It’s true, so much of the job search process happens online… the most common complaint – as you know – is the “black hole” — that mysterious place to which resumes seem to travel from the moment an applicant hits the “send” key.  If you’re involved in a job search where you feel like you repeatedly send out resumes in response to ads and rarely hear back, then it might be time for some new online search techniques.

Here are the 5 tricks to shake things up for you:

Answer questions on Linkedin
Your strongest chance of being hired is to find ways to show off your expertise and build relationships in your field. One easy way to do this is to troll the “Answers” section on LinkedIn and start responding to questions where you think you can be helpful. People whose answers get high ratings show up on a list of experts. Nabbing one of those spots is a terrific way to ensure that people using the site to fill a position will find your profile.

In addition, use LinkedIn for research, not just reaching out to people. You can search for people who have the job you want or who are at the company you want and view their profile to get a sense for their background and skills.  For smaller companies who may not have a lot of published news about them, learning about who works there may give you a window into the projects they do and the backgrounds they hire

Play around on Twitter
Twitter offers a huge way to search for job postings, interact with recruiters in particular fields or geographic locales, and respond to listings. The beauty of job searching on Twitter is that there is a live person on the other end of a Twitter account and you just might be able to attract that person’s attention and engage in conversation.  Job activity tends to be heaviest in web-related fields, but now that Twitter has gone mainstream, jobs are being posted because companies realize that all kinds of people are showing up on the service.

Find jobs on employer websites
Ever hunt around a web site unable to find the job listings even though it seems like they should be easy to find? Try this method, which should work with nearly any search engine.

Make sure you are looking in the right place
The Web is so big and fluid that it’s easy to get lost.  Alltop.com is a comprehensive blog directory that makes it simple to find scores of blogs on a particular topic. Scan the “careers” and “jobs” categories, where you’ll be able to decide if a blog is relevant to your search based on its 5 most recent posts; you can also look for blogs that cover your industry.

“Key word” your resume
I’m not a big believer in getting jobs through the blind submission of resumes. Still, if you are going to send yours out for any postings where you don’t also have a personal relationship, you’ll want to give yourself the best chance of being noticed. And since most resumes are digitized and scanned by software for screening, it is vital that your resume contain the key words an employer will be searching for in a given job search.

As a starting point, figure out the words your resume should contain by looking at the job description and title given in the posting. But there’s more to it than just plugging in those words. Here’s some additional things to consider to make sure that you are key word optimized. Keep in mind that it’s not just your resume that should pay attention to key words. The same thinking should go into all of your online profiles.

Source: Marci Alboher, Working the New Economy

Social Media

Find out about social networking for your job searching … Melissa says to begin with your goals.  What do you want to achieve by using social networks? Job leads? Connecting with industry experts? Building relationships gradually?

Then try a leading social media application – Twitter

* Find other Twitter users who tweet about the same topics you’re interested in, such as career change, résumé writing, interviewing, etc.
* Use Twellow to search for experts in your desired field.
* Ask for leads from contacts on Twitter.
* Join Twitter lists.
* Use hashtags (#) to funnel down your area of interest. Some examples include: #careers #resumes #hiring #jobhunt #jobhuntchat #careercollective.

Here are the 4 questions:

1. What are the best social networking sites to use for your job search and career management?
2. How do social media sites (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) differ?
3. Should job seekers focus on two or three main sites or “cast a wide net?”
4. What advice would you give to job seekers and career builders for managing their social media strategy?

Read on at:    http://www.careerealism.com/social-networking-job-search-strategy/

Staying current is not only important to be on ready to be in top shape for your future employer, but given your weekly, variable schedule, you may be in an even better position to be able to step right into a new position, refreshed, knowledgeable and posed for a new opportunity.

What can you be doing now?

PARTICIPATING IN social networking

* Twitter – Follow people in your industry and you will find more links to articles and information than you can ask for.
* LinkedIn – Join groups, ask questions and answer questions.
* Blogs – Write, read and comment on blogs – it’s fast and an easy way to learn
* Other social networking sites and communities – Seek out other relevant sites based on your industry.

READING books, industry newsletters, magazines and blog posts (use Google Reader to assemble your RSS feeds in one place.  With the internet continuing to explode, finding websites with good, relevant information is easy.  I subscribe to over 30 industry blogs and have read a few social media books.  In addition, Slideshare is a website that allows individuals to post presentations, so searching the site can provide you with a lot of relevant content to learn from.

WATCHING online webinars

Ultimately, companies create webinars to get potential customers familiar with who they are and establish themselves as experts.  Lucky for us, they are usually incredibly informative and can easily fit into a busy schedule, as they are typically only an hour long.

VOLUNTEERING

I am volunteering at the California Academy of Sciences museum and at Taproot Foundation – to help the HR department select an applicant tracking system.  I am not getting paid for these engagements, but they provide me an opportunity to put something new on my resume, and keep my skill set current.

