally thousands of how to guides, YouTube videos, infographics, and tips on how to use Google+ on the Internet many looking for their 15 minutes of fame.

Early Adopters. These are folks who are generally curious about the tools. They follow the hype, stream, information and are curious to check things out. For all intensive purposes they are much like the influencers without the massive amounts of community. Many are programmers, computer geeks looking to test drive the shiny new object that is Google+.

I find the amount of information, hype, and conversations staggering. To be honest, I’m not all that impressed, and maybe that’s okay. I like Google+ but miss the banter and casual conversation on Twitter where I can meet, greet, and talk with people through the casual nature of the platform. Creating my circles is a chore, recreating the wheel when I have groups and closed communities created within the confines of the familiar place that is Facebook.
But what really has me fired up, disenchanted and what I believe is driving the underlying hype around Google+ is something completely different. The minus of Google+ is the over information, countless amounts of videos that are undeniable attempts for shameless promotion and high priced book deals. These are the things that are driving the hype over Google+. Not it’s usability or the ease of use, but the lust for a book deal in the race for social media supremacy.
It’s not about the tools, or the people, or the ability to engage in a different way. So if you think it’s really about the engagement, you’re very much mistaken. It’s about the money, influence, and cold hard cash. It’s about the race to the book deal for Google+ and to me that’s the real minus. The real minus of Google+.
Photo Credit Flight Path.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Work Buzz's Latest News: Personal branding part one: How to define yours

Personal branding part one: How to define yours

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 03:48 PM PDT

Establishing a personal brand is now a crucial part of a successful job search. Since we think it's such an important tool for job seekers to understand, and because the experts we spoke to had such good advice, we decided to divide our personal branding post into two parts. Part one is below, and part two will be posted next Monday, July 25.
Why you need a personal brand
If you've ever conducted a job search, you're probably familiar with a search strategy we like to call "the lottery mentality." It's the idea that a lot of job seekers have that — like someone who buys three dozen lotto tickets hoping to win the jackpot – sending out dozens of job applications will increase the odds of landing a job.
While this approach seems to be pretty logical at first (more applications = more chances), the bad news is that it’s a better strategy for wasting time than it is for job search success. That's because, instead of playing a job search like it's a game of skill, the lottery mentality turns it into a game of chance.
Here's why. By applying to every job you see, you start sacrificing quality for quantity. The quality of your application — the time you take to highlight what sets you apart from everyone else and what makes you special — is what will ultimately land you a job. So by giving away the quality, you're giving away any advantage you may have had against your competition, and relying purely on chance to get you noticed among what could be hundreds of other applicants. If you've ever walked away from a casino $100 poorer than you walked in, you know that games of chance don't always (or even usually) work out the way we want them to. If you've ever won a soccer game or a wrestling match, you've experienced the control you have over the outcome of a game of skill.
The easiest way to forever break the time-wasting cycle of — please excuse the bad business jargon — throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, is to establish your personal brand, and to govern your job search by it.

What it is
If you're still new to the idea of personal branding, the overarching idea is this: In the highly competitive labor market, you need to hone in on what makes you special, what you're good at and what you want to do, and then you need to let other people know about it. The narrower your focus and the better you can promote your expertise, the more success you will have.
How to start
"To go about [discovering your brand], you first have to figure out who you are, how you want to position yourself in the market, and the types of jobs, career and companies you're interested in — you've got to get all of that information down," says Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Millennial Branding, LLC and author of "Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success." "It's the hardest part for people, but once you know how you want to be positioned in the marketplace, you can tailor your brand to reflect that."
When it comes to defining your area of expertise, which will be at the core of your brand, the narrower the better, Schawbel says. "If you brand yourself as just another marketing expert or operations specialist, you're competing against millions of people worldwide because it's a global economy, but if you narrow it down to, say, what specific audience you can best serve, then instead of becoming one out of a million [people with that expertise], you're one in 10,000. That really helps your chances of getting you name out there and becoming more visible, and visibility creates opportunity," he says.
Not sure which niche you want to hold in your industry? That's OK, too. Start out with a broader focus and tailor it as your career progresses, Schawbel says.
In choosing your focus, beyond being narrow, it should also be something that you're good at, and something that will be desirable to potential employers, says Lisa Johnson Mandell, resident blogger for Aol Jobs and author of "Career Comeback–Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want." "Before, employers may have gotten 20-30 applications for each position, but these days they're getting hundreds, so it's essential to make yourself notable, so that out of all of those applicants, you're the one that stands out," she says.
Once you've honed in on what sets you apart, Mandell suggests creating a quick tagline or mission statement around it, and letting that tagline dictate the rest of your brand-promoting efforts. As a job search expert across multiple platforms, Mandell's personal tagline is "Saving America one job at a time." Schawbel, on the other hand, markets himself as a personal branding expert for Gen Y.
Want to know more about marketing your brand? Good, because that's our topic for the second half of our blog, which we’ll post next Monday, July 25^th.
Has a personal brand helped you in your job search? Tell us about it in the comments section.

