5 Ways to Stay in Touch with Your Extended Network

When it comes to thinking about staying connected with your extended network,  especially if you

have a large one, it can almost be as daunting as, say, public speaking for a lot of people. But, it can be broken down into manageable steps. The most important thing with networking is that you stay in touch with those you connect with and you make every effort to keep a relationship going – even if you don’t “need” something at the moment.

Here are our five best tips for continued networking success.

1) Pass Along Articles of Interest to Your Contacts

One great way to stay in touch is to pass along anything of interest to your contacts. You want to continually demonstrate that you’re not only passionate about your industry (and follow it regularly), but also that you are genuinely interested in your contact’s best interest. It never hurts to reach out to someone you know and say, “Hi, John, I came across this article and thought of you. Perhaps you’d find the statistic on the growing demographics of 18- to 24-year-olds interesting for your research. I hope you’re well. All my best, Paul.”

2) Keep Your Network Posted of Your Updates

We recommend that you touch base with your contacts at least twice a year. A year can be quite a bit of time, and a lot can happen. If you are hired for a position, pick up a new internship, move to a new city or start a new blog, these are all reasons to update your network on what’s happening in your life. It’s also important that you use these opportunities to thank those that have helped you become who you are or get you to where you are today.

3) Remember Special Occasions

This can be a hard one. In a perfect world, we would all remember everyone’s birthdays and important events, but unfortunately, real life can get in the way of that. If there are certain members of your network who are your friends on Facebook, make it a daily habit to look at the “Birthdays” reminder to see if there’s anyone you should reach out to. And this doesn’t mean you should leave a generic “Happy Birthday” on someone’s wall; rather take the time to type out an e-mail and let the person know you’re thinking of them. It doesn’t take a lot of additional effort, and it’s an easy way to stand out from the “Facebook wall clutter.” In addition, keep an eye on big events announced by your contacts. If you want to get into public relations and you see that your friend launched a new campaign, send them a congratulatory note.

4) Create Google Alerts for Your Contacts and/or Their Businesses

One great way to keep tabs on a contact or his or her company is by creating a Google Alert. It’s free and takes less than a minute, and the service can send you valuable information on a colleague that you might have been too busy to notice. Then, when you see big news about someone or his or her company, take a minute to send an e-mail and follow up. If you’re not sure how to set up a Google Alert, check out our recent post on the CareerSparx blog, “Your Dream Employer? Do More Than Google Them.”

5) Follow Them on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn

Again, the idea is to stay connected with your contacts and what’s going on in their lives. If you see that a birthday is coming up or something important just happened, make note of what you see on your social media accounts and follow up via a personalized e-mail. Another tactic is to hit “like” if they post something produced by their company on a Facebook profile, or retweet a Twitter update for a big project of theirs. They will appreciate the support, and you will achieve your goal of staying connected and on their radar.

By following these five easy tips, you will be able to stay better connected to your network. And as you’ll see, it really isn’t as hard or as overwhelming as it seems. Best of luck.

Original Articl

TWEAK your way to better workplace life

Katy Piotrowski, M.Ed., • katy@careersolutionsgroup.net. • 

Last week, Cultivating Colorado Leaders, a local MeetUp group, got together to discuss how to achieve career happiness. Small changes leading to big payoffs was the theme. These were some of their top TWEAK tips:

T - Tap into talents. Work doesn't feel so much like work when you're using your natural gifts. Ferret out assignments that play into your best strengths and happiness will follow. Example: one cheery chef described trying a number of culinary jobs before hitting upon teaching cooking classes, a specialty that makes great use of her talents in training. As she said, "It took a while to find my fit, but it was worth the search!"

W - Work at it. Prize perks - plum projects, flexible schedules, status and recognition - typically come to those who attain a level of excellence in what they do. Achieving that expertise requires a significant investment in skill building (a minimum of 2,000 hours is a good guideline). If you long for the rewards of excellence, add to your skill set one small step at a time.
E - Explore and experiment. Millions of career options exist in today's world of work, so finding your satisfying niche is more possible now than ever before. To keep tabs on cool trends in your specialty, input relevant keywords into your favorite search engine (such as "advancements in customer service technology") to learn how things are evolving. When you hit on intriguing developments, take the next step to experience it yourself.
A - Always bring your A-Game. Your current career circumstances may be challenging, yet you are in complete control of your attitude. If you struggle to maintain an optimistic outlook, consider counseling to help you see more clearly what steps you can take to get to a more positive place.
K - Be "Kooky" to kick your results up a notch. Small risks can lead to big rewards, and breaking out of your box can help you get noticed. One joyful jewelry specialist now partners with non-profits to help raise funds, while growing her business in a meaningful way.

