Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Have social networking for job search questions? Join me at the Decatur, GA Book Festival

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If you’re in the Atlanta area, you may already be familiar with the Decatur Book Festival. The web site calls it the “largest independent book festival in the country.” I’ve attended for the past several years, and always enjoyed the variety of activities, vendors, authors and information available.

This year, I have a book to sell, and I am delighted to announce I’ll be in the Atlanta-Fulton County Library’s booth (#127) selling Social Networking for Career Success on Saturday from 2 – 4 pm (or later, if I have lots of visitors).

When you buy my book directly from me, I’ll send you a free copy of my Google+ Guide, a $6.95 value!

The library will also have crafts and storytelling for children, library card sign-up and information about what’s going on at their 34 branches

Please stop by to visit, ask questions about how to use social networking for career success and to pick up a copy of my book and Google+ Guide!

Learn more about what’s going on at the Festival on their website, and be sure to stop by the Atlanta-Fulton County Library’s booth on Saturday from 2-4 to meet me!

How can Google+ help with your job hunt?

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Have you been trying out Google+ for your job hunt? It promises to be an important addition to social networking strategies for job seekers, and it’s important to try to keep on top of opportunities to engage and grow your communities and to learn new information via online tools. I believe there are three big reasons to use social media:

  • To expand the number of people you know and who know you.
  • To learn new information pertinent to your field from mentors and thought leaders, and
  • To illustrate your expertise with a community of people who may connect you to opportunities based on learning about you and what you know.

Google+ allows users to accomplish all of these goals in similar ways to other networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn; it very easy to open up pathways to connect with people you’ve never met and to engage in an in-depth conversation. This engagement compares, in many ways, to Twitter, where it is possible to connect, meet, and learn from people you don’t already know, without barriers requiring introductions.

Google+’s value add is the fact that Google controls much of search traffic. Any tie to being “found” online and any boost Google+ may provide gives this new network extra value.

Read my post on Job-Hunt.org for tips to use Google+’s features, including your Google profile, “circles,” “sparks” and “hangouts.” Stay tuned for information about the Career+ Chat, sponsored via the Career Collective (and friends).

Tips to make the most of the “Apply with LinkedIn” button

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LinkedIn recently announced a new option for job seekers and hiring managers, their “Apply with LinkedIn” button. Adam Nash, VP of Product Management for LinkedIn explained the new button is part of LinkedIn’s strategy to:

  • Be the “home” for people’s professional identity. He noted LinkedIn’s focus on helping LinkedIn users put their best foot forward when applying for jobs.
  • Provide insights for users and opportunities to learn from a community, thus making people better at their jobs
  • Be “everywhere,” helping professionals access their networks access information and resources.

Nash noted LinkedIn is a “professional operating system for the web” and an “extension of “professional web,” a designation he believes the new “Apply Now” button solidifies. He explained the button helps package and “bring the power of LinkedIn to anyone.” Whether someone is applying for a job, or hiring for a large or small company, he believes this new tool will help.

Any employer or job seeker (who has a LinkedIn profile) may use the button free of charge. In fact, LinkedIn reports:

 “Thousands of companies have the Apply with LinkedIn plugin accessible on their websites today, including LinkedIn, Netflix, LivingSocial, Photobucket, Concur subsidiary TripIt, Foodspotting, GazeHawk, Munch On Me, and Formative Labs. LinkedIn has also teamed up with key Applicant Tracking System (ATS) partners who have enabled the Apply with LinkedIn plugin for their customers today, including Peoplefluent, Jobvite, SmartRecruiters, Bullhorn, and Jobscience.”

“How people hire hasn’t really changed in 15 years,” Nash said. He explained that today, we have an opportunity to know who the people hiring are and to identify whom they know. “Business software needs to acknowledge those relationships,” he said. Distinguishing it from other online applications, LinkedIn’s button offers anyone using it information about how they are linked to the person posting the job and/or the organization, whether or not the job is posted in LinkedIn.

