Social Media And Digital Influence

Originally posted on Bachelor Degrees Online: Twitter is like a window into the soul of America.

This comprehensive list is a great starting point for people who want to venture into the Twitter job search world.  I would add #HireFriday  and #HFChat of course.  Our Twitter chat is loaded with recruiters, hiring managers, career professionals, and people who want to see you get ahead.

In addition, #TChat #JobHuntChat #GenY #GenYchat #BlogChat #BlogHer #UsGuys are great places to get help, advice, and of course get found.

The key is branding yourself.  Let people know how you can be found.  

Ask good questions.

Provide good content.

Give good advice

This will help you stand out in the crowd.

Happy job hunting, and we'll see you Friday for #HFChat.  This Friday, the folks from The Chicago Tribune are hosting.

Don't Miss it!

In this competitive job market, everything in your job-seeking arsenal must be spot-on: resume, cover letter, even your interview attire. And you’ve probably made sure all of those are top-notch, but there is one thing over which you have little control—and the scary part is, it can kill your chances of landing a job.

We’re talking about references.

You’ve probably hand-picked most of your references, so presumably you’ve lined up people who will rave about you. But most likely, a potential employer will want to contact your current or most recent employer. Even if you don’t specifically include your old employer on your list of references, a hiring manager may contact them anyway. So what should you do if you’re nervous about what your former employer might say?

Here's Some tips:

Consider your former company’s reference policy. Does your former employer have a policy regarding what information about past employees can be divulged? And if so, do they really follow it? As this article explains, many companies don’t actually adhere to these policies, especially since they may have inexperienced or understaffed HR departments.

Do a test run. The only way to know for certain what your former boss is saying about you is to have someone find out. Enlist a friend to pose as a potential employer and call your former company to check your reference.

Cut it off at the pass. If you suspect (or confirm) your old boss is bad-mouthing you, it would probably be wise for you to address this up front with potential employers. The key here is to be diplomatic. You want to explain that you and your old boss had conflicts, but don’t want to come across like you’re trashing them.

Make them disappear. This usually isn’t a practical strategy, but if things were really bad at your previous company and you didn’t work there very long (or you don’t have enough other bright spots on your resume to compensate for a less than stellar reference), you may want to consider leaving the job with the boss who’s panning you off your resume completely.

Ever suspected a former boss of giving you a bad reference? How did you handle it? Let us know in the comments.

via ResumeBear.com

CEO wants to put the brakes on his $10 billion ad budget.

John Sumser is a trail blazer.  Sumser is the founder of The HRExaminer.  John is the brains behind the digital media influencer lists he publishes, and he is the principal of HRxAnalysts.

Sumser questions the veracity of trends, and regularly pokes holes in social media topics. Tomorrow, I will question John about the impact of interactive digital media on the recruiting, and human resources industry.  I will ask him about his key take-aways from his research, and about the people that are featured on his lists.

Is social media a fad?  Will Sumser disclose his true feeling about the topic?  One thing is for sure, you will learn a great deal more about The HRExaminer, HR analytics, Recruiting, and more.  So please tune it.

You can listen to this show on my blog http://hrmargo.com on blogtalkradio at http://blogtalkradio.com/comphr  or on iTunes.

John Sumser posted this today to his blog:  Recently, I had the opportunity to interview the founders of The Candidate Experience Awards, and learned how this is transforming into a movement to which businesses large, and small are not paying attention.  Check out my podcast 'Compassionate HR,' with Gerry Crispin, Elaine Orler, and Ed Newman at http://blogtalkradio.com/comphr

What Sumser describes below is extremely important.  The candidate experience requirements are often ignored by companies, and recruiters who post their job.  Some companies think that people magically appear, as if opening a box of Lucky Charms, with the expectation that the perfect candidate is going to jump out of the box into their laps.

This isn't how it happens, arguably as the recession subsides, and candidates are less desperate for work, they will be more discerning where they apply, and why.  Furthermore, they will remember how they were treated when they applied in the past.

In summary, check out The HRExaminer's post today.  Comment, and let me know what you think!

I quote:

"Candidate Experience Requirements: The basic idea is that any person who visits an employment wbsite should be treated with respect, as a minimum, and delighted, as an objective.  The basic steps in the process are...

