Job search: Harness social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) for job leads/career changes

Recently I read an AP story about how Twitter can be tapped as yet another resource in getting a job. It pointed out, through tweeting, some simple, but possibly effective ways of keeping track of potential employers and job openings.  In part the article asks:  Can you keep your resume under 140 characters?

The article goes on….You may be able to tweet your way into a new career, according to  co-authors of recently published book “The Twitter Job Search Guide.” The micro-blogging Web site is changing how people hunt for work, they said.

The authors said, “In the past, you had to go through a maze of gatekeepers to get to the cloistered person in charge of hiring decisions. Now you can have access to them with the click of a ‘Follow’ button.”

BOOK TIPS

The authors give these tips for your short and sweet, real-time job search:

• Take the time to regularly expand your network and engage others. Building relationships online requires patience, but you should be able to enhance your reputation and develop a fan base in just 15 minutes a day.
• Be transparent when reaching out to a hiring manager or person with influence about a job, but make sure the relationship is give-and-take. Don’t just ask them to give you a position. Instead, give advice or demonstrate expertise on a subject that matters to them, and let them know you’re looking for work.
• Be sure to post regular updates about your job search, and acknowledge those who are helping you along the way.

FEEDBACK

Sound advice. Twitter needs to be part of your hiring game plan, as much as a resume and networking. I’d further the outreach and incorporated LinkedIn into your networking opportunities. In addition, more companies are turning to Facebook fan pages. Seek out pages relevant to your industry, join and follow them!

I’ve always stressed that face-to-face networking is vital in searching out employment in this economic downturn. Study after study shows that people hear about a majority of job openings through family and friends and not in the Help Wanted section in the paper or online. Not that you should ignore such outlets, but it should be just part of your strategy.

CHECKLIST

• Start Tweeting and following potential employers.
• Don’t harass about asking for a job on Twitter. Add to the conversation. Start tweeting relevant information from your area of expertise. Show that you know your industry.
• Add LinkedIn to your job search mix.
• Look on Facebook for business fan pages. Join and follow relevant industries where you might be looking for employment.
• Keep the face-to-face networking going!

Survey: Almost 1/2 haven’t updated resume in the past year

Here’s an alarming survey reported by the Associated Press in early January.

The report says with the nation’s jobless rate hitting above 10 percent, many workers may find themselves ex­pecting the unexpected when it comes to their careers.

Picking up the story…

But only 1 in 5 has updated his or her re­sume in the last three months, while almost half haven’t made changes in the past year, accord­ing to a recent survey.

The telephone poll of 493 adult office workers, conducted by staffing company Robert Half International Inc., found that 82 percent think they’re ready to start a search if they lost their jobs tomorrow. Meanwhile, 44 percent said it’s been more than a year since they’ve revised their resumes. Twelve percent have made updates in the past month.

When asked how prepared they are to conduct a job search, 39 percent of workers said they were very prepared, while 43 an­swered that they were somewhat ready to hunt for a new position. “Workers who are prepared in the event of a sudden job loss also are ready when new em­ployment opportunities arise, including those within their own companies,” said Reesa Staten, senior vice president and direc­tor of workplace research for Half.

“A current resume is an essen­tial career tool: The longer it re­mains untouched, the harder it is to update, since specific achievements are not always easy to recall.”

Staten suggests that you cre­ate a “personal personnel file” to keep track of your successes and kudos on the job.

Good advice! I’ve always made an “attaboy” subfolder on my work email account where I dropped in emails from my bosses when I was given praise. It’s important that you do that so when the time comes for your annual review OR when you are looking for a raise or promotion, you have ammo all ready to prove why you are worthy.

As you continue your job search in 2010, you need to adjust your resume periodically to reflect the job for which you are applying. Key words need to be included reflecting the job description, so you have the best chance of landing on the hiring manager’s desk.

Whatever side of the fence you are on (employed or unemployed) you need to make sure you are head and shoulders above the competition. Keep your resume updated and ready in case that opportunity comes along without notice.

If you are employed: Review your current resume and update with new responsibilities, new milestones reached, any year-end data that may have been gathered for your company’s annual report that you had a hand in doing. Refer to your “attaboy” email folder with kudos from your supervisors, which can help you in updating your resume.

If you are looking for work: Review your current resume, update any volunteer opportunities you are involved in and adapt to job descriptions you are applying for.

Your resume is the very window to your job history. Do you want someone looking through it and it’s muddied up with old information, or do you want them to have crystal-clear view, with new, fresh clear objectives?

