A Fast Company article says the average tenure at one job in the U.S. is 4.4 years. The article asserts men have around 11 jobs in their lifetimes and women have 10 jobs. As the article suggests, “Shorter job tenure is associated with a new era of insecurity, volatility, and risk. It’s part of the same employment picture as the increase in part-time, freelance, and contract work; mass layoffs and buyouts; and ‘creative destruction’ within industries.”

The onus is on the employee to manage all of these ramifications.

One point in an employee’s favor? Increased transparency and access to and availability of information. If you work for an organization and don’t monitor the company’s Google mentions or keep an eye on Twitter and other social media sites to learn what people are saying, you are missing a rich resource. Especially if you work for a large company (or, if you want to work for one!), “following” the organization on LinkedIn can help keep you abreast of staffing changes and trends. You don’t have to rely on a rumor mill. Ignore these monitoring tools at your own peril.

Everyone needs to realize we are unlikely to return to the old economy. Don’t be complacent! Embrace change and flexibility. Always be looking for opportunities to expand and enhance your skills, even while in your current job. That may mean you volunteer for projects outside of your typical areas of expertise.

Attend professional development opportunities your employer offers to improve and update your skills. If your employer doesn’t pay for training, you may want to invest in your own career by taking courses or certifications in areas where you have an interest and that you’ve identified as potential growth markets. If you don’t manage your career and future, you are more likely to be left behind when things change and the focus is on people who are flexible and multi-talented.

Closely examine your core, transferable skills. What do your supervisors tend to praise about your work? What skills do you enjoy using, and use well? Don’t ignore the “soft skills,” or emotional intelligence. (For example, are you an exceptional communicator? Do you have a knack for leading teams? Maybe you’re a great negotiator?) Purposefully select your best skills and do some research to identify other fields or jobs where you can use them. Make a habit of self-evaluating regularly, not only when you may want a new job.

Once you have your list, try plugging your skills into job board search engines to see what type of positions come up. Consider using LinkedIn’s new “Skills” feature (find it under the More tab) to help identify types of jobs requiring the skills you have and are developing.

Learn how to market yourself effectively in this new economy. This may be the most important of all these points. The resume is always at the heart of any new job search strategy. It’s up to job seekers to communicate their skills and accomplishments to appeal to target employers. Make a strong case describing why you are the perfect solution to the hiring manager’s problem. For career changers, this can be difficult. The key is to focus the resume more on the future than the past. Avoid jargon specific to previous industries and use language and key words to suit the new employer.

Once you know your key skills and have some ideas of fields to focus on, social media offers tremendous opportunities to steer your career in a new direction. In my book, Social Networking for Career Success (LearningExpress, 2011), I explain how, if you have expertise in a particular topic, but you don’t have paid experience working in that field, you can still market that expertise online, via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. (Google+ is another great resource.) It’s possible to become a go-to expert in a topic and to join a community of thought leaders based only on your skills.

For example, a postal worker who always enjoyed event planning (but has never been paid to plan events) can create a digital profile online, including a social resume (professional website) and presences on all the big social networks to showcase her event planning skills. She can access current thought leaders via these tools – often without requiring an introduction – and she can begin to contribute ideas and resources, thus becoming a member of the community of event planners online. Perhaps earning a certification from a community college would add to her credibility, but if she has the key, underlying skills needed to do this work, and can effectively articulate and communicate her expertise online, she will be well on her way to being able to change careers.

Social media is not a magic wand – users need to have the skills they want to market – but, for those with transferable skills and an eye on a new career, social media can serve as a metaphorical bridge from one career to another.

Another trend in today’s market? Becoming a business of one – hanging a (virtual) shingle and working for yourself. It’s not for everybody, but the same tools allowing you to recreate your professional image online to land a new job can also help you attract your own clients. Don’t ignore research reporting companies are outsourcing instead of hiring people. By creating a strong digital footprint (online presence)– via a professional website (YourName.com), and optimized social media profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+), you will be on your way to embracing – and thriving in – the inevitable new economy we all face.

photo by blackthorne

Consider these networks and how they may play a role in your career plans:

Expand your network via Tokkster. This beta-stage web plug-in allows users to chat with others who are concurrently visiting the same website. Asher Adelman, one of Tokkster’s creators, explains how the organization takes privacy very seriously. “We’ve designed Tokkster so that nobody’s data, browsing history or chats are ever collected, stored, or tracked,” he says. In fact, Tokkster users do not have names or ‘handles.’

