Career Attraction Weekly Wrap-up – August 14, 2010
Wow…this has been a crazy week (not quite THAT crazy…but close 
). On Wednesday, Group Coaching began and I held a free webinar (you can watch it here – but only until Monday – when you listen in you will know why). Then, on Thursday evening, I announced that I’d hold free, 1-on-1 coaching for the first 22 people to grab up the spots. They were gone in less than an hour. I was blown away and I’m looking forward to talking to you all on Monday. For those who didn’t get a slot, I am looking at my calendar to see when I can do this again in the future. It’s a regular occurrence for those in Career Attraction University and always a high point in my week!
OK…on to what happened last week:
5 Secrets to Uncovering the Hidden Job Market – I’ll only have this webinar recording up until midnight and Monday. When you listen to it you’ll know why. I’ve gotten some great feedback from those who joined me on Wednesday and would love to know what you think after you watch it. You can check it out here.
LinkedIn v.Facebook – 263 vs. 170 and counting. If you haven’t joined us on LinkedIn and Facebook, come on in…the water is fine. This week there wasa great discussion started by Chip Hysler on Informational Interviews in the LinkedIn Group. Check it out! Have a question? Want to share some information? These are great places to “pay it forward.”
Examiner Column – This week I tackled two topics in my Examiner column…When it’s Best NOT to Ask for a Job and Is Your Job Search Networking Missing Something.
Is there something you’d like for me to tackle there on on the blog? Let me know at kevin@careerattraction.com
Volunteer Your Way to a New Opportunity – Most of us have a charity or group where we volunteer our time and efforts. In the midst of a job search, particularly a stressful one, it would seem natural to dial back your involvement. But, this is one place where you shouldn’t retreat. The relationships you have established – even if new or underdeveloped – in the places you volunteer can be extremely powerful in your job search. Increasing your involvement can very well lead to a job offer in a place you never expected to find one. Read more here…
Here’s what’s happening in Career Attraction University…
2010 LIVE Job Search Bootcamp Training – I announced that I’ll be holding a new Bootcamp starting September 7th. As a Career Attraction University member, you are automatically enrolled at no extra charge – you don’t need to do a thing or pay a thing. I know there have been some questions about this and I hope that clears it up. If there’s anything else you need to know, feel free to email me at kevin@careerattraction.com
1-on-1 Coaching – Thursday, August 19th from 9amEST – 12pmEST there are private, 1-on-1 coaching slots available. Sign-up in the members section and I’ll look forward to talking with you!
This Month’s Webinars – On Wednesday, August 18th and 12:00pmEST we will have our Q&A Webinar for August. Send your questions to university@careerattraction.com or ask them live on the call. The next Wednesday, August 25th at 12:00pmEST we have out monthly SME Webinar. The topic is TBD. I have a few ideas, but would love to know what you’d like to hear about. Email me your thoughts at kevin@careerattraction.com.
Registration information for both will be sent out to members next week.
NEW VIDEOS – New training videos on posting to LinkedIn Groups quicker (and more easily) and creating surveys, autoreponders and opt-in boxes for your website with iContact.
Have some specific training you’d like for your search? Email me at kevin@careerattraction.com and I’ll get working on it for you!
Not a member of Career Attraction University? For less than one dollar a day you can access all this information and more. Sign-up here and get started today!
LinkedIn vs. Facebook – The Update (221 to 153)
In July, I announced that I’d be giving away 10 FREE Career Attraction University (CAU) memberships when we hit 1000 members in our LinkedIn Group and Facebook Page. As you know, CAU is all about providing you resources, tools and training to stand out in your career, start attracting opportunities and stop chasing after jobs.
Well, as of this morning we are at a collective 374. And, while patience is a virtue, I’ve decided to giveaway a total of 20 FREE CAU memberships – 10 for LinkedIn Group members and 10 for Facebook Page members. If you see your name listed below, just email us at ezine@careerattraction.com to get rolling!
Career Attraction LinkedIn Group – Kelly Lowe, James Porter, Clint Covey, Tony Joseph, Nancy Conelley, Robert Arseneau, Treena Hogan, John Kailey, Freddie Bleiweiss, Jill Swanson!
