Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

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.

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

 

How to make it easier to find you – in Google+ and via Google profiles

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You’re starting to think Google+ may be a good use of your social networking time? If you read Kelly Dingee’s post on Fistful of Talent about why she’s excited about using Google+ and Google profiles for recruiting, you should be!

One of the big reasons to use social media is to help you find people you want to know. I wrote about how to find people on Google+. Be sure to take a look at my post, because it gives you the tools to figure out the next important piece of the social networking puzzle: How to BE found!

Your Google profile (which you probably own but don’t pay much attention) is important. If you’re not already on Google+, you can find your profile via Google profiles: http://www.google.com/profiles.

If you are already on Google+, you can start to test out how easy (or difficult) it is to find you via your profile by searching the various tools I listed in the “how to find people on Google+ post.”Think of the keywords you want people to use to find you. Are you a graphic artist working mostly in Atlanta?  Search, {“graphic artist” and “Atlanta”}. How many pages does it take to find your profile?

Identify the keywords you want people to use to find you. (Follow that link for advice about how.) Maybe your location is not important, but the fact you design custom Facebook pages? Decide your KEY keywords.

NOW – pack your Google profile with those words. Similar to LinkedIn, where it is easier to find you if you include keywords in your titles, descriptions, skills, etc., it appears Google will index you higher in search if your profile is packed with your keywords. List all of your titles. Include professional associations. List anything including keywords in your profile.

A trick?

Google doesn’t offer a “keywords” section to “tag” yourself in the profile, which would be similar to LinkedIn’s “specialties” section, where it is appropriate to list words and phrases relevant to you. Why not add one in?

In your “Introduction” section, add KEYWORDS: and then fill in all the words and phrases you think will help people find you in search. I did it, and it immediately impacted my search results in Google+. Take a look at my profile.

Try a “before” and “after” search to see if your rankings improve. Let me know how it works for you!

photo by Auntie P

How to find people on Google+

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You may already know the Web is buzzing with information and insights about Google+, Google’s new social network. Reasons to use social networking for business or job search include:

1) To expand the number of people you know and who know you. To find and to be found!

2) To learn new information pertinent to your field from mentors and thought leaders.

3) To illustrate your expertise with a community of people who may connect you to opportunities based on learning about you and what you know.

It seems clear Google+ offers a lot (and a lot of potential) to satisfy these needs.

Today, I wanted to share some advice about how to address #1: How to find people on Google+

Recruiters in the social sphere are already buzzing about using Google+ profiles to find and source applicants. It’s important to know how they are looking and to make your profile as searchable as possible. Google doesn’t share its search algorithms, but there seem to be ways to make it easier for people to find you.

How are people searching?

I do not profess to be an expert at Boolean search. Luckily, I know how to find the people who are! If you’re not familiar with Boolean search, it’s a way to create (usually) complex strings of search requirements in order to find the exact results you want. For example, you can write a Boolean string to find engineers who graduated from a particular school. Depending on how complex the search, it may find engineers with a school name in their title, or only those who actually listed they “graduated” from the school. It’s possible to write a search to find people who work in a particular company, or those with a particular job title.

Kelly Dingee wrote a terrific post on Fistful of Talent about why she’s excited about using Google+ for recruiting. (Be sure to read her post; it may convince you to at least create a great profile and hop on board!) In addition to her ideas information about how she plans to use Google+ and Google profiles for search, Kelly provides what she calls a “simple” search string (to use directly in Google) to find an engineer in Google+:

site:plus.google.com google engineer

Irena Shamaeva wrote a great post about how to search Google+ profiles. Irena links to two searches I think are particularly useful for job seekers. Her first link is to search for people on Google+. This brings you to a page inside Google itself, set up to let you search within Google+ profiles. Search for anything you want to find here. Maybe you’ll be looking for expert career and social media advice? Search {“career coach” and “social media”}. Or, even, {career coach, social media}. You’re looking for someone who works in a particular company? The link brings you to “work at Google.” You can search for “work at” any company!

Hopefully, you are recognizing the opportunities to find people on Google+. As the number of people who sign on grows, the opportunities to find, learn from and connect to people will also grow.

Some additional, useful resources for finding people:

@recruiterdotcom details search strings and how to write them in their post. They also wrote a post about how to find people on Google+. They suggest two new tools to try, which seem similar in results to the link above, but are created outside of Google:

If you’re already using Google+, you may be familiar with “hangouts.” Recruiter.com also highlights a website called gphangouts.com aggregates all the public hangouts on the social network. It includes “recent” and search functions too.

Wait – you want to start from the beginning – what’s Google+? Read this post to get started learning what you need to know.

Stay tuned for more information about Google+. Please consider including me in your “Career Advice” circle. (No one has access to what your circles are named!) Find me in Google+ HERE.

photo by gwen