Use UnTweeps for Twitter
UnTweeps is a great tool to manage the people you follow. UnTweeps allows you to enter a day range, and if a person doesn’t have any tweets in the past x days, you automatically stop following them (30 days is the default setting, but I typically keep mine at 90 just to be safe). If someone hasn’t tweeted a message in 3 months, there is no reason for me to follow them and just have another number in my “follows” column.
The Ongoing Personal Brand Review | Brand-Yourself.com Blog
Finding Real Work at Home Jobs
I've been updating the Work at Home Jobs section of my About.com Job Search site and I thought I should spend some time looking for work at home jobs to make sure that finding legitimate opportunities is really as hard as I say it is.
I've written that finding a real work at home job is like finding a needle in a haystack. It is. I honestly don't know how someone who doesn't know what they're doing can separate the scams from the jobs. One thing I learned today though, was that the more specifically you search (and, of course, the more skills you have) the more likely you are to find decent listings.
Searching for "work at home" doesn't cut it. If you have experience in insurance case management or IT skills, for example, it's easier to find home or field based jobs. If you have no experience, you can locate some jobs, but you need to really carefully investigate the companies to make sure that they're worthwhile opportunities and they aren't going to charge you to hire you.
I've updated my work at home job listings page, with the usual disclaimer that I can't guarantee (unfortunately) the legitimacy of the openings - web sites change, companies change, etc. so it's up to you to make sure that you're not being taken advantage of.
What Would Dad Say: You Are the Boss of You
Chances are, you are about to join or have joined a company where the stated strategy is basically to, somehow, with meetings (typically), strategy sessions (usually) and goals-missions-targets (daily) is to get you and the other members of your team to perform better and in alignment with what the company needs to get done.
Some people do better in this environment than others. They are perfectly willing to belong to a group, especially one that can achieve more than they could have achieved alone. Sport teams are like this, each team member has his or her role, and they know that if everyone does their job, all win. Think about the baseball team–one missing fielder can spell trouble if that is where the other team hits the ball.
Companies are like that, traditionally. The trick in management has always been to somehow meld individuals into a fine, functioning team. Some management (s) are better at this than others, of course. The successful ones use a variety of methods and techniques, motivation and training to get this group, er, team, to perform better.
Here is the interesting part, at least to me. Too many team members look to management, ie. the team leader/coach/boss, to make the team work. These team members say, in effect: It is ‘their’ job to train me, motivate me, teach me, explain things to me, manage me if ‘they’ want me to do THIS for ‘them.’
Luckily, at my current company, most of the team members are taking personal responsiblity for their skills development. They understand that skill development is the ticket to a successful worklife. Instead of sitting around and waiting for someone to give them the magic secret to success, they are working on it every day.
I hope they know they are actually in charge of this.
Fantasy Job Search
Welcome to fantasy job search?
In Career Brander’s version of fantasy job search…
You choose your next job.
For that matter, you choose your next company, you choose your next boss and to some degree you choose your next salary.
Impossible?
If you’ve spent the last few months monitoring job boards hoping that the “perfect” posting appears and you are still looking, please consider joining Career Brander’s fantasy job search league.
The league is free and here is how you play.
- Select a dozen companies you want to work for within 20 miles of your home. (Research)
- Go on LinkedIn, identify the most senior people in the department you wish to work at each company. (Best fit-targets)
- Now, still on LinkedIn, identify any 1st degree, 2nd degree and 3rd degree connections you have at each company. (Social Media connections visibility)
- Build a basic map to connect your 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree connections to the senior hiring managers. (Social Media connections visibility)
- Start emailing and calling your connections to identify a way to get a warm introduction meeting with the potential hiring managers. Obviously 1st and 2nd degree connections work best, but with work an individual should be able to turn 3rd degree connections into 2nd degree, and 2nd degree into first degree connections. (You need to invest time and sell/market yourself.)
- Leverage company information, which is readily available on the Internet, to create customized marketing messages. (Business Intelligence)
- Make sure your “marketing message” clearly describes the business problem you can solve for the potential hiring manager. (What value can you bring, not what have you done.)
So why do we believe this will work? The answer is two- fold.
