I ran into this very interesting infographic on LinkedIn today, thanks to David Merzel‘s post on the Job-Hunt Help LinkedIn Group, and it’s worth sharing.  This graphic was originally published on SearchEngineJournal.com in late August, so it’s current, comparing 2010 and 2011 data.

You will see it includes some of the impact of social media on recruiting and job search, particularly how employers research in social media and the impact of that research.

It’s long and global.  I recommend that you read the whole thing. The data sources are at the bottom of the graphic.  If you click on it, you can see a larger version of it.

Source: The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic

“Spray and pray” resume distribution (sending it to every email address you can find or posting it in every job board you can find) is a waste of time, and makes you look desperate and dumb.  Don’t do it yourself, and don’t hire a resume distribution “service” to do it for you.  

Not only do you look desperate, spray-and-pray may send your resume into the wrong hands, for example, to:

• Your current boss, if you are employed, or someone else you work with, which can result in loss of the job you have.
• Someone who will use your information for their own purposes completely unrelated to job search – selling your contact information to mass marketers, for example.  Need more spam, junk phone calls, or junk mail?
• Someone intent on identity theft or other nasty action.

Don’ts

Don’t send your resume to anyone without a good reason, a “connection” of some kind to the person receiving the resume, an approach customized to the person and organization, and a plan for following up appropriately.

Do NOT send your resume, unless:

• You are responding to a job posting you have found – be sure to specify the job title, the posting number (or other identifier used by the employer), and where and when you found it.
• You have done some research on the person and the organization, and you think it could be a good place for you to work.
• You know the person, have met them, or have been introduced in some less concrete way (email, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.).
• You have done the research to  know – or to strongly suspect – that they have a need for someone to do what you could do for them.  Don’t be rude about it – NO “You guys  are very bad at…!”
• You customize your approach, based on research you have done, so that you address people correctly and demonstrate your sincere interest in them.  “Hi [fill in name]” is not effective without the name filled in!  You can use a template, but be sure to use it very carefully!

The Research

Once you have identified a target job or target employer, leverage LinkedIn to find out:

• Who does the job probably report to?
  • Who is their boss? 
  • Who else is at that level
• Who recruits for the organization? 
• Who else works at the organization? 

Track down people who work there now and who worked there in the past.  The people working there now know the organization, names, titles, and locations, and have easier access to those people than anyone else.

The people who worked there in the past know the organization (or how it was at the point of their departure), and they might know and share: the names, titles, and organizational structure plus why it is or is not, a good place to work, who to work for and who NOT to work for, which group(s) are growing and which group(s) are dying, etc. 

How do you find those people on LinkedIn? 

• Do a ”Company” search for the target organization, and LinkedIn will show you who in your network worked there or currently works there.
• Do an “Advanced search” for People, type the job title into the “Title” field on the form, choose “Current or past” from the drop down.  LinkedIn will show you who in your network who currently has, or who had, that job title.  If you only want people who currently hold the title, choose “Current” from the drop-down.

Your LinkedIn network is too small?  It’s easy to enlarge by joining serveral LinkedIn Groups – you can join up to 50 of them.

You can also have Google search ALL of LinkedIn for you, not just your connections.  The query should look like this:

“marketing manager” +Verizon +Philadelphia site:linkedin.com – OR
“marketing manager” +mellon.bank +philadelphia site:linkedin.com – OR
“[job title you want]” +[employer you want] +[location you want] site:linkedin.com

See Google-ize Your Job Search for more tips.

Do’s

Do your own customized approach based on your research and your belief that the employer would be a good place for you to work.

If you do know them or are connected in some way, be sure to politely remind them of the connection.  Immediately! Otherwise, your resume will probably just get deleted. 