Katy Piotrowski, M.Ed., is the author of "The Career Coward's Guides" and provides career and job search support with Career Solutions Group in Fort Collins. Call her at (970) 224-4042 or send e-mail to katy@careersolutionsgroup.net.


Original Article

Five Mistakes Online Job Hunters Make

By ELIZABETH GARONE

In a tight job market, building and maintaining an online presence is critical to networking and job hunting. Done right, it can be an important tool for present and future networking and useful for potential employers trying to get a sense of who you are, your talents and your experience. Done wrong, it can easily take you out of the running for most positions.
Here are five mistakes online job hunters make:
1. Forgetting manners.
If you use Twitter or you write a blog, you should assume that hiring managers and recruiters will read your updates and your posts. A December 2009 study by Microsoft Corp. found that 79% of hiring managers and job recruiters review online information about job applicants before making a hiring decision. Of those, 70% said that they have rejected candidates based on information that they found online. Top reasons listed? Concerns about lifestyle, inappropriate comments, and unsuitable photos and videos.
"Everything is indexed and able to be searched," says Miriam Salpeter, an Atlanta-based job search and social media coach. "Even Facebook, which many people consider a more private network, can easily become a trap for job seekers who post things they would not want a prospective boss to see."

Don't be lulled into thinking your privacy settings are foolproof. "All it takes is one person sharing information you might not want shared, forwarding a post, or otherwise breaching a trust for the illusion of privacy in a closed network to be eliminated," says Ms. Salpeter, who recommends not posting anything illegal (even if it's a joke), criticism of a boss, coworker or client, information about an interviewer, or anything sexual or discriminatory. "Assume your future boss is reading everything you share online," she says.

2. Overkill.
Blanketing social media networks with half-done profiles accomplishes nothing except to annoy the exact people you want to impress: prospective employees trying to find out more about on you.
One online profile done well is far more effective than several unpolished and incomplete ones, says Sree Sreenivasan, dean of students at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He made the decision early on to limit himself to three social-networking sites: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. "There is just not enough time," he says. "Pick two or three, then cultivate a presence there."

Many people make the mistake of joining LinkedIn and other social media sites and then just letting their profiles sit publicly unfinished, says Krista Canfield, a LinkedIn spokesperson. "Just signing up for an account simply isn't enough," she says. "At a bare minimum, make sure you're connected to at least 35 people and make sure your profile is 100 percent complete. Members with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn."
LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are the three most popular social networking sites for human resources managers to use for recruiting, according to a survey released last month by JobVite, a maker of recruiting software.
3. Not getting the word out.
When accounting firm Dixon Hughes recently had an opening for a business development executive, Emily Bennington, the company's director of marketing and development, posted a link to the opportunity on her Facebook page. "I immediately got private emails from a host of people in my network, none of whom I knew were in the market for a new job," she says. " I understand that there are privacy concerns when it comes to job hunting, but if no one knows you're looking, that's a problem, too."
Changing this can be as simple as updating your status on LinkedIn and other social networking sites to let people know that you are open to new positions. If you're currently employed and don't want your boss to find out that you're looking, you'll need to be more subtle. One way to do this is to give prospective employers a sense of how you might fit in, says Dan Schawbel, author of "Me 2.0" and founder of Millennial Branding. "I recommend a positioning, or personal brand statement, that depicts who you are, what you do, and what audience you serve, so that people get a feeling for how you can benefit their company."
4. Quantity over quality.
Choose connections wisely; only add people you actually know or with whom you've done business. Whether it's on LinkedIn, Facebook or any other networking site, "it's much more of a quality game than a quantity game," says Ms. Canfield. A recruiter may choose to contact one of your connections to ask about you; make sure that person is someone you know and trust.
And there's really no excuse for sending an automated, generic introduction, says Ms. Canfield. "Taking the extra five to 10 seconds to write a line or two about how you know the other person and why'd you'd like to connect to them can make the difference between them accepting or declining your connection request," she says. "It also doesn't hurt to mention that you're more than willing to help them or introduce them to other people in your network."
5. Online exclusivity.
Early last year, Washington's Tacoma Public Utilities posted a water meter reader position on its website. The response? More than 1,600 people applied for the $17.76 an hour position.
With the larger number of people currently unemployed (and under-employed), many employers are being inundated with huge numbers of applications for any positions they post. In order to limit the applicant pool, some have stopped posting positions on their websites and job boards, says Tim Schoonover, chairman of career consulting firm OI Partners.
Scouring the Web for a position and doing nothing else is rarely the best way to go. "When job-seekers choose to search for jobs exclusively online– rather than also include in-person networking–they may be missing out on 'hidden' opportunities," says Mr. Schoonover. "Higher-level jobs are not posted as often as lower-level jobs online. In-person networking may be needed to uncover these higher-level positions, which may be filled by executive recruiters."
Write to ELIZABETH GARONE at cjeditor@dowjones.com

