If you’re trying to make professional connections, LinkedIn is clearly the place to be. Everybody’s there, everybody’s connecting.
But I’m surprised at the number of people who haven’t given much thought to the image they’re projecting.
Does your next job exist yet? Maybe.
But many times jobs are created, or tweaked, based upon specific needs at a certain time, even connected with the talents of certain individuals.
This is one of the reasons why some jobs are filled before they’re even posted: The hiring manager was taking advantage of a great match of someone’s existing skills to address a specific pressing need.
Earlier this year, Microsoft commissioned a study which asked hiring managers how much they used the internet to check out prospective candidates. Here’s a couple of interesting results:
This tells you that you need to have a positive presence on the internet, because your next boss is most likely going to check you out – perhaps even before ever setting up an interview.
I ran across a very nice resource recently, 20 simple Twitter tips for your job search.
I know, I know – you’re saying that Twitter is such a waste of time and, besides, what would you possible want to tell the universe? Fair enough.
It’s going to happen eventually: You feel stuck in your job role. You want to take your career in a different direction, but your education, your skills, and all the people around you are telling you that it’s too difficult to change.
This can go on for years. Maybe you’re even reasonably good at the job, but more and more it grates on your nerves. You’re just digging a deeper hole for yourself, with no end in sight.
I’ve been involved with a fair number of volunteer organizations during my lifetime, and I’ve always been amazed at how much people are willing to give. On the face of it, this isn’t quite rational – why would you do something that costs you a lot of time, money and work, when you aren’t getting anything specific in return?
Ah, but you do get something.
I heard a great presentation by Edward Hernandez in Denver last week which was quite interesting. He was talking about one of my hot topics at the moment, employee engagement. I thought I’d share with you an additional observation which I believe is much more important than it first seems:
As the economy rebounds, companies will be reluctant to hire full-time employees. Fairly obvious, right? But this has broad implications.
Nobody likes a braggart. But there are times where you need to promote yourself – to your boss, to potential customers, to future employers. How do you promote yourself in a way which doesn’t come across as shameless and inauthentic?
Here’s the trick: You promote in a way which is well-founded, or where promotion isn’t the primary message.
I’ve talked about Career Plan B before, but I’d like to be clear about what this concept is. “Plan B” is what you’ll do if your expected career path doesn’t go as you’d like. There’s several ways this might happen:
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My job search hit a speed bump this week when I was informed that I’m no longer in the running for a job as a leader in a local software company. The logical side of my brain can handle this, of course, because I know that it takes a lot of contacts, applications and interviews in order to land a job.
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