Be found via Vizibility.com. When you use Vizibility.com, you can make it easier for people to access the information you want them to see when they search for you online. This is a helpful site for job seekers, and it’s particularly useful if you have a common name. Vizibility’s basic features are free, but the site also offers a paid version with more advanced options. The key is to first have some Google-indexed search results (for example, your LinkedIn profile, Twitter account, media mentions, and/or your own website).

Access new information using StartWire. Chris Forman, CEO of the job search organizer StartWire, says, “Using this free tool, you can find out when your online applications are reviewed by thousands of employers and track your progress. StartWire users share where they have applied by emailing their thanks for applying confirmations to apps@startwire.com.

Demonstrate your expertise with Pinterest. Pinterest has been getting a lot of buzz in the blogosphere. Like other networks (such as Twitter) that are not necessarily designed with professional networking in mind, Pinterest has interesting potential job search applications. Using the site (by invitation only, which you receive after adding your name to a wait list), you can create a virtual pinboard of interests about any topic.

Read the rest of the post (with more information about each network) on my US News & World report blog.

photo by L. Marie

Are you approaching your job hunt without  perspective? If you haven’t looked for work for a while — or, you’ve been looking for work for a long while, but with no success, my guess is you are probably missing some key perspective that could help you succeed. If you look carefully, you can almost tell that there is a barrier all around this fruit…Is there a barrier preventing you from getting the job you want?

Consider these potential speed bumps:

Are you sending a dated or boring resume? Does it come from a Word template? Are you saying “Responsible for….” in every line? Do you have paragraph after paragraph listing stuff you did, and it has nothing to do with what you want to do next? Is it full of useless jargon and buzz words that don’t come with actionable details to prove you are what you say you are? Did you pay any attention to the job description before you applied — does your resume reasonably indicate why and how you are a good match?

Have you Googled your name? What comes up? Do you have a digital doppelganger – someone else with your name who ranks higher than you online? (Unless you are active online or have a very unique name, this is likely.) What are you doing to create content about you online so people will learn about your professional qualifications? Did you consider the fact that you may share a name with a criminal or otherwise be suffering from mistaken identity online? It’s your job to look. And to take action if necessary.

Have you been tagged or labeled in photos or associated with information that will deter your job search plans? Someone I know recently told me the story of a person his company was trying to hire, until a Google search found unflattering (illegal drug related) photos on Facebook. The candidate claimed not to even know about those photos. It’s your job to find out if there is information out there preventing you from landing a job.

Are you doing everything you can to demonstrate you’re up-to-date with modern technology, especially if you are an experienced job seeker? Having a LinkedIn profile is required, at the least. If you are truly savvy, you’ll maintain other appropriate networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+) and demonstrate your expertise online. Having your own professional website (a social resume) could really help you own your name online and create a portfolio of your work.

Are you getting out and meeting people? Are you making an effort to extend your network, in person and online? Have you been meeting people, even if you don’t think they can help you? Are you taking the attitude that anyone — even your son’s soccer coach — may be the key to your next job?

What about your attitude? Are you posting negative status updates every day on Facebook or knocking your last interviewer on Twitter. (Because, “who reads that stuff, anyway?”) If you are, you’re probably making people hesitate to try to recommend you. No one wants to stake his or her reputation on a loose cannon. Don’t be a loose cannon.

When you land an interview, are you ready? Do you know the answer to the question, “Why should we hire you?” If not, you are not likely to get the job. How about, “Tell me about yourself?” (Please, do not start, “Well, I was born in…”) I don’t think you need to memorize answers, but you should be prepared to address key topics, and these are two biggies. If you lose the interviewer with a boring intro, you may blow your chance to advance in the process.

Have you been remembering thank you notes? Do they have typos? Yes, you can stand out from a crowd (positively and negatively) via your follow up. No one is saying someone will hire you only because of your nice thank you note, but in a field of similar candidates, if you are the one who can follow up well, it will probably help.

These are only a few of the items that may be affecting your ability to land a job…If you’ve been looking without luck, maybe it’s time for some perspective. If you are planning a search soon, why wait until you are frustrated and annoyed with the process before you reevaluate? Sometimes, having a little expert advice makes all the difference. At the very least, take a few steps back and really survey what you’re dealing with. If you are looking at a plate of over-sized fruit, be sure you know it!