Original WSJ Article

Tips for transitioning from a stay-at-home parent into a career-track professional

I took about five months of maternity leave after my daughter was born. It felt more like five years when I returned. 

In my first few months back on the job, I could barely manage to get to work without yogurt smeared on my clothes. Report breaking-news stories? Write on deadline? Yeesh.

Now imagine returning after taking off years to raise a family.

I talked with Carol Fishman Cohen, co-founder of iRelaunch and co-author of Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work, which came out in 2007. What tips, I asked her, can you give someone who is looking to rejoin the workforce after taking time off to spend with family?

She offers seven tips for styling your own personal relaunch, as she calls it: (And you can also keep up on advice from Fishman Cohen and her co-author, Vivian Steir Rabin, at the Back on the Career Track blog here.

Relaunch or not -- you decide. Basically, you need to fully think through your feelings, needs and issues about whether you are ready to return to the work force. What are your childcare needs? Do you have family and spousal support? Are there other issues, such as a recent move or a spouse that's just changed jobs that can complicate returning to work?

Learn confidence. Your co-workers from the past remember you as you were, she said. It can be a "huge confidence builder" to get back in touch with co-workers from the past and hear their enthusiasm about your decision to return to work, she said.

Another way to help build that up? Start talking. Talk first with your nonjudgmental friends and family about your interest in returning to work and what you want to do. At first, you might not sound so polished. But talking it out lets you practice and get feedback on what you're saying or how you're saying it. Broaden the audience to people you know more casually. All of this is a kind of rehearsal for an interview down the road. The more you rehearse ahead of time, the better you will sound.
    
Assess your career options. You need to figure out if your skills and interests have changed. You want to look at each of your prior significant work and volunteer experiences, look at all the pieces of those jobs and identify the ones that you love doing and think you're best at. You might find that you were exactly on the right career path to begin with, she said, and want to return. Or you might find that your old career is no longer compatible with your lifestyle.

Update your professional and job-search skills. Subscribe to industry journals, attend conferences, get back in touch with your alma mater which may offer alumni career services.
     
Consider whether you need to update your training by taking classes at a community college or enrolling in a certificate program. For some people, schooling provides a networking or internship opportunity that may translate into a full-time job.
    
Volunteering with nonprofits can often provide relevant experiences that are resume-worthy, she said.
    
Network and market yourself. Set up an online professional profile on LinkedIn. Join professional organizations, alumni groups and other associations through your LinkedIn profile.

"Nothing beats getting out of your house," she said. "We hear over and over, 'I sent out 100 resumes and I'm not getting any responses,'" Fishman Cohen said. "You can do that if you want, but your most productive networking is going to be in person.

That means going to parent-teacher organization meetings or soccer games or political committee meetings, she said. Have conversations with people about their work -- and once in a while, you'll connect with someone whose interests are similar to yours.

Channel family support. Make sure you talk with them and strategize how you're going to handle child-care, pick-ups, housework or other needs that will arise with your absence.

Handle the job -- or find another. Be strategic about your relaunch, but if you end up having to take a job that's not your ideal, work on a plan B. Don't necessarily turn down a contractor position or one that offers less responsibility because you can show your skills and earn more responsibility over time.