Overall, there are a multitude of opportunities to stay current while you’re out of work.  Doing so, could make the difference between getting a job or remaining unemployed and getting “rusty”.

For job seekers, this is an excellent way to find job opportunities and job search tips for your resume, interviews, company contacts, etc.  Whether you are seeking career advice or job opportunities, developing your personal brand, taking the next step in your career or simply just want to keep track of news and updates from the career industry – use the hashtag method of searching on Twitter.

A couple of key points about hashtags before the list of 90 hashtags:

• A hashtag is not a source of tweets; it is a way to label (tag) tweets so they can be easily pulled together.
• It is important to use hashtags only when you add value to the topic; the the point in a hashtag is that Tweets are supposed to be more informative and relevant.
• A hashtag is nothing more than a character string inserted into a tweet, it’s something that you can search on – in Twitter:

1. Go to Twitter Search.
2. Search for a hashtag you want to track. Include the “#” in your search query. Here’s a search for #jobhunt
3. Keep that page open in a browser tab, and refresh it periodically to see the latest results. Or subscribe to the feed for your search in your feed reader, and check there occasionally for updates.

I use hashtags in my Twitter account;  while I have picked out a few from this list to use, here are 90 hashtags specific to job searching:

1. #areallygoodejob
2. #avoidthisjob
3. #benefits
4. #business
5. #candidate
6. #career_change
7. #career_coach
8. #career_evolution
9. #career_fair
10. #career_suicide
11. #careerchange
12. #careering
13. #careerism
14. #careers
15. #coaching
16. #compensation
17. #Consultant
18. #crealism
19. #creative
20. #CV
21. #dreamjob
22. #employee
23. #employer
24. #employer-branding
25. #employers
26. #employment
27. #employment_trends
28. #employment-counselor
29. #employments
30. #entrepreneur
31. #exec
32. #executive
33. #finance
34. #franchise
35. #freelance
36. #gettingthegig
37. #greenjobs
38. #happy_2_be_employed
39. #hireme
40. #hiring
41. #hired
42. #home-employment
43. #hotjobs
44. #hr
45. #humanresources
46. #internship
47. #interview
48. #interviews
49. #interviewing
50. #interviewmistake
51. #jobadvice
52. #jobangels
53. #jobhunt
54. #jobless
55. #joblisting
56. #jobposting
57. #jobposting
58. #jobs
59. #jobsearch
60. #jobsearching
61. #jobshouts
62. #jobtips
63. #laidoff
64. #management
65. #marketing
66. #needajob
67. #norestfortheself-employed
68. #pay
69. #personalbranding
70. #pre-employment
71. #recruiter
72. #recruiting
73. #recruitment
74. #resume
75. #resumes
76. #rtjobs
77. #sales
78. #salesjobs
79. #self-employed
80. #sustainable-employment
81. #thejobsguy
82. #too_much_work
83. #training
84. #tweetmyjobs
85. #unemployed
86. #unemployment
87. #wirelessjobs
88. #work-life
89. #work-life-balance
90. #WSJcareers

Where you can find about what hashtags people are using:

#hashtags.org is the first place to find most recent / popular hashtags.  The link also shows each hashtag popularity trend when you hover over.

Many people outside of the online marketing realm, unless they are under 25 years old, have difficultly understanding the concept.

In a nutshell, Social media is Web 2.0, or interacting with others online.  Web 1.0 was all about showcasing oneself, while Web 2.0 involves a sense of community and openness in which the line between author and reader is blurred.

Savvy businesses and organizations are beginning to utilize social networks to interact with current and prospective clients or customers, introduce new products and services, and launch viral campaigns to involve its market.  Businesses are able to communicate directly with target markets and monitor what others are communicating about its brand or service.

Most organizations are recognizing the value of social media but clueless how to use it.  A job seeker who understands Web 2.0 automatically can have an edge over the competition.  If a company is on Twitter or Facebook, job seekers can get a pulse on what that company values.

To understand what social media is, consider the six main categories:

• Social Networks. In general, these sites allow users to build a profile, connect with friends, and interact with others who have similar interests on the site.  The most popular social networks are MySpace and Facebook.  For business use, LinkedIn is a rapidly growing network of professionals.
• Blogs and Micro-blogs. Blogs are probably the most popular form of social media because they existed before Web 2.0.  Many people write blogs to convey their expertise on a subject, review products, report news, or simply as a diary for all to see.  On the flip side, blogs have become a recognized news source.  The social aspect of blogs involves reader comments and sharing.  Micro-blogs, like Twitter, allow for immediate posting and more interaction.
• Social Bookmarking. Social bookmarking sites such as Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon and Diigo, allow users to access their bookmarks from any computer and share them with others.  Rather than bookmarking a Web page in your Internet browser, you can save it on Delicious to access it from anywhere and give your network access to your favorite articles and Web sites.
• Video Sharing. Popular video site, YouTube, has become almost synonymous with online videos.  Not only are videos entertaining, they are also highly searchable.  Other video sharing networks include Blip.tv, Dailymotion, Hulu and Yahoo! video.
• Podcasts. These include audio or visual files that are available through subscriptions.  Podcasts can be live presentations, webinars, teleseminars, radio shows or anything that contains and audio or video file.  iTunes is a hub for all genres of podcasts and anyone can submit a file to be heard around the world.
• Wikis. These websites contain user-generated content and allow people to add or revise information about a given subject.  Pages become communal documents in an online database.  The best know wiki is Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.  Other wikis include About.com and Squidoo.