Best, have someone else send them - or, even better, hand them – your resume.  Someone like:

• Their boss
• Their boss’s boss
• Someone else at their boss’s level in the organization
• Someone else at their level in the organization
• Another employee of the same organization
• Someone else in their network, a colleague or former colleague, someone they went to school with, a relative, a neighbor, etc.
• A recruiter in the same organization
• A recruiter they know
• A former employee who is on good terms (can be a good source of inside information when you have more than one source)

Many employers have “employee referral programs” which actually reward employees for referring someone who is hired.  So, they may actually be paid by their employer to help you.  I call this a win/win!

Bottom Line

Yes, research will be required, and most likely, so will a fair amount of time time.  You might even need to leave your computer, take a shower, dress nicely, and go out into the world.  It will take more than 30 seconds, but the payoff will be much better.  And, your network will be bigger and more effective, if you do this right, and you’ll land a job where you will hopefully work happily for several years (just keep that network alive while you’re employed, so it’s ready for next time).

© Copyright, 2011, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved.

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

Frankly, I’m amazed at all the good press about BeKnown, the new Facebook app for professional networking and job search by Monster.  The privacy implications for employed job seekers are terrible!

If you currently have a job, DO **NOT** USE  BeKnown!

Be warned!  When I joined BeKnown to look around so I could write this blog post, BeKnown published this announcement on my Facebook Wall:

YIKES!  Good thing I’m not a job seeker with a job to protect and an employer or co-workers checking out my Facebook Wall!  My “secret” would be out!  Yes, you can delete that first post, but what about BeKnown’s next one!  And the one after that…

When an employer finds out about an employee’s job search,
that job seeker is frequently terminated! 

Employers are, often rightly, worried about loss of clients, business secrets, insider information, etc. when an employee leaves  So they pull the plug on that job-seeking employee as soon as they find out about the job search, sending them out the door quickly before much damage can be done.

Facebook

Facebook does have a very impressive number of members - 750,000,000!  Should be great networking?  However…

If you currently have a job, that big Facebook network means a greater probability that your boss – or the HR manager or someone else working the same place you do – will see news about your job search!  You know what usually happens next.

Facebook is the foundation of BeKnown.  But, it has a record for ignoring or abusing member privacy. 

Monster/BeKnown

When you join, BeKnown requires your permission for ALL of these Facebook functions to be visible/accessible by BeKnown:

• Access my basic information.
  Includes name, profile picture, gender, networks, user ID, list of friends, and any other information I’ve shared with everyone.
• Send me email.
  BeKnown may email me directly at [choose which address to use]. 
• Post to my Wall.
  BeKnown may post status messages, notes, photos, and videos to my Wall.
• Access my profile information.
  Interests, Current City, Website, Education History and Work History.
• Access my photos and videos.
  Photos Uploaded by Me.
• Access my friends’ information.
• ‘About Me’ Details.

We’ve seen how BeKnown used this permission to introduce their service to all my friends via my Wall.  How will all that required sharing help you and your job search?

My recommendation is to stick with LinkedIn for now, particularly if you have a job to protect. 

If you really want to use Facebook for your job search, check out BranchOut, which seems to be more respectful of privacy. Eventually (hopefully!), BeKnown will catch on that this announcement is not a good idea and stop doing it, or at least make it optional.

LinkedIn Is for Serious Business Networking and also for Job Search

On the other hand, if you have a job and want to keep it, LinkedIn is the social network to use.  LinkedIn helps you do your job better by increasing your professional connections for both your work and your job search.  It will also privately show you jobs that might be appropriate for you, who in your network works at those employers, who’s left that employer, and who’s a new hire. 

• The Company Profiles and Company Follow functions are very helpful for both job seekers and business people!
• The Groups and Answers offer everyone excellent opportunities to network professionally with peers, potential customers, potential clients, potential co-workers, and potential bosses.
• Learn more through LinkedIn’s tutorials, like this one for job search – http://learn.linkedin.com/jobs/

Yes, careless job seekers can “out” their own job searching on LinkedIn, too, by changing their Professional Headline to “Seeking employment as…” or by asking questions, starting discussions, or making comments about their job search.  But, those situations are job seekers being dumb, not situations in which a very powerful 3rd party purposefully exposes job seekers activities to the world at large.