Those are the official seven tips. But she has a few other pieces of advice to keep on track.

Be relentless. Keep going and keep moving forward. If you land a job interview and it doesn't turn into an offer, don't give up.

Pair up with a relaunch buddy. Find someone who is also interested in returning to work. Then set up a regular time to check in with that friend about how your week's efforts are going. This provides you with a scheduled check-in, so that you keep making progress, as well as gives you a sounding board.    

And one more tip -- how do you discuss the years that you took off to stay at home?
One reason the networking piece is so important, she said, is because that information will already be out there before you get to an interview. At that point, she said, don't apologize. "Be very brief about it and move on. For example, you might say "I took a career break to take care of my kids, but I can't wait to come back to work. One reason I was so excited about this job is...." and move the conversation on to talk about your qualifications and skills.   
    
IRelaunch has several online resources, including a readiness quiz and a resume guide on its website. It also has compiled a list of dozens of career re-entry programs -- including some free ones -- that people can look into as well. 

-- Helen Jung

Original Article

Promoting Your Job Search When You're Employed

By ELIZABETH GARONE

Q: How should you go about advertising yourself on LinkedIn when you are already employed? It seems like you wouldn't want to be too overt, since people from your present company are likely to see your posting. Is it OK to note that you are open to job queries?
A: You are right to assume that someone from your company probably will view your profile at some point, so it would be best not to announce that you are actively looking for another job. Luckily, there are ways you can subtly let it be known that you are open to opportunities.
"Your LinkedIn profile is public, which means that everyone has access to it in and out of your company," says Dan Schawbel, author of "Me 2.0" and managing partner at Millennial Branding LLC. "You can, however, be cautious and avoid sending public updates that you want to quit your job or that you hate your manager."

Unless your company knows that there are extenuating circumstances – such as expected layoffs, you're relocating, or you are seeking opportunities in a different field – you won't want to advertise your availability, says Catherine Ricker, vice president of human resources at Affinity Federal Credit Union in Basking Ridge, N.J. "Colleagues, and possibly your supervisor, are likely to learn of your search, which may send the impression that you are unhappy with your current employer or manager, even if you are not, and cause the employer to question your commitment to the organization," she says.
Instead, use your profile to detail you prior work experience and to emphasize your present job position title, job responsibilities and future career aspirations, suggests Ms. Ricker. "Solicit professional recommendations for posting on your LinkedIn page and direct prospective employers accordingly," she says. She recommends joining groups in your specific field of interest. "Savvy recruiters generally seek out potential candidates through these groups," she says.
When job hunting in "stealth" mode, get comfortable using your account settings, recommends LinkedIn's senior public relations manager, Krista Canfield. For example, many users don't know that they can adjust their settings so that their connections won't be notified each time they update their status or make changes to their profile. "That way, if you suddenly decide to connect to 15 local recruiters, your boss won't notice that these folks have been added to your network via status updates," says Ms. Canfield.

On the flip side, LinkedIn users often forget to indicate that they are interested in career opportunities and that they will accept messages from other members. If you disable these features, you'll be making yourself much harder to contact and could lose out on job opportunities.

Mr. Schawbel recommends approaching your LinkedIn headline as a "positioning statement, detailing what you do and who you do it for." In addition, you'll want to figure out the keywords a recruiter would use to search for people in your desired field and include them as part of your profile. "This way, recruiters will find you, and you'll start getting job queries for positions that you're truly passionate about," says Mr. Schawbel.
"Above everything else, make sure you update and expand your profile," says Ms. Canfield. Users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn than those with incomplete profiles, she says.
Write to ELIZABETH GARONE at cjeditor@dowjones.com

Original WSJ Article

10 Blogs to Boost Your Social Network Savvy

Here's a roster of experts who regularly offer tips and observations about networking to greatest effect.

Kristin Burnham, CIO

Keeping tabs on the evolving world of social media isn't easy. Facebook, as we've seen, has endured several privacy fiascos and consequent criticisms. LinkedIn has made impressive progress in making the site more social by rolling out important updates to its site. Meanwhile, Twitter continues to struggle with simply handling its increasing traffic.

