Jonathan Duarte – Social Media meets Job Search

If you’re one of the 15 Million Americans out of work, chances are you’re first New Year’s Resolution might be “Get a Job!”.

In a must read, Free Ebook, from Polly Pearson and the recruiting team at EMC, 100 Tips from Fortune 500 recruiters, outline the their top job seeker tips and top mistakes they see job seekers making.

In the Ebook, 10 EMC recruiters listed their tips to each of the questions.

I did a little work to summarize the responses into some “Top Tips”, based on the number of times a tip or similar tip was repeated by a recruiter. A summary is below:

Top Job Seeker Tips
# 1 Job seeker tip- Networking!
9 out of the 10 recruiters stated that networking, in it’s different forms, was one of their top tips for job seekers. Networking came in multiple flavors from traditional networking on online and social networking, to using sites like LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter.

# 2 job seeker tip – Being Prepared!
8 out of 10 recruiters stated this as being one of their top tips. When the recruiters stated “being prepared”, this included things like having researched the company before the interview, being prepared for the interview (ie, having practiced the most common interview questions), and showing an interest in the company by coming prepared with and asking questions about the company, the department, and the job, in the interview. This of course dove tailed into the following:

Biggest Job Seeker Mistakes -“Not being prepared in the interview”
Based on the above, its’ easy to understand why 10 of 10 recruiters mentioned being prepared as one of the biggest job seeker mistakes. Being prepared also included understanding how to interview, and having a clear objective or reason why you are interviewing for the position.

Word to the Wise… If you want to stand out in the interview, it’s really easy… Be Prepared! (I guess the old Boy Scouts motto is sill relevant!)

Recruiters Favorite “Sources of Hires” – Referrals and Social Networks.
Again, unanimous, 10 of 10 recruiters stated that Referrals or Social Networks were listed in the top tips from each of the recruiters. The favorite sources included everything from job fairs, employee referrals, college career centers, job boards, social networking sites, like LinkedIn, FaceBook and Twitter., etc. What’s interesting and important to note is that job boards were only mentioned in the 4 of the 10 recruiter’s top sources.

The 17 page Ebook has lot’s of great tips and quotes, here are a couple:

Linda Di, “There is no “best” candidate but “best suitable” candidate. A successful outcome for both the company and the candidate is to find out if they are the best match for each other.”

Michelle Flynn, “It will always be the preference of the hiring manager to recruit someone who is known to them. Give yourself the advantage by being a person to them, rather than a [resume].”

Liz Liptrot, “All people experience what you are going through [as a job seeker]. Whether it is your first job search, you have been hit by the recession, or you are just looking for another career – we have all been there. Don’t be embarrassed by your situation and network with anyone and everyone. Remember that most positions are filled through referrals.”

Technorati Tags: Interivew tips, Job Search Tips, Recruiter Tips, social networking job search

Kirsti Stubbs, @kstubbs, was interviewed by WhyHire.me about using Social Media and Social Networking sites in the recruiting process.

She discusses how she uses Social Media sites like LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter and Blogs to source candidates and get a deeper understanding of who the candidate is.

She walks through some of the sites she is using, and even compares the ROI of social media recruiting to traditional job boards. Spelling out the difference in candidates that she is seeing from the different sources.

This is a great video for both job seekers and employers.

Job seekers, pay attention to what Kirsti says about your personal brand, and how she and recruiters like her are using social networking sites to find candidates that they think will fit their company.

Employers listen as Kirsti describes how she is using the different social media sites and especially with networking into groups.

There are loads of videos about how to use LinkedIn, but weeding through them and finding the right information at the right time, isn’t very easy.
To make it easier for you to get on LinkedIn, and start taking advantage of all the great things LinkedIn has to offer, especially for job seekers, I’ve put together a list 15 of some of my favorites, from getting started with LinkedIn to using it to contact individuals.

Video 1 – What is LinkedIn?
Video 2 – What is LinkedIn? Part 2
Video 3 – LinkedIn Profile Tutorial
Video 4 -  How to create an account profile on Linked…
Video 5 -  Critical Elements on Your LinkedIn Profile
Video 6 -  Optimize LinkedIn Profile for SEO
Video 7 -  How LinkedIn referrals helped build a company…
Video 8 -  How LinkedIn Answers helped Steven Shimek.
Video 9 -  LinkedIn Marketing, Internet Video Marketing.
Video 10 – LinkedIn Tips – How to invite people
Video 11 -  LinkedIn Tips – How to invite people
Video 12 -  Use LinkedIn In your job search
Video 13 – LinkedIn for Job Seekers Preview
Video 14 -  How to Use LinkedIn
Video 15 -  I’m On LinkedIn, Now What? An Interview with Jason Alba.

