Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Yes, you can use Facebook for job seeking. 5 steps to get started

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How can you overlook a social network with more members than most countries? With more than 500 million active users; it’s likely that just about anyone you might want to find has a profile on Facebook.

There is a reason we hear more about people losing their jobs based on what they do on Facebook than about those finding jobs as a result of their activity there. Let’s face it (no pun intended!) — it was intended as a social network; it’s a place where people go to unwind, unload and vent. It’s where they go to show off their vacation photos or share a video of their infant’s latest sneeze.

That in mind, you can still create a professional-looking profile on Facebook that may very well be the link you need to land your next job. If you’re looking for a new job, you will want to take advantage of every useful tool. I’ve suggested five steps to help you get started on the right foot on Facebook. Read them on my Social Media and Job Search column at Job-Hunt.org.

If you want to learn how to look for a job today, check out The Career Summit…more than a dozen online presentations (including mine) to help you land that next job!

photo by laikolosse

The most important thing a job seeker can do

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Being able to tell your story — and to tell it well — is one of the most important skills a job seeker can have. My friend, Ken Revenaugh’s blog, Fast Track Tools, shares information about how to tell good career stories. He reminds us that being a good communicator relies on collecting factoids and being able to share them with an audience.

Another resource for job search storytelling is fellow Career Collective member, Katharine Hansen’s book, Tell Me About Yourself. You may not have realized that interviewing is mainly about being able to tell a story well.

The most important thing for job seekers? Learning how to SHOW, not just TELL. This applies to the resume, all written correspondence, networking meetings, online profiles — any place where you have an opportunity to detail exactly how you can help the organization solve its problems. Maybe you can touch on problems the organization does not even know that it has? If you can network your way into a company, you have a chance to show why they need you.

A great example of how to show, not tell is the OnStar commercials. They say, “Whether you need help to get to where you’re going, or want peace of mind with safety and security in an emergency situation, OnStar has your back.” But, they don’t leave it at that. Their commercials vividly recount situations when having their system made the difference between life and death. I admit that most of the commercials give me goosebumps. (No, this is not a sponsored post!)

Take a look at their latest ad and think about how you can do a better job of being the person your target organization cannot do without.

If you want to learn how to look for a job today, check out The Career Summit…more than a dozen online presentations to help you land that next job!

If your industry does not participate online, you can lead the way

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Today’s post is one of many from members of the Career Collective community I co-coordinate with my colleague Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter. I encourage you to visit other members’ responses, which are linked at the end of my post. Please follow our hashtag on Twitter: #careercollective.

This month’s question asks everyone to share a favorite career search resource.

I don’t make it a secret that Twitter is my favorite online resource for job seekers. However, many of you may be thinking that Twitter is only useful for people in certain professions — maybe marketing, writing, public relations? It’s easy to see the potential, positive implications for people who make a living in jobs that involve a lot of communicating.

Did you ever think about how you can use Twitter, even if you work in a field that isn’t overly represented in the medium?

I thought I would take the opportunity to share an interview with Brett Vanderwater MBA, CIA, CMA, CTP. Brett is a strategic financial leader who believes social media is useful for all careerists, even those in fields without significant representation. He tweets @BrettVanderH2O, and his blog is called Top & Bottom Line! He answered some questions about the topic of using Twitter, even if not a lot of others in your field have jumped in:

Many people believe that social media is only useful for certain industries. As a finance/business professional, what made you turn to blogging and Twitter, and how have they helped you advance your career?

My first introduction to social media was LinkedIn. I stumbled onto the fact that companies were performing a Google search prior to my interviews based on the fact they knew I was a runner and member of several professional organizations. I did land at Kellogg Company in a controller role at their Atlanta, Georgia facility.