To better understand the changing landscape -- and to discover how it can help you and your business -- you need expert help. I've compiled a list of my 10 favorite blogs (in no particular order) from practitioners, experts and thinkers. Follow these blogs for the latest news, tips, insights and case studies that will keep you at the top of your social media game.

Chris Brogan What you'll find: Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs shares video book reviews, thoughts on and tips for maximizing the value of social media, and puts into greater context what the news means for you. Sample posts: "LinkedIn Recommendation Tips;" "Beyond Project Management;" "Automate the Easy Stuff."

All Facebook What you'll find: coverage of new Facebook applications, general news and analysis about the future of Facebook. The blog also features statistics on the top Facebook Apps and Pages. Sample posts: "Facebook Driving More Users to Make Facebook.com Their Homepage;" "Facebook's New Permissions Dialogue Goes Live on All Applications;" "Facebook Clarifies Policy on Site Scrapers as Robots.Txt Gets Updated."

Carol Rozwell What you'll find: Carol Rozwell, Gartner VP and a member of Gartner's Social Software and Collaboration team, writes on the dynamics of collaborating in social networks and communities, and innovation. Expect advice and practical use-cases. Sample posts: "Social Networking Redo: Fixing a Broken Implementation Program;" "Social Media Stumbles-E-Business Redux;" "Social Media Panelists Share Experiences at PCC."

SmartBlog on Social Media What you'll find: SmartBlog picks the most relevant social media news on the Web, summarizes it and links to the original source if you want to read the article in full. Check in here for poll analysis, news, tips and case studies. Sample posts: "How LEGO Supports Their Growing Network of Fans;" "Getting a Handle on Twitter Followers;" "Gov 2.0: How to Engage Your Hispanic Fans."

http://stoweboyd.tumblr.com/" rel="nofollow">Stowe Boyd What you'll find: Stowe Boyd, director at 301works.org and president at Microsyntax.org focuses on social tools and their impact on media, business and society. Boyd recently moved his blog; for all old entries, go here. Sample posts: "ACLU Fact Checks Facebook's Response to Open Letter;" "Twitter Taps Into Facebook and LinkedIn Networks;" "Sliderocket: The Last Stage of Jettisoning Desktop Office Apps."

Social Media B2B What you'll find: News and discussions on social media's impact on B2B companies and social media adoption within B2B companies. Sample posts: "Unclutter You B2B Social Media Sources;" "B2B Case Study: Supply Chain Firm Drives Traffic With Online Community;" "Social Media Monitoring and Developing B2B Thought Leadership."

Socialnomics-Social Media Blog What you'll find: Socialnomics covers the latest trends in social media, focusing on news and what it means for users and businesses. It's known for its irreverent viewpoints of a popular topic. This blog complement's Erik Qualman's book of the same title. Sample posts: "Steve Jobs=Social Media King;" "What BP Should Be Doing With Social Media;" "Facebook Statistics & History in Picture Form."

Andrew McAfee's Blog What you'll find: McAfee, a principal research scientist at MIT's Center for Digital Business, coined the phrase "Enterprise 2.0." He writes on the ways that IT affects businesses. Sample posts: "Why Some Geeks Hate the iPad So Much;" "In the Age of the Smart Machine, What Are WE Good For?;" "Memes to Watch Out For."

SocialMedia.Biz What you'll find: advice on social media strategy, news, trends, tools and resources. Sample posts: "Everything You Need to Know About SEO;" "Mark Zuckerberg Makes the Big Time;" "Successful Techniques for Building Your Industry Voice With Social Media."

Scobleizer What you'll find: Robert Scoble, managing director at Rackspace, is best known for his views on the social media landscape. You'll find video interviews with upstarts, product reviews and analysis on the latest and greatest in the Web 2.0 world. Sample posts: "Meet the team that knows who is REALLY influential on Twitter (Klout);" " First look video: Toshiba "touch" netbook prototype shows how Japanese might fight back against iPad (oh, and a cool 3D laptop, too);" " Two location companies that are more important than Foursquare, MyTown, Loopt, Gowalla, or Whrrl."

Staff Writer Kristin Burnham covers consumer Web and social technologies for CIO.com. She writes frequently on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google. You can follow her on Twitter: @kmburnham. Read more at www.pcworld.com

Original Article