Let me know what you think, by commenting below… Was this helpful?

To see the next video, click on the images below the player! Right above here!

If these videos were helpful, please let me know by adding a comment below!

Technorati Tags: LinkedIn, linkedin job search, linkedin training, linkedin tutorials, Linkedin videos

Referrals continue to be the #1 Source of Hires among employers.

The problem is most job seekers fail to implement a Referral Job Search strategy. Knowing how and why to create a Referral Job Search is the topic of my soon to be released book and training series.

Many job seekers go on and start “Networking”, but “Networking” in its traditional sense, is not a short-term solution to finding a job.  It’s great for building contacts and relationships over time, but it’s not effective at finding a job immediately.

There is a better way though…

I was recently interviewed by Jason Davis, owner of RecruitingBlogs.com, about GoJobs.com and my upcoming book on implementing a Referral Job Search.

The premise of a referral job search is finding a company that you want to work for.
Then, finding a contact at that company who will refer you for the position.
This doesn’t have to happen through traditional networking.

Using Social networking is much more effective at this and takes a lot less time.
It also has a lot of other advantages.

The results of a Referral Job Search are extraordinary…

In most all cases..

• Referral Resumes are Read First!
• Referrals are almost Always Interviewed!
• Referrals are the number 1 Source of Hire for most employers
• The CareerXRoads 2008 Source of Hire Study revealed that 25% or more of referrals were hired by 32% of employers in 2008.

Result— If you are looking for a job, apply through a referral, not through the corporate career center, or a job board.

Referrals Always get preference!

Would you like more information about how to start a Referral Job Search?

Technorati Tags: Referral Job Search, Social Media Job Search

Twitter is growing exponentially. Employer’s are using Twitter and other social sites to research job applicants. But still, few job seekers have no idea how to use Twitter for a job search.

One of the primary drivers of twitter growth has been the ability to share and find information.  Savvy Job seekers can use Twitter and this real-time information feature to not only research companies, their products, and services, but also build credibility and influence by providing followers with good, relevant, and interesting news, articles, and insights.

Doing this in your chosen profession and industry can help you build a substantial number of followers who can be leveraged into direct contacts within companies, which are imperative when you are searching for a job.

Twitter can build credibility and authority during a job search.

Top 10 Benefits of using Twitter in a job search:

1. Differentiate yourself from other job seekers, while building your credibility and authority with industry contacts, thought leaders, as well as employee s, inside companies you are interested working with..
2. Prove your industry experience and expertise, based on your twitter posts, your followers, your twitter friends, and your retweets. Your resume can’t do this!
3. Directly connect with senior management, employees, and owners of the companies that you are interested in working with, while building rapport and credibility, before you ask about job openings.
4. Build, Grow, and Maintain Relationships with your personal network and referral networks; including, current and former co-workers, clients, vendors, and other industry contacts.
5. Add value to your Personal Brand distinguishing you as a Subject Matter Expert, with connections to other industry thought leaders.
6. Keep your connections up-to-date on your job search progress.
7. Intimately know the companies you are interested in working with, through researching their products, their industry, their management, and their employees. You will not only gain critical information about the companies, but you will be able to make a much better decision about whether you want to work there or not.
8. Research the companies and publish your findings. This is basically using your job search time to learn about the companies and industries, but instead of just keeping the information to yourself, you publish it, making it available to others, including the people who are going to hire you. There are several stories of job seekers that were hired just because they knew more about social media and what was being said about the company than people inside the company. Publishing your finding, not only shows that you know a lot about the company, but that you are serious about your intent to work with them.
9. It’s Easy! Twitter only allows 140 characters, so you don’t have to spend an hour or two writing a blog posts, or racking your brain to find something to write. Finding and posting or retweeting relevant and interesting articles, tips, tricks, news, and information is easy to do and very rewarding. Not only do you learn about the companies you want to work for, but you also learn about all aspects of their industry, their management, etc. This is critical information to know if you want to find you Dream Job.
10. It’s Fun!

If you are using Twitter or other social media tools in your job search, please comment below! I’d love to hear what kind of results you are achieving. Did you find a job through Twitter? Let me know by emailing me at jonathan at jonthanduarte.com

Technorati Tags: personal branding, Twitter, twitter job search