Archive for Boomer Transition
Your eReputation Development Project
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Grow Your Professional Brand
Enhancing your eReputation is critical to establishing your credibility as a serious professional. Here’s a project plan for building your professional brand. Whether you’re currently employed or actively pursuing a job search, establishing and maintaining an effective eReputation is critical to your success.
In my last post, Your eReputation: Take the Test, I provided you with a quick way to determine the strength of your eReputation and based on critical elements related to building your online brand. If you haven’t taken the test, please do so now and save your results. The following recommendations use these test results as the foundation for developing a strategy and tactics for moving forward.
If you scored between 0 and 3, you have a low or almost non-existent ranking in Google and an invisible presence in social networks. Note: you also earn a low score if your visible but your presence is full of digital dirt. You need to embark on an energetic program to establish a positive online presence.
If you scored between 4 and 6, you have detectable presence, but it is undeveloped with incomplete profiles on social networking sites or, perhaps, you’ve neglected to exploit search engine optimization options.
If you scored between 7 and 8, you’ve been doing a great job. Congratulations! But don’t rest on your laurels. Keep at it and refresh your content on a regular basis so that you stay on top.
Building your eReputation is best approached as a project where you break down major project elements into manageable milestones and tasks. Keep in mind the fact that you can’t build a positive eReputation overnight. It takes time and effort but the results are more that worth it! Here’s an eReputation project plan outline that should help you plan and implement your own eReputation development project over six months:
Months 1 – 3:
- Search for an clean-up digital dirt
- Secure your personal domain name
- Get a personal web site
- Get a LinkedIn and Twitter account
- Claim your vanity name in social networking accounts
- Start a blog
Months 3-6
- Build out your profiles in social networks
- Automate content publishing
- Tweak SEO (search engine optimization) for visibility in Google, etc.
- Monitor your progress in Google, set up Google Alerts
Getting Started Quick Tip: Claim your personal domain name today!
Go to GoDaddy or another Internet domain registrar and get your personal domain name for less than $10 per year. For example, my personal domain name is kitjeffrey.com and the form is firstname, lastname, .com. If yours is unavailable, find a variant such as firstname, middlename, last name.
Your eReputation: Take the Test
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eReputation Test
My eReputation test provides you with a quick and convenient way to find out if you are doing what takes to create an effective personal online brand that will help you achieve your professional goals.
Whether you’re an employed HR professional or making a job transition, cultivating a strong online presence is essential to career sustainability and delivering results.
Leading recruiters know that as they check out candidate profiles on LinkedIn and other social networks, these same candidates are looking at them. Take that a step further and recognize that your visibility to current and future employers and clients in Google and other search engines can have a dramatic effect on the opportunities that will be available to you.
Now that I’ve made the case for having a strong e-Reputation, let’s get on with the test.
Answer the following questions, 1 through 8.
1. Have you claimed a personal domain name? Yes/No
2. Do you have a personal web site tied to your domain name? Yes/No
3. Have you set up accounts in key social networking sites? Yes/No
4. Are your profiles in your social networking site accounts complete? Yes/No
5. Have you claimed your vanity URLs? Yes/No
6. Do you Google yourself at least monthly; have you set up Google Alerts for you name? Yes/No
7. Do you have a blog? Yes/No
8. Do you measure your eReputation results at least monthly? Yes/No
Now score the test. For each item you answered yes, give yourself one point. For each item you answered no, record a zero. Next add up the points and check them against the scoring guide below.
Scoring Guide
Score 1-3: You’re stalled with a low or now ranking in Google and other search engines; limited no or negative presence in social networks
Score 4-6: You’re there but need to pick up the pace and enhance your Google rank and social networking presence.
Score 7-8: You’re actively engaged with high personal brand loyalty along with high rankings and a solid presence in key social networks.
Click here to view and download a pdf, Your eReputation Test.
If you scored 6 or below, you’ll want to create a plan for upgrading your online reputation. To help you create that plan, look for my next post covering the essential elements for a 6-month eReputation makeover.
Business Card Reader: Job Search Productivity App for iPhone
Posted by: | CommentsContacts are the lifeblood of networking for job search. The business card is the venerable medium for exchanging contact information often gets misplaced or dog-eared. The answer would seem to be entering the data into your smartphone’s address book, but this is not always convenient when you’re on the run or have a large number of cards to enter. If your smartphone is the iPhone, there’s a solution that quickly solves the problem. It’s the Business Card Reader application. This app turns a tedious task into a simple, automated process.