Business Sense Newsletter - July 2011 - A Resource to Help Your Business EARN

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ODEP Business Sense - July 2011 - A Resource to Help Your Business EARN

A Resource to Help Your Business EARN

When it comes to doing business, being inclusive of people with disabilities — in recruitment, retention and advancement — can offer companies a competitive edge. People with disabilities are experienced and creative problem solvers. What’s more, they mirror an important and increasingly expanding customer base representing 1 billion individuals worldwide (World Report on Disability 2011).
Sound like the type of employees you’d like working for you? If so, the Employer Assistance and Resource Network (EARN) can assist. EARN helps businesses employ qualified individuals with disabilities through free consultation, education and training, as well as through confidential phone assistance that is available toll-free from 9 am to 5 pm EST at 1-855-AskEARN (1-855-275-3276) (Voice/TTY). For those seeking to obtain information on-line, AskEARN.org offers a comprehensive searchable database which includes lists of state and local organizations that can assist in identifying job seekers with disabilities.
EARN also provides employers access to the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP), a database of more than 2,000 pre-screened, qualified college students and recent graduates with disabilities seeking internships or permanent employment. Through this program, EARN helps employers not only augment their human capital today, but also build a pipeline of talent for tomorrow.
EARN is part of the National Employer Technical Assistance, Policy, and Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.
For additional news and resources, sign up for ODEP's e-mail updates.

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How to Be a LinkedIn Pro: Create a One-Click Invitation Link

ResumeBear Blog

How to Be a LinkedIn Pro: Create a One-Click Invitation Link

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 06:27 AM PDT

Over the past several years, I’ve literally received thousands of email, Twitter, Facebook and InMail requests to connect with other LinkedIn users. Of all those requests, I’ve only seen TWO people who employed a clever little trick that I’ve been using for years… the one-click invitation link. Up to this point, I have never shared this little tidbit with anyone else (partly because it’s somewhat complicated to explain and partly because I kinda liked being one of the few people to have figured it out) but I’m going to share it with all of you now.
Many of you include a link in your email signature that says something like “Let’s connect on LinkedIn” followed by a link to your LinkedIn profile. When someone clicks on your link [Click #1], it doesn’t take them to your invitation page or to even your actual LinkedIn profile; it takes them to your generic public profile. The one that shows up in a Google search, for instance. You know, this one:

In order to actually connect with you or see full details of your profile, they have to then click the yellow “View Full Profile” button [Click #2]. At this point, people are often redirected to the login screen:

How Twitter Can Boost Your Executive Job Search plus 1 more | Career Rocketeer

How Twitter Can Boost Your Executive Job Search

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 03:25 AM PDT

The whole world of social media is booming like never before. It’s already been established just how beneficial this medium can be for individuals conducting professional job searches, especially when LinkedIn is a priority.
Twitter has also been deemed a useful tool for job seeking, especially for entry- and mid-level professional job seekers. But should it be utilized at the executive level? The answer is yes! In fact, you might be surprised by just how beneficial it could be for your search. It may be able to …
Strengthen Your Brand
There’s no doubt that executives need to work harder than professionals further down the corporate ladder to build and maintain a strong brand. Employers expect you to be highly respected in your field. This can be difficult to prove if your brand doesn’t back you up.
In the online world, the first impression recruiters and headhunters will receive when entering your name in a search engine depends highly on what your name is connected to—and even how often your name is mentioned in the engine.
By creating a Twitter profile under your name (or your name and executive title), you are making the statement that you and your profession are one—this is how you’re identified. You are creating one more entry in the search engine that ties your expertise in a particular field to your name.
Build Your Reputation as an Expert
What’s great about creating a Twitter account is that you now have the opportunity to build a following by sharing your expertise. As we all know, the Internet is filled with millions of online users looking for free information. And as an expert in your field, you should have plenty to share.
From a recruiting perspective, companies want to know that the executives they headhunt are highly knowledgeable about their fields. Usually, this information has to be acquired via a seeker’s resume, cover letter, and a series of interviews. So just imagine how much more confident they can feel in your ability to deliver when they’re given a front-row seat to your wisdom before they even contact you.
Make Yourself Easier to Find by Executive Recruiters
As mentioned previously, recruiters and employers are looking for candidates all the time, and Twitter works wonders in making you more visible. But even when you’re not being recruited, you can make yourself known to recruiters by following them. Engage in a conversation, share info, and even send them candidates if you know of any to build great networking relationships that could move beyond Twitter.
Twitter seems like a fun land for kids and young adults—nothing that could benefit executive job seekers. But if utilized correctly, this medium could work wonders in improving your job search.
For more tips on resume writing and job search follow us on twitter @GreatResume.

Author:
Jessica Holbrook Hernandez is an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author, speaker and President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast. She creates high-impact, best-in-class resumes and cover letters that transform job searches into interviews and ultimately job offers. For more information about professional resume writing or to read more career and job search related articles visit http://www.greatresumesfast.com or call 1.800.991.5187.

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Transitioning from Military to Civilian Workforce

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 03:40 AM PDT

Recently I've added another dimension to my practice that I find extremely challenging and rewarding; helping United States military officers, enlisted personnel and those in the reserves with their transition from the armed forces into the business world.
What I have found as my main challenge, and theirs as well, is whereas most people I work with have gone through the job search process at least once (if not multiple times) in the past 5-25 years, most men and women transitioning from the military have been steadily working in the service of their country for the past ten to thirty years and are totally unfamiliar with how to write a resume, identify their core business values, network, and search for a job in today's job market.
On the bright side, according to what I've read and heard in many business circles is that corporate employers now value the tangible and intangible skills found in veterans above those possessed by job seeking civilians. Although military men and women are trained to perform specific and specialized tasks within a formal structure, which is far different than their civilian counterparts, many companies find this discipline a value rather than a detriment to success on the job, especially in leadership and managerial positions.
This is not to say that our veterans have an easy time making this transition, so here are some of the unique challenges they face transitioning into the civilian work force.
1: I have been told by countless members of our armed forces that a major challenge they face is that most people on the corporate side of the job search process have a misconception about what it's like to be in the military and lack knowledge about what most non-combat officers and enlisted personnel do on a day-to-day basis. This is intimidating on both sides of the table, especially for the military men and women who need to prepare a resume and the civilians who screen these resumes and interview them. To some extent the reverse is true as well as many in the military are unaware of the similarities and differences in what they do in the military compared to their counterparts on the corporate world.
To this end, as with every career changer it is the transitioning candidate’s responsibility to draw parallels between their military experience and training and how it relates to the positions they are seeking in the civilian work force. They are responsible for the research and finding mentors on the civilian side to help them reach their goals.
2: Another common occurrence with officers and non-coms transitioning out of the military is they tend to use too much military jargon and acronyms into their resume. This is especially true when it comes to listing education and training on the resume and over describing their job responsibilities and leaving out all accomplishments. Another thing that comes to mind personally is the overuse of the word sir when addressing a civilian, this can be very disconcerting.
3: Another issue I constantly face with military personnel is their lack of understanding of civilian social politics, jealousy and pettiness in the non-military workplace. In the service there is a finite social and reporting structure and transitioning military personnel need to learn about how the world operates on the civilian side before rather than after they begin their job search.
4: Managing expectations is another difficulty in transitioning from the military, especially for those soldiers and sailors who do not have extensive contact and/or interaction with the civilian business worlds. Salaries, benefits, raises, reviews etc are all new unknowns and most military personnel need to find out the answers to these and other questions before rather than on a job interview.
5: Networking for civilians is a daunting task, but for most people in the military it is even harder since they know far fewer people in the civilian sector to begin with and this puts them at a distinct disadvantage. This is the biggest challenge I face working with them and I suggest that everyone transitioning into the corporate world gets some professional advice on networking and social media and their importance to a job search 2-6 months before their actual discharge.
What I also hope is that we in the civilian world take the time and effort to understand what our veterans have done in the military and how their skills can be utilized in the business world, and that we make an extended effort to help and hire these brave men and women when they are looking for a civilian job.
If you are in the military and want to ask a personal question feel free to email me and send me your current resume for a free critique.