Michigan is still limping along with more than 14 percent unemployment in 2010. A few minutes of work on that resume can make the difference! Remember, it is up to you to make yourself stand out from the competition!

AP story explores social media’s social side

Great AP story on social media. Really shows how the medium is revving up and gaining ground in the communications world today. Great quotes from Ford Motor Company social media guru Scott Monty, especially about how it is good to observe social media in action before diving in…great stuff!

Firms add fans on social media
Subtlety helps build brand ID
BY HEATHER LALLEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS

People around the world interact with Alecia Dantico all day. Usually, though, they don’t know whether she’s young or old, male or female.

What her followers on Facebook and Twitter know is that’s she’s a friendly, sometimes sassy, blue and gold tin of Garrett Popcorn. That’s the icon of the popular Chicago-based snack food that has tourists and locals lining up around the block at locations in Chicago and in New York City.

And when Dantico sends out a “virtual tin” of popcorn to a fan over Twitter, she’s breaking new ground in the way companies market themselves, joining a growing number of social-media experts hired to monitor Twitter, Facebook and similar sites.

“My day starts on Twitter and it doesn’t really end,” Dantico says. She keeps her BlackBerry on at all hours to respond to followers in different time zones. “It’s driving my family crazy, but that’s OK.”

Best Buy Co. Inc. riled up the social-media world this summer with a job posting for a senior manager of emerging media marketing. One of the job requirements, as originally posted, called for applicants to have more than 250 followers on Twitter.

When that caused an online backlash, the retailer opened the process of crafting a job description to the public, generating a huge response.

Multinational corporations, such as Ford Motor Co. and Coca-Cola Co., are beginning to use social media to increase positive sentiment, build customer rapport and correct misinformation, says Adam Brown, Coca-Cola’s Atlanta-based director of social media.

“Having the world’s most-recognized brand, we feel like there’s an obligation or a responsibility when people are talking about us, we have a duty to respond,” Brown says.

Dantico, who is getting a doctorate in communications with an emphasis in building brand identity in online communities, says she has seen an uptick in sales when she’s tweeted from events since joining the company in June.

“I really believe in the power of conversation in social media,” she says. “Some days we talk about the weather. Some days we talk about the ‘Chicken Dance.’ ”

She mentions popcorn in her Tweets, and has helped customers secure tins for special events, but never implores followers to go out and buy some. Successful selling through social media is much more subtle.

“Social media is all about being social,” says Nora Ganim Barnes, a marketing professor and director for the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. “It’s not called selling media. The biggest mistake companies make is using social media to hawk products. It’s a turnoff.”

Large Fortune 500 companies have been the slowest to adopt social-media strategies, Ganim Barnes says. But not-for-profit organizations have been the fastest.

“It’s free,” she says. “And they’ve never had such access to media before.”

Recent research by Ganim Barnes and colleagues, though, points to a rapidly growing familiarity with social media, even among the world’s biggest brands. “It’s bigger than Twitter, MySpace, Facebook or blogs,” she says. “It’s about engaging people.”

The lightning-fast pace of social media, and Twitter in particular, has forced businesses to act in a whole new way, says Brown of Coca-Cola.

“If you don’t respond within three or four hours, you might as well not respond at all,” he says.

For example, a man on Twitter recently expressed annoyance at his difficulty in claiming an all-expenses-paid trip he’d won through the My Coke Rewards program.

He tweeted, “Coca-Cola, bring down your drawbridge,” Brown recalls. Within about half an hour, Brown had engaged the customer on Twitter, got on the phone with him and resolved the problem.

Not long after, the man changed his Twitter avatar to a can of Coke Zero.

Like Brown, Scott Monty is working to create a social-media strategy for his company, Ford Motor Co., where he serves as digital and multimedia communications manager in Dearborn.

“The beautiful thing about sites like Twitter and Facebook is that it’s a one-to-one conversation,” Monty says. “You’re addressing whoever wrote the original comment. But you’re doing it in the public square.”

Whether your business is large or small, Monty advises those interested in expanding to social media to stand back and listen before diving in.

“It’s not the typical one-way push kind of conversation,” he says. “You wouldn’t burst into a cocktail party and just start handing your business card to people and leave. The online space is no different.”

Dantico, with Garrett Popcorn, says she responds every time someone mentions her company on Twitter, whether it’s positive or negative.

“The conversations were already happening. My job was just to join them.”