The common thread in each of these social mediums is content creation and distribution.  New media users are not selfish with their ideas or work, instead they share their work with all of their networks through syndication.   Applications like Ping.fm make the distribution process simple, so that content can be disseminated to a number of networks at once.

You can become new media savvy if you remember the following steps: Create, Syndicate, Comment, Repeat.  Use this to your advantage during the job hunt to connect directly with your prospective employers or blow them away with your knowledge during an interview.

Source: Anne Carr, Account and Social Media Director at Bolt Public Relations

The Internet is a highly public medium, and personal information in cyberspace could unfortunately work against you. Business Week reported that 35 percent of surveyed employers have eliminated candidates based on online information.

Social-networking sites are everywhere – sites like Zoominfo, Linkedin, Flicker, Twitter, Facebook etc. (see Wikipedia – it lists more than 100 social-networking sites!).  Did you know that recruiters are using these sites to find candidates? And you, the job seeker, are using some of the sites to get “found.”

The search engine leader – Google

Recruiters will use Google to find out all they can about a candidate.  And in the professional arena, having a LinkedIn profile is becoming as expected as being searched on Google.  Linkedin is used not only to seek connections, but to find information.  Your LinkedIn profile is must be and look great – even if you are working and successful. Be discriminating and emulate a profile that clearly that is a “head above the rest.”

Keep in mind, though, that employers and recruiters aren’t just looking for your “Googlability” – how many times your name pops up in a search. They’re also interested in how positive your online image is. Thus, be very careful about how you project your story online.

Twitter for Short Messages

Another key trend is the use of Twitter as a “micro-blogging” phenomena where users are communicating in no more than 140 characters (there is usually a spillover of text, and normally a link to a website using a shortened URL).

This post was written August, 2009 when relatively few recruiters actually source from social networks. But, according to Kevin Wheeler of the Electronic Recruiting Exchange, “Recruiting is moving rapidly from a find ‘em and screen ‘em, to a court ‘em, stay in touch with them, and sell them profession. These networks (Linkedin, Flicker, Twitter, Facebook ) will power that charge.”

Like LinkedIn, Twitter is rapidly becoming a must-do social networking tool. And also like LinkedIn, it is rapidly becoming a popular hangout for job seekers. Unlike LinkedIn, however, Twitter is not just about adding contacts … it is mostly about making new (out of work) friends, be it socially, professionally, or both.

Twitter is a great tool to use for your job searching, but remember that it won’t happen the day you begin to tweet, but over time, as you build up your “Followers” and those who “Follow You” – you will have something going for yourself. You can raise visibility with recruiters in your geographic search area by sending out your “brand” statement or “elevator speech“; or, you can post comments on current marketplace issues, deliver subject matter expertise, and show that you are on top of current trends by linking to your blog site.

As those who follow you on Twitter become interested in your content, when employers are looking at you, you’ll have more than just your resume to back up your knowledge and experience. But don’t limit your job search to just Twitter. Personal/professional networking is still the best approach for job seekers. Face-to-face interaction always works best, and no matter how great social networking is, it can’t replace that type of connection.

For the non-user, Twitter can be confusing .. you are limited to just 140 characters and are bombarded with “tweets” and “retweets”. Where to begin?

Tips for using Twitter for your job search:

Twitter Account Settings

At the Twitter main page, look for the menu bar for Settings >> Account .. This is where you set up a One Line Bio; put a link to your blog (if available), include your e-mail address, and include the city you reside in.

In your 160 characters of bio – note the position you are seeking, the more targeted the better. Be as specific as you can within the 160 character limitation.

Start your “Tweeting”

Many times job seekers will tweet out little blurbs in the hopes that someone will notice them. An example might be: “I need a job, can someone help me?”

Since you are looking for work, forget about tweeting to rant or rave … especially a bad idea if you want hiring managers and recruiters to contact you.

Note that a good recruiter will search for a job seeker on Twitter and then look at the quality of the tweets he or she has posted. Remember, your “tweets” are public.  Unlike LinkedIn, more folks than just your followers can read them.