Business Card Reader has an easy to use interface supports a simple and effective data capture process. You take a photo of the business card, the app “scans” the image and converts this into text which is added to the correct fields in the iPhone’s address book.
I tested the app on a large collection of business cards and achieved a 90% success rate. When scanning errors do occur, Business Card Reader provides you with the ability to edit the information.
A useful added feature allows you to do a lookup of your new contacts in LinkedIn and invite them to be connections. Talk about productivity! Business Card Reader really delivers.
At $5.99, the price is right and the payback is almost immediate. I highly recommend this job search tool.
5 Tips for Helping Recruiters Help You
Posted by: | CommentsRecruiters account for between 15% and 20% of the job placements that are made. The more you know about how to work with them, the more success you’ll have. Here are 5 tips for helping them help you.
Tip #1 – Understand that recruiters are not career counselors. It’s amazing to me that many job seekers seem to believe that a recruiter will help them prepare a resume and find them a job. Remember these words: “Follow the money.” Recruiters work for employers, not you, and only get paid when the right candidate is found. That right candidate may or may not be you. If you are fortunate to be on a recruiter’s short list of finalists, she or he is likely to help you prepare for the interview with the hiring manager.
Tip #2 - Lay a solid foundation before you launch your job search. This means creating a keyword rich resume, getting visibility in search engines and in social media/social networks. I discuss this in some detail in my blog posting, Your 6-Month Digital Makeover, Part 1 and Part 2. Increasingly, recruiters Google you and check LinkedIn. If you have no presence in online media, or worse, they find negative information about you, you won’t make the short list. Also, line up your references. Better yet, secure recommendations on LinkedIn from people who know your work.
Tip #3 – Be open to considering contract, contingent and project assignments. I realize that your goal is to get a so-called regular or ”permanent” position but one of the trends emerging in the new world of work and the recession is the growth in the number of jobs that are on-demand arrangements. With the stakes raised for every hiring decision, many employers are inclined to manage their risk through contract, contingent or project staffing. If things don’t work out with the new hire, a business downturn occurs or a project ends, it’s easier for the employer to disengage. Remember, too, that contract, contingent or project assignments can help you audition for opportunities to become part of a regular workforce. Your flexibility and willingness to consider these assignments will expand number of number of employment opportunities available to you and make you more appealing to recruiters and employers alike.
Tip #4 - Be timely in responding to requests for additional information. If a recruiter wants more data about your qualifications or expected salary, etc., respond immediately. Understand that she or he is trying to quickly match you to a job or jobs and a delay in providing necessary information could keep you off the short list.
Tip #5 - Increase your visibility in professional groups. Recruiters are always on the prowl for promising candidates (and connections with employers). They join groups and attend their meetings. For example, if you’re a project manager, join PMI (Project Management Institute). If you’re an HR professional, manager or executive, join SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management). Become active in your local chapter. In doing so, you’ll give a boost to your visibility send a clear message that you are professionally engaged and a potentially attractive candidate.
These 5 tips for helping recruiters help you should increase your job search effectiveness. Following them will pay dividends beyond immediate employment opportunities and contribute to your career’s sustainability.
Your 6-Month Digital Makeover, Part 1
Posted by: | CommentsIn my last post, I promised to provide you with a roadmap for accomplishing a major renovation to your digital reputation in six months. You may be asking yourself: “Why does it take six months?” My response: ”It takes about that amount of time to be solidly established in social networks and social media and, further, to have these achieve prominence in search engines Google, bing and Yahoo!, etc. You only get positive results, in depth, by doing the right things, in the right order and progressively monitoring and measuring your performance. It takes time and effort, but the rewards are worth it! Here’s the task list and recommended approach for part 1 of your digital makeover:
1. Search for and clean-up digital dirt – “Digital dirt” is made up of false, misleading or inaccurate information that can potentially damage your reputation online. This is best detected through Google searches or by setting up Google Alerts. Often, you’ll find that the online debris consists of inaccurate information automatically gathered up by various social media sites. The solution is to update the information from these sites by accessing your existing accounts or, if you don’t have accounts, get them (more about this in “4″ below).
If your search reveals defamatory information about you, you may want to consider taking legal action. Let me also suggest an affirmative approach to cleaning up negative information about you. It involves creating a strong online presence with positive profiles, recommendations from bosses, colleagues, customers, blog articles establishing your professional knowledge and the like. No one controls the web and eliminating all the unfavorable information is a futile quest. You’ll get further ahead on your goal of gaining a measure of control over what appears about you by focusing your energy on accentuating your positives online. As the volume builds, you’ll find that his will outrank the negative entries in search engines.
2. Secure your personal domain name - You personal domain name (for example: tomsimpson.com) is the key to branding yourself online. You can claim your’ at GoDaddy for less than $10 a year. There are many other ICANN accredited registrars that can also provide this service. I mention GoDaddy because of its convenience and reasonable cost. Use GoDaddy’s convenient search tool to see if your name is available. If not, you can look for derivative names and register the one that you believe will brand you best.
3. Get a personal website – With your domain name secured, the next step is to do something with it. GoDaddy can help you set up a low cost website will allow you to provide a profile and links to your other social media sites. Another excellent solution is Nombray which offers Basic, Pro and Executive level offerings.
4. Get LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook and additional accounts in social networks – LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Facebook are just a few of the social media/social networking sites you’ll need to be on to establish your online identity and reputation. Once you have accounts, utilize their onboard tools to identify colleagues you can invite to join your network and build the critical mass you need to develop your personal brand.
A digital makeover is all about creating “cred” or credibility which the Urban Dictionary defines as “an ability to inspire belief in others.” It’s an essential of smart job search and active career management. Need help with your own digital makeover? Read more…
Next: Your 6-Month Digital Makeover, Part 2
4 Steps for Regaining Momentum When Your Job Search Stalls
Posted by: | CommentsYou made what appeared to be some progress in your job search, but then it stalled. You networked. You posted your newly updated resume on leading job boards. You were even contacted by several recruiters and quickly submitted additional information about your qualifications. You felt that you where getting somewhere. Then, nothing. No e-mail messages. No calls. You’re in the dead zone. You ask yourself questions: What’s wrong? What’s not working? Why?
Often the cause of a stuck campaign can be traced to a “ready, fire, aim” approach. Thoughtful analysis may suggest that you were out of the the gate too quickly and hadn’t focused on key elements that can positively impact a job search in a tough market. Here are the steps you need to take to regain momentum:
- Create a target list of prospective employers. Be sure to not only add competitors of your former company, but also their vendors and suppliers, businesses with upstream and downstream relationships to that employer. All of these are serious prospects.
- Measure your job search activities and their effectiveness. As the saying goes, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” In a recent post, I suggested the use of a couple of templates that will allow you to conveniently track resume submissions, networking contacts, interviews, and career websites.
- If you did a hasty re-write of your resume, revise it and re-post it to the leading job boards. Your revision should be clearly targeted at your market and be rich in keywords . Keywords are extracted in processing and are used as search criteria by recruiters. If you do a good job of using keywords and keyword phrases, you’ll be found on a continuing basis.
- Keep your personal website, LinkedIn, Spoke, blog and Twitter social networking sites up to date. If you haven’t yet established a digital presence in social networking sites, do so.
Take these steps, and you will regain momentum and move your job search forward to eventual success. Importantly, these steps will help you eliminate the future stalls and maintain your stride.
2 Templates for Job Search Productivity
Posted by: | CommentsHere are some useful tools in the form of templates to help you manage your job search productivity. Both will allow you to conveniently track resume submissions, networking contacts, interviews, and career websites. One works in Microsoft Excel and the other in Microsoft OneNote.
It has been said that job search is a “numbers game” — that it involves many touch points to result in qualified opportunities leading to hire. Managing those touch points is a process that can be made much for productive using the templates and their respective applications.
For those who are unfamiliar with OneNote, it uses the design metaphor of a tabbed, three-ring binder and can be used for taking notes, capturing web content which include hyperlinks back to the source page. You can move, organize and search for content quickly and conveniently. A very handy feature of OneNote is that it can be integrated with Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office applications.
For Excel: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC060914611033.aspx
For OneNote: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC103407271033.aspx