After landing my job, I continued to study the communication power of social networking. I optimized my LinkedIn to include recommendations, news postings, discussions, and groups. I expanded my efforts to include blogging, which allowed for further creativity and helped me spread the word about my expertise in finance. The finance profession can be an introverted group and admittedly, I did take a deep breath prior to sending out the first blog post. Of course, I assumed 10,000,000,000 people would instantly read it! After realizing very few read it, I started advertising the blog on LinkedIn via groups and added Twitter to further leverage and market the blog.

I found Twitter to be a simple, yet confusing tool. This is when I sought professional advice on how to represent a professional image and further leverage the networking opportunities. I contacted Keppie Careers.

While I am still adding to my social network, the career value is the circle/network that it has created. The world I once played in was limited to the city where I lived. Now, the landscape is broad, and I have met professionals from all over the world. I have had the opportunity to speak at several Atlanta area professional forums to further communicate the expertise message. These events were directly related to the usage of LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogging.

Since there is not a critical mass of people in your field on these networks, how have you increased your following and how has that helped you?

The finance field is not very active on social networks, so I broadened my definition of a finance person. I now refer to myself as a Strategic Financial Leader and network with all levels of professionals in an organization. As a result, my LinkedIn contacts increased from 380 connections to 550. My Twitter followers expanded from 175 followers to more than 3,500.

What I learned was to utilize a skill I have been using in my business career – to lead. When a profession is not at the same place that you want to be or see yourself you have two choices: 1. Conform to the profession’s expectations. 2. Redefine it. I am choosing option 2.

Would you recommend that others in industries like yours (where there are not already a lot of people involved online) try using social networks? Why?

I recommend that the finance industry use the power of social networks and embrace the changing communication landscape to enhance knowledge sharing and actualize the globalization that we talk about in the conference room.

I believe the finance industry will embrace social networks and fully leverage its power. The driving factor is that adopting these tools will save money and speed communications, resulting in cost savings and exponential gains to corporations in the future.

Convinced? Take a look at this post about Twitter chats (when people use Twitter to share information and advice about a particular subject). You may be surprised by how many different types of people are using Twitter to connect with people in all different fields.

If you want to learn how to look for a job today, check out The Career Summit…more than a dozen online presentations to help you land that next job!

Read what my colleagues had to say about their favorite resources:

6 Ideas to Put In Your Toolbox, @WorkWithIllness

Your Best Job Search Resource? You!, @WalterAkana

In a Job Search, Knowledge is Power, @barbarasafani

Jump Start Your Job Search Now!, @resumeservice

Favourite Resources for Jobseekers, @GayleHoward

The Best Job Search Tool Ever, @careersherpa

Find What You Do Best, Know Your Stuff, and Connect, @chandlee

27 Recommended Blogs for Entry-Level Job Seekers, @heatherhuhman

Invaluable Resources for Job Search Success, @heathermundell

Favorite Social-Media Resources for Job-seekers, @KatCareerGal

Canadian Resources for Job Seekers, @EliteResumes @MartinBuckland

A Self-Empowering Job Search Resource, @KCCareerCoach

Covering your bases: 5 ultra-useful online career resources, @LaurieBerenson

Favorite resources for Job seekers, @DawnBugni

Top 3 Resources for Job Seekers to Position Themselves as Experts and Increase their Visibility, @expatcoachmegan

Time as a Career Resource: How “Not” to Squander It, @ValueIntoWords

Favorite Internet Resources for Jobseekers, @ErinKennedyCPRW

The Facts Behind Why LinkUp Is the Most Revolutionary Job Search Engine Available to Job Seekers, @GLHoffman

photo by psyberartist

Looking for a job? The Career Summit is for you!

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I am excited to announce that I am participating in a big event — and you can join us! The Career Summit is the brainchild of my friends Mark Stelzner and Laurie Ruettimann, two highly respected and smart, sought after voices in the HR and careers sphere. In addition to Laurie and Mark, The Career Summit brings together more than 20 experts in all different career arenas, including:

Career columnists like Anita Bruzzese (USAToday), Sarah Needleman (Wall Street Journal), Vickie Elmer (Washington Post) and Alison Doyle (About.com).