“Follow” Job Search / Career Professionals

Twitter has many career professionals, from resume writers to recruiters to staffing agencies to placement firms. Niche sites are frequent users of Twitter as well. Looking for Human Resource jobs, Marketing, or IT jobs? You can find several specialty job boards on Twitter to follow, and check the Twitter job board ( www.twitterjobsearch.com )

As examples of who you may want to “follow” in the San Francisco Bay Area:

• San Francisco Business Times (http://twitter.com/SFBusinessTimes)
• SFBayJobs (http://twitter.com/sfbayjobs)
• Jobvite (http://twitter.com/Jobvite)
• BAJobs (http://twitter.com/BAJobs)
• HotWireRecruit (http://twitter.com/HotwireRecruit)

Key point: Take advantage of hash tags like #jobangels, #jobseekers, #jobseach #jobs #employment #unemployed #needajob #jobseekers. You can post the type of job you are seeking and then use one or all of these hash tags. Your post will then be read by everyone who follows those tags.

Search for interview subjects for that next article (examples: Twellow or Twitter Search). There is a world of wisdom in cyberspace – just waiting for you to find it!

Help your fellow Job Seekers

Twitter has many job seekers during this economic downturn / recession. You are advised to look for job advice, postings, etc. You will see many opportunities that may not be right for you, but they might be a good fit for someone else. If this is the case, then you may “retweet” or pass along those leads to a colleague, a fellow job seeker. Remember that real networking works – especially with Twitter. So. if you want to make friends, it’s a give-and-take relationship.

Twitter Profile

Twitter is a “branded online exposure” for your professional online presence; for searching for work. The key message is to promote your Twitter presence with an “employer-friendly” background. Your Twitter profile should operate like you would with a business card. Craft a well-written professional description in the spot meant for your bio. Personalize the background also!

There’s lots of space you can use to promote yourself. Use this link http://www.twitterbacks.com for ideas on creating a professional-looking Twitter background, including side bar identification information. You may also want your online resume or blog to be listed as a link on your Twitter Profile.

Twitterbacks.com has templates you can use to create your very own Twitter brand / background. Twitbacks.com is another solution that also lets you promote your Twitter profile / brand.

Twitter Tools

It is hard to “Tweet” when you are following many folks and sending and receiving replies and direct messages. A cool solution is to manage your “Twittering” with a free desktop client.

Desktop clients are software built specifically to utilize Twitter. Clients for the desktop generally do very helpful things, like let you put the people you’re following into groups, so you can be sure you won’t miss a tweet from those you care about the most, alert you when you get a new direct message or @reply, search Twitter without having to visit a separate page, or help you share images or videos. In other words, they help you get the most out of Twitter and not miss anything important.

As a job seeker, I recommend using TwitterJobSearch: http://www.twitterjobsearch.com/

TwitterJobSearch is a search engine that searches Twitter for jobs that match key words you enter; they claim to do the following:

• We’re looking at context.
• We use semantic tools to look at what was said.
• We then look at what they’ve said before.
• We then look at who was saying it.
• If we do this right, we can figure out why they’re saying anything at all.

This search engine pull in additional details such as location or job title to add more context than just links to a web page.  So, the results are not only job-related but you get a link to the actual job posting (a link to another job site like CareerBuilder).  With TwitterJobSearch, you search across all of them, and results are ranked by both relevance and by how recently they’ve been posted.

Another option; look at 2 other Twitter APIs for job seeking:

Twhirl and Tweetdeck are popular ones that help you organize the tweets of your followers by making groups and help you search on specific topics, just as “job search.” They also help you see when someone has specifically spoken to you even while you were away.

And there is TweetDeck to organize your results:

Tweetdeck shows your Twitter feed in columns of information based on your preferences, rather than one long stream. As an example, you might set up columns with headers such as:

• All tweets, jobseeker, direct messages, friends, thought leaders, and jobs.

You can click to see anyone’s profile, and from there add them to a particular column. It has a URL shortener build in, which is invaluable.

TweetDeck allows you to set up search columns so you can stay up to date with topics or brands you’re interested in. Search columns auto-update every minute using data from the Twitter Search API.

Still another option for job seekers; Twello and WeFollow:

Twitter directories Twellow and WeFollow organize Twitter users based on topic, and are great places to find other users who will regularly tweet about things you’re interested in.

You should also look into third party sites like Twubble and Twitterel, which attempt to give people friend suggestions on Twitter, based on the friends of your friends and the things you’re interested in.

One tool new Twitterers can use to find like-minded users is Twitter Search. Twitter’s own built-in search engine lets users search for others who are job seekers like you – just pick out some keywords.

BONUS: A Twitter Guide Book

Twitter can be very daunting for new users. It has its own set of jargon (#hashtags, @replies, retweets, direct messages, etc.), its own set of commands, confusing rules about who sees your tweets, and a sea of third party clients to navigate. That can be overwhelming for someone new to get into.

One place to start learning about Twitter, is the site’s own help portal and Getting Started forum aimed at new users. They’re not the most user friendly site, though, and might raise more questions than they answer for some users.

