Yesterday, I was talking with a friend of mine whom I admire in the corporate HR space.  She is a well-respected HR professional at her organization and until now hasn’t given much thought to jumping into the job search.  She’s ready to take the plunge and after eight years re-enter the job search market.  Before we chatted, she spent some time on the blog and downloaded the copy of the resume template and cover letter template that I offer on the site. Even so, she wasn’t really sure yet where to begin.

Job Search Tips: Preparing for Your Job Search

The job search advice I gave my friend was that a job search strategy when entering the job search is everything.  Long before you send your resume or cover letter and launch into an aggressive job search, I recommend that job seekers begin to plant the seeds and attend events, following up with old contacts, and getting their name out there in strategic places.

Update Your Profiles Before Your Job Search

Meaning: get your house in order.  Make sure you’ve added the new feature of skills and qualifications to your LinkedIn profile, cleaned up your Facebook Timeline, and added a professional headshot and pictures to your social networking and web sites.  Don’t have your Mom take the photo or crop the family portrait from 6 years ago.  Hire or persuade a professional photographer to take your picture in a professional and flattering way.

Share Industry-Related Content as Part of Your Job Search Strategy

You should already be reading about the latest trends and changes in your industry of choice.  It’s great for professional development, and don’t be shy to share that content with others.  Social media management tools like Hootsuite offer the ability to schedule content to multiple social networks allowing you to work during the day while still reaching thought leaders, industry thinkers, and hiring managers at the same time.

Important Job Search Advice: Guest Blog

If you are considering being in the job market and want to be seen and known for your experience and innovation, consider guest blogging.  You don’t have to have your own blog to make an impact.  Blogging matters so consider targeting your guest posts to a handful of influencers within your target marketplace.  Make sure this content is new and original, portrays the right message, and is published in the right places.  I happen to offer guest blogging opportunities although surprisingly, I don’t get many offers.

Passive Job Seeker, Speak Every Chance You Get!

My friend is an experienced professional with 10 plus years.  Many job openings in the industry and position happen through job referrals making it so important to develop strategic relationships with hiring managers, influencers, and super connectors in the space.  If your organization was like the company where I used to work, they were very fearful of allowing me to be quoted or included in white papers limiting my exposure and opportunity to brand myself.  However, after talking with my boss I was able to speak at local professional events and colleges with the goal of using them as a recruiting tool first while also providing me the opportunity to meet and get my name out there.

From Passive Job Seeker to Active Job Seeker

Going from passive job seeker to active job seeker takes relationships, strategy, and a plan to build momentum as you move into a more aggressive job search.  Those with a solid strategy make the process look easy but behind the success lies months of planning, phone calls, networking events, and hustle.  Lots and lots of hustle.  How are you planning and preparing for your job search?

Photo Credit.

the jobless give up

Do you know someone out of work?  Maybe several someones?  Do you know anyone who has been laid off or who has had their hours or pay reduced? Have you, yourself, suffered in the current recession?  I hate to say it and I really do not want to believe it, but we are not out of the woods yet.

Have jobseekers given up? Have you given up?  Have hopes to secure employment been dashed upon the rocks? Recent studies have stated that some of the jobless have given up, their despair is so great that they have flat out just stopped looking for jobs, they have a new-found freedom. A desolation some have never known.  A freedom no one seeks, the freedom from a paycheck.  Grim Freedom.  Thanks, been there, done that.

What responsibilities do we have, as citizens of the world, to police this new liberty with whom so many have recently become acquainted?  The songs of freedom don’t really fit in with this most recent fight. Tipperary is indeed a long way, the land of cotton has dried up and is all but forgotten, and cymbals crash no more. We may need more than an inside-out rally cap.

A couple years ago, I read an article about an executive recruiter-turned-counselor whose search firm has transformed into more of a guidance counselor’s office with squelched hopes sticking to the walls better than most résumés. The Recruiting Animal‘s show sometimes houses a couch full of coaches ready to sell their goods to job seekers et al. I suppose you will be able to draw your own conclusions. And that picture will look a lot like a sea of stick figures standing in lines, submitting applications, reworking their LinkedIn profiles or sleeping on sofas while General Hospital  drones in the background and fades into syndication.

Do we, as keepers of knowledge and seekers of men/women or even just human beings, owe a certain amount of give back/charity to the jobless? To the huddled masses tired of their current grips on reality?  What about our own grip? Occupiers? Does charity begin at home?

Do you believe in fate? Do you believe in karma?
We all have something, some small thing to give.  Whether it’s simple advice, a pat on the back, or a even a kind word — for each of us faces our own grim freedom at one point or another.