Consider these questions:

• What do you want to do?
• What do you offer?
• Where do you want to work?
• What are the touch points between you and that target organization? (In other words, why would they want to hire you?)
• How can you leverage social media tools (including ones who may not have considered) to get the word out about your expertise?
• What will you say in your online profiles and other job search materials to help you stand out from the crowd?

Ultimately, it is your job to know what is unique and special about you, and to package it in a way to appeal to your audience.

If it is difficult to decide what to focus on, you should take some time to decide on the right angle — and the right presentation — to showcase your talents.

Take a close look at this picture (above)…It’s a piece of art by El Anatsui hanging in the de Young art museum in San Francisco. Standing in front of it, it’s hard to believe it’s not a cloth quilt. But, look closely: it’s made of aluminum bottle caps and copper wire.

What do your materials look like to employers? If they stand back and evaluate your profiles (including your online information and your application materials), will it look like a beautifully woven quilt, or more like a rag-tag collection of recycled bottle caps?

Maybe you haven’t put much effort into driving your career, and all you HAVE is really a collection of odds and ends — you can’t see an obvious connection between what you have done and what you want to do next.

I think the lesson in El Anatsui’s piece is that you can take what you have and weave it into something special — even if it isn’t obviously spectacular by itself. It may take some work to create a piece of “art” from your materials — maybe you could use some expert advice to be sure you are telling a story that has the power to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

Regardless of how you get there, don’t ignore your presentation. How you look to employers will either land you a job or keep you looking. It’s in your hands!

Changing careers is more a norm today than ever before. However, higher than normal unemployment means there are many more job-seekers applying for each job, and many have exactly the type of skills the employer is seeking. Career changers of all ages have a difficult time proving that they have what it takes to succeed in their targeted positions. Social media can help bridge the gap, as it may help you:

• Find information and trends in your targeted field
• Access experts and potential mentors
• Connect with recruiters and learn about positions

If you think social networking is having a conversation across the picket fence, LinkedIn is the latest video game, Twitter is something that birds or gossips do, and you don’t know a blog from a log, it will be difficult to be an attractive candidate for a job — no matter what your age. It’s not only important to know about these resources, it’s crucial to know how to leverage them for a successful job hunt. Social networking is a relevant and mandatory part of an active, engaged job search — especially for someone attempting to change careers. For baby boomers, using these tools helps demonstrate you are interested in and willing to learn new skills.

Read my colleagues’ replies.

photo by MyDigitalSLR

What’s the problem with this “apply only” strategy (also known as spray and pray)? It puts too much power into other people’s hands. Job seekers who seize control of their searches have a much better chance of landing opportunities than those who spend all of their time looking for open opportunities and applying.

Lisa Rangel is managing director of Chameleon Resumes, contributor to Michelle A. Riklan and David Riklan’s, 101 Great Ways to Enhance Your Career, and author of the ebook, The Do-It-Yourself Branded Resume Kit. As a search firm recruitment leader for over 13 years who partnered with Fortune 500 and boutique firms to source top talent, she sat on the proverbial other side of the desk, hiring people to fill client’s positions. She advises job seekers to take steps to ensure it is easy to find them for the jobs they want. Posting an ad to recruit for an open position is one of the last tactics a recruiter wants to use, Rangel says. Once a position is available online, many recruiters receive a plethora of ill-qualified applicants.

Rangel advises candidates to distinguish themselves from the rest of the applicant pool using these techniques:

Update your LinkedIn headline.

Stay active and update your status via social media sites.

Think about search terms employers will use to find you.

The more friends, the better.

Go where people in your field are.

Be generous; give to get.

Read all the details and “how to do its” at my U.S. News & World Report article.

photo by Marie A.-C.

October 17-18, 2011 at Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA | Learn More & Register
The SHRM-Atlanta HR Conference offers 54 concurrent breakout sessions organized into 7 educational tracks. Sample from all the tracks that interest you, or focus in on just one or two for a more intensive learning experience. (Click through to learn more and to register.)

