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How to market yourself incorrectly as a job seeker

Julie Walraven — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:56:52 +0000

When you are desperate and needing a job or a new client, it is easy to sound desperate and you might not even know you are doing it. Instead of attracting people who can help you, you are more likely to be repelling those same people.

How job seekers market themselves wrongly

1.) → Your LinkedIn heading says ACTIVELY SEEKING CAREER OPPORTUNITIES and perhaps even lists a year.

Why Not? – your LinkedIn heading is part of what is searched when either an employer or a recruiter is seeking someone. If you don’t brand it with specific skills and key words, it has no value.
The fix? Capitalize on using LinkedIn by learning successful marketing strategies.

2.) → You post whiny things on Facebook or Twitter (or worse, you rant about politics, religion or something else)

Why Not? – Employers are reading what you say. If you want to make sure that you get cut from the fold early, make sure you are ranting against corporate injustice when you are seeking a job as an Executive Assistant, middle manager, or even entry level employee. Who makes hiring decisions for those targets? Corporate people. It never fails to astonish me how the same person whining about no jobs can position themselves so badly.
The fix? Make sure your online presence is positive.

3.) → You think if you say it over and over people will hear you. Like reposting the same thing all the time with the caption, “you can’t miss this!”

Why Not? – If people see a steady stream of anything, they will ignore you. If you are trying to network, you can’t do it by blasting anything.
The fix? Create a conversational presence about interesting topics.

If you plan to use any social media marketing for job search, make sure you project the right image, offer a positive presence, and don’t sound like a repetitive stream of the same message.

Stuck in your job search or existing position? Don’t know how to get unstuck? Hire an expert to do it for you. You will hit your target much more quickly and be doing what you do best instead of trying to figure your way through the job search maze. To find out how, Click here!

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How to make job search fun for you!

Julie Walraven — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:31:15 +0000

When I wrote the post, “How hiring a dog trainer (expert) is like hiring a career pro,” my goal was to point out the similarities in hiring an expert to help you with dog training and hiring an expert in job search. Comments from Carly and Nolan indicated that I hit a nerve because as Carly said, “I would say that the big difference is the training of dogs is fun but looking for work is horrible!” and Nolan concurred by saying, “I totally agree with you on that. Two are different things.”

They are two different things. But though for Carly, dog training might be fun, I called Heide from H.R. Max, LLC when I attempted once more to try to get Buddy out the door to go for a walk with me. We didn’t have trainers for Teddy (our first German Shepherd) but I do remember a time period when he was young that I couldn’t get him to walk anywhere with me. Just putting the Gentle Leader on Teddy changed that and he became the best possible walking companion you could ask for.

Buddy is just one year and I still trying options for leashes and harnesses. Heide will be back next week and until she helps me over that walking hurdle, I walk with human friends only. For me, dog training is fun when I am doing some of the exercises as taught by an expert but not when Buddy fails to listen and I get frustrated.

Why Job Search may not be fun for you

Just like dog training without an expert is not fun for me. I love Buddy but learning the right strategies to work with him is well… Work!

Job Search has often been liked to having a job too. You can’t expect instantaneous results. But when you go about job search the wrong way, it will take forever and will not be fun.

I hired an expert dog trainer, just like I hired an expert marketing coach for the past three years and an expert accountant for the past two years, because I know that I am not trained in marketing or accounting. I need the advice of an expert to move me to the next level.

Before I hired my accountant, I had asked a question about sales tax (which I had asked during a 15 year period from two other CPAs) and he checked with the department of Revenue specifically for my industry. He emailed me the reply. I do not need to charge or collect sales tax. His ability to get the right answer saved me both money and time.
My marketing coach has saved me money and increased my income dramatically by showing me how to use the tools to attract clients from all over the world to work with me.

Both of these experts needed me to do something to make their advice work. But it was more fun to see the results when I listened to them and followed their advice.

What should you do to make job search fun?

Obviously, I recommend hiring an expert because then you can have results like this:

After a year of waiting and hoping, I just wanted to let you know I have my FIRST EVER interview early next week. I’m interviewing for XYZ District, which is exactly the kind of school district I get excited about. I just wanted to thank you, because I really believe that without your expertise, I’d still be twiddling my thumbs, waiting. Again, many, many thanks!

