Our friends over at Common Craft do some great work.  There videos are simple, yet full of great information.  Today I want to share with you this 3 minute goodie on using LinkedIn for more than just making contacts.

The protagonist in this story used LinkedIn to grow her business.  What can you learn from her, since you, as a job seeker, are the owner of your own business who’s sole purpose is to find you a job?  How can you search your contacts to find people who will help move your career forward?  Who do you need to meet?  How can you use LinkedIn to facilitate an introduction?

Don’t forget theses 2 important keys to graceful networking (even online);

1. It’s NOT about you. You may feel an urgent need to find a job.  However, when networking you will turn people off if you show it.  Approach people to find opportunity for them and their network FIRST.  When they know you have their best interest at heart they will want to help you fulfill your needs.
2. When asked, have a CLEAR statement of what you are looking for. (See the “4 Step Process for Writing an Elevator Pitch”) Be sure to include a call to action.  You don’t get if you don’t ask, so be sure to ask.  However, ONLY ask AFTER you have helped the other person.

LinkedIn can be an amazing tool for your job search if you use it correctly. I recommend that you do not just accept any link you are offered.  Take time to get to know the other person first.  Then, after a significant conversation, you will have created a quality link.

In the last month I’ve had a few clients who were contacted directly by HR professionals and Recruiters through their LinkedIn profile.  Make sure you have a solid profile, because you won’t get the chance to make a second impression!  Good luck, happy hunting, and great linking!

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 21. Tomorrow’s post: “How To Conduct An Informational Interview”

This week I have been writing about personal branding.  Today I want to share some links of folks who have both influenced my knowledge of the topic, AND who really get it.  Enjoy.

Tom Peters, of course, is the grandfather of the term “personal brand.”  He wrote a seminal article on the topic more than 12 years ago.  I reference it in another post . . . You might also want to check out another article on his blog that addresses the word “brand” and it’s many meanings.

Phil Rosenberg has some great content on his blog about “Online Reputation Management” — including a helpful strategic pattern to follow (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2008/03/online-reputation-management.html)

A blog writer named “Skellie” has a good section on building your personal brand.  Her writing is aimed at bloggers, but it’s very useful information for job seekers and anyone else who is concerned with their personal brand. Check out the foundational article entitled “How to Start (or Start Over) Building Your Personal Brand“. I particularly like her statement, “You don’t need to be big, to be big.” She makes a strong point here for consistency and transparency (although she doesn’t call it that).

Ron Desi writes a blog on “Leadership. Social Media. And Other Stuff I Like.”  He’s written a couple of posts on personal branding lately that I recommend.  He’s right on with his insights.  I don’t know Ron, but the next time I’m out in Maryland I think I’ll look him up!

Dan Schwawbel writes the Personal Branding Blog.  He usually has some good stuff there about building your brand.  He even has guests write posts that give a variety of insights on building your personal brand.  He tends to focus on younger folks (i.e. Gen Y), but those of us with gray hair can learn some good things from what these folks are saying.  Dan also wrote a book entitled “Me 2.0″, but I must say that it does not live up to the standard he has set with his blog.  There are some great insights in the book, but it’s so poorly written that it’s pretty much unreadable in my opinion (sorry Dan, just being honest).  Stick with his blog and you can’t go wrong.

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 20. Tomorrow’s post: “Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Personal Brand”

By now you understand that finding the perfect job requires more than simply writing a resume and posting it online. In fact, if you are going to take the “apply-on-line” approach you should spend NO MORE than 2 hours per week at it. Less than 5% of jobs are ever posted online, so if you are going to find your next job fast you need to spend your time elsewhere. The successful and savvy job seeker will develop a compelling personal brand and spend 75% of their time (or more) promoting it. Here are 7 key ways to promote your personal brand.

1) BUY PRINTED BUSINESS CARDS. I am consistently shocked by the number of job seekers who have absolutely NO way of letting other people know how to contact them other than by shoving a resume in their face. And no, the one’s yo print at home on your own computer are NOT good enough! Business cards are inexpensive. Sometimes you can even get free business cards from places like Prints Made Easy or free shipping from stores like Office Max. As for what to put on your card? I recommend the minimalist approach. Put your name, email address, phone, and LinkedIn profile address. You don’t need a title or a cute picture. Get a non-glossy finish and leave the back empty so people can jot down notes about you.