Concurrent Session Track Descriptions

Business Acumen & Leadership | Two Day Track

These sessions build the business know-how of HR practitioners ranging from the specialist/generalist to the mid-level manager to the seasoned leader. Specialist/generalist and mid-level professionals can select from sessions that develop and enhance their fundamental business “literacy.” Seasoned leaders can learn about the impact of their actions on decision-making and how this in turn affects outcomes at the functional, unit, or corporate level.

Law & Legislation | Two Day Track

Whether in a union or nonunion workplace, HR professionals must understand critical legal issues that affect day-to-day business decisions. These sessions will highlight policies and practices and focus on key employment law issues that affect the way HR professionals conduct business.

Total Rewards | Two Day Track

These sessions will focus on the broad span of topics ranging from the basics to leading edge topics in compensation, benefits and total rewards.

Organizational Evolution | One Day Track

As many organizations grow, change and evolve today, it is increasingly important to strategically manage the lifecycle of the organizational talent. These sessions will showcase trends in recruiting, interviewing, change management initiatives, employee engagement, and generational gaps in the workforce.

Talent Management | Two Day Track

These sessions will help you maximize your focus on talent management including areas ranging from hiring, educating, coaching, development, to succession planning, employee surveys and assessments.

Diversity & Inclusion | One Day Track

This track will focus on the qualities, experiences and work styles that make individuals different yet unique – such as age, race, religion, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, and sexual orientation and how organizations can realize the benefits and leverage those qualities in support of business objectives.

HR Leveraging Technology | Two Day Track

In addition to Technology Row, the Technology Association of Georgia is proud to present the Technology Track for the second year. These sessions discuss how technological tools can impact and improve your business in areas such as networking, HR administration, recruiting, and company communications.

Keep an eye on my blog and Twitter feed next week — hashtag #SHRMATL11

Last week, I joined CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield on the air to share some tips with job seekers. (Stay tuned for a link to the segment.)

Here are some tips to help you change directions if things aren’t going well.

Biggest job seeker mistakes:

• Using the same resume to apply for every job and not personalizing it for employers’ needs. You need to spoon feed your resume to the employer. If you aren’t customizing it, you’re doing the equivalent of feeding a toothless infant a whole apple — she’ll likely use it to play a game of “drop and get.” Ideally, you’ll offer applesauce to a baby, and a resume detailing what you can do to solve the employer’s problems.
• Applying for the wrong jobs. It’s tempting to apply for “just any job.” After all, YOU know you can do anything, right? It’s possible you can, but writing to an employer with a broad statement offering to be interviewed for “any” job is a recipe for disaster. The employer doesn’t know what to do with you and thinks you are desperate. In other words, you don’t hear back.
• Ignoring social media resources or assuming they won’t make a difference. How many job seekers have been looking for work for over a year, but have never even tried using LinkedIn, Twitter or even Facebook to see how social media may help get them out of their job hunting rut? Too many, in my opinion. Using social media well is a big step in the right direction.

 How to best use social media

• Choose the best networks for you – the ones that highlight and show off your skills. For example, if you love to write (and you’re a good writer), a blog might be great for you. If you’re a better talker, consider creating an online radio program. I outline many different social networks in my book, Social Networking for Career Success.
• Completely fill out your profiles using key words – the words people will use to find someone who does your type of work. It’s important to do this well so it’s easier for people who may want to hire someone with your skills to find you.
• Find people online in your field of work. Use the various search tools in the different networks to identify potential contacts. For example, in LinkedIn, use “advanced search” to locate contacts and join groups pertaining to your interests. Use Listorious.com and WeFollow.com to find people with common interests using Twitter.See what they are saying online, respond, add to the conversation. Try to become known as a person who is “in the know,” is friendly and giving. Do not ask for job leads until you establish a relationship. You may be surprised by how generous your new online contacts are!

In my next post, I share “before” and “after” resume samples and provide specific tips to help update your resume.

They reported growth in 17 of 18 industries; only Technology was down a bit (-2.0%). Reported large growth areas: Military (22.7%), Travel (20.9%) and Agriculture (20.0%)

Month-over-month, growth in job openings (based on posted jobs on Simply Hired) were up 3.8% and year-over-year (compared to February 2010), they were up 49.7%.

There are (statistically) 4 people for every 1 job opening nationwide. Top hiring companies nationwide included:

• Home Depot
• HCA
• Securus
• Starbucks
• U.S. Air Force

Top hiring sectors based on jobs listed on Simply Hired included: agriculture, automotive, construction, education, financial services, government, health care, hospitality and legal.