1) We are confident that waiting for the perfect opportunity to appear on a job board or from a job site search engine is a fool’s game.
2) Effective job search has always been about networking and all we are suggesting is to find a way to get in front of “the right people at the right companies”. By leveraging relationships that already exist (Without LinkedIn you may not be fully aware of them) you will accelerate the likelihood of a successful job search campaign.
Phrased differently, look for people and relationships to people as opposed to simply looking for jobs. We are confident this career transition strategy will have better results than mining the Internet for job postings!
Career Branders’ Job Search Radar automates much of the “fantasy job search process”.
Job Search Marketing Toolkit - References
Reposted from CareerAlley
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it” - Benjamin Franklin
Okay, so you've done all of the hard stuff. You updated your resume, applied to countless jobs, went on almost countless interviews and now it's paid off - you have a job offer pending references. Hopefully you've planned in advance and already have your references lined up, but if you don't it's not too late to start now.
There are a few things you need to consider when lining up your references, such as:
- Do you know if they will give you a good reference?
- Do you have 3-4 people who will do this for you?
- Do you have all of their information (phone number, email address, etc.)?
- Did you ask them if they will provide a reference?
- Resume References - Okay, for one, you need to have a line on your resume that says "references will be provided upon request" (or some nifty sentence like that). This article, by lovetoknow.com, provides background on references, why it's important, who to list, what information to include and more. On the left hand side of the screen are links to additional articles which will help you with your job search.
- Free Sample Job Reference Lists for Job-Seekers - Free samples always sounds like a good deal. This link, from Quintcareers.com, provides information on how best to leverage your references, keys to choosing the best references followed by several samples. The samples (both in pdf and html formats) provide examples of how your references should look.
- The 4 Biggest Myths About Job References - US News & World Report provides this article, which helps dispel some myths about references. A very interesting article, and there are additional links to related information (not the double-underlined ones). So what are some of the myths? Some of the myths are - they will only contact the names you give them, your former employers won't give a bad reference and there are a few more.
- Google Yourself – Every man’s reference check - What about checking on yourself? Do you know what stuff might be out there on the World Wide Web? You may think you are clean, but you just never know. This article, by Sam Headhunting, tells you several things you should know (and do) like be aware of your online image, how to Google yourself and more. There are a few additional links which provide more information on the topic.
- Background Check Yourself? - Sounds like a good idea. The purpose, of course, is to make sure you find out any negative information about yourself first. This particular article is for multiple purposes (like checking your credit), but employers are also on the list. This is likely to cost you something, as I don't think there are any "free" background check services. So I would save this option for those who are worried something might come up.
- Employment Background Checks: A Jobseeker's Guide - This article, by privacyrights.org, is a guide that is specifically written for the job seeker. There are 10 topics covered (such as what is included in a background check, how to prepare for a background check and more). This is a very comprehensive article and includes just about everything you can think of. Again, not sure I would spend too much time on this topic (other than learning the "what's" and "why's") unless you are concerned there is erroneous (or damaging) information about you.
Visit my site www.CareerAlley.com
Search engines can help restart your career
A typical job hunt can last 15 to 19 weeks, and it seems that many have been struggling with a search longer than that. Only the staunchest optimist will understand that each "no" you endure in the form of a lack of jobs matching your qualifications or desires, an unanswered application, no invitation for a second interview, or a rejection letter, is getting you closer to the "yes" you want to hear.
Posted by David Perry aka The Rogue Recruiter on Friday, April 09, 2010 at 22:46 | Permalink
Rebuilding Your Network
As the economy warms up, more of your contacts are on the move — and going places that could be right for you. How do you tighten a network that’s gone slack?
People have a bad habit of letting their networks go stale when they land new positions. They’ll certainly stay in touch during the job search; after all, networking is a great way of finding new opportunities. But once they’re back on the job, they drop the active networking that helped them land it in the first place.
LinkedIn, Facebook and other business networks offer some ongoing connection, but they don’t provide personal touch and top-of-mind awareness of an active “career tribe.” That’s why I coach all clients in transition not only to build an effective tribe but to manage it actively — because you never know when the next shoe will drop or the next opportunity will arise.
