Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

How LinkedIn can help you find a job or a gig

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I’ve been writing regularly on my book’s site, Social Networking for Career Success, sharing some tips and highlights included in the book and thanking the many contributors who share their advice and expertise in the manuscript.

I believe LinkedIn is the first social network all job seekers and entrepreneurs should use and master.

Here are links to recent posts about LinkedIn on my book’s site:

Craig Fisher, who provided some LinkedIn tips about using keywords in chapter 5, allowed me to highlight advice from one of his recent blogs about using LinkedIn.

Tim Tyrell-Smith, manager of a LinkedIn Success Story group, and Timothy Puyleart, who runs a very successful, niche LinkedIn group, offered excellent advice about the advantages and challenges of creating LinkedIn groups. Learn more in the post highlighting LinkedIn groups.

Stay tuned for more links to posts with social networking advice thanking contributors to Social Networking for Career Success. Take a look at the entire list of contributors and links to their blogs and Twitter accounts.

photo from LinkedIn Press Center

My book!

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Have you heard? My book, Social Networking for Career Success, is available for pre-sale! I’m so excited to finally be able to share this book with you. It includes my advice and insights regarding how to use all the biggies: LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for job hunting and business use, as well as tips about networks you may not have considered.

The best part? Over 100 of my colleagues (most of whom I met via Twitter and blogging) provided their thoughts and expertise. Recruiters, social media pros, career coaches — you name it, their advice is included. Take a look at this list of amazing contributors!

I’ve recently launched the book’s site, and have started sharing some blog posts there. I hope you’ll take a look, and please pre-order the book for yourself or a friend!

Jobseekers: don’t overlook the power of your words

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As an avid social media user, I can be a bit cynical. It takes a lot to make me say “WOW” or to convince me to want to share a video here on my blog. (Mostly because I prefer to read things myself instead of click through to a video.) However, today, I saw a tweet from @CareerDiva, Eve Tahmincioglu. She said:

made me cry/see why RT @TheBloggess [she shared a link here – I share it below] The power of words.

(You can find The Bloggess online as well!)

Since I trust Eve, I clicked through to the video, said, “WOW” and decided to share it here so you can all think about the power of words.

Most of you come here because you’re looking for a job. But, have you thought about the power of your WORDS, and how they can help you land that job? Watch this video. I hope it makes you think — not only about the obvious things, but about how you can take control of your situation and adjust your approach to reach a different outcome. Let me know what you think. Does this video make you say, “Wow?”

photo by Calamity Meg

How to show multiple career goals on LinkedIn

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Today, my friend Hannah Morgan, @careersherpa, shared a link to a Quora question about LinkedIn. It asks, “How do you show multiple career objectives on LinkedIn?”

This is my reply…What do you think?

This is a difficult proposition, since LinkedIn forces you to select one industry and it isn’t set up to highlight multiple career objectives. Additionally, if your target jobs are too diverse, you risk confusing the reader about your goals. If the job types are similar enough, it makes sense to share your flexibility in the summary section, using a story illustrating your abilities in more than one area. Be sure to highlight how your skills and accomplishments quality you for each type of job.

Other suggestions:

  • Have recommendations covering all of your career goals, from people who know your abilities in different areas and can address your skills in each.
  • Manage your own website, which gives you a lot more flexibility to highlight and showcase your various areas of expertise than LinkedIn provides! (Take a look at www.getasocialresume.com for one option to create your own “social resume.”)

Learn more about Quora and how you may use it as a way to help propel your career!

Answer the question on Quora and please add your ideas to the comments below!

For more about how to use social media tools to propel your career goals, please consider pre-ordering my book, Social Networking for Career Success.

photo by Horia Varlan

Celebrating Kindness Day – How to help a job seeker

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Today, my colleague Phyllis Mufson invited me to participate in “Kindness Day.” Via her blog, she suggests perpetrating kindness via Twitter by doing and tweeting acts of kindness, using the hashtag (search tag) #Kindness.

Writing about job search and interacting regularly with job seekers, I thought it made sense to also contribute a brief blog with tips about how to be kind to job seekers. It’s very easy to make half-hearted offers to help someone in the midst of a job search. Everyone has made one of these offers in one way or another: “Let me know what I can do to help.” Or, “I’m happy to help, just let me know what you need.”

It’s easy to say, but unlikely to encourage the job seeker to follow through. We all know it’s difficult to ask for help — job seekers are no more likely to follow up with your offer than someone with a broken leg you tell to “let me know what I can do.” We’re all self-sufficient and don’t like to accept assistance.

What’s a better suggestion, in honor of Celebrating Kindness Day? Just do something nice! Here are some suggestions that came to mind.

  • Invite a job seeking friend to meet for coffee with a contact who might be able to help him or her connect with a company of interest.
  • Ask the job seeker what companies interest him or her. Review your own network; if there is a good contact, invite both to meet for lunch and facilitate an in-person introduction.
  • If you’re attending an event that could be useful for your job seeking friend, invite him or her to go with you and make a point facilitate targeted introductions.
  • If you’re a close friend, offer to do something nice personally — offer to babysit, so the job seeker can have some time alone – for job hunting activities or just to relax.
  • Keep an eye out for useful information that could assist the job seeker, and pass it along. If you hear of well-suited opportunities, offer to forward a resume and actually make an effort to connect the job seeker with the opportunity.
  • Peruse your own social networks — your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook connections — for possible good contacts for the job seeker. Do everything you can to facilitate their connection.
  • Keep an eye open via your own networks about resources such as Hiring for Hope/Job Angels — where volunteers offer to assist job seekers.

What other ideas do you have? What have you done to help a job seeker? If you ARE a job seeker, what’s the best thing someone could do for you? Also share tips of what is NOT kind — or not helpful — for job seekers.

Thanks to this group of Twitter users for co-hosting Celebrating #Kindness Day! Be sure to follow them and tweet some kindness today with the #Kindness hashtag!

Kim Wells @kwells2416 http://Twitter.com/kwells2416
Susan Smith @togetherwf http://Twitter.com/togetherwf
Dave Carpenter @Dave_Carpenter http://Twitter.com/Dave_Carpenter
Sarah Hodsdon @Sarahndipitous http://Twitter.com/Sarahndipitous
Georgia Feiste @feistycoach http://Twitter.com/feistycoach
Jacob Share @jacobshare http://Twitter.com/jacobshare
Melissa Cooley @TheJobQuest http://Twitter.com/TheJobQuest
Phyllis Mufson @PhyllisMufson http://twitter.com/phyllismufson

photo by the_moment