You can make it fun on your own though:

Start with the resume (the foundation of your job search). In the days of electronic applications, your words are still critical in the resume. If you don’t like to write, you have choices. Find an excellent writer friend who is willing to spend hours researching the cutting edge strategies from career professionals like myself and have the friend interview you and write the resume. Make it a game to tell her or him the very best stuff you remember about your career. How did you make a difference.
Find job postings you fit… and collect them. Then use them to write your cover letter and reinforce your resume.
Set goals to make contacts using online and in-person networking as well as answering job board posts. If you are only looking on job boards, you will get frustrated. Goals are fun.
Give yourself rewards. For every contact you make, keep track of them and when you hit a certain number, reward yourself. You can buy a special coffee, do something fun with your friends, or do something you love to do.

With dog training, I have to learn the right way to speak to Buddy. I have to remember to reward him when he does it right. And I have to find fun ways of training both for him and for me. Job Search can be fun too by following the same recipe for success.

What do I do if I hate my NEW job?

Julie Walraven — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:24:19 +0000

Yikes! You just went through an extensive time of hunting for the right job and it isn’t. You want to bail, right now, you don’t want to stay and stick it out.

In a great economy, you have more options but even then moving and switching jobs has to be done with utmost care and thought. If you just landed today and realize it isn’t a good fit, you need to think about it carefully.

Is your current position just not a good fit because you don’t like what you are doing? Perhaps you have only started to learn the job. Don’t make snap judgments.
Do you feel like you are not being listened to by management? If you have just arrived, even if you were in management before, you may not yet have a good feel for the total operation. After a month or two, if you feel confident that you have a firm grasp of the organization and have some honest concerns, share them. Productivity improvement and process improvement have become a keen focus of management. If you know you can improve operations with a few tweaks, share your ideas with someone you trust to listen.

What if there are different problems with the new job?

The above bullet points assume you are in a reputable company and overall are treated with respect.

What if you know your company or one of the management team is breaking the law? If you know someone is deliberately committing fraud or some other kind of corporate crime, let’s get organized with the value you did get out of the job, update your resume, and move on. You could report them if you had enough evidence but if you know you are in a place that is breaking the law, you can be guilty by association, time to move.
What if your boss or someone in leadership is harassing you on a regular basis? Time to go. You don’t need that. Start a new search and do deep research to make sure your next position is with a company with people who respect each other.
What if the salary changed after the offer (downward) or you suddenly find yourself working 80+ hours and being paid for 40? Time to reassess. Companies who change the rules or push unreasonable overtime hours on people without compensation or with no end in sight generally drain the lifeblood out of the employee. Start your search.

You might also find these posts interesting as you contemplate whether to change or stay put:

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Employers, are you missing the potential of LinkedIn?

Julie Walraven — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:19:05 +0000

One of the common questions from clients when we start talking about LinkedIn is, “My employer doesn’t like us on LinkedIn” or “what if my employer finds out?”

How big is LinkedIn?

Those are two different questions but both point to the same symptom.Take note of this information from the about section on LinkedIn:

As of February 9, 2012, LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 150 million members in over 200 countries and territories.

LinkedIn started out in the living room of co-founder Reid Hoffman in 2002.
The site officially launched on May 5, 2003. At the end of the first month in operation, LinkedIn had a total of 4,500 members in the network.
As of December 31, 2011 (the end of the fourth quarter), professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate that is faster than two new members per second.
The company is publicly held and has a diversified business model with revenues coming from hiring solutions, marketing solutions and premium subscriptions.

My philosophy is this — with that many members on LinkedIn, despite the global recession, they are not ALL looking for a new job. If an employer thinks joining LinkedIn threatens their ability to retain employees, they are vastly mistaken and missing a marvelous opportunity to grow their business.

Open potential new revenue lines using LinkedIn

My own profile on LinkedIn has enabled me to reach people who later hired me for their career marketing but career marketing is the tip of the iceberg on the potential of connections out there. If your company needs to network with a company to expand its market, what a myriad of possibilities LinkedIn opens up. You can check out if they have a company profile which makes it ultra easy to see a much broader spectrum of employees than you would on corporate websites. You can search for the company name using LinkedIn’s main search engine and come up with a bevy of references to people who either work there now or once did.

Employer LinkedIn bans detrimental?

I believe in using technology to your advantage. An employer who either bans you from LinkedIn or punishes you for having a profile has trust issues. Though jobs are still scarce, the market is turning and soon employers may regret not creating a welcoming atmosphere for employees that allows those employees to fully utilize emerging market tools. LinkedIn, in the realm of social media is not new. It is a tool for businesses everywhere to use in whatever creative way they can imagine.

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