In addition, spend time on Mashable (http://mashable.com/) and look for the Twitter section to find a cool Twitter Guide. Too many people join Twitter and just start following as many people as they can without any thought to whether it makes sense to do so. The Twitter Guide Book should help both new and experienced users learn how to use the service and get the most out of it.

Final Notes

You should maintain your Twitter presence with regularity. There is no hard and fast rule, but lots of companies and non-profits try to post and tweet at least once a day, no more than five times a day.

You need to integrate your social media with other efforts, like linking to a site or a blog post in a tweet, coordinating with a newsletter, plan ahead as part of a marketing campaign, etc. Being a personality without tying back to your real-life business efforts is a great way to waste time.

Twitter’s value lies in two aspects: content and immediacy.

Content has to provide value to users (in no particular order):

• entertainment
• access to information otherwise unavailable
• feeling of inclusion into a desired group
• reciprocity with their own personal/business social media agenda

Immediacy factor engages user with time-based opportunities:

• breaking news (being the first to know/share, accessing info traditional media doesn’t have or won’t share, firsthand reporting…”unmediated” media)
• instant actions (flash mobs, political protests, emergency responses, calls for help, etc…often with a geolocative aspect)
• immediate input/feedback (user reviews, customer service issues)

Branding yourself is the method … see what workplace consultant and author J.T O’Donnell writes about career identity online and recommends that you brand or be branded.

You can either make sure people ‘hear what they see’ in a way that boosts your credibility… or, you can ignore your online presence and be seen as,

A) non-existent and unimportant, or perhaps even worse,

B) the Dennis Rodman of the net.

So… consider these 4 steps to create and/or improve your online career identity:

Step 1: Identify Your Brand’s Keywords

Do a search on yourself and see what comes up. You may find someone with your name has coveted the top fold. From there, identify what keywords you can use to differentiate yourself from this person. Should you be using your full name? Your middle initial? Your affiliation with an organization or a type of work? Figure out how you want people to find you so you can build your brand around these keywords.

Step 2:   Become a Blog Reader & Commenter

Begin reading career-related content on blogs for 10 minutes daily. This will help you stay-up-to date and in-the-know. Then, start posting thoughtful, well-written, professional comments on these blogs related to your field of interest.

Don’t know where to find these blogs? Go to www.AllTop.com – they are like a magazine rack of online blogs. There, you’ll be able to find dozens of blogs related to your career aspirations so that you can post comments to enhance your credibility as a knowledgeable member of your field/industry.

The power of blogs is enormous when it comes to getting better educated on a subject. Your perspective and knowledge of a situation can be enhanced daily by reading blogs … especially, if you choose blogs that are both well-written and designed for easy navigation.

Here are three examples of blogs

The Work Buzz – Careerbuilder.com’s newly renovated workplace blog is easy-to-read and the perfect way to get acquainted with blogging. The content is fresh and the site navigation is simple.

Brazen Careerist – Showcases a huge crew (200+) of 20-something bloggers, making it one of the most comprehensive on the web.

Career Journal – The Wall St. Journal’s career blog is a good read simply because their newspaper is standard reading material for most executives. The advice is always solid and takes into consideration management’s viewpoints – a great way for you to learn how to start managing up.

Step 3: Ask to Guest Post & Become a Subject-Matter Expert

Once you’ve got commenting down, it’s time to consider writing a guest blog post on a subject related to your career. After you’ve become a regular commenter on a particular site and feel you relate to their readership, contact them and ask if they would accept a guest post from you. Give them an overview of the topic you would write about. If they are interested, you can write the whole article, submit it, and voila – you are a published author on the net.

Step 4: Get Your Twitter Brand Up and Running

Finally, get a Twitter account and learn the 3 key phases for leveraging its power for your career.  Twittering is micro-blogging. Better still, it’s like instant messaging for professionals. It is an easy, fast way to connect with hundreds of like-minded people in a short period of time. You can be connected to 1000’s of people in a matter of weeks.

Better still, you can ‘tweet’ (post short 140 character comments) to them which a hiring manager can read if they do a search on your Twitter account name.

So, it’s like inviting an employer to see what you are like to converse with. A great way to brand yourself!

Recommended career experts to “follow“:

@careerealism – sponsors of the Twitter Advice Project (T.A.P. into CAREEREALISM) – Get FREE Advice

@tmonhollon – a PR specialist working in the staffing industry – also the founder of a Career 100 top blog.

@debrawheatman -  a passionate career strategist and regular contributor to some major online career resources.

@dawnbugni – a resume specialist and guest blogger whose resume tips helped 1000’s on our site.

@AskaManager – nationally syndicated career expert for US News & World Report, HR Specialist, and author of the very popular Ask A Manager blog.

@juliaerickson – a career coach that specializes in career transformations.

@haroldmellor – Recruiter for Boston Globe Media and veteran of the staffing industry.