In the current recession, your network may have gone cold on its own. With more of your colleagues unemployed and fewer able to help their networks advance, many people stopped trying to network and lost touch. As the economy rebounds, job seekers will have to rekindle those relationships, too.
Job seekers often tell me they feel awkward reconnecting with former colleagues, coworkers and mentors they haven’t contacted since their last job hunt. Of course, I can slap them on the hands and say, “Naughty, naughty. You didn’t keep yourself connected the way you should have!” … but that doesn’t solve their dilemma. Therefore, let’s snuff out guilt — which, if kept alive, will ruin any efforts to reconnect anyway.
Here are a few effective ways to re-ignite a group of friends and business relationships.
Admit you lost touch: It’s weirder not to acknowledge the rhinoceros head in the room than to acknowledge it — so don’t gloss over the fact that you haven’t reached out in ages. Chances are, the person on the other end of the line is just like you; most people don’t keep their career tribes active and vibrant. Therefore, begin by stating the obvious … but in an Everyman kind of way:
“Gosh, it’s been ages. I don’t know if you’re like me, but I get so busy with all that’s going on with work and family that staying in touch with people that matter to me takes a back burner. It’s not right, and I intend to correct that moving forward because, as we both know, relationships are everything.”
Don’t make it all about YOU: Yes, you are connecting with your contact now because you’re looking for clients or a job. However, the worst thing you can do is immediately jump into what you want or need from him. Instead, you need to rebuild the relationship by demonstrating interest in him.
“So, is now a good time to talk, or could we grab a coffee? How are you? What’s been going on in your world? How are the kids/husband/pets/projects?” Draw on your knowledge of your contact to get him talking about himself and what he’s up to. Getting your contact to tell you stories about his life, career and exploits builds “relationship equity.”
Have a research project: At some point, the point of your call will come up naturally. I would offer it up before you’re asked. But my No. One rule in career transition is, “The best way to get a job is not to look for one!”
Sounds ironic, but you’ll always get further meeting more people faster when you connect based on reasons other than your need for a job. So create something worthwhile that your contact on which your contact could advise you other than your resume or job search. Are there new developments at the cutting edge of your industry about which she may have thoughts? Which players in your field do you want information about? Your inquiry doesn’t need to be formal; nevertheless, it does need to feel like you’re researching a topic, not prospecting for jobs.
I recently helped a social-network newbie set up her first profile up on LinkedIn, which created a built-in opportunity to network in the name of research. The woman used her status as a LinkedIn newbie to reconnect with her contacts and ask them how they used the service. Once in touch and talking, she parlayed the connection into some greater research projects in her industry. For her, networking was the research project.
Wait to be asked: People aren’t stupid. You need never flat out say to them, “I’m looking for a job.” If you have a solid reason to call for their opinions and advice, you’re building relationship equity. After all, everyone wants to feel like the “expert,” and people love to give advice. If you’ve handled the first three steps gracefully, the person on the other end will probably ask, “So, are you in the market?” That’s what you want: them asking you. This gives you the opening you need to reply, “Oh, well, yes, one reason I have the space to reconnect with helpful folks like you is because I was recently downsized. … But I want to make a smart move this time, which is why I’m focused on researching these issues. Of course, if you know others you think I should speak to, I’d be grateful if you can direct me to them.” This more subtle approach will generally net you a more open and willing connection than if you tried to say hello after five years and immediately asked for job-search help. Re-establishing relationships based on warmth and mutual interest is far more comfortable and effective than requesting job leads. The power of relationships can truly amaze you if you use them wisely. And their benefit is never one sided. The advice, input and connections your contacts offer you today will always benefit them eventually. The universe reciprocates … but you gotta get out there and make your contributions. Taking the first step to reconnect is a big contribution.
DARRELL W. GURNEY, executive/career coach and 15-year recruiting veteran, supports folks to make profitable transitions or create thriving businesses. Author of “Headhunters Revealed!” and a personal- and business- brand strategist, his Backdoor Method for networking has helped individuals expand careers and new client circles. Listen to his interview of best-selling “What Color is Your Parachute?” author Richard Nelson Bolles at www.CareerGuy.com/program