Statistically, the most competitive place to land a job was Miami and Fort Lauderdale, where there are 9 candidates for every one opening. Washington D.C. has one job for every one candidate. (Remember, this is a statistical analysis, which doesn’t necessarily mean you will or will not be able to land an opportunity.)

Daniel Greenberg, CMO, SimplyHired.com, explains how they calculate these ratios and what they mean for job seekers:

SimplyHired.com’s unemployment ratio is calculated by taking the average of the total number of currently unemployed persons in the U.S. (as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) over the total number of job openings listed on SimplyHired.com each month. In February, the unemployment ratio was 4:1 nationally. This means that on average there were four job seekers for every one job opening. What this means for job seekers varies by location, if you’re looking for a job in an area like Miami, the unemployment ratio is actually 9:1, and in Washington, DC the unemployment ratio is an ideal 1:1.

This ratio also includes every job opening, meaning that part-time and contract work is considered – not just full-time jobs. Everything else being equal, job seekers in highly competitive job markets would be well served to relocate to areas that have more favorable job seeker-to-unemployment ratios.”

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If you’re looking for a job — or thinking you need to start using social media to propel your career, my book: Social Networking for Career Success is available on Amazon (at a great discount). Please order now!

photo by Redvers

An interesting point made in the early part of the conference: LinkedIn wants to emphasize itself as a network helpful for job seekers, but not JUST for people looking for jobs. They strive to be a place for people to share insights, build relationships  and update profiles to illustrate expertise and offer information all of the time. I’ve been promoting this concept for years, and it was not surprising to know that being a go-to network for every professional is one of LinkedIn’s goals.

The three objectives they outlined:

1. Be the professional profile of record to help people find and be found, ultimately eliminating the need for the “cold call.”
2. Be a source of professional insights with a focus on making content relevant to readers.
3. “Work where our members work,” in other words, create applications to use via smartphones and on the go in addition to on the Web.

Some of their latest – and newly announced features:

LinkedIn’s InMaps – allow you to visualize your LinkedIn social graph (the people you are connected to and how they connect to each other). You can learn where there are pockets in your networks and consider where you may want to expand your connections, and it’s all via a visual tool. (The picture above is a piece of an InMap. Try it out: http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/.

LinkedIn’s Signal - This has been in beta in September 2010, and today is available for everyone. Find this on your LinkedIn home page or via http://www.linkedin.com/signal. (See picture below — the link is in the bottom, right corner - Search Updates.)

See updates from your immediate or expanded network, or information shared by company or industry, location, time, University, or any combination of those search parameters. This gives you access to updates from people who are not in your network.

This search is sort of similar to searching a hashtag on Twitter, which shows you updates from everyone – not just your network – using that search term. LinkedIn aims to share “professional” updates with you via this tool, but this all depends on how your network or the network you are searching uses LinkedIn. Let’s face it, there are plenty of updates that are not exactly “professional.” I found many by searching only by city. However, in theory, this type of search should clue me in to what professionals in a given city are thinking and sharing. (Searches by industry are more focused and will likely produce useful results.)

LinkedIn Today Beta. Find this at http://www.linkedin.com/today. LinkedIn calls it, “A new product that surfaces the top headlines and stories being shared the most across multiple industries by LinkedIn’s trusted network of more than 90 million professionals.”

They explain, “LinkedIn Today gives members a customized and tailored way to consume the top trending news relevant to a particular industry and by what is being shared the most frequently by those industry’s professionals. It lets members access their professional news through three different lenses – by their connections, industry, and the broader global professional network.”

LinkedIn Today integrates with Twitter and StumbleUpon and other news sources, including Bloomberg.com, Wall Street Journal Digital Network, CNNMoney, and many more. They also integrated this into their iPhone app (version 3.6), which has special features allowing users to quickly access the news they need.

Learn more about this new feature by taking the “tour” offered right below the site’s headline. It’s easy to personalize the experience and save stories so you can track the information you want.

Be sure to take advantage of these useful tools, whether you are looking for a job, have a business, or just know you need to keep up-to-date to stay ahead of the game professionally!

Want to learn all about how you can use social networking to propel your career? My new book, Social Networking for Career Success, is available for pre–order (at a great price). I want to invite you to order now!