Career Attraction Facebook Page -Jordan Fox, Cheri Spring, Jim Elliott, Andree Weger, Ruth Nash, Mike Lauderdale, Maxine McClellan, John Villeneau, Lisa Bailey, Elena Cata!
Want to be eligible for a free giveaway and see your name in one of these posts? It’s easy. Here is all you need to do…
1) Join the Career Attraction LinkedIn Group and then add some content for everyone’s benefit. Start a discussion, offer some advice, link to an article you found helpful. Think in terms of how you can help others…when we collectively do this, it has an amazingly large impact.
2) Join the Career Attraction Facebook Page. Same thing applies…comment on an article, “like” a post or (even better yet) add some content that others will find helpful.
I’ll be giving away memebrships and other great freebies, but you have to be part of our communities on LinkedIn and/or Facebook to be eligible. And, of course, participate by helping others!
Thanks and I look forward to seeing what you have to share!
Connecting with the Hiring Manager – No Recruiters, HR or Gate Keepers
LinkedIn is, without a doubt, one of the greatest tools for job seekers in finding potential employers. But, if you view it as your primary way of connecting with potential contacts versus a robust resource for information, you could be making your search more difficult than it needs to be. Let me explain what I mean as I walk you through this “how to” session.
I want you to think of LinkedIn like your personal White Pages. The more first degree connections you have, the larger your phonebook. I’ve written before about my philosophy that out of quantity, quality is born. The tool I highly recommend to all my clients for building a vast 1st level of likeminded networkers is OpenNetworker. After signing up with them, you will see your connections grow exponentially…as well as your ability to find the people with whom you want an audience. In my case, simply by signing up, my connections went from around 1000 about 18 months ago (which took me almost 4 years to build) to over 10,000 as of this blog…connecting me to over 17,000,000 LinkedIn users.
What I am going to walk you through today is only one of the techniques I teach in my Bootcamp. Adopting this approach, I want to show you how you can get in front of more hiring managers and take control of what they are hearing and seeing about you:
1. Getting Started – Here are the basics that you need:
• The name of the company,
• The role (you can select more than one, if you are uncertain) to which you would be reporting. You are looking for decision makers here – not HR or recruiters. In the video, I walk through this step-by-step (there is more information on this below).
2. Searching on LinkedIn – Using this criteria, conduct a search on LinkedIn to find the right point of contact – who you would be reporting to in your ideal role. Write down their full name. If you are on the fence about who your ideal contact is, take down all the possible options you can find in LinkedIn.
Tip: I recommend starting your search as broad as possible. Run it by company only, and then start adding in criteria like location, title or keywords. It’s always better to cast a wide net to begin with and then narrow your search.
3. Googling the Email Format – Since you are going to be reaching out to this contact on your own, we are going to move from LinkedIn to Google. If you think you might have a good contact to use instead of making your own introduction, that’s fine. But, I recommend using my “Litmus Test” in the tip below before relying on someone else to get you in the door. You need to know exactly how good an advocate they are going to be.
Tip: When trying to decide whether you should use a connection for an introduction or go it alone, use this easy litmus test. Ask your connection if they are willing to make a call to the contact you are trying to reach. If they are reluctant to do so and only offer to email – or worse yet, put your resume in front of someone in HR – politely thank them and go it alone. Someone with a solid relationship that bears weight won’t hesitate to pick up the phone. Anything else is simply an introduction with no teeth and a missed opportunity to make a meaningful first impression.
Using Google, add the “@” sign in front of the URL of the company in the search box. In the video, I use the example of Applied Robotics. You can see below what that search looks like.
You may need to dig through a page or two of search results to find the format. I also share some secrets on uncovering hard-to-find email format in the video walking you through this technique. If you enter your name and email below, I will send you a link to the short video that includes more tips and walks you through this process step-by-step.
Once you have found the format, use the contact name you found through LinkedIn and apply the format to it. You can then reach out directly to this potential hiring manager without being concerned about HR, recruiters or any other gate keepers.
As always, share your comments below. I always want to hear that you think!
The LinkedIn Job Seeker Connections Dilemma: Quantity or Quality?
In all my speaking, training and coaching, this has to be the most popular question when talking about LinkedIn. To link or not to link…should a job seeker go after a high quantity of connections or focus more on the quality of connections? My answer – in short – is both. I am a strong believer and advocate that out of quantity comes quality.
