Posts Tagged ‘twitter’

Do you have job search fatigue

Job Search Fatigue.  What is it?  If you find yourself identifying with any of the following statements,  you might have it:

“I’m tired, I give up, I’m sick of job hunting.”  ”I couldn’t possibly apply for one more job.”   “If I have to spend 45 minutes filling out yet another online job application, I’ll scream.”  ”I’ve talked to that recruiter twice, and he never called me back to let me know what happened.” “I’ve passed out so many business cards at networking events, my hands hurt.”  ”I’ve attended so many professional associations in the past two months, I’m practically broke.” “If feel as if my resume’s been lost in a black hole, I never hear back”.

Job search fatigue is real.  In fact, it’s a job hunt killer.  Job search fatigue can not only slow you down, it can murder your morale.  If you’ve been looking for a job for more than 3 to 6 months, you’ve probably grown weary of the job hunt.  If you’ve been looking for a job for a year or longer, you’re probably exhausted.  Some job seekers get so fatigued from the search they give up, retreat, or distract themselves with other activities that keep them from getting the job they want.  One thing’s for sure, job search fatigue is real.  How do you combat it?  How can you transform your discouragement into encouragement?  Where can you replenish your well-spring of support?  That is precisely what we are going to discuss on HFChat this Friday.  Please join us 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Pacific, 11-12 Central and Noon-1 Eastern time.  All you have to do is logon to Twitter, and follow the hashtag #HFChat.   Here are this week’s questions.  Think about these questions, and bring your own.

1. What are the common symptoms of job search fatigue?
2. How can you overcome job search fatigue?
3. Where can you go for help?
4. What can you do to prevent job search fatigue?

These questions will certainly bring up a lot of feelings, and opinions from job seekers, and career professionals alike.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Please bring your questions.  I’ll be hosting this week.  As the Founder of HireFriday, and HFChat I look forward to being of service to you and our entire community.  We’ve had some amazing guest hosts this year from a variety of disciplines.  Next year promises to be even better.  You are what makes HFChat special.  Won’t you please join us, and tell your friends?

Thanks so much!

HRMargo

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Be The Life Of The Party, Not The "Talk" Of The Party

It’s December.  You are looking for a job.  Are you thinking about the most creative, and interesting ways to find one?  Have you considered jump starting your job search by launching a high profile professional presence on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn?  Listen job seekers, if you are a member of our HireFriday Community, participate in HFChat, this is no time to be shy.  It’s ok to toot your horn. In fact, I implore you to toot it so loud that everyone hears you…you can do this without being noisy. In fact you can be quite slick in how you present yourself at holiday parties, networking events, coffee shops, informational interviews, meetings, and professional association events.  You can, and should participate in Twitter chats. This is an excellent way to get noticed, and found by recruiters, and companies.    You don’t have to be an extrovert to be creative your job search campaign. Introverts are very successful with their online presence because they have the safety of the computer screen to shield them from over stimulation.  You have to ask yourself one critical question: How and where do you recharge your inner battery, and where can you make the biggest splash.

Here’s my top 5 tips for staying on top of your game:

1. Secure speaking engagements for the coming year with the organizations to which you belong: This is a cool way to get your name out there in your industry, and get some personal brand recognition. Public speaking is a brilliant way to position yourself in the market place, and can be a great way to receive the recognition you deserve.
2. Create a list of questions in advance targeted toward the people you want to meet. Make these questions industry specific, and relevant to the person you want to meet. People like to talk about themselves.
3. Ask questions: come prepared with a few conversation starters in case you find yourself suddenly scared, or feeling insecure: It happens to the best of us, we are in a crowd of people we don’t know at a holiday party, and suddenly we are overcome with the jitters.  You can overcome this by finding out in advance who is going to be at the party.  Run a Google search on the people you want to meet. Find out about their background, interests and accomplishments.
4. Don’t drink too much at holiday parties, or events: You never know who has a camera, or whether or not an unflattering picture will wind up on Facebook, or Twitter. Beware of people who can be “brand killers.”
5. Be the smart one at the party, not the life of the party. There’s a time and place for everything.  If you love working the room, by all means do so, particularly if that’s one of your skills.  However, don’t be the goon who dances like a fool, or worse who thinks s/he looks good while dancing.  If you don’t know how you look when you dance, be sure to check it out before it winds up on YouTube without you even knowing it.  There’s good publicity and bad publicity.

You are not Brett Michaels, Sorry. He Can Get Away With It, You Can't.