2) DEVELOP A CONCISE ELEVATOR PITCH. Give just enough information to make people want to ask you to tell them more. Don’t focus on your past, instead focus on your future. Nobody cares that you have 15 years experience in micro-processors. They want to know what you can do for THEM now! Be memorable, but not flippant or “cutesy”. Lastly, rehearse it at least 100 times out loud BEFORE you use it in a group. You want it to be polished, but not too formulaic. For more help on developing your Elevator Pitch, see my post on Jim Nudelman’s 4 Step Process.

3) SHOW UP. You have business cards and a concise elevator pitch, but what good are they if you sit all day at the computer? Plan a strategy to show up in places where your target audience is (i.e. potential employers in key companies within your target industries) or where the people who know them will be.

4) LISTEN AND BUILD TRUST. Networking is NOT about you. It’s about building a relationship. It’s about helping people in your network of friends and colleagues connect for mutual benefit. It’s about finding out what someone else needs and helping them

5) COMPLETE YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE. This is one of the most important online tools you will have. A great resource for learning more about how to beef up your LinkeIn account is from Joshua Waldman with Career Enlightenment. Check him out. He’s is THE premiere professional on this topic!

6) FOLLOW UP. Develop a press kit that you can send if asked. Better yet, develop an online press kit using Visual CV or create a blog (I like wordpress). Online you can store video clips, pdf files, work examples and much more.

7) SEND A THANK YOU CARD. Every career coach from here to Katmandu tells their clients to do this. It’s an inexpensive way to keep you on the top of someone’s mind. Personal, hand written cards get past the usual gate keepers and are absolutely read by their intended recipient. If these things are true, then why is it that so few job seekers actually do it?! I must meet with 10-15 people per week. You would think my mailman and I would be on a first name basis after that. The reality is, only about 1 in 100 send a written thank you card. Does it make an impression? You bet it does! True, I don’t have any job openings. However, I do get calls and emails all the time from people who have openings. If I have a handwritten thank you note on my desk from YOU when I get the cal, how much more likely do you think I will be to pass along your name to a prospective Click on this Office Depot link RIGHT NOW and order some Thank You cards. While you are at it, click on this link and buy some stamps online. Keep them at your desk within arms reach, and write thank you notes to EVERYONE you talked to that day – in person or on the phone. DO THIS EVERY NIGHT before you go to bed! Include another business card along with a note as to how much you appreciated their time. Trust me, it will make a HUGE difference!

I hope you can see that these things aren’t difficult. They aren’t hard to remember. They don’t require an advanced degree to implement. They are easy, and there are only 7 of them. You can implement this strategy in just one week by doing just one each day. Have fun, and happy hunting!

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 18. Tomorrow’s post: “The Top 3 Mistakes Job Seekers Make On LinkedIn” (A guest post written by Joshua Waldman)

I’m trying something a little bit different today.  On Sunday, December 13 I conducted an interview via Skype with Don Elliott of Elliott Design. Don is a marketing profession and in this video he gives advice on how to build your personal brand based upon his expertise in helping companies develop their own brand presence.

One other note, the quality of this video isn’t great, but the content rocks!  If you need to, just close your eyes and listen.  Don’ gives some GREAT gems for developing your personal brand.

If you live in Portland and would like to attend my “Writing An Elevator Pitch” seminar next Monday (December 21), click here to find out how you can attend for just $13.00.  The seminar will be led by national sales trainer, Jim Nudelman. You will remember him, because he is the one who gave us the “4 Step Process for Writing An Elevator Pitch.” It’s one of our most popular posts!

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 14.  Tomorrow’s post: “Blog Challenge Day 15 Check Up”

Tiger Woods.

What do you think of when you read or hear that name?  Chances are, what you think today is NOT what you thought about 3 weeks ago.  I hate to pile on, but . . . well, actually I don’t mind piling on if we can all learn something from it.