@resumesrevealed – 15+ years of positioning job seekers for success with resumes & job search strategies

@jobhuntorg – Editor of Job-Hunt.org with 18+years helping job seekers with online job search

@kgrantcareers – Career specialist for adult learners at Kaplan University

@louise_fletcher – Resume writer, blogger, author & co-founder of Career Hub.

@valueintowords – master resume writer & career strategist helping job seekers with career transitions

@heatherhuhman – journalist/career expert to students and young professionals via daily advice column

@glhoffman – author of the extremely successful career blog that runs in the U.S. News & World Report

@sweetcareers – campus career counselor with years of experience and a killer resource blog

@Keppie_Careers – a professional career coach and columnist with years of experience in corporate America

Summary

As stated by J.T. O’Donnel stated above…brand or be branded.   Why risk having a lack of any career identity or a bad online presence just because you didn’t take control of the situation?   Yes, getting your BRAND to look good takes a little effort, but it can provide an incredible return on your time and energy investment.

Source: J.T. O’Donnell, career strategy and workplace consultant
www.jtodonnell.com

More on Branding >>

These 10 components will arm you with a compelling personal brand message to anchor and weave throughout all your online and offline career marketing communications:

1. What are your vision and purpose?

Before clearly defining your brand, look externally at the bigger picture of your vision for the world, and then internally, at how you might help the world realize your vision.

2. What are your values and passions?

You have to know yourself and what you want and need before you can move forward. Your belief system and operating principles are at the core of determining whether an opportunity in front of you will be a good fit for you. If the passions that drive you aren’t met, you probably won’t be happy.

3. What are your top goals for the next year, 2 years, and 5 years?

Work on projecting what you intend to accomplish so you can put together a strategic action plan to get there.

4. Do a self-assessment of your top brand attributes.

What 3 or 4 adjectives best describe the value you offer? What words do you use to define your personality? Here are some possibilities, but don’t limit yourself to these:

Collaborative, resilient, forward-focused, risk-taking, connected, international, visionary, diplomatic, intuitive, precise, enterprising, ethical, genuine, accessible.

5. What are your core strengths or motivated skills?

In what functions and responsibilities do you excel? What things are you the designated “go-to” person for? What would your company have a hard time replacing if you left suddenly? The possibilities are endless, but here are a few suggestions:

Identifying problems, seeing the details, leading, delegating, performing analysis, fact finding, crunching numbers, anticipating risk, motivating, mentoring, innovating, managing conflict, writing, listening, communicating.

6. Get feedback from those who know you best – at work, at home, anywhere.

The true measure of your brand is the reputation others hold of you in their hearts and minds. Notice how they introduce you to others. Ask them what your top brand attributes and core strengths are. How does your self-assessment jibe with their feedback?

7. Do a SWOT (Strengths – Weaknesses – Opportunities – Threats) analysis on yourself.

Don’t dwell on your weak points, but keep them in mind so that you don’t move into a position where that function is the main thrust of the job.

8. Who is your target audience?

Determine where you want to fit in (industry and niche area of expertise). Learn what decision makers in that field are looking for when they’re vetting candidates. Find out where those decision makers hang out and what key words will attract them, and then position yourself in front of them to capture their attention.

9. Who is your competition in the marketplace and what differentiates you from them?

Determine why decision makers should choose whatever you’re offering over the others offering similar value. What makes you the best choice? What makes you a good investment? What value will you bring that no one else will?

10. Remember the 3 Cs of personal branding:

Clarity – be clear about who you are and who you are not.
Consistency – steadfastly express your brand across all communications vehicles.
Constancy – strong brands are always visible to their target audience.

Your takeaway:

The work involved in uncovering your brand may seem daunting, but your efforts can benefit you immeasurably. My own brand development helped me re-focus the way I do business toward the kinds of work I’m most passionate about, and more deeply niche my target audience.

In job search, developing and communicating your personal brand can pre-qualify you as a good fit and accelerate your search. Your unique brand message differentiates the best you have to offer, gives a good indication of what you’re like to work with, and evidences how you make things happen.

Source: Career Rocketeer – career search, career development and personal branding blog

It is clear by now that finding a new job is tough in this environment.  I want to provide you with a posting which has a collection of tips, weblinks and ideas…

Check this Social Media Website-  the Interactive Insights Group has some great content.  Their chief Internet and social media strategist, Robin Broitman, has compiled a wide range of resources, advice and tools to help you build and manage your social media brand identity more effectively.

Check out this site for all you wanted to know (and more about how to build your brand on your personal website.  How-To: Build & Manage Your Brand Identity with Social Media

Robin has been using LinkedIn for years and has found it to be one of the most useful professional networking sites online.   It can help you build your professional network, establish your brand/image, and market your services.  She has found LinkedIn’s group feature to be a helpful tool for driving traffic to her blog.  Check LinkedIn SuperGuide -Tutorials, Tips and Tools

The Interactive Insights Group has a You Tube channel: Videos on Social Media and Web2.0 hand-selected by IIG/Interactive Insights Group, Inc.

