Hiring for Hope is the home of the Job Angels movement founded by Mark Stelzner of Inflexion Advisors. Job Angels’ premise was that each member would commit to a single goal: helping just one person find gainful employment. This simple and effective career management program has already helped nearly 2,500 people find gainful employment.

With the help of about 130 volunteers, Hiring for Hope focuses on empowering more than 55,000 members with the ability to build and maintain economically-viable and sustainable lives and families.

Tegan Acree, Founder and President of Hiring for Hope, has nearly 15 years of experience as a senior human resources, training, and staffing industry executive managing multiple locations and resources nationally. Overseeing an organization serving over 55,000 job seekers, she is uniquely positioned to comment on job market and job seeker trends.

Read her thoughts on my U.S. News & World Report blog.

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Beyond the resume and typical job search materials, I believe using social media tools can really help build a career changerâ€s bridge to a new occupation or vocation. In my book, Social Networking for Career Success, I explain how social media may help career changers who naturally have a difficult time proving they have what they need to succeed in the next job: How? It solves several problems:

• It allows you to extend your network to meet people you otherwise would never encounter. Statistics show how important introductions and “warm leads” are to job seekers. Companies value referrals from within their organizations, and meeting new people you would not otherwise know via online interactions provides more potential for referrals. (Moving those social networking interactions to in-person or telephone conversations is a good next step.)
• You have easy access to information and resources about your targeted profession. I like to think of social networks as offering a constant opportunity to learn what people in the field and thinking, saying, writing and sharing. Twitter is particularly useful in this regard. In the book, I describe how itâ€s possible to follow content from conferences you donâ€t attend in person via hashtags, and share tips from Mark Stelzner, of Inflexion Advisors, for live tweeting a conference. If you find and follow people like Mark in your field, you may be able to grasp the key problems your new targeted industry is grappling with, without leaving your home and without spending a dime! (I elaborate on all the details in the book for HOW to find and follow the right community online.)
• Social media allows you to demonstrate your newfound expertise, engage in your targeted community, and make a name for yourself in your new industry. Social media canâ€t MAKE you an expert, but if you have what it takes to excel in your new field, you should be able to demonstrate it online. Show that you know whatâ€s going on, suggest solutions based on your expertise in other industries or fields and be someone who contributes to the conversation in your targeted field.
• Your lack of actual experience in the field may become less important once potential colleagues view you as an active contributor. If youâ€re good at sharing what you learn and know, the connections you gain and their willingness to promote you as a contributor will outweigh your actual lack of industry, paid work experience as a factor. (It wonâ€t totally erase it, but it goes a long way to helping you get where you want to go.)
• Being familiar with social media tools may be just the unique skill you need to help you land a job. Social media isnâ€t going away. Having an online profile, a Twitter feed and/or using LinkedIn to connect with prospective colleagues helps show you are staying ahead of the curve regarding technology. In and of itself, that may help you exceed another qualified candidateâ€s credentials.

In the book, I share career change success stories from several contributors, including:

• Alexis Grant (@alexisgrant), social media coach and owner of Socialexis, who is now Careers editor for U.S. News & World Report.
• Jessica Lewis, who transitioned to a non-profit career after 10 years in a different field.
• Kate-Madonna Hindes (known online as @girlmeetsgeek), who used blogging and Twitter to launch an entirely new career as a social marketer and career columnist. (She notes, “Social media changed my life.)

Don’t let the competitive market discourage you from making a change. Dive into social media — I hope you’ll take a look at my book to teach you how to get on the right path — and you may be surprised by the results! Be sure to learn more about my book, Social Networking for Career Success, as I teach you how to use all the social networks you know about — and some you haven’t even considered — and Amazon has it for a great price!

photo by vistavision

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Career columnists like Anita Bruzzese (USAToday), Sarah Needleman (Wall Street Journal), Vickie Elmer (Washington Post) and Alison Doyle (About.com).

Recruiters, including Heather McGough (Microsoft), Jeremy Langhans (Starbucks), Richard Cho (Facebook) and Susan Strayer (Marriott Intl)

Authors, such as Alexandra Levit and Jonathan Fields.

Coaches, including Paula Caligiuri (professional career counselor), Alison Green (career advisor with non-profit expertise), Jason Seiden (executive coach) and Jennifer McClure (business process coach). I will cover resumes and job search/social media coaching in my session!

Plus, Mary Ellen Slayter (career advisor and senior editor, SmartBrief), Ryan Paugh (Community Manager for Brazen Careerist) and Susan Joyce (Job-Hunt.org Job Search Expert).

The site explains:

You buy one ticket and you have access to 13 sessions covering all aspects of job seeking and career management. The difference is you have control – you can access the information live, or whenever you like, since it’s all online and archived. Live sessions run between October 26th through November 17th. General sessions will be held every Wednesday, between 3 and 6PM ET.

You get invitations to all of our career expert sessions which you attend online. If you miss anything, log in to your account and access the session archives. We will record everything so you will have unlimited access to the classes. You can go back and listen at your convenience.