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last two weeks, you know the story about the most famous golfer of all times and how his reputation (i.e. his personal brand) has been tarnished following the exposure of his multiple sexual encounters. I’m not here to pass judgment on Tiger. Afterall, who DIDN’T see something like this coming? What I want to do in this post is to see what we can learn from Tiger about managing (or mismanaging) our personal brand.  Here’s my list:

• You can’t keep secrets, no matter how much money you spend to do so.  Didn’t Tiger learn anything from Bill Clinton or David Letterman? Now ask yourself, “what would ruin MY reputation (or job prospects) if the whole world knew about it?” I’m sure there is something, and the lesson we can learn from Tiger is that it WILL get out. Thus, living an integrated life is always the best approach.
• No matter how much you try, you cannot fully control what is said about you on the Internet. If you have a past employee/employer/lover who wants to disgrace you online they will.  You can’t really do much about that.  What you CAN control is what you put out there about yourself.  Is it true? Are you transparent? Is the message you portray consistent across platforms?
• Be authentic.  My mom always told me that the easiest way to remember what you told someone is to simply tell the truth.  If you lie, you will eventually get caught.  I guess my mom was right. . . this time.

I put out this question on my Facebook page to see what my friends  and colleagues think we can learn from Tiger about personal branding.  They came up with some good stuff and I want to share it with you:

• Be genuine. If your brand is not real it will eventually fall apart. (LG)
• Make sure your brand is something you are actually willing to live. Authenticity is key. (CM)
• Everything you do becomes a part of your brand, not just the part that made your brand popular. Woods is famous because of his golfing, not because of his sex life. Unfortunately, now that he’s become a recognized international brand people have lost sight of that and consider his affair(s) to be just as important to his brand as his skill on the green. (EM)
• Woods is a reminder of how much WE seem to enjoy the cults of personality WE create, along with their human weaknesses. Nobody pays any attention to Joe Doaks’ philandering, until WE brand him a celebrity.
• Woods is in a hell of his own making, but WE are feasting on his suffering. (LW)
• Regarding Tiger Woods….After the ecstasy…..the laundry. (ME)
• There are many things that can be learned. What can be learned about branding is you are in trouble when start to believe your own PR. (RC)

Great stuff! Now, what do YOU think? Please share your comments so we can all learn together, and happy hunting.

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 13.  Tomorrow’s post: “What Is Your Personal Brand?”

The next few posts will focus on developing your own personal brand.  We will address questions such as: “What is a personal brand?” “Why do I need to develop my personal brand?” “How do I create a personal brand?” and more. Of course, you don’t really “create” a personal brand.  You already have one.

Don’t believe me?  Google your name followed by your home town. If you have a Facebook page or LinkedIn profile your name probably comes up on the fist page.  Perhaps you are listed in the phone book.  Maybe you have recently been mentioned in a local news article.  All of these things are part of your personal brand.

Scary? Get over it.  It’s already out there and you can’t do anything about it.  What you CAN do is manage your personal brand so that what people see about you is what you WANT them to see.

Personal branding was popularized by an article by Tom Peters first published in Fast Company Magazine (“A Brand Called You”) over 10 years ago.  He starts out the article by writing: “Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”

When I read that 10 years ago I implicitly KNEW that he was right but I didn’t understand HOW a person could go about creating their own personal brand.  The only brands I knew of were huge corporations with hefty advertising and marketing budgets.  What could a lone individual do to create their own personal brand?

Then along came the Internet, and social networking, and web 2.0, and Google, and . . .

Blogs, Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn and many other applications entered the scene and made it virtually impossible for anyone to keep from creating a personal brand, whether they wanted to or not.

Here are a few things you can do to manage your personal brand:

1. Be clear about the image you intend to project. If your have more than one message you run the risk of confusing people about what you are all about.
2. Make certain your brand message is consistent across all platforms.  For instance, your resume and LinkedIn profile must be in sync.
3. Back up any broad statements with objective proof.  Show numbers, dates, etc. of what you have done the backs up your claim.
4. Keep it brief.  Can you state your value proposition in 10 words or less?  If not, you run the risk of being forgettable — the death nell of any brand.

Come back tomorrow and we’ll cover some more details about creating and managing your personal brand.

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 12.  Tomorrow’s post: “What Tiger Woods Can Teach You About Managing Your Personal Brand”

Our guest editor, Larque Goodson, appears to be on a health kick this week.  In her blog she has written “How and Why to Get Healthy” posts over the three days.

Yesterday she shared with us her story about shattering her ankle on the winter snow in her home state of Idaho.  That led her to one of her healthiest habits – walking.  She shares with us some tips for making this form of exercise both enjoyable and automatic.

Wednesday she shared some of her struggles over her body image and the lasting effects physical they have had on her.

Tuesday we were treated to posture tips.  These small changs can make a big difference in your health.  Check out what she has to say.

What does all of this have to do with the job search? LOTS!