The Interactive Insights Group has a Delicious link

Videos

Cheezhead is dedicated to issues pertaining to search engine optimization, Internet recruiting, human resources, employment branding, technology and marketing.

Cheezhead founder Joel Cheesman is one of the most widely-read bloggers on emerging recruitment issues in the world.  Joel’s blog is a daily chronicle of how the Internet and technology are shaping human resources and how organizations can attract the talent needed to thrive in tomorrow’s economy.

Here are a sampling of Cheezhead’s Bi-Monthly HR / Recruiting -  specific news and noteworthy items (such as Glassdoor and Mjob) -  all of which may assist you in your job searching:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

See more videos here Recent video topics:  get away from online job databases, monster job hunter, mobile past, present and future, unemployed, a video, tech ticker interviews linkedin ceo, climber’s resume carousel looks time-consuming, michael spafferty’s video resume; plus more.

Job Search Tips

TIP: Here’s a contrarian networking idea: Stop thinking about networking and start trying to be useful to other people. That’s the advice of Dan Sullivan, founder of The Strategic Coach, a focusing program for entrepreneurs worldwide.

According to Sullivan, if you can bring confidence and clarity to people in your network by researching their needs and then offering something useful — in the form of product news, information about their customers, contacts, expertise, etc. — people will make time to talk to you. Because you will be seen as an oasis in today’s desert of bad economic news.

One thing is certain: If you keep doing what you’ve been doing in your job search, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting. And if you’re not getting calls from employers, why not try being useful to as many people as possible for one week and see where it leads you?

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TIP: Update your LinkedIn profile at least once a week. Add an article or presentation you’ve done. Change the information in your summary, update what you’re working on, add a book to the list of books you’re reading. You get the idea.

What to add? Add information that reflects your brand as a candidate. What would make you stand out to a hiring manager and/or recruiter? Be very strategic here—make sure everything supports and reinforces the brand you’re creating.

What does this get you? Your update will be sent to all your contacts in that weekly email LinkedIn sends out. Your name will keep coming up week after week with yet something else that brands you. A lot of visibility for just a few keystrokes.

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TIP:    Responding to a network contact with an article or summary of key points from a recent seminar can also help to remind them of your presence and also provides valuable information that they may not have seen during their busy week.

First, they know you thought of them and secondly, you went the extra step of giving them the main points in the article.  Most of us who receive articles love that considerate touch. Means we don’t have to feel guilty if we just don’t get around to the pile of articles we really mean to read someday.

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TIP: For going to a MEET UP, how do you feel about going to a meeting? What is the real reason you’re going? Did that reason get met? Do you like what happens and what you learn there? If you leave with one or two solid referrals and feeling energized by new information and/or new contacts, that may be a good meeting to keep attending.

With all the other things we’re talking about here that are essential job search components, if you feel like cutting back or cutting out these kinds of meetings, then do what seems to make sense for you.

Job search today requires creating a strategy that works for you. Test what you hear to see if it’s right for you–even the things we discuss here. Break out of your comfort zone (or perhaps it seems like you already left that far behind). Be creative and be yourself.

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TIP: Consider the Recruiter Side of the equation..  It may be tempting but so often a waste of your time to send a resume for a position where the key requirements don’t match your experience. If it’s a stretch to tie your experience to the absolute requirements, it’s unlikely anyone at the company will have the time, inclination or ability to make that leap.

Remember that recruiters have to present candidates to the hiring manager with a good reason for doing so. If they present candidates who don’t come close to the basic requirements, the hiring manager questions if the recruiter knows what they are doing. Recruiters rarely want to look stupid to their clients. So no matter how you try to spin it, they won’t be able (or willing) to sell it.

If you’ve got a resume that is oriented to how the hiring manager views the world, if you know how to position yourself and your experience in an interview, and you’ve got a clear, concise and very brief statement (sound bites can differentiate you) of what you bring to the table, you won’t need to send resumes off and hope the recipient can make the leap.

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TIP: What gets you to the strategic table is seeing (and being able to articulate) how HR value-add efforts impact the Profit and Loss.  It is essential for HR Executives to make that connection and use the language of business. CEO is only interested in one thing– “increasing shareholder value”.  HR must connect to that strategy in real ways they can articulate. They need to show the organization how their work impacts the P&L. If they do not, they may not be long at the strategic table.

All of HR, not just the executive leader, should know the Profit and Loss and annual report and know how to tie back the HR initiatives to those results. Read the annual report. Make an effort to understand the financial operations and financial results of the organization. Take your rightful place at the table. We need you!

So perhaps as part of your job search strategy, you might listen to CEO shareholder calls, network with CFO’s, learn the key financial terms and concepts. Translate your accomplishments into P&L impact. Talk about EBITDA in your next interview if you really want to differentiate yourself with a CEO or CFO.