Why THIS summit? Because it’s the one-stop shop for the most relevant career expertise in the market today. There is a lot of “career expertise” floating around out there. We used a tough and cynical eye to handpick the experts we thought were most helpful and actionable – given today’s economy, given today’s social networking environment, and given what’s coming next. Check out our agenda to see what we’re talking about.

Sounds good? You really can’t lose, especially with early-bird pricing. You get all of this, plus bonus materials and a chance to win a career makeover for only $99 if you sign up soon!

Learn more by CLICKING HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

The post Looking for a job? The Career Summit is for you! appeared first on Keppie Careers.

Luckily, Laurie Ruettimann, co-founder (with Mark Stelzner and Yasha Morehouse Stelzner) of New Media Services, live tweeted our talk. The tweets are below…I hope there is a tidbit or new piece of information you have not considered. (Note – to read everything in order, start at the bottom and work your way up! These are in reverse chronological order.)

The next free Voice of Careers webinar  is Networking With A Purpose Via Social Media on September 15th!

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Social Media for Job Seekers: A Career Coaches Panel

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Noon EST | 9:00 am PST

If you believe the hype, it would seem that all you need to do is turn on your computer, log into your favorite social media account and your dream job will be waiting for you. For many of you, reality is much different, as social media for job seeking is something you have yet to meaningfully pursue. Our distinguished panel of experts will help you separate fact from fiction and embrace social media as one of many tools in your career arsenal. We will address common questions, including:

• How do I prepare for a social media job search?
• How can I avoid common mistakes?
• Which tools are right for me?
• What should I share publicly?
• Will this actually work?

Moderated by JobAngels founder Mark Stelzner, our panel will answer these questions and more, including an opportunity for you to pose your own questions directly to our experts. Please welcome coaches Miriam Salpeter, Dawn Bugni and Shahrzad Arasteh as they join Mark for a taste of what these new and exciting tools have to offer. And if you’re on Twitter already, follow our hashtag #voc10 to participate in real-time with your fellow attendees. This is sure to be a popular event so sign up today!

illustration by Matt Hamm

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“It is the one certainty in today’s environment – change is inevitable. Dynamic market conditions necessitate the timely and continuous deployment of thoughtful strategies and approaches.”

It doesn’t surprise me that these sentiments lead Mark Stelzner’s business site.
If you haven’t heard of Mark, you’ll be interested to know that he is a human resources consultant who, while pondering the excessive number of layoffs and out-of-work people who could benefit from resources and support, sent out a tweet that started a fast-growing, timely and thoughtful movement to help job seekers!

The tweet:

Apparently, his followers, including many recruiters, were game! The resulting business, JobAngels, has become a viral Twitter phenomenon, growing to over 1,700 followers in just a few short weeks and nearing 3,000 across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn since Mark’s initial message on January 29th. JobAngels now boasts a website (in development) that Mark refers to as the theoretical prodigy of Match.com and LinkedIn. More specifically, he said “If Match.com and LinkedIn had a child, this is what it would look like.”

I recently had a chance to speak to Charee Klimek, Chief Marketing Officer, COO and Guardian Angel. She originally became acquainted with Mark via Twitter, as did the rest of the core organizing team: Deirdre Honner, Chief Connection Officer and Guardian Angel and Chris Bailey, Chief Technical Officer and Community Manager. Charee marveled at how individuals in the community embraced the movement aimed at bringing like-minded people together for the common goal of helping just one person find a job.

Charee explained that JobAngels is working on becoming registered as a non-profit organization whose mission, vision and values will align with the generous outpouring of support this movement has engendered. JobAngels plans to maintain the “high-touch, high-tech” presence they have fostered and maintained since Mark’s original tweet. The organizing “Angels” (all volunteering their time) hope that their efforts to grow and strengthen this movement will serve as “sandbags” helping to stave off the flood of unemployment, one person at a time.

What do you need to know to get involved? If you are interested in helping to network or able to hire someone, simply follow @jobangels on Twitter or join their LinkedIn or Facebook communities and alert them that you are willing to be an ‘Angel.’ If you are looking for a job, feel free to DM @JobAngels with your location and the type of position you seek; they will broadcast your request for an Angel using #jobangels. You’ll also want to follow the hashtag: #jobangels to keep up with the stream of information on Twitter.

I have already experienced the amazing reach of this network myself! I tweeted a request for a client, a photographer in Georgia, and almost immediately heard back from a contact in Chicago who offered to try to help! Amazing!

Charee noted that the Guardian Angels believe that “every bit of help from an Angel, no matter how small, sets the foundation for a successful career search.” JobAngels seeks success stories as a result of this nascent movement. If you have a story to share, they ask that you send it to stories@jobangels.org.

As hundreds of people roll up their sleeves to help – and job seekers recognize the value of “loose” networking connections – it’s only a matter of time before the stories start coming in!

Need help with your search? Assistance using Twitter and other social networking platforms to fuel your search? Contact me – I can help!

 

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