Friday, May 4th HireFriday's beloved #HFChat will discuss the do's and don'ts for a technical job seekers. If you are an IT professional, Java Software Developer, or have experience in C++ this chat is for you.  If you are a software programmer, or have a background in IT. you will learn so many tips, and tools to aid you in your job search.  Our friends from Intuit will guest host our Twitter chat. Intuit recruiters Gail, Leslie, Chris will be on hand to answer your questions.

Dice is sponsoring our chat, and they are giving a lucky winner the opportunity to win a subscription to Dice Advantage.  All you have to do is add the hash tag #DiceAdvantage for a chance to win.  They are giving away 5 subscriptions, so be sure to tweet during #HFChat to win.  

Please go to http://hirefriday.com for the details about our topic, our hosts, and our questions.  Feel free to come prepared with your own questions for our recruiters from Intuit.  Remember, this is your opportunity to get access to professionals who can hire you, so participate in #HFChat and get hired!

The cold, hard, and often nail biting truth is that unemployment is exceedingly high.  The irony is that recruiters and CEOs are pulling their hair out trying to source, select, hire, and retain top talent.

Why is hiring so hard?  This article in today's Harvard Business Review offers thoughts, and insights into the answer.  Robert Moritz suggests that digital technology could be part of that solution.

The statistic that got the HR's pros attention is that according to Price Waterhouse Coopers 15th annual CEO survey, 50% said that the skill gap is more difficult to fill.

Please read this article, and shrug just like I did.  Don't fret, read on, there's light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not a train.

Yours in career search support,

HRMargo

Facebook is inching into job posting territory with its new job-building partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor.

My research indicates that friends help friends find jobs.  Therefore, Facebook is a natural extension of the career branding process. 

Job seekers are consistently looking for new and effective ways to leverage social networks to find work.  Yesterday, I interviewed Anthony Morrison, the Vice President of Cachinko.  Cachinko is similar to Monster's BeKnown, and Branch Out.  The Facebook mobile job search apps add a whole new level to the job hunt process.

Even before Facebooks starts their version of a job board, mobile Facebook apps have been sweeping the nation.  Branch Out has 4.3 million users.  In the next 12 months, I predict a surge in Facebook, mobile apps will work their way into the social network fabric.

This is an exciting development.  It makes the job search process more active because instead of the old fashion spray & pray approach, this allows the job seeker to identify who in their network can connect them to people inside the companies where they applied.

It's the best way to keep your resume out of the bottomless pit of an clunky applicant tracking system.  In fact, I'd venture to say that it's the only want to be sure you will be seen by a recruiter, or decision maker.  Who wants to disappear in the lost and found?  Nobody.  Watch this trend.  Let's revisit this in a year and evaluate the effectiveness of Facebook's job posting venture.  Considering the fact that Facebook is approaching 1 BILLION users, coupled with the fact that millions of people update their statuses more than once a day, indeed,  Facebook should not be discounted, or ignored.  

Use all the tools available.  Diversify your job search.  Discover which platform your hiring managers spend time.  Identify peak user hours.  Post during peak hours.  Build those relationships and you will go far.  The kicker is this, don't exhaust yourself.  Job search fatigue will slow you down.  Pick a platform, and run with it.

I've written extensively about this topic.  I'm reviewing these tools in my upcoming book, HireFriday 3.0.   The fact is this: infograpic resumes aren't just for artists, photographers, and musicans anymore.

Resume templates, and infographic resume formats are not new.  What is new is that some of the services can now take your LinkedIn Profile and turn it into an infographic in one fell swoop.  

It makes sense to check these services out.  If you can leverage all of your social networks to jump start your job search, you absolutely should.

I've tested vizualize.me,  re.vu, Kinzaa, Visualize.ly.  Some of these tools are simple to use.  Some are difficult if you don't write code.

See my previous post about this.  I recently interviewed the founder of re.vu.  Stay tuned.  In the meantime, subscribe to the HireFriday Daily, this blog, and stay up to date on the latest career search technology.

Your career search pal,

Margo Rose

@HRMargo

http://linkedin.com/in/margorose

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