1. Being unemployed gives you a gift of time to focus on some of the things you may have neglected while you were working. Use it wisely!
2. Life coaches help their clients identify several areas of their life in which they would like to improve.  We are more than just a job.  We have a physical, spiritual, and emotional sides as well.  You may not be able to do much to immediately impact  the outcome of your work life – afterall, much of that is dependent upon someone else’s time line.  However, you CAN make immediate impact on some other areas. . . like you physical health.
3. Being active and eating well impact your own self image, and if you haven’t figured it out yet, having a positive self image is crucial to job search success.
4. If you have a job and are looking to change careers or find a new one, you still need to be concerned about your health and well-being.  You want to make a great impression when potential employers see you for the first time.

Thanks Larque for giving us the opportunity to make an attempt at getting healthy.

On a personal note, I stopped smoking about 3 months ago and have lost 10 lbs. in the last month.  It may not be much, but it’s a start. A good start!

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 11.  Tomorrow’s post: “What is a Personal Brand and Why Do You Need One?“

Where did the year go?

Have you achieved all your career goals this year?  Did you find that perfect job you were hoping to get?  Are you satisfied with your job performance?  We are in the end of the year “Red Zone” – the time to take a look back at 2009 and prepare for 2010.  Here are 3 areas to look at NOW to improve your career next year. This is what I call the “A, B, C’s of Career Management.”

A – Annual Review

Review last year’s annual review and plan for next year’s.  Just as you change your smoke alarm battery on New Year’s Day, make this an annual habit.

Did you get an Annual Review last year?  Maybe it was in the beginning of the year, or perhaps it was in the summer.  NOW is the time for you to dig through your files and find it.  Look for areas where you got good marks and include that in your LinkedIn profile and “wins” list (see below).  Now take a look at the areas for improvement you and your superior set out for this year.  What have you done to move forward in those areas?  If you have already shown improvement it may be time to shoot your boss an email indicating your progress.  S/he will likely put it in your file so you can discuss it at your next review.  Be sure to share your “wins” with you boss as well.

Focus on accomplishments (activities), not on responsibilities of the job. Accomplishments will help you stand out from the crowd.

EXAMPLE — a client told me she had re-organized the office supply purchasing process and ended up saving 50% on supplies. Great job!  Even better, she asked her boss to put a copy of the “proof” for that activity in her file for her annual review, which doesn’t take place until June. She helped her boss and herself by this little strategic move, and it didn’t take more than a couple of minutes.

What could YOU have your boss put into YOUR file?

B – Brand Review

What is your personal brand?  How do you want to present yourself when people think of you?  Take a few minutes to look over and update your brand as it exists from the last year (or more).  You may want to revise your USP (unique selling proposition), or update your collateral material (business cards, etc).  Don’t forget to update your blog and website. Perhaps add a twitter account.

Don’t forget LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn profile is one of the most important tools you have in the job search.  In today’s world, potential employers and recruiters will Google your name to learn more about you – that’s a given.  LinkedIn helps your name and profile jump to the top of the Google search results.  You might want to ADD or DELETE something from your profile to update it. (Remember to include the “wins” you find while cleaning out your files (below).  It may be time to ADD or DELETE links from your profile.  How about contacts?  ASK FOR 3 RECOMMENDATIONS.  Now is the time to do it, while you are still on the top of your customer’s mind.

C – Customer Review

Go through and clean up customer Files. For many of us already to this the end of the year.  As you go through your files trying to decide what to shred and what to keep, here are a few ideas that can help you improve your career.

• NOTE WINS – what did you do this year that you consider to be a “win” for your career?  Keep track of these accomplishments and quantify the results as best you can.
• NOTE KEY CUSTOMERS/PARTNERS – who did you work with that might be willing to give you a recommendation?
• THANK THEM – you are already planning on sending out Holiday cards, aren’t you? Why not include a brief note of gratitude for what they have done for you.  Be as specific as you can. A hand-written note goes a LONG way these days.
• FIRE your 5 Worst Customers.  If you are in sales, run your own company, or have clients you no doubt have some people who suck away your time and energy.  They are never happy with what you do for them, and you probably aren’t too happy to work with them either.  Well, you don’t have to.  You are hereby granted permission to fire your 5 worst customers.
• REPLACE them with 5 new customers who fit your PERFECT CLIENT profile!  You will glad you did!