When you are looking for a job, you have to be the guardian of your image, and online reputation. No one will take better care of you than you.  So be sure you are the smart one at the party.  Make sure that don’t do or say anything that will offend or embarrass your boss.  If you are passively looking for a job while employed, that’s incredibly important.  The last thing you want is to find yourself fired before you are ready to leave.  If you are unemployed, and in an active pursuit of a job, the holidays are a monumental opportunity to find and secure a position…or at the very least get on the short list for the position you want when it comes open.

Tomorrow, I will continue the series with more secret sauce…job search tips…and encouragement.  Encouragement, is perhaps what we need most when job hunting, so hang in there.

Your job search pal,

@HRMargo

Margo Rose

Hey are we connected on LinkedIn?  Mention HireFriday in your invitation, and I will gladly accept http://linkedin.com/in/margorose

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Social Media: Go Big, Or Go Home

If you aren’t using every single social network platform directly related to your industry, occupation, and brand you are missing an important opportunity.

It is incumbent upon you, and your organization to secure the maximum penetration of your vertical market.  If you don’t know how to do this, or if you don’t have the band-width, consider outsourcing that work to an individual, or consultancy that does.

Go big, or go home. If you can’t make every attempt to go viral, and swirl like a whirling dervish around the internet, you might not be spending your time efficiently.

Even fish in small ponds can make a splash.  Take me for example, The HireFriday Facebook Page, and LinkedIn Group.  That group only has 1,040 members.  Their Facebook page only has 876 likes, but why does this small community make such a huge impact world-wide?  Because they being working with the individual (they think global and act local).

Margaret Mead suggested that we should never doubt a small group of committed volunteers.  They can change the world, and indeed they already have.  Small grass roots groups get traction, and leverage influence by gaining instant access to thought leaders.

They can still go big, and when they go home, they do so with a smile on their face.   Making money is important.  Businesses are not charities, they exist to make a profit, but with that said, they can be profitable, and still be charitable.

The huge brands have the resources to buy influence, and traffic.  The most successful brands however, engage in strategic philanthropy, service learning, and steward leadership.  They know that their teams are stronger when they volunteer.  They know that volunteering creates better communication.  They realize that employee retention increases when employees know that they are a part of a larger mission.  They are connected to the organization’s vision, and mission.  You can’t buy loyalty, but you can sure earn it.

So go big, or go home?  Maybe we should reframe it: go big, and go home.  Enjoy the quality of your life, love your family, and be as concerned with making a difference as you do a living.

Your moment of social media goodness by,

Social Media Margo

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This week’s guest host for #HFChat is Dave Ryan, SPHR is the Director of Human Resources for Mel-O-Cream Donuts International in Springfield, IL. He has been in HR since it was Personnel.  Dave is also Director of Social Media, and Chief Blogger for the Illinois State Council of SHRM. On his blog site, HROfficial Dave talks about his role in HR and his role as USA Hockey Certified Referee. Dave has two sons and a wife of 32 years.  Dave is active in Social Media, SHRM, and Ice Hockey and loves all things electronic. You can find him on Twitter asDaveTheHRCzar, Linkedin and Facebook. Here is his topic:

Hire Friday is an event that has been around for a long time, at least in the twittersphere. If you have been out here in the HR space you would know this. The genesis of show is based in “good,” and is the brain child of HRMargo.

I have been friends with Cyndy Trivella for quite some time. We interact on twitter frequently. Well recently, she asked me if I would Guest Host a chat session.  I was flattered, honored and flabbergasted all at the same time, but without question happily agreed to do so.

So part of my responsibility as the host is to frame the discussion with a concept and five questions to drive the discussion.  The concept is gaining employment in a small to medium size organization, compare to large organizations.  So here are the set-ups and the questions.

Just like gaining employment in a larger organization, finding a cultural fit with the organization is crucial.

1.) How do you learn about the culture of a small privately-held Company?

Smaller organizations may be more difficult to get specific information about products or services, however if you have some mastery about the Companies offerings you will appear to have a leg up on other candidates.

2.) Where do you go to get good insight on a small Company’s product or service line?

Smaller Companies often times do not have the resources (dollars) allocated for research, marketing or other project.  In an interview you might be asked to solve a $500,000 problem with a $5000 budget.  This often involves technology or equipment.

3).Do you have a story of effective and cost effective problem-solving which might intrigue a small Company recruiter?

While most of us HR veterans know that nepotism is not a good thing, you should be prepared to see it in a smaller Company.

4.) Working in a small Company, how can you prepare yourself for dealing with management decisions involving nepotism?

We have talked about many of the down sides of smaller employers.  There are also many opportunities that a smaller Company would afford an employee that a larger Company could offer.

5.) What type of opportunities might you get in a smaller Company that you might not get in a Fortune 500 Company?

Ok so there is the discussion for Black Friday #HFchat. I hope to see you on the tweet stream.  – Dave “theHRCzar” Ryan

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