There are specific job search sites (besides Linkedin and Twitter).  These sites, known as “Niche Job Search Sites” may be useful to you in your job searhing.  The “niche” websites listed on this posting are lesser-known job-search sites.  I was surprised to see the magnitude of the available jobs listed on these sites.

Check for yourself to see if you can use any of these.  Be advised that only 40% of available jobs are posted on jobboards.  There are 40% for those jobs listed internally within an organization – for employees to make referrals to.  And the remaining 20% of possible jobs are in the minds of hiring managers – your actual target for job searching (even though talking to a hiring manager is the most difficult method to get noticed in this job market, it tends to be the most lucrative).

By the way, niche is defined as:  A situation or activity specially suited to a person’s interests, abilities, or nature!!

Go at this list of job search sites (listed in no particular order) to see what you can come up with!

1. Dice.com: This is the go-to site for jobs in technology. Companies like Dell, NVIDIA and Apple post jobs to the site regularly, along with non-technology companies looking for IT workers. Apply online or upload a resume for recruiters to view. For $29.99 per month you can see who has viewed your resume and be sure your resume places high when your area of expertise is searched.

2.  IT Job Board:  This site is the #2 computer/IT careers niche site.  It works with the UK and Europe’s leading businesses and IT recruitment agencies to offer thousands and thousands of live permanent and contract IT jobs throughout the UK and Europe everyday

3.  Jobsinthemoney:   This #2 financial careers niche site features targeted job postings available in the JobsintheMoney.com database from companies across many industries and locations throughout the United States and cover a variety of positions for tax accountants, auditors, fraud examiners, analysts, controllers and CFOs, as well as many other finance and accounting professionals.

4.  ComputerJobs.com:  The #3 computer/IT careers niche site.  This job board focuses solely on the IT professional. Founded in 1995 by IT professionals who saw a need for an effective way for job seekers and companies to connect, ComputerJobs.com has over thirteen years experience connecting thousands of high-tech employers with millions of qualified job seekers.

5. GovernmentJobs.com:   The influx of cash from President Obama’s economic stimulus plan will lead to a host of new job opportunities in state and local government. Use this site to search for jobs in government offices throughout the U.S.

6. eFinancialCareers.com:  The financial sector has been hit hard, but the surviving companies are still hiring. This site features jobs in areas such as accounting, finance and insurance. Check out the “emergency career toolkit” full of tips for keeping your career in gear, even during the downturn.

7. Medzilla.com:   Healthcare and pharma remain strong industries, even during the recession. This site features jobs from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies like Amgen, Teva and Baxter. Jobs range from entry-level drug sales reps to full-fledged medical and engineering positions.

8. SchoolSpring.com:  This site saves educators the task of scouring the Internet for jobs in each individual school district. Executive, administrative and teaching jobs from around the country are aggregated here. Applicants can narrow searches based on subjects and grade levels taught. For an even more targeted search, try state-specific sites like EdJoin.org in California or NYEdJobs.org in New York.

9. HCareers.com:  Head to this site for jobs in food service, hotels and tourist attractions. In addition to listings, there are free features like tips on writing cover letters, continuing education resources and a salary and cost of living calculator with advice on negotiating a raise.

10. MarketingJobs.com:  Job seekers with backgrounds in marketing, advertising or sales come to this site to check out offerings from employers including The Walt Disney Company (Stock Quote: DIS) and the blueberry division of Driscolls Berries. Posting a resume is free, as are downloadable resources like industry magazines and more than 350 informational videos about various sales careers.

11. MediaBistro.com:  This site is for anyone involved in the production of creative content, including editorial assistants, journalists and editors as well as those in media sales and advertising. In addition to the free job listings, there is a place to advertise availability for freelancing as well as career-related online courses and seminars.

12. Guru.com:  This site plays the middleman for freelancers looking for contract work in industries like business consulting, graphic design and law. Job seekers can upload resumes and search and bid on jobs. Guru.com helps project managers award bids and even provides a safe online payment method to help guarantee a smooth delivery.

13. Startuply:  This site will list small company posting site; majority tech jobs, but not all

14. Start-up jobs:  This site is a also small company posting site

15. Venture Loop:   Check here for VC-backed company jobs

16. NPost – Mostly tech and start-ups

17. Retirement Jobs:  This is the #1 retirement careers niche site

In Summary, you may also want to check the world’s largest network of niche career communities, powering thousands of local and industry-specific sites. The Beyond.com network is comprised of many distinct channels, each represented by a premier career destination and backed by a powerful group of associated communities.  Link:  http://www.beyond.com/channels/

Beyond’s Motto: “The Focus of One, the Power of Many”

Beyond’s Mission: For community members to experience the targeted exposure of a niche job board, reinforced by the power and volume of their entire network.  Jobs posted to one of their communities are automatically distributed and visible across all relevant network sites, providing for maximum exposure and targeted connections with high-quality candidates.