StartWire Is for PRIVATE Job Search Networking

StartWire.com is relatively new, but created and managed by a smart and experienced group specifically to help job seekers with their job search, including private networking. 

StartWire is NOT an “app” on Facebook or on anything else.  Use StartWire to set up your private network.  StartWire IS growing fast among savvy job seekers, with good reason.

Bottom Line

If you don’t have a job or if you are a new grad looking for that first “real” job, perhaps BeKnown can work for you, at least for a while.  But, think about it – can you trust Facebook with your job security?  I sure wouldn’t use BeKnown if I had a current job I wanted to keep a while longer.

© Copyright, 2011, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved.

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

For most of us, a job search, fortunately, is NOT something we do often enough to be really proficient.  So, when the time comes to job search, we must look at what is effective now – not what we did when we last hunted for a job 2, 5, or 15 years ago.

Effective job search methods have changed a great deal since 2007 because recruiting methods have changed dramatically with the widespread use of the Internet and search engines and, particularly in the last 2 years, with the growth of social media.

If job seekers don’t understand how “the new system” works, they can look out-of-date and less desirable as potential employees.  These are the 5 major ways that job seekers can look out of date.

Whether over 50, under 30, or in the middle, job seekers risk looking out-of-date by:

1. Being a ”missing person”!
   I know several older job seekers who are proud to be invisible in Google.  You search on their name, and you may find other people (eek!), but you don’t find them.  When I warn them of this lack of visibility, each has said to me, ”I am protecting my privacy.”  But, they are invisible, which makes them “missing people.”  And that is most definitely NOT good!

   A 2009 Microsoft study revealed that 79% of employers in the USA check out applicants using a search engine before considering them for a job!

   When employers find something bad, even if the bad stuff  is about someone else with the same name, the application (or resume) is rejected. So, ensure that potential employers find good stuff specifically about you, created and controlled by you (see # 3 below).

   A missing person is a “nobody.” In the 21st century, people often assume that only someone who is 100% off-line, who demonstrably does not understand the Internet, is invisible.  And who would want to hire someone who is obviously out of touch?  So, the employers move on in search of people more up-to-date in their understanding of how the business world works today.  Opportunities lost!

2. Ignoring the power of the Internet to connect with old friends and former colleagues.
   People often hire someone they already know, at least a little, or someone known to someone they know – in other words, someone in their personal network because hiring someone who doesn’t work out is so expensive. The Internet offers many tools for staying connected, and for re-connecting, with people you liked and respected from your past – Google/Bing, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

   Employer “alumni groups” are wonderful for helping job seekers find former colleagues, coworkers, bosses, etc.  You find them on LinkedIn, in Job-Hunt’s Employer Alumni Networking Directory which lists over 250 groups, and by Googling “[employer name] alumni group.”

3. Having a poor LinkedIn Profile.
   LinkedIn offers people with jobs - and also job seekers – wonderful opportunities to network.  For someone who is employed, they may be more effective in their jobs as a result of the connections they make, the visibility they have, and the information they learn through LinkedIn.

   For job seekers, LinkedIn offers an opportunity both to showcase their accomplishments and also to demonstrate their understanding of how business is done now. Find how-to ideas and help in Job-Hunt’s LinkedIn for Job Search section.

   Recruiters love to search through LinkedIn to find potential employees with the right set of skills and experience, offering job seekers a wonderful opportunity to be found, without the effort of finding and applying for jobs. And, the best news about a good LinkedIn Profile is that it eliminates the “invisibility” problem (# 1 above).

4. Not leveraging the power of the Internet to prepare for interviews.
   In the old days (a.k.a. the pre-Internet ”Dark Ages”), it wasn’t easy to research potential employers, so walking into an interview without anything beyond a basic knowledge of the employer was acceptable (if risky). Today, walking into an interview without doing extensive research about the employer is a recipe for disaster.

