Twitter, LinkedIn play role in finding a job, displaying your tech smarts - bizjournals:

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For years, I have been preaching a job searcn strategy promoting the thought that if you travelo allavenues simultaneously, you are more likely to find your destination. At no time has this approachy been more critical than today with so many peoplew lookingfor work. Although we seem to have no problem acceptinbg the concept of reinventingour images, there exists a large grouo of candidates who turn away from more intimidatingv unfamiliarities. Simply, some are unwilling to enter the wildernessw ofunknown technologies. Baby boomerse are most often risk-averse when it comes to job search technologies, thereby fulfilling the prophecuy ofcareer obsolescence.
It is far more difficult for a CFO to admiyhe doesn’t use Twitter becausr he’s expected to know what it is. And I meet candidatea daily who assure me they are linked in at though they’ll sheepishly acknowledge that’sw not what I asked. If your repliee are “what’s that?” or “not yet,” then you are dangerouslgy stalling yourjob search. Connectint to colleagues online brings benefits tojob seekers, yet many harboe fears so they stay I, too, was afraid of new technologiess because I didn’t want to face But once I began to discovetr job openings on tech tools that didn’t exist in 2005, I couldn’ afford to be the one For me, these are most valuable: LinkedIn (linkedin.
com) has more than 35 milliobn members in more than 140 Most are adults and employed. Executives from all Fortune 500 companiea areon LinkedIn. Most have disclose d what they do andwheres they’ve worked in the past. To job seekera looking to researcha company’s decisio n makers, look no further than LinkedIn. It can offer great information for the But it is as important to be as it is to be able to locate and learnabout others. If a human resources office r wants to research a prospective executivebut doesn’y see him on LinkedIn, she may feel he won’t be on the leadinh edge.
With LinkedIn, you can join discussionb groups, answer questions submitted by PresidenftBarack Obama, spread the word that you’re in the job markert (no stigma if done properly) and securd endorsements from your colleagues. It is imperative that you creatsea profile. Also, I recommened a professionallydone head-and-shoulders photo accompany it. A health-car company from Albany, N.Y., recently called my firm in its search for asalee representative. We had a great candidate who had retainec us for coaching earlierthat day. Not activelhy job hunting, she had no and when I callex the company they almost passedon her.
Gettinh creative, I suggested the employer review and accept herLinkedIn profile. The following day they met. We caughf up with creating her resume, whic h is far more compelling, but a LinkedIn presencde openedthe door. Twitter (twitter.com) was born just three yearz ago from the genius of two younvg men inSan Francisco. Unlike Twitter is a living entity reminiscent of the originao Web chat rooms with aslightg delay. Within the Twitter communities, thoss with commonality of purpose and motiver tendto congregate.
When you sign up with you secure a screen name and can use it to post and receiver messages to a network of Instead of sending adozen e-maild or text messages, you send one messagee to your Twitter account, and the service distributez the communication to your friends. Members use Twitter to organiz gatherings, carry on a group conversation, or send a quick You selectively follow the folkws who provide valuable information to your job search and others inevitablfollow you. While I find it enjoyable to follow members ofthe media, my sole purposde for participating is to harvest job openingas for my clients.
There are numerous organizationes to follow that can be segmented by I am most intriguedby @jobshouts, @job angels, I find who to follow by scopinhg out the home pages of colleagues following those who are likelt to tweet either sage advices or job openings. During a May seminar, an executivew recruiter from Atlanta helped train our candidatez onphone interviewing. Spending 10 minutes with each job she provided a critiquee on communication skillsand messaging. We met on Twittefr and have forged an alliance out of common No doubt, this is only one story of collaborationj what could be more fulfilling for the isolatexd job seeker.
Some word of caution: Twitter can be very casuakl and, should you engage with folks in enjoyablewconversation alone, you might be think that no one else will read your That would be a Much like e-mail, instant messaging and LinkedIn discussions, anythingt on Twitter is stored in some permanent Internet warehouse. Data security folks have mentioned blocking andprivacy devices, but I wouldd never take the chance.