One must not just have social media accounts but also be engaged and participate with their communities! #socialmedia

The Internet Continues To Be The Game Changer

1.       Career Footprint, the 5-minute first impression:  A quick perusal of Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other sites  is more than enough information to “get to know” and evaluate a candidate.  An individual's digital footprint (postings, pictures, comments, likes, interests, etc.) can make or break career opportunities – even without their knowledge.

2.       Personal branding, not just for GaGa and Trump:   Not unlike a product brand, a personal brand is a message and strategy that promotes the “brand called YOU”. This concept, first introduced in a 1997 article by Tom Peters, has been adopted by celebrities and astute professionals. Today’s professionals need to define, develop and continually build their personal brands in order to differentiate themselves in the job marketplace and to forge strong career paths.  The recipe for developing and managing an effective personal branding strategy includes:  defining your brand, maintaining a LinkedIn profile, managing your appearance, keeping a professional twitter presence and consistently blogging and contributing to industry sites.

3.       Mom was right, your reputation counts:  Just like the school yard, your personal brand or reputation may or may not be what you want. You can monitor your online identity by setting up a Google alert to notify you when Google finds your name online.  If you have personal or negative items in your search you should work to move these items to page-2 or lower by participating in online groups and social media sites – this activity is referred to as reputation management.

4.       LinkedIn is the place to be seen:  Many LinkedIn profiles are started out of curiosity by busy professionals but are then left incomplete and out-of-date.  Unfortunately these obsolete LinkedIn profiles could be hindering careers.    In a recent white paper by Career Thought Leaders, LinkedIn is now the #1 online networking platform for active and passive job searchers.    Job searchers, who don’t take time to write and maintain a strategic, keyword rich LinkedIn profile are likely being passed-over by recruiters searching for qualified candidates.

5.       Participating in social media, a must for a successful job search:  Simply having a LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter profile isn’t enough, one must be engaged and participate with their community!  This means posting, forwarding and commenting.  Join or start groups and discussions in order to remain visible and stay in front of contacts.  Using tools like Tweetdeck can make the process simple by uploading content to several sites simultaneously.

6.       Resumes still matter:  Today’s recruiters receive and review resumes differently from yesterday, but don’t kid yourself, resumes are as important as ever.  The modern resume is a short, 1-2 page document.  It is written tighter, cleaner and leaner while still communicating the candidate’s qualifications, successes, deliverables and value.  Successful resumes are personally branded and keyword rich.

7.       Targeting companies not jobs: Job searchers should stop looking for a job and start looking for a company, according to Miriam Salpeter’s article Best Way to Take Control of Your Job Hunt. Rather than retro-fitting their resumes to job postings, job searchers should identify companies whose goals are in line with their strengths and interests and whose problems they are able to solve.  Ideally, job searches should select companies where they already have connections by utilizing social platforms like LinkedIn’s company research tool or Facebook’s Branchout (an application identifying where your friends work or have contacts).

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8.       “Smart Jobs”, a new category of opportunities:  There is a whole new category of middle-class jobs that walk the line between blue-collar and white-collar with titles like technician, specialist and analyst.  According to Wired Magazine’s June 2011 cover story “The Smartest Jobs” many of these new, smart jobs are in demand and offer flexible opportunities.  These well paying positions don’t necessarily involve a college education but they do require training.

9.       Flexible and alternative jobs, the new normal:  Conservative estimates suggest that approximately 50M+ U.S. workers work from home – at least part of the time (see related article).  This number is only increasing as today’s workers seek freelance, contract, and part time jobs that support their flexible, mobile lifestyles. On the other side of the equation, companies are equally as eager to offer flexible employment as a means of reducing overhead and expenses.

10.   A buyers’ market, a BIG challenge:  As of June 2011 the U.S. unemployment rate stubbornly hovers around 9% leaving 13.7 million Americans looking for jobs (Bureau of Labor Statistics). This gives today’s companies a significant advantage. So, how come many companies are struggling to find the right person for the right position?  The fact is, recruiters are often faced with finding a needle in a haystack, but the stack has gotten much, much larger.  Due to the massive increase of applicant interest many companies have implemented applicant tracking systems (ATS) and hire recruiters to manage the talent acquisition process.  

11.   The changing workforce:  There is a demographic migration occurring in the employment market.  Many career experts reference the 2020 workforce as having a different look-and-feel from today’s workforce due to aging populations, changing demographics, and the continuing trend of women being promoted into leadership and executive roles.  According to CNN, there is already a trend towards companies hiring more bilingual staff.  To view the most typical look on the planet today and tomorrow go to The Lookout.  

12.   Attitude over aptitude: A Harvard study found that employers believe that mind-set exceeds skill-set.  In Paul Stolz’s newly released book, Put Your Mindset to Work he shares that  employers are most interested in hiring and retaining individuals with a positive and willing attitude.   Over the years these people have been called “A+ players” or “MVPs” and as Seth Godin notes in his book Linchpin, they are the indispensable individuals that lead, connect and make things happen at companies.

 

Marilyn Maslin is Chief Job Strategist for Resume Footprint, and Senior HR Consultant for the Maslin Group. She helps companies with their people, and people with their companies. As an expert HR Consultant, Professional Resume Writer, LinkedIn Profile Writer and Interview Coach, Marilyn Maslin has a 360 degree view of the hiring process that produces a synergy where both Marilyn's commercial and individual clients achieve their objectives faster and at a greater value. You can read more of Marilyn Maslin's advice as the Denver Job Search Examiner. Please feel to contact Marilyn Maslin on Twitter or Facebook.

via examiner.com

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