   At the very least, consider this research to be enlightened self-defense!  Who wants to be the last person hired before the layoffs begin (apt to be the first out the door, and job hunting, again, way too soon).

   Visit the employer’s website – who, what, where are they?  What do they sell/provide?  Who are their customers or constituency?  Who are competitors?  Who are business partners?  And, what does Google show about them?  A smart, well-prepared job seeker will have at least two well-considered, thoughtful questions to ask during the interview.

5. Using the same work-history resume for every job.
   We are long past the days when a one-size-fits-all resume, listing every job in the work history, worked effectively. And, in a tough job market like we have today, a resume designed to appeal to every possible potential employer instead appeals to none of them. It also seems to demonstrate how long it has been since the job seeker last did a job search – maybe back in the “Dark Ages” before personal computers, word processing software, and the Internet.

   See Job-Hunt’s Resume Expert Susan Ireland’s advice and sample resumes for help.

Bottom Line

Job search has changed substantially, particularly since 2008.  The combination of improved technology and a tough economy have made it even more important that a job seeker catch up to what’s happening NOW, or they risk a very long job search.

For More Information:

• Impossible to Hire!
• What if Your Name is Jared A. Loughner?
• Beat the Job Search Numbers Game Myth
• Unlocking a Successful Job Search: Online Reputation Management
• 2009 Microsoft Privacy Study

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce, USMC veteran, has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @JobHuntOrg.

Looking into my foggy crystal ball, these are the trends I see for  2011, or “to infinity and beyond!” as our friend Buzz Lightyear would have described it.  I have 3 predictions to make and 2 fervent wishes.

First, the 3 predictions:

1.  Increasing use of mobile apps – iPad, iPhone, Droid, BlackBerry, etc.

If you have an iPhone, iPad, Droid, BlackBerry, etc., you can job search on the bus, in the dentist’s waiting room, in a restaurant while you wait for a friend or the check, etc.  You can also edit and send your resume, write a LinkedIn Recommendation for your colleague, check for local MeetUps, and on and on and on.

LinkedIn and Twitter have free mobile apps for iPad, iPhone, etc.  Two of my favorite job posting sources, Indeed and LinkUp for example, now have free mobile apps, so you can still job search even when you’re not at your computer.

And, the mapping app will help you find the location of that interview, while the traffic app helps you avoid the traffic jams and construction and the weather app keeps you informed of the latest blizzard or drenching rain storms. Plus, of course, the email and browser apps will keep you up to date on what’s going on in your digital world.

2.  Increasing dominance of LinkedIn for job search.

Reflecting its growth in popularity with recruiters, LinkedIn will become an even greater force in online job search in 2011. Be on LinkedIn or be invisible.  And, make no mistake, in the future, being invisible is deadly for your job search and your career (see # 3 below for more).

In 2011, you’ll have many options available for transforming your LinkedIn Profile into a resume when you need one to hand out at an interview or to impress your friends.  At a minimum, these will help your LinkedIn Profile stay in synch with your resume and vice versa. Check out these two I found:

• LinkedIn Labs own resume builder application – http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/
• And SnapPages.com’s Resume builder – http://www.snappages.com/resume

[Soon there will probably be LinkedIn Profile resume builder apps for your iPhone/iPad/etc., combining predictions # 1 and #2!]

3.  Increasing importance of reputation management.

If you don’t have a Google Alert established for your name, you are taking a big chance unless you have a one-in-a-million name like Barack Obama.  So, set one up.  NOW!  [Here's how.]

According to a late 2009 study by Microsoft, 79% of employers Google a job applicant “always or most of the time.”  You need to know what they will find when they Google your name.