Recruiters, including Heather McGough (Microsoft), Jeremy Langhans (Starbucks), Richard Cho (Facebook) and Susan Strayer (Marriott Intl)

Authors, such as Alexandra Levit and Jonathan Fields.

Coaches, including Paula Caligiuri (professional career counselor), Alison Green (career advisor with non-profit expertise), Jason Seiden (executive coach) and Jennifer McClure (business process coach). I will cover resumes and job search/social media coaching in my session!

Plus, Mary Ellen Slayter (career advisor and senior editor, SmartBrief), Ryan Paugh (Community Manager for Brazen Careerist) and Susan Joyce (Job-Hunt.org Job Search Expert).

Wow! I’m excited to be in such great company.The point of all of this is to provide useful, actionable information to job seekers and people who may be starting to think that they may want to start looking for a new job or career.

(Maybe that is you?)

The topics include everything from how to think about finding a job you love, to what has changed in search, demystifying the recruiting process, online career management, interviewing and (last but not least) — strategies and tips for your resume, social media profile and job search. (That one is mine!) You’ll need to visit the site to review all the great workshops; there are 13 sessions! It’s all available online, both live and in archives if you miss something. There’s even an online community; you can interact there as much or as little as you want.

The site explains:

You buy one ticket and you have access to 13 sessions covering all aspects of job seeking and career management. The difference is you have control – you can access the information live, or whenever you like, since it’s all online and archived. Live sessions run between October 26th through November 17th. General sessions will be held every Wednesday, between 3 and 6PM ET.

You get invitations to all of our career expert sessions which you attend online. If you miss anything, log in to your account and access the session archives. We will record everything so you will have unlimited access to the classes. You can go back and listen at your convenience.

Why THIS summit? Because it’s the one-stop shop for the most relevant career expertise in the market today. There is a lot of “career expertise” floating around out there. We used a tough and cynical eye to handpick the experts we thought were most helpful and actionable – given today’s economy, given today’s social networking environment, and given what’s coming next. Check out our agenda to see what we’re talking about.

Sounds good? You really can’t lose, especially with early-bird pricing. You get all of this, plus bonus materials and a chance to win a career makeover for only $99 if you sign up soon!

Learn more by CLICKING HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Things are not always what they seem. Job search lessons

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How about a deviation from the norm for a Friday? My brother shared this fun video with me…Since I have this habit of viewing everything through the lens of a career coach, job search advice writer/blogger, of course, I think there are some messages…(What we used to call “salient points” when I was at Columbia.)

1. Things aren’t always what they seem at first. (Watch the video, you’ll see!) The career message? Keep in mind when you apply for a job that you may need to think more broadly about the opportunity. The lesson may be that a job is better than you think…or that it is worse!

2. If you go to the site and read the comments, there’s another career lesson. People reacted very differently to this video. Many thought it was cute, some focused on the fact that the commercial ruins it (this version is without the ad), others point out details you may not have noticed. (For example, there are two kids who hide under the table at the beginning…Then, the table goes up with the back wall! Did you notice the flying people at the end? The eccentric “grandma” figure in the chair on the side?) Some seemed disgusted by the fact that it is “fake;” others said, “fake, but cute.”

Career tip: everyone reacts differently. Your resume? Show it to 10 people, you can get 15 opinions. Create a video resume? Some will like it, others may hate it.

What should you do in response? Do what you can to demonstrate the best you have to offer. Solicit opinions from people you trust, but recognize that some people have more informed opinions about what may work best in the market today. In the end, it is up to you to share your pitch, a story that is about you that you are proud to share. Maybe you are willing to take a risk — to be edgy — or even cutting edge. Maybe not. It’s your story, your choice.

Watch the video. Let me know what you think…and if you agree that there are some job hunting lessons embedded!

picture from Thomas Hawk