Does the man in the mirror look back at you or is he too ashamed?

Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne is the Marketing Director for the online recruiting software company, Broadbean Technology.  She is also a proud mother of four residing in Laguna Beach, California, and a contributor for Blogging4Jobs.  Connect with her on LinkedIn.  

Job Seekers to Employers: Put a Ring on it

Indulge me just for a moment as one of Beyonce’s songs comes to mind. . .

‘Cause if you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it

If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it

Don’t be mad once you see that he want it

If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it

Experts are anticipating the best job market in 2012 since 2008, and I think that’s a good thing.  Jobs will be created and unemployment will decrease.  Job seekers will be hired into the corporate folds but not at a rate that you might expect.  Employers are hiring contingent, contract and temporary workers instead.

The Temporary Workforce & the Contract Workforce

According to CareerBuilder’s 2012 Jobs and Hiring Forecast survey, nearly 1/4 of employers plan on increasing their full time hiring in 2012. That’s nice but CB’s report fails to address another subject altogether, the status of the temporary and contract workforce.

Take for example a good friend of mine.  She’s the University Relations Liaison for a very large and well-known global corporation.  She’s responsible for recruiting and developing relationships with students, the universities, and soon to be college grads.  Her success in her role is important for the future of their organization.  Her job is fulfilling and also challenging.  In fact, she’s happy in her role except for one thing.  The company has yet to put a ring on it.

Are Contingent Workers Helping or Hurting Employee Turnover?

As the economy slowed in the beginning of this recession, companies buckled down and made payroll cuts laying off millions of workers freeing up much needed cash flow to account for the decreases in sales and revenue.  Starting in 2009, companies have increasingly looked to what WSJ called “alternative staffing arrangements” as a safe workforce and staffing solution.  Companies add low cost and low risk temporary workers to fill productivity gaps.  Essentially, maintaining a full time workforce is expensive.  Companies are responsible for offering benefits to employees in addition to paying for social security, unemployment insurance, and employment taxes in addition to the employee’s salary or hourly wage.  By hiring temporary and contract staff, companies lower their risk as these individuals are not offered employment benefits and are generally responsible for obtaining their own health insurance and responsible for their own employment taxes as their own employer.

But as permanent hiring has expected to remain slow in 2012 much like 2011, employee turnover is expected to grow to its highest since 2008 with more than 21 million US workers expected to change jobs.  And that’s just full-time permanent workers.  The $2 Trillion cost doesn’t include the lost productivity and cost to replace folks like my friend who is a contract employee.

So what’s the solution to retaining and re-recruiting your current workforce?

Make a Commitment.  Put a Ring on it.

Show that permanent employee you give a damn.  Quit waving that carrot in front of your contract or temporary staff. Stop reminding your temporary workers that they should be grateful to  have a job, because they don’t.  Invest in their future by offering a job, training, promotion, or increased compensation.  Start with a simple conversation.  Make the move and by investing in them, they’ll likely accept your proposal and put a ring on it.

Dear Employer, quit kidding yourself because you know it’s true.  Experts like Addeco North American CEO, Tim Gilliam anticipate more temporary hiring in the professionals sectors with the likely reason behind the decisions being that companies are unwilling to take a chance in the current unpredictable economic market.  Or in short, you  won’t and don’t wanna put a ring on it.

The best way to retain your top performers and qualified staff is by giving them what they want.  Put a ring on it.  ’Cause you had your turn and now you’re gonna learn.  What it really means to miss your employee.

Thank you, Beyonce for the inspiration, and congrats to Tom and Rayanne!  Tom put a ring on it when he proposed to Rayanne on Christmas Eve.

**This is a guest post written by Joshua Waldman author of “Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies.” 

Why are we even talking about social media in the context of job search?  Simple!  Recruiters are using social media and recruiting to find talent. In fact, several surveys in the last few years point to a very high percentage organizations recruiting through social media.  Adding to this trend, LinkedIn’s API has now made it even easier for recruiters to access fresh talent via some powerful recruiting software tools.  My philosophy is that if you want to make a sale, step into the shoes of your customer.  Translation: if you want to land a job, understand how recruiters do their jobs. Then adjust your job search strategy so that you pop up on their radar.

Tips for LinkedIn Job Seekers to Stand Out

The shift here is that LinkedIn’s own search capabilities are being used less as more advanced technologies emerge, making recruiting much easier for professionals. If you are still keyword packing, get with the program. LinkedIn is a whole different animal. Keyword packing and most of those SEO tricks for your LinkedIn profile are yesterday’s news.