In 2011, you must be aware of what is ”out there” attached to your name  because:

• Someone with the same name may have done something bad, and an employer won’t know it isn’t you.  Better to know about it so you can figure out how to avoid it or how to handle it.
• A search on your name which has no relevant results makes you look out-of-date and out-of touch with current technology and how we communicate in the 2nd decade of the 21st century.
• You may have created some of your own “digital dirt” through Facebook, Twitter, etc. – the usual ways people create CLM’s (Career-Limiting Moves) with the Internet and social media.

Reputation management is certainly possible, and so is damage control, if necessary, but you must know in advance that you need it.  So start paying attention by simply setting up that Google Alert.

For more help with reputation management, check out Jacob Share’s amazing JobMob post – 200+ Resources & Tips to Help Manage Your Reputation Online – he’s going to continue to add to it.  Great job, Jacob! wish I’d done that!

Now, those 2 wishes:

1.  Job seekers & bloggers: less blind trust; more verification!

Job seekers, “expert” (?) bloggers, and amateur ”journalists” – stop being so darned trusting!  Take a better look at what you are recommending.  I’ve just read a blog post in a fairly reputable blog about top new job boards, and one of the sites that were recommended is completely anonymous, including a private domain registration. YIKES!

Please, peek under the hood just a little bit more before you recommend that kind of site, and then DON’T recommend it if you don’t find good, solid information.  A Contact Us  or About Us webpage should have a physical address and a phone number.  Read 15 Criteria for Choosing a Job Site for more detailed information.

When I find one of these completely anonymous sites, I wonder:  Why don’t they want us to know who they are?  What are they hiding?

Job seekers – poke around a little on a new site before you post your resume or give out your email address. Don’t trust a site because it looks pretty and professional.

2.  Employers: enough with the passive job seeker nonsense!

I’ve always thought the recruiting theory lauding the “passive” (employed) candidate as the most desirable hire was largely hogwash.  Yes, sometimes unemployed job seekers will take the first job they are offered, but good recruiters should be able to tell the difference between a candidate who is a good fit versus one who is a bad fit.

Fit for the job and the organization are what should matter – not, for Heaven’s sake, employment status.

Now, I see this recruiting theory is very damaging to our economy and to all of us. Refusing to even consider unemployed job seekers is stupid and cruel.

If those so-wonderful employed job seekers are really “passive,” even the best recruiters won’t lure them away.  So stop trying!

Recruiters & Employers: There are plenty of excellent people
who are unemployed right now through no fault of their own.

Hire them!

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce, USMC veteran, has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @JobHuntOrg.

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The Career Collective Posts

More predictions and trends from the other members of the CareerCollective:

Career Spotlight: If you like helping people and have a facility for helping people resolve issues, you might find your perfect career fit as Child & Family Social Worker. They earn an average of $40,000/year, with expected 10-year job growth of 19%. Over 75% hold at least a bachelor’s degree.

Quote of the Week:  My favorite quote this week is from Steve Keating of Minnesota who Tweets as @LeadToday -

When you fall, make sure don’t get up empty handed.

New Articles: We launched 4 great new articles this week:

• Age Discrimination in Hiring
  If you’re over 40, you strongly suspect this has happened to you a few times.  Get some insight into what you can do about it in this article by Job-Hunt’s Boomer Job Search Expert Phyllis Mufson.
• 5-Step Facebook Makeover for Your Job Search
  If you have had a Facebook account for a while (and 550,000,000 people have them) and you are now in a job search, take Job-Hunt’s Social Media & Job Search Expert Miriam Salpeter‘s advice on how to make it work for your job search.
• Personal Branding with Color
  Color as part of your personal brand? Well, of course! This makes perfect sense, but it didn’t occur to me until I read this article by Job-Hunt’s Personal Branding Expert Meg Guiseppi. Read Meg’s insight into what certain colors mean and how to fit color into your personal brand. 
• Leveraging LinkedIn for Your Stealth Job Search
  You are job hunting, but – of course – don’t want your boss to know.  But leveraging LinkedIn without raising any concerns from management can be difficult to manage.  Read this article by Job-Hunt’s editor, Online Job Search Expert Susan P. Joyce to learn how.