Guy Kawasaki, of Alltop fame, says it best when talking about Twitter: “Nobodies are the new somebodies.” Albeit a different medium, I think that philosophy applies here. LinkedIn is the premier on-line professional networking site. And, just as you would network at a live event, the goal should be to get to know those you don’t already know. Moreover, following Kawasaki’s logic, don’t try to predetermine who can help you…those second and third degrees of separation with the most random of persons can take you places you never expected to go!
It’s essential to connect with likeminded people. A massive number of connections with non-networking types nets you “garbage in, garbage out.” Personally, I have used OpenNetworker to grow my network from under 2,000 connections to over 10,000 in just over a year. More importantly, 10,000 connections who want to network. This has been instrumental in helping me get the word out on what I do and the pain I address (more on this in a second). I don’t decide who needs to hear my message – I let the audience…my connections…decide what has value. They then make the introductions and connections accordingly.
For the job seeker in particular, you must have your message down. More importantly, your message (or, as I call it, Your Solution) isn’t that you are unemployed or that you are looking for work. It’s all about where you have consistently delivered value to employers in the past – painting the picture of what you can do for a future employer. When working with clients on their Solution, we get crystal clear on the problems (or pains) they solve. Fine tune the Solution, push it out as a clear message, attract those in pain (i.e. those who need what you can deliver) and then explore the fit (interview).
Can you do this with a small, closely knit network? Sure. But, chances are that your immediate network already knows your accomplishments. Heck, your closest network would hire you if they could. But what about those “nobodies” who could just be the “somebody” that lead you to your new job? You owe it to yourself to connect with them sooner rather than later.
As always, I’d love to hear what you think!
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5 Reasons Why Social Media MUST Be Part of Your Job Search
There’s a lot of static out there about Social Media and its place in the job search process. Many think it is a bit of a time drain with little return on investment. And, like anything else, without a “plan” it can be just that. But, properly implemented, it can be a more powerful catalyst to getting your job search engine off and running than just about any other single tool out there. This is largely because it embodies a collection of qualities that, combined, can streamline your search efforts while putting the maximum amount of pressure on a pinpoint area – your target position:
Visibility – These mediums allow you access to an unlimited amount of professionals within your targeted audience. What’s more, Social Media sites by definition allow for and promote the organization of niche “groups” which make finding your audience that much easier. LinkedIn is a prime example of this, but Facebook and YouTube as well.
Transparency – This is a mantra to your success in Social Media environments. You can equate it to going to a party. Would you set up a table and starting pitching your product (i.e. “Here I am, looking for a job”) or begin by connecting on common ground? This is particularly true on Twitter – one of the more transparent tools out there. It is the first step in the process of “Know, Like, Trust,” which we all go through in determining what we are going to buy. Or, in this case, who they are going to hire.
“Give to Get” – Coupled with transparency, it is the second key to success in Social Media. Help others to not only get them to help you but, of equal importance, discover who will help you. And, by way of this assistance, you get a third party endorsement or recommendation. You can start doing it by simply asking others, “How can I help you?”
Nobodies are the New Somebodies – Borrowed from Guy Kawasaki, in the simplest of terms you don’t know who can help you nor do you know who knows who. Connecting with the big wigs in your industry through Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn can be fun, but it’s that avid networker who you have never met or heard of who is your better bet.
The Quality is in the Quantity – This is how you get to the “Nobody Somebodies.” There are a myriad of tools out there to help you build a network of likeminded, “give to get” individuals rapidly on the major platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). By having a large number of connections, you have more choices from which to drill down and develop deeper, more meaningful connections. Think of it like filling your own networking event: pack the hall with as many folks as possible and then work the room to see who can help you (and, of course, who you can help).
It is clear that Social Media isn’t the fad some first claimed it to be. It is almost equally as pervasive off-line as it is on-line. By incorporating it on the front end of your job search efforts to “fill the funnel,” you will not only more effectively tie in with the opportunities you seek but also uncover that elusive “hidden job market.”
Social Media is only one part of Kevin’s 11 Module Job Search 2.0 Bootcamp System which not only uncovers the “hidden” job market – but drives those jobs to you. Learn more about this new system.
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2008 – 2009 (c) Kevin Kermes Inc. – All Rights Reserved