Most job seekers would agree the opportunity to immediately know if they are connected via their LinkedIn networks to the hiring manager or someone in the target company is a great resource. However, easy isn’t always the best approach for job seekers. While this solution eliminates those pesky hoops job seekers usually need to jump through to apply for work, to best take advantage of the opportunity to apply using “Apply Now,” it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

Read the rest of my tips on my post on in U.S. News & World Report.

Your job search questions answered!

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UPDATE: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT and RTs of this post and for spreading the word to your communities. Due to the death of my father this weekend, we will be postponing the launch of this chat until next week. We will re-post and advertise it when we’re ready to get going.

I’m taking a bit of a break from blogging and social media posting to concentrate on remembering my dad and focusing on family matters. I appreciate your kind support in this difficult time. My social networking community is a big part of my life in good times, and I am lucky to be able to appreciate your thoughts in tough times, too.

I’ve been thinking about how to bring the great aspects of Twitter chats into Google+, and you’re invited to join in the fun!

I’m a big fan of Twitter chats. My favorite, and one I try to participate in regularly is #jobhuntchat, Monday nights at 10 ET. It’s moderated by Rich DeMatteo, @cornonthejob and Jessica Miller-Merrill, @blogging4jobs  If you’re familiar with Twitter chats, they are somewhat informal opportunities to engage with people you know — and meet new contacts, colleagues and experts.

I’m excited to announce my Career Collective co-leader, Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter and I will be launching an interactive Q & A we are calling Career+ Convo on Google+ in conjunction with several Career Collective members and other experts whom we’ll invite to join us. The plan is to meet on Wednesday nights, 9-9:30 pm ET on a G+ page. We’ll post questions (you can send them to me in advance) and you’ll have instant answers from us and any of our colleagues and expert friends who hop on!

We hope you’ll join us for this experiment, which will provide job seekers:

  • Answers to your “need to know now” questions.
  • Connection points with other job seekers on G+.
  • Introductions to career experts (coaches, recruiters, HR experts, etc.) who may be answering questions. This will help you add some experts to your “circles” so you can keep up-to-date on trends and resources.

This week, the chat will be happening on my Google+ homepage. You can click that link or search for “Miriam Salpeter” on Google+ to find the conversation.

Consider checking out the Chrome extension for Google+ to help make it easier to follow the conversation.

To summarize –

YOU ARE INVITED TO THE FIRST CAREER+ CONVO

When: Wednesday, August 3rd, 9 – 9:30 pm Eastern Time

Where: On my Google+ page. Or, just search for “Miriam Salpeter” in Google+ to find where we’ll be.

What you need: A Google+ profile and a willingness to try something new

Please comment to let us know if you’ll be joining, whether you are an expert or a job seeker! Looking forward to trying this out with all of you! Please let your social media communities know about Career+ Convo.

Google+ icon by Samuel McQueen

Via Mashable

How to write a great Google profile

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If you have an ear to the online sphere, you know Google+, Google’s newest social platform, is all the rage. While Google+ is still in “invitation only” mode, early results indicate it could be a keeper. The Wall Street Journal estimates Google+ had 20 million visitors in three weeks. (Google itself declines to comment, and leaders are cagey when asked for specifics.)

Many early adopters are excitedly proclaiming the new network a replacement for everything from LinkedIn to Twitter and Facebook. No one knows how things will shake out in the social networking sphere, but there is no doubt Google+ heightens the importance of your Google profile. If you use Google for search and have a profile already, you may have noticed Google providing search results “from people you know.” Current Google search results may include links (even on page one) identified as being shared by your community. (Assuming your contacts share links regarding the topics you search. They pass along these links by giving articles +1, Google’s version of a Facebook “like.”)

All of this serves to make a profile you probably created casually much more important. If you use Gmail or other Google services, you likely already have a Google profile. Now is a good time to re-visit what you included to be sure to get the most from Google’s new social scene.

Read the rest of the post on my U.S. News & World Report column.

photo by the trial