There are three main elements that you now need to optimize for if you plan on using Linkedin for your job search. And they are much different then before as LinkedIn has and will continue to go through dramatic changes.

1. For the Passive Search: Bigger Social Network IS Better

When you look at recruiting software such as Bullhorn Reach, you’ll notice that primed candidates pop up based on the user’s own social network. This means that if you are connected to that recruiter through social media, and you just lost your job, added a hot job title, or otherwise did something to your profile, you’ll pop up.  Don’t believe me? Watch this video and pay particular attention to minute 1:50.

Many of these advanced social media recruiting tools deliver search results for the recruiters based on that person’s individual network. Yep. Essentially, if you are not in a recruiter’s network, you are not likely to show up in search results. So how many recruiters do you have in your network?

2. Update Your Location for Visibility in LinkedIn Recruiting

Another essential factor in whether or not you come up in a recruiter’s search is your LinkedIn profile location. It would be a mistake to be too general (like “USA”), but it would also be a mistake to enter your current location if you want to move.

If you are a LinkedIn job seeker looking for a position in Nevada (god knows why!) and you live in North Carolina (okay, lots of sun too), you need to put your DESIRED location in your LinkedIn profile – even though you don’t currently live there.  Think about how a job board works. You are asked two things: where you want to look for the job and what you want to do. Right?  This is exactly how recruiters use their specialized software. They get hired to fill positions, or they are corporate recruiters and are looking for local talent. So they use zip codes to filter names from their list.  Be sure your LinkedIn location settings are where you want them to be.

 3. LinkedIn Skills to Pay the Bills

Did you remember getting an email from LinkedIn a while ago asking you to fill in your Skills for your profile? I’ll bet you did, but you probably deleted it with your spam. That was a mistake. Here’s why: “Skills” in LinkedIn are set up like tags. You can have multiple skills to tag yourself with, but you can have only one or two industries and only one job title. Many software packages include a skills filter for their LinkedIn searches.

Why? Because when a company or hiring manager talks to a recruiter, they aren’t always writing clear job descriptions. Often, recruiters have to write or re-write the job description or even guess at what type of person is needed to fulfill a role. So all they have to work with is a list of random skills and they need to go out there and find people with those skills.  Remember in the movie Taken, with Liam Neeson? When they kidnap his daughter, he says, “I have a very particular set of skills, skills I’ve acquired over a very long career.” Well, go to your LinkedIn profile and tell the world what very particular skills you have acquired over your career.

Joshua Waldman is a guest blogger at Blogging4Jobs and is an author of Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies, is a career advancement specialist helping people use social media to go from good jobs to great careers. When he’s not helping executives become sought-after authorities at Corporate Warriors, he’s blogging on CareerEnlightenment.com or working out at the gym. Check him out on Twitter @joshuawaldman. 

Photo Credit Last.fm.

I’m honored to write for Fortune Magazine as a contributor for their management section.  This article below (my first with Fortune) was published on their website.  

The holiday season is upon us. Parties are in full swing and magic is in the air.  But you may want to think twice before you fill those stockings to the brim because, come January, a job you may have no more.

To many, New Year’s signifies a renewal filled with great reflection and hope.  But while you are reflecting, your boss has been procrastinating. He’s put off giving you the pink slip in lieu of that holiday bonus you were expecting.

As someone with 10 years of experience working in corporate human resources, I can tell you it’s never fun being the person who has to deliver the bad news to an employee. I find it appalling and insulting that leaders wait until after the holidays to give their employees the scoop, “Your job is being eliminated,” “You’re fired,” or “Your performance isn’t up to snuff.”

Prior to the recession, January had consistently been the most popular month for employees to be laid off or let go. Fitting with tradition, there were over 71,000 layoffs reported in January 2010, the highest for the year, according to a recent report by Challenger Gray. In 2011, however, January layoffs slowed significantly with just 38,000 reported, compared to September, which had a record 115,000 layoffs.

For many companies, January 1 marks a new fiscal year, but the reality is that your boss is waiting primarily because he doesn’t have the stomach to ruin your Christmas. So he puts off the inevitable.

It’s hard to sniff out the Grinch in these situations. The best defense is a good offense, and the busy holiday party season gives you an opportunity to take your networking to a new level.

In 2008, my family was lucky in that we got the news of my husband’s impending layoff just before the beginning of the holiday season. My husband, who was working in Healthcare IT at the time, received an email from his boss on a quiet Friday afternoon a week before the Thanksgiving holiday. His boss asked for our home number. My husband turned to me, “Honey, I’m getting laid off.” And he was right.