What you do now, at the end of 2009, can help you propel your career forward in 2010.  We hope these tips help you end the year strong, and begin the next with a bang!

I promise, doing just one or two of these things will move your career or job search forward!  Doing all of them religiously every year will make you outstanding!  What are you waiting for?

Remember the game your mom used to make you play on long road trips to keep you from whacking your little sister in the head the whole time?  It went something like, “I’m going on a trip, and I’m  taking with me …”  Then everyone would take a turn telling what you would bring along.  You had to pick something that used the next letter of the alphabet, but first you had to remember what everyone ahead of you said for their letter.

Hey, I know, let’s try it using only things you need for your job search.  I’ll go first.

“I’m going out to look for a job and I’m taking…

• Assessments (helps you figure out what you want to be when you grow up!)
• Business cards
• CARS statements
• Do something every day.  Don’t just wait for the phone to ring!
• Elevator pitch
• Fuzzy slippers (hey, sometimes you just gotta kick back and relax!)
• Good recommendations on LinkedIn
• Hand sanitizer (it’s flu season and you are going to be shaking LOTS of hands!)
• Interview sample questions
• Job search strategy
• Keep positive.  You are not a position.  You are worthy. You deserve a job. This is temporary.
• LinkedIn Profile
• Marketing materials
• Networking meetings because it’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know.
• One well-designed strategic plan
• Professional head shot (photo)
• Qareer develop plan (shut up, it’s MY blog! I can spell it how I want to!:-)
• Resume
• Stamps for the thank you notes
• Thank you note cards
• USP (my Unique Selling Proposition – what makes me stand out from the rest of the crowd)
• Visual CV
• What do YOU feel is essential? (make your own list)
• X-tra contact cards (NEVER leave home without them!)
• Your personal brand
• Zebra

Want to know how to use these essential job search skills MOST effectively? Sign up now for a FREE Basic membership to Careers 2.0. Click here now.

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 8.  Tomorrow’s post: “The ABCs of Career Management”

Interested in promoting yourself on the Internet without spending a ton of money? Want potential employers to know more about you? Looking for ways to get recruiters to show more interest in your Resume?  You need a blog.

Done well, a blog is an important tool for branding yourself.  Make sure your blog is done well, because done poorly a blog will hurt any chance you have of landing a job.

Blogging is a tool used to build community and develop relationships.  Thus the first thing you need to know about blogging is, “what does your audience want to read about?”  Content drives traffic, but more importantly, the content needs to be something other people want or need.  That’s one of the best things about blogs.  They offer a space for feedback through the “comments.”However, before you get comments you need to get traffic.  Yeah, it’s pretty much a “Catch 22.”  So how do you get past that?  Well, William Randal has an interesting take on how to do that.  He says, “Don’t walk around all day worrying how you can get to the top of Google. Worry how you can find your ideal customers right where they are. Because your business lives and dies with people, not computer tricks.” He goes on to urge blog writers to “tell their story.”  I like that. As a technique for building your personal brand, story telling is a great technique!

That takes us to your personal brand.  There are many stories we could tell about ourselves. When writing a blog to promote your unique value, you want to be sure the stories you tell match the brand you want to promote.  A blog is an extension of your resume and other marketing materials.  Potential employers can check you out without actually talking to you. . . and they will! Do you want a potential employer to know you are someone who is trustworthy?  Be sure you show trustworthiness in your blog. That means you don’t go around bashing others (especially current or former employers). Want to present yourself as someone who has a particular expertise in a certain area?  That should be the focus of your blog. . . NOT your camping trip to Lake Tahoe last summer.

A third thing everybody needs to know about blogging is that this is a commitment.  Lots of people start a blog, are fast and furious for a few weeks or months, and then drop off the face of the earth.  Heck, I’m guilty of that myself.  It takes time and energy to blog.  But here’s the problem with that. You take time to build a readership.  They come to expect that your blog adds value to their life.  Then, you run off and don’t post for several months.  Do you think they will ever come back?

Writing a blog can be a great tool for extending your personal brand on the Internet without spending a ton of money.  But blogging as branding needs to be done right, or it can tarnish your professional brand.  This month we will spend a lot of time thinking about blogging and personal branding and how to promote your unique value proposition.  Tomorrow’s post is a GREAT video that gives more fantastic insights on writing a blog. We’ll see you then!

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 6.  Tomorrow’s post: “Blogging In Plain English”