Author:
Perry Newman, CPC CSMS is a nationally recognized executive resume writer, career coach, AIPC certified recruiter and SMMU certified social media strategist known for his ability to help his clients get results. You can view his sample resumes at http://www.perrynewman.com, and email him your resume at perry@perrynewman.com for FREE resume critique.

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blogging4jobs

Steamed — Employment Law Attorneys & Social Media

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 04:17 AM PDT

social media at work. social media policies, employment law social media, social media discrimination, employment attorney social media,

I’ve reached my boiling point. I’m steaming mad. Dear Mr. or Ms. Employment Law Attorney, Facebook is not going away. Social media is here to stay, and if you block it, your employees will find a way. I’m through with hearing employment law attorneys who are social media novices stand up and recommend that managers should not friend their employees on Facebook or use social media as part of their employee communication and candidate recruitment process.
I’ve fed up with hearing webinars, conference presentations, and reading articles soley with an attorneys point of view. I’m done with standing silent and letting them continue to sell their snake oil any longer.
Bottom line is that your employment law attorney really has no idea when it comes to social media. Yes, that means you Mr. or Ms. Employment Law Attorney. Many of them have never posted a tweet, shared a story on Facebook, or know that delicious is a social bookmarking site and not about food. It’s true I don’t have my J.D., but when I hear attorneys discuss social media and advice audiences of eager human resource professionals, I’m compelled to go back to school. But then I remember that anyone can read and understand case law, I have the internet too.
Except I have one thing you don’t, practical knowledge on social media. And because I’m in the sharing mood, Mr. or Ms. Employment Law Attorney, here are 4 things you should know about social media at work before spouting off your expertise, criticizing the tools, and poking fun at Zappos when it comes to social media.

Don’t friend your employees on Facebook. While I understand that attorneys are there to be risk averse, when we don’t friend our employees we are effectively giving them the middle finger, and if employee engagement is a focus, then friend them. Utilize a tool within Facebook called Lists. This is where you can create lists or groups of your friends. You can control each list to have access to your profile page. They can be your friend without actually having access to your personal information, status updates, and photos.

Avoid social media when recruiting. Advice like this is like telling people to forego having an ATS or don’t accept applications. I’m sorry, I can’t talk to you because my employer said not to. Um no. . . Recruiting 101 is to go where the candidates go, and if they spend time on social media, then companies should be there. Companies should set guidelines, boundaries, and consider using tools to help limit the amount of employment law liability. Employers should be aware of some of these emerging tools if they want to educate their audience properly.

Keep your employees from leaving references on LinkedIn. I get these are endorsements. We are not, however, verifying their dates of employment or rehire eligibility. Consider training your staff or providing them with a template on how to write an appropriate LinkedIn, BeKnown, or BranchOut professional reference. (Hint for attorneys, check out BeKnown and BranchOut).

Ban social media for the workplace. Keeping your employees from using social media is a lost cause. If you ban them from accessing these sites on your corporate servers, employees will find a way either using a smartphone or proxy servers. Google “accessing Facebook at work.” There are more than 21 million results. Not sure what I mean, here’s a blog post that provides employes a how to access Facebook at work.

It’s shameful at the fear tactics that employment law attorneys and I can’t bite my tongue any longer. They operate with fear and ignorance influencing executives, business leaders and HR professionals without a clear realistic business picture of social media and how it can be used in the workplace. They lack practical application and knowledge to share with their clients and audiences. They’re only giving half the picture, and I’ve had enough. That is why I won’t be afraid to give a presenter at a conference session who speaks on this subject poorly and bad review. I promise tweet and write blogs posts to generate discussion. Because these business leaders deserve to hear both sides of the story when it comes to social media.

Do you agree? Who’s with me?

Photo Credit Libsyn.