Why is building a job search network worthless?

Building a job search network is usually worthless since that is the end goal for most people. Contrary to popular opinion, size does not matter (at least initially). The most important goal of networking is engagement.

Regardless of whether you build your network on-line or off-line, you still need to provide value to your network. Keith Ferrazzi, Author and Blogger at “Who’s Got Your Back” writes in a recent blog posting about the need to be organized to “ping” your network.

Who do you want to communicate with? How often? What will you provide to your network?

The heart of any effective job search networking is to show your network you are a valuable member of their network. How do you do this? You do it through constant engagement.

Do you conduct drip-nurturing with your most important contacts to stay in front on them and have a “top of mind presence”? How often do you call, send interesting articles, provide links to good information, and focus on their specific needs?

Are you a connector in your network, constantly looking for ways to put people together that is mutually beneficial. Do you get constant requests to be connected with others in your network?

Can you publish information (such as through a blog) that your network might find valuable?

Once you take care of engaging with your job search network, you’ll be stunned at the abundance of job leads, referrals and opportunities that drop through the network into your lap. One of the most frequent complaints I hear from job seekers is “I have a large network, but I don’t get any leads – it doesn’t seem like it’s worth it to build a network”. Remember – the operative word is not building – it’s engaging!

Discover if your effective in your job search networking – both in traditional off-line networking activities and in on-line social media networking – to generate an abundance of job search leads, referrals and offers by downloading our Job Search Planning Scorecard. This FREE tool will help you focus on the most important steps to take in your job search, not just in job search networking, but across every dimension of your job hunt.

Barry

P.S.: Be sure to download some the archived radio show broadcasts on networking that Brad and I have posted to our FREE Job Search Audio Library.

6 Reasons Why LinkedIn Is So Critical In A Job Search

A candidate recently asked me, “How do I find a hiring manager in a large company like Microsoft?” There are a lot of ways to do this but one of the easiest and best is using LinkedIn. When I recommended this to the candidate he completely agreed, however, the problem was he only had about 60 connections. Too few to be effective.

So often I speak with candidates that just don’t understand the value of LinkedIn as a job search tool. We constantly are sent invitations to join someone’s network only to find after months of searching they are just now starting build a LinkedIn network. You should consider building your LinkedIn networking all the time. NOT JUST WHEN IN A JOB SEARCH.

Some benefits to a large LinkedIn database of contacts:

1. People can find you. The more people at the second and third degrees of separation the more times you will show up in a search. For example, I have around 500 contacts. However, I am linked to over 5 million people on LinkedIn. When I search for a candidate that is a huge database.
2. LinkedIn will eliminate the need for resume databases on Ladders, Monster, Careerbuilder and other job boards. This is because it costs on average between 5,000 and 10,000 dollars to have access to these resume databases. LinkedIn is free. Why would a recruiter or any company pay that when we can use LinkedIn for free.
3. Resumes databases by the job boards are not pick up by Google or any search engine. These are the ones you want to make sure you show up on. LinkedIn is and you can even improve your search results for as little as $25 a month. (See prior blog article SEO Your Search On Google)
4. It helps you find the people you want an introduction to. This is very powerful. I have helped numerous people with introductions as a result of LinkedIn. On a weekly basis I receive requests indicating they found a person in my connections and would I make an introduction. I always agree.
5. Even when working this is a great tool for resources, customer contacts and introductions, references, service providers and even potential hires for you or your company.
6. On a personal basis it is a great way to stay in-touch with friends, colleagues, prior employees and networking contacts. When you update your profile they will get a notice and likewise when they update theirs.

Work hard at building your connections. Make every effort to reach that magic 500+. If you use Outlook download the LinkedIn tool bar. It makes inviting people very easy.

There are many more positives to building your LinkedIn network than there are negatives. Many have resisted. I believe this recession has proven to be good thing for everyone’s network.

If you have other ideas share them by adding a comment. Lets help everyone build a strong network.

A good way to start is building a network is making sure your profile is complete. If it isn’t start there and then begin expanding your contacts. Don’t miss the opportunity to get a high ranking on Google.

You can download for free our “8 Matrix LinkedIn Profile Assessment” tool.

Our complete job search home study course the, “Career Success Factor Methodology” is a comprehensive resource that covers all 5 steps in an effective job search. You can review the complete system for just $14.95. We will even pay the shipping and to ensure your success include in a copy of our job search workbook. To review the Career Success Factor Methodology CLICK HERE.

Get Your Profile On Google. SEO Your Search.

Leveraging the social networks is a great search strategy tactic. Facebook and LinkedIn are both vital to one’s ability to be found by recruiters, HR, hiring managers, PE firms, or for that matter anyone looking to find you, or someone with your experiences. However, a big one that is often overlooked by many candidates is Google.

Making yourself findable on Google is an important on-line networking component you should consider. One great way to show up on Google with a high ranking is the use of Adwords. By setting yourself up with Adwords anyone looking for you, your functional area, industry, or even geographical area can find you near the top of the list.

It is easy to do by just following these simple steps. In our complete job search workbook, Rebecca Gonzalez contributed an article that gives a more detailed step-by-step process with graphics to assist you. (You can get the book for only the cost of shipping $5 CLICK HERE).

Step one in getting Google to find you is to have a website (or URL) for Google to find and link to. This is easily done through Linkedin. If you have a LinkedIn profile then you have the URL. Just try and make sure the URL includes your name. To check this go to your profile and look at the public profile link. If it doesn’t include your name just edit it so it does. For example, my LinkedIn public profile URL is http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradremillard. Since my name is rather unique it was easy to use. John Smith or Mary Jones might have a problem.

Step two is setting up a Google Adwords campaign. This will require a small investment, but the nice thing with Google Adwords is that you can control the amount you want to spend each month. It can be as little as $25 a month. Go to adwords.google.com. Login and a follow the wizard. You want your name on the first line. The next couple of lines are limited but this is where you can add something about your functional expertise, industry experience and location. The URL will be your LinkedIn profile. If your profile is complete (and it should be – see below to find out) you are now very findable by anyone and everyone searching for you or your expertise.

Step three set up keywords. You should add your name and include misspellings, maiden name,aliases, nick names, etc. Don’t be shy here. This is how you will be found.

Step four is to set up your account and turn it live. If you don’t have an account it is easy to do. Once you make it live, test it. Type in your name and see if you show up on the right side of the page.

Now when recruiters, HR, or other hiring managers search your name, you will often come up in the search results. You can also see who has searched on your name.

To check whether your profile is the best it can be, download our LinkedIn Profile Assessment Tool. It is free CLICK HERE.

Join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group. We post new articles and free downloads daily. CLICK HERE.

If your search is stalled our “Career Success Methodology” job search home study course has everything you need to get your search going. For what most charge just to develop a resume, you can have all the tools you need. To take a look and see what is in the course CLICK HERE. (and you get the book thrown in at no additional charge).

IMPACT Hiring Solutions Weekly Job Search Blog Round-up: August 22, 2009

In case you missed some of the individual blog postings this week, here’s a round-up of some of the more popular posts Brad and I wrote for the Job Search Blog:

It’s Okay to Swear in the Interview: Learn the secrets of a structured response to every interview question. Follow this format in responding to interview questions and hiring managers will move away from box checking to engaging with you in a conversation and dialogue about the job.

Your LinkedIn Profile as a Multi-media Expansion of Your Resume: LinkedIn provides a wealth of tools for job seekers for personal branding, networking, self-promotion. Are you using all these tools to become visible to recruiters, human resources, and hiring managers?

Keyword Searches in Resumes: You might think you’re perfect for a job – but hiring managers would disagree after reviewing your resume. By not focusing on the proper key words – are missing out on job opportunities?

Honesty + Guts Works in the Interview: Can you look a hiring manager in the eye and challenge them in the interview if you disagree with their expectations or perspective. Are you praying things might be different when you join the company. The interview is the time for honest and direct dialogue without being confrontational.

Brad and I wish you much success in your job search in the coming week.

Barry

Are You Difficult to Connect with on LinkedIn in Your Job Search?

Many candidates are obsessive about protecting the confidentiality of their contact information on LinkedIn when they are in a job search, even when they indicate on their LinkedIn Profile that they are open to career opportunities.

Why?

This doesn’t make any sense!

Here’s the sad part: Most recruiters, human resource professionals, and hiring managers will skip right by you on LinkedIn searches for candidates when recruiting if you make it too difficult to connect with you. When I do a search on LinkedIn for candidates in our Executive Search Practice, if you make it too hard to connect I’ll move on to the next candidate – I might sound a little harsh – regardless of how much you might be a perfect match – I just don’t have the time to play games or dig too deeply – particularly when there is lots of other great talent available.– I’ll define “too hard to connect” as the following:

• You have no phone number on your LinkedIn Profile
• You have no direct email on your LinkedIn Profile
• You have not checked the settings for “open to career opportunities”
• You have not checked the settings for “open networker”
• Your group settings prevent me from sending you a direct message if we are in the same group

You could be missing out on great opportunities because of inappropriate fears of confidentiality or security. What’s the risk that someone has your cell number or email address when you’re looking for a job. At a minimum, what’s the risk in adding to your account the “open networker” designation so that recruiters and others do not have to use up their precious allotment of inmails?

I’ve had my phone number and email address on my LinkedIn Profile for years. I can count on one hand the number of solicitor calls and inappropriate emails from that contact information. It’s irrational to think you’ll be bombarded with solicitors and crank calls/emails. Take a risk and make yourself available – you’ll be amazed at the increase in the number of calls and emails you get when recruiters, human resource professionals, and hiring managers reach out to you when they are recruiting to fill an open job.

Take a look at my profile on LinkedIn as an example. I would also recommend joining our Discussion Group on LinkedIn and participating in the discussion regarding LinkedIn Profiles for your Job Search.

Barry

Your LinkedIn Profile as an Expanded Multi-Media Presentation of Your Resume

I’ve posted a Slideshare Powerpoint file through LinkedIn as a demonstration of one small aspect of how you can improve your personal brand and visibility on LinkedIn. Do you STAND OUT among a crowd of “me-too” profiles?

Here’s the actual Slideshare link to view or download the presentation. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to do a voice-over narration of this Powerpoint as an additional test. You can do this too.

I’ll be adding audio and video files to my LinkedIn Profile to demonstrate how you can leverage simple tools on this wonderful service to dramatically improve your job search. Take a look on slideshare at some of the other Powerpoint and Video files other job seekers have posted.

Employers and recruiters (including Brad and I) would love to hear you talking about your expertise and accomplishments, view a video of you answering interview questions, and be able to download a powerpoint presentation about your job achievements. Imagine LinkedIn as an expanded multi-media platform to enhance your traditional resume.

The funny thing is that less than a tenth of one percent of all job seekers are using all the available tools on Linked for their job search – and the tools are available for FREE – go figure!

What a shame!

Try it – look at my profile or Brad’s profile on LinkedIn. Look at some of the profiles of the masters of job search personal branding and job search networking. I’ll feature once a week a candidate who is truly leveraging LinkedIn for their job search – for each person selected every week, they’ll get a FREE copy of our book. Would you like to throw your profile in the ring to try and win a FREE copy of our book, This is NOT the Position I Accepted. Be the first to volunteer!

In the meantime, if you would like to start taking months off your job search, start taking the initiative to improve your LinkedIn Profile as a small step forward.

Barry

P.S. Don’t forget to take the Self-Assessment of your LinkedIn Profile by using our FREE scorecard for assessing your LinkedIn Job Search Profile to determine your effectiveness of being found by recruiters, human resources, and hiring managers.

P.P.S. Brad and I also did a broadcast on our radio show about this LinkedIn Profile Self-Assessment Tool and how to most effectively improve your visibility.

Learn How to Master a Job Search

Simple Action: Job search discussion group

Brad and I facilitate one of the largest and fastest growing job discussion groups on LinkedIn and the Internet. The discussions are lively, helpful, informative, and dynamic.

Are you missing an opportunity to find a great opportunity, improve your interviewing, and cut your job hunt timeframe in half?

If you pick up one tiny morsel of information that generates a new job lead, scores a point in an interview that leads to a another invitation to come back, or improves your job hunting productivity and slices an entire month off your job search – would the investment of joining the discussion group be worth it?

What a stupid question! Of course it’s worth – especially since it’s FREE and the quality of information exchanged is extremely high.

This begs the question of if you’re not a member of our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group, you’re probably not taking advantage of the numerous opportunities the Internet offers for discussions, information, audio, video, and a wealth of other free material on how to conduct an effective job search.

There are many great discussion groups on LinkedIn. You might be reading this blog post if you’re a member of one of those groups, like Career Rocketeer, Grafton, or Exec-u-net. There are just a few of the other great groups/publishers of outstanding content for job seekers. There are Yahoo discussion groups, Ning Groups, and hundreds of blogs focused on job search, interviewing, networking, and personal branding. Many outstanding career coaches publish their own blog with great content being posted every single day.

Shame on you if you’re a candidate in thick of a job search, and you’re not taking advantage of all the FREE job search resources available to you.

Here are some questions to think about if you are in a job search:

• What discussion groups do you belong to on LinkedIn?
• Do you follow the LinkedIn Q&A – posing questions and answering questions?
• Do you participate in Yahoo Job Search Groups?
• Do you participate in Ning Groups on Job Search?
• What blogs do you follow on Job Search?
• Do you frequently scan iTunes for new podcasts on Job Search topics
• Do you look for new videos on Youtube regarding job search topics?
• Are you active in following job search experts on Twitter who are recruiters or career coaches?
• Do you have a master list of all the job search Internet Radio Shows being broadcast on a weekly basis

As an Executive Recruiter, one of the things I measure in candidate is a level of learning, personal growth, and professional development. I’ve seen many a 55 year-old with a much higher level of personal growth than many 25 year-olds. Job Search is no different than your trade, professional expertise, functional discipline like accounting or marketing.

I’ll ask at the end of an interview “what else are you doing in your job search to learn how to improve your job search knowledge, skills, and capability? You guessed it – Duh — and a blank look.

If you want to master your sphere of influence, you’ve got to become an expert. To differentiate yourself and leverage your skills/knowledge as a competitive advantage in a job search, you’ve got to learn everything there is about job search best practices and what top talent does to consistently find and obtain the top job opportunities.

Small caveat to following “experts”: Some “charlatans” pass themselves off as understanding the job search process and they don’t have a clue – if you follow their advice your job search will either take longer or fail completely.

However, the vast majority of publishers, facilitators, content generators in this field are great individuals who have done deep research and are willing to share that information with you. In a future blog post, I’ll be sharing some of the better FREE Internet Resources.

To see all our FREE Resources for job seekers, browse our extensive library and archives of examples, templates, and audio programs.

Barry

P.S. Join our LinkedIn Discussion Job Search Discussion Group today and get access to our brand new Self-Assessment Matrix for Determining the Effectiveness of Your LinkedIn Profile. Are you visible to recruiters and hiring managers?

What Fish are In Your Networking Pond?

Let’s continue along my last post about fishing and networking. As you’ll recall, we were extending the wonderful post about fishing as a metaphor for job search networking that Anna Farmery from Buzz Networker had brought to our attention a few days ago.

One of the points that Anna raised was what kind of network are you looking for – or to continue our fishing metaphor – what type of fish should be in your network?

I’ll be so bold as to suggest that most of the fish in a job seeker’s network STINK!

It’s not that most networking contacts are bad people – but rather the network that a typical job seeker has assembled to help generate job leads and referrals is nothing short of useless in most cases. Brad and I take you through this introspective look at your network in our networking chapter in our book “This is NOT the Position I Accepted.”

One of the services that IMPACT Hiring Solutions provides is Job Search Networking Strategy and Coaching. Every day, Brad and I are immersed in reviewing the networks and networking activities of job seekers within our job search network (those that have participated in our tele-seminars and webinars, those who have downloaded our FREE Internet Radio Shows on conducting a Job Hunt, and those who participate in our LinkedIn Discussion Group for conducting an effective Job Search.

Although I have not yet quantified the data (do you sense another survey/research project coming on?), I’d surmise that less than 5% of the networks most candidates are using – are useless and yield very little in terms of job leads and referrals.

Why?

It’s because you have the wrong fish in your network. As a candidate involved in a job hunt, you need four classes of fish to have an effective network that can generate an abundance of job leads and referrals.

The four classes of fish (network contacts) are:

1. Hiring Managers who might potentially hire you for a position
2. Contacts who would know the hiring manager (peers competing for a similar position and peers of the hiring manager)
3. Recruiters who fill the positions you want
4. Personal Service Providers (lawyers, benefit consultants, CPAs, construction company project managers, landscape service businesses, leasing agents, etc.) The key to having these folks in your network is the ones who are “trusted advisors to their clients” (more about becoming a trusted advisor in a future post).

If you can assemble a network of individuals balanced among the 4 classes of fish we’ve defined, you’ll begin within 3-6 months to generate more job leads and referrals than you can handle. It goes without saying that once you’ve pulled all your fish together, you’ve still got to do all the little things that comprise best practices in networking activities.

Pulling together the “right” job search network is only the first step in reducing the time it takes to conduct a job hunt in half. This is the core theme of our entire Job Search approach: The Career Success Methodology – Cutting your job hunting transition time in half!

Thousands of job seekers have shared their success stories with us that by following the Career Success Methodology they’ve reduced the time it takes to find a job by 50% or more compared to their peers conducting a similar job search.

Having the right contacts in your network who can deliver an abundance of job leads and referrals is only one important element of the disciplined job search approach found in the Career Success Methodology.

Barry

How Recruiters Find People

In my 29 years of recruiting, I have talked with and trained over 200 recruiters around the country in advanced recruiting techniques. Given this, I’ve learned two things 1) the recruiting industry is not homogeneous and 2) we all may be different, but there is one constant; how we find people. There really isn’t anything all that unique about how recruiters go about locating potential candidates. We all use our networks and other people’s networks. This includes both on-line networks such as Linkedin (Click here to join our Linkedin Job Search Group) and off-line such as networking groups in our community.

So why is this important to candidates? Because the most often asked question of recruiters is, “How do I get in touch with retained recruiters?” The answer is a simple one; “You don’t need to.” You don’t really want to get in touch with every recruiter, that is impossible. You only want to get in touch with those recruiters that have a search that meets your background. All the other recruiters don’t matter! So the real question should be; “ How do I get recruiters looking for me, to find me?” Now that is an easy thing to do, but like most things it isn’t simple.

The answer is one word; NETWORKING. Since recruiters maximize the use of their networks and others, all you have to do is be so well networked that a recruiter can’t help but find you. If you really are well networked, as recruiters tap into their networks, your name will always come up as a referral. The more often recruiters hear, “You should call ____, they sound exactly like what you are looking for” the higher the probability you will get a call.

So, if you want to have recruiters calling you, make sure they can find you.

GET YOURSELF NETWORKED in multiple industries and with multiple functions. Don’t forget that Linkedin is used extensively by most recruiters, so it is critical to have your profile up to date and complete. You can download for free our 8 Point Success Matrix For A Linkedin Profile, just click here.

Have You Assessed Your LinkedIn Profile Yet?

About a month ago, we published a self-assessment matrix by which you can assess the effectiveness of your LinkedIn Profile. In a recent research project/survey, we discovered that less than less than 10% of the LinkedIn Profiles we reviewed of active job seekers meet a minimum standard for effectiveness.

Are you missing an opportunity for personal branding, making recruiters and hiring managers aware of your capability, and falling short of being able to network effectively –  all because your LinkedIn Profile is at a minimum, average and mediocre level compared to best practices in leveraging LinkedIn for your Job Search.

Take the self-assessment today and then start rebuilding your LinkedIn Profile so that you can begin to have better success in your job search.

Bonus Tip: The effectiveness of your LinkedIn Profile extends far beyond just job hunting. An effective LinkedIn Profile can aid in sales, business development, career advancement, and marketing.

Download the Self-Assessment NOW to determine if you LinkedIn Profile is effective for conducting an efficient job search.

Brad and I also discussed using your LinkedIn Profile as an effective tool in a previous Internet Radio Talk Show. You can listen to and download all of our recorded Internet Radio Talk Shows on Job Search by navigating to our FREE Audio Library.

Barry