We were terrified as we were just three short weeks from having our daughter and two weeks from the start of my maternity leave, but I’m thankful. We had time to scale back our holiday purchases and travel as my husband began to network aggressively over the holiday season.

All of us should be in the job market, constantly shopping, planning, and building our networks and communities.

Employees are often in a state of shock when they are delivered the news. Like any life-changing event, it takes time to digest the situation. So it’s helpful to come up with a worst-case scenario plan beforehand and use opportunities like the busy holiday season to make new contacts and grow your personal and professional relationships. Take advantage of this Yuletide season and prepare for the busy year ahead, whether it’s with your employer or someplace new.

Read the entire article on Fortune.com.

Photo Credit FreakingNews.com. 

This post was first published over on SmartBrief’s Social Media blog where I am a regular contributor.  They happen to be pretty awesome with over 4 million email subscribers.  Be sure to check them out.  

We are just 9 short days away from the Christmas holiday which is rather inconvenient if you are looking for a job.  Between now and New Years lay before us the opportunity to build relationships and grow our network all while sharing a little eggnog and holiday joy. But a reality looms beneath the holiday cheer.  Directly proceeding the busy holiday season is January, the month when employees are most likely to exit their workplace and lose their jobs.  Whether it’s of their own devices or as a result of a corporate downsize, January is the month employers and employers are most likely to part ways.

The Holidays and Career Networking

No matter who you are or where you work, you are never safe in your job search.  And networking both offline and online is the key to a successful career and future.  Sixty-five to eight-five percent of all jobs are found as a result of networking. It’s never too early to start or too late, and holiday parties should be no exception. Social media in 2011 has been an extremely popular compliment to a job seeker’s strategy.  According to Jobvite’s social media study 36.6 job seekers used social media as part of their job search strategy in 2011. Whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or your blog social media can provide an effective way to further strengthen these in person relationships while also sharing your expertise and building your personal brand. The holidays present new opportunities to expand your network and expand your job search by combining social media networking and follow up to the prospects you meet at holiday parties. Either separately or in combination, these five networking tips can make your holiday party connections stronger into the New Year and help you find that job you are looking for:

• Send Holiday E cards. Send out free Internet Holiday cards to your network.  Hallmark.com has a large variety of interesting and work appropriate cards to engage your network at no cost to the send or receiver.  Not every decision maker or business professional uses or responds best when it comes to social media.  Diversity your channels and strategies when it comes to building relationships using non-based social media based and more traditional communication methods like email.

• Use Your Blog. Use your blog to interview your top client prospects or companies as a way to develop a truly unique relationship that makes way for referrals, business, and new friendships.  Most everyone likes to see their names in print or media.  Take advantage of the unique opportunity you offer as a blogger and form of new media.  Use your blog to build relationships and open doors.

•  Host a Holiday Open House. Either at work or at your home virtual or in person. Clients, friends, and colleagues can visit and enjoy a cup of hot cocoa, wine, or sparkling cider while building new relationships or catching up with old friends.  Looking to host a virtual cocktail party?  Consider using Google Hangout or host an online network using a Blog Talk Radio channel or FreeConferenceCall.com.

• Network on the Holiday Party Scene. Make the rounds to all the holiday events and bring a stack of business cards. Never miss an opportunity to make a lasting impression.  No, business cards?  Follow up with a nice personal note via LinkedIn or Facebook to help solidify the personal connection.  Take the conversation even further by adding value to your newfound network through online introductions establishing value for later when its time for you to ask for something in return.

• Go Old School. Take part in the traditional method of distributing holiday cards using snail mail. Select marketing materials to make a lasting impression. Drop by personalized and homemade holiday gifts to your network. Mix your favorite blend of coffees and package in a custom bag with label. Don’t forget to include your contact information and business card. Schedule and afternoon or two to make the rounds.    

Bottom line.  Get out there and get moving.  The biggest mistake I see in the job search and in business is people waiting for the opportunities to come to them instead of taking the bull by the horns.  Regardless of the season, holidays or not, professionals should never stop networking especially considering that the average time in position is a mere 18 months.  Social media should serve as a compliment to your aggressive in person relationship building strategy providing you access to decision makers, hiring managers, and key players at the organizations where you wish to work.   Holiday parties give you the chance to get to meet them and social media gives you the opportunity to keep them in your networks.

Photo Credit OnlineSocialMedia.net.