Meet all of Job-Hunt’s  Job Search Experts.

Stay tuned, more next week, as usual. 

And, of course, good luck with your job search!

Employers - AND Employees – Benefit from Employee LinkedIn Participation

It may be a surprise to some, but LinkedIn isn’t useful only for job search and recruiting.  Active participation is good for your career and good for your employer as well.

NOTE:  Before you join LinkedIn, or, in fact, participate in any social media, be sure to check for an official policy from your employer about employee use of social media. Some employers ban social media use by employees, at least while the employees are at work. Some don’t want any mention of the employer at all, while others think social media is great and encourage employee participation. So, it’s best to check for a policy and/or guidelines to be sure.

In fact, your employer may benefit from your active participation in LinkedIn. Even if you are the only employee who is a LinkedIn member, your participation puts your employer “on the map” (virtually) as an organization.

And, certainly, while it does raise your visibility, too, it  increases your understanding of how the social media world works and is evolving.  It also builds your social media skills (and demand for social media skills is increasing).  For job seekers hoping to move into marketing or PR  at his or her current employer (or a new one), these skills are growing in importance and demand.

And, IF you are looking for a job with a different employer, your LinkedIn usage that supports your current employer’s goals makes you look good too.  A win/win!

Benefits for the employer:

Through your  network, you can increase awareness of your employer’s existence AND the products, services, and expertise, in as wide – or as narrow – a market segment as you want.

• Through participating in LinkedIn Groups, you can raise the organization’s visibility in Groups (good for sales, marketing, recruiting, reputation management, etc.).
• Through participation in Answers, you can increase awareness of the organization, the products, services, and expertise as well as representing your employer in the LinkedIn world (if you demonstrate knowledge and professionalism, people often assume that the organization is similarly knowledgeable and professional).
• Set up the LinkedIn Company Profile  – this is great experience and a new skill, too!
• More benefits of LinkedIn membership for your current employer:
  • GIGAOM – 33 more ways to use LinkedIn to benefit business.
  • Mashable – 5 ways small businesses can leverage LinkedIn.

Research use of LinkedIn for business and you may end up with a great new job at your current employer.

Through LinkedIn, you can do a soft sell for the organization’s products, services, expertise to potential customers and clients.  You can help the organization with recruiting (may be a great place to work for someone else, if not you).  Your LinkedIn participation has many benefits to your employer.

Bottom Line

You don’t need to be a hypocrite and support the employer as a great place to work (if it isn’t) or the products and services as wonderful (if they aren’t).  But you can mention them.  Most of the time, you can find something you like that you can support without major qualms.

Or, if the place is terrible and the products/services are awful, you can focus on learning as much about the industry and/or profession and/or marketplace, while learning and polishing your social media skills, so you can do a better job until you leave. (If you are ready to leave, read LinkedIn for Your Stealth Job Search.)

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

I strongly recommend that – if at all possible (and sometimes it is not possible) - people continue working in their old jobs while looking for their new jobs.  If you have the option, you are much more attractive to an employer when you are still employed.  Not logical, but very human (here’s why). 

Someone in Twitter recently disagreed with my recommendation in that article that people be sure their LinkedIn Profile is complete while they continue working in their current jobs. This person felt that being in LinkedIn signifies that someone is job searching. 

Yes, being active in LinkedIn can mean you are job hunting. But, most people in LinkedIn are working on expanding their network, getting in touch with thought leaders, former colleagues, and new potential clients, all to help them with their job performance. (More on how LinkedIn benefits your employer)

So, being in LinkedIn can also mean you are a savvy business person, leveraging current technology to improve your ability to do your existing job better, through better networking, and learning new skills.

NOTE:  Some employers do not want their employees using social media, particularly during working hours and/or using the employer’s computers, networks, etc. Check for a “Social Media Use” policy (and also an “Email and Internet Use” policy), to be sure that you are in compliance.

LinkedIn and Job Hunting

More on Stealth Job Search: 10 Tips for a Stealth Job Search Leveraging LinkedIn for a Stealth Job Search Networking During a Stealth Job Search Does Your Boss Know You’re Job Hunting? Ask Annie in Fortune/CNN Networking Resources: Social Media & Job Search Job Search Networking Professional and Industry Associations and Societies Corporate and Military Employer Alumni Groups Networking & Job Search Support Groups (by state)

Unless you are unemployed and in an open job search, don’t make it obvious that you are job hunting!

• Before you expand your LinkedIn Profile and activities, check to see if anyone else working for the same employer also belongs to LinkedIn.  If there are more than 100 employees, I bet the answer is yes. Hopefully, your boss also belongs to LinkedIn, and this is usually good.  It’s also a sign to watch your behavior very carefully!
• Check out the LinkedIn Profiles of fellow employees (and more senior managers) to see what kinds of contacts they are inviting. 
• At the very bottom of most Profiles is the “Contact Settings” area, and “Opportunity Preferences:” offers 2 options to be very careful of – “Career Opportunities” and “Job Inquiries.”  I wouldn’t choose those options, even if they were accurate.  Definitely waving a red flag in front of your employer.

However, if no one else is in LinkedIn, don’t take that as a sign that you have free rein to do anything you want! Someone from your current employer could join, and expect to ”connect” with you. I’ve even heard of clueless recruiters checking out a potential job candidate by contacting the employer via LinkedIn.  So do be active, but also be very careful!

DO’s:

• Do comply with your employer’s Social Media Usage policy (if there is one).
• Do be sure that you have a 100% complete LinkedIn Profile.
• Do participate in LinkedIn regularly (status updates, etc.) so your employer doesn’t see a change in your behavior as a sign you are in job search mode.

DO NOT’s:

• Do NOT give the impression that you are looking for a job. 
  • Participate in groups related to your employer, industry, and potential clients/customers to raise your employer’s visibility.
  • Participate in groups related to your job, profession, or employer, so you stay up to date with the latest trends, new technologies or techniques, new (and old) competitors, movers and shakers, etc. 
• Do NOT announce in your “Professional Headline” that you are “seeking a new position as a…”
• Do NOT openly post or participate in the LinkedIn Groups for job hunting (like Job-Hunt’s Job Hunt Help group).
  • DO be a “lurker” - read the comments and discussions but don’t post anything openly.
  • Do NOT show the Group logo in your own Profile (selected in each Group’s “Settings” in the Group drop-down menu under “More”).
  • DO very carefully contact people in the Group privately if you find a kindred soul or someone you can help.
• Do NOT ask your current boss for a LinkedIn recommendation, and be careful of collecting many recommendations from others working for the same employer.

For more on safely conducting a stealth job search, read Liz Ryan’s Stealth Job Search Networking article.

Bottom Line:

LinkedIn is a big help for your career, your employer, and – when you are ready – your job search. Participate regularly, and it will pay off for you.

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

An earlier post about wasting time in a job search described how job seekers waste their time and energy applying for hundreds of jobs, under the delusion that applying for jobs via job boards is how people land job. For over 85% of job seekers, applying via job boards is NOT what works!

Rather than hundreds of fruitless applications, this is what does work:

1.  Choose up to 3 job titles for jobs that you really want.

Why bother applying for jobs you don’t want?  If you landed one, you’d be miserable, most likely, and you probably wouldn’t be a good perfomer, so you’d be job hunting again – way too soon in this economy - and probably with less than stellar recommendations.

Let’s be serious here. Don’t pick “network TV news anchor” or “dermatologist” unless you have the credentials required of a network TV news anchor or dermatologist, respectively, or unless you have a plan to get those credentials before you start your job search.

If you really don’t know what you want (other than a paycheck), buy or borrow a copy of Richard Bolles best-selling book, “What Color Is Your Parachute.” Read the whole book, