Don't be Anti-Social

By Melanie Schwartz and John Seraichyk

So then, what's the deal with all this social media hype? Do we 40 ++ guys and gals need to be onboard?

In my estimation, professional networking is and will forever remain the most important and integral ingredient for ensuring job security and career growth potential!

However, as the job market continues to become even more competitive, conventional networking and job searching tactics may not be enough. Job seekers must now incorporate social media!

Professionals seeking to better their career situation just might need to Tweet their way up the corporate cliff face of success (remember when it was a ladder?). The Job Jungle (used to call it a market!) has changed forever and so must you modernize the way you seek professional career employment and advancement.

These days one must incorporate social media with the marketing genius of corporate giants such as Toyota. If you're changing careers, you have to love Toyota - take an existing middle market product (the Camry), change the name, add some fake wood, double the price, and suddenly you dominate a foreign market that the American automaker still cannot figure out. Now this is what I call very cool brand building! Are you a Toyota or a Lexus?

"The use of social media has fast become essential in aiding professional job seekers to connect with others." Melanie J. Schwartz, Vice President Client Consulting Services - Browning Associates - circa 2011


Become a Social Butterfly

By way of social media, the career seeker can now access contacts 24/7 in the convenience of their home, office, or local coffee shop. No more attending a seven am breakfast event where only 20 people show up. Instead, we now have the opportunity to interact with thousands of people all over the globe at the touch of a keystroke.

There are over 120 million members in 20 countries and territories that can be found on LinkedIn.com alone. Furthermore, both LinkedIn and Twitter also now include job postings for senior level executives. In fact, not being a member of these sites can be detrimental in a job search. Our clients have been told by company representatives that candidates not on LinkedIn will not be considered for an interview. That's a fairly strong reason to have a LinkedIn presence.

Furthermore, JobVite.com recently polled over 800 employers asking if they used social media to recruit and over 89% indicated that they did! In addition, 90% of the human resource executives and executive recruiters that we work with also indicate that they routinely scour profiles of LinkedIn members looking for potential candidates.

How to Build your Social Media Brand

The reason most job-seekers are inept social networkers and personal brand-builders and consequently futile job hunters, is they are typically blindsided by the daunting sense of urgency brought on by the paradigm of contemporary job hunting.

Historically, job hunting, by definition and incident, has been a frustrating process of sifting fool's gold from the internet while contacting people who you think might have a job for you today, right now, instantaneously! Looking for a job this way is like trying to find your soul mate/husband/wife on www.girlofmydreams.noway.com. Sure you'll go on a few dates, but they are usually superficial at best. The hungry job seeker becomes so focused on pursuits of the pay check that s/he sometimes misses the much bigger picture. A successful social media brand building campaign must be developed and executed completely apart from conventional job networking. To be an effective social networker, you must separate personal promotion (brand building) from job hunting altogether.

He Who Has the Most Friends Wins - NOT!

Personal branding done "social media style" is not just about who has the most (so called) friends on Face Book or connections on LinkedIn. Rather, it's crucial that you connect on a personal level and always come away with two or three solid referrals from your new friend. When personal branding is done properly, an outreach to just twenty of your best network contacts may necessitate a full time assistant just to sustain the referral activity. I recently had a client who needed two assistants just to keep up! Does this describe what's transpiring in your job search?

Before you know it, your buzz will be second nature for everybody who knows the YOU brand. Branding is powerful. Don't think so? When is the last time you referred to Scotch Tape® as cellophane adhesive tape? Can't remember the last time I said, "Honey, have you seen the cellophane adhesive tape?" Are you cellophane adhesive tape? It's no surprise the brand-recognition for toilet paper is still up for grabs! Although Kleenex® does have unconventional uses I suppose...

How to Launch Your Social Media Branding Campaign

Anybody and everybody, including your butcher, baker, and candlestick maker, who knows your brand (your name) must know what you are up to and how to find/follow you. I suggest you start with an effectual heartfelt correspondence penned from the tablet of your heart. Be sure to let your friends and associates know you are seeking a possible career move and how to reach you on all media levels. Next, you must promptly put forward to your LinkedIn network, post on your Facebook wall and all the while continuing to Tweet your moment by moment activity to your faithful Twitter followers. If you say the right things and ask the right questions, your friends will sing like canaries.

Who Shall I invite to my Social Gathering?

Everyone on the planet who recognizes your name; this is your warm market. Look at your checkbook. These people surely know who you are. Be sure they know of your personal promotion campaign/job search endeavor. These people work for you. They owe you one! Let them know what you are up to.**Nobody does this, yet 90% of all new jobs at 100k+ will eventually come from somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who comes to know you!

But They Won't Have a Job for Me!

When I ask one of my clients for the names of the people at his gym or members of his clergy, he looks at me as if I have two heads! He thinks to himself: "This Seraichyk character is a kook!" This is because he is unable to separate personal brand building from job-hunting. When you think about calling Uncle Bill (who has been selling Amway/Avon for forty years,) to inquire with reference to employment opportunities, it seems preposterous, illogical, and absurd! However, Uncle Bill in the branding scenario is simply another human being who knows other human beings and is ALSO familiar with your brand. In other words, he is part and parcel of your warm market and must be informed of your product launch.

If you would like more ideas on how to seek out and categorize your network, please send a request for our free "How to Build Your Personal Network" document.

Where to Go - How to Get Started...

Professionals Seeking 75k Plus in annual compensation must get connected on LinkedIn... Go to http://www.linkedin.com/

Be sure to import your contacts from Outlook, Gmail, etc, so that you can start to build your network or cultivate your existing network. You may want to pay for a premium account, so you can contact other recruiters that may help you. Finally, you should conduct searches on LinkedIn for jobs that you may be interested in and reach out to those persons that may provide you with an interview or referral.

Twitter.com has fast developed into the ultimate utility to connect directly with recruiters and employees at companies you're targeting. By conducting Twitter searches, following recruiters on your account and using the "@" sign to communicate with them on occasion, you will begin to find out a lot about them and their companies.

Before you follow anyone on Twitter, you will need to have a finished profile. This means you must have a short bio, the location where you're from, and a link to a site that recruiters can go to for more information. I.e.: Your LinkedIn page, personal website or blog. It's fairly simple. Go to Twitter.com and jump right in! Its fast, free and fun.

If you're in the over 45 age demographic, I strongly suggest that you begin to explore Facebook.com as another resource or media to expose your professional candidacy. 700 million faithful followers can't all be wrong. You can't afford not to have a presence here... Go to Facebook.com to get started. Be sure that your Facebook profile is used exclusively for the purposes of your career endeavors.

A Little Birdie told me...

To get employed and to remain employed you must invite, invite, invite, connect, connect, connect. And always remember, when it comes to aggressive employment search, telling ain't selling, - asking is! Ask for referrals, introductions, contacts and connections; twice if you have to!

John H. Seraichyk(sir-ray-check)

Browning Associates

401-825-7717 Providence www.Professionaljobchange.com

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PS Having a hard time getting a door open? Feel free to email for a network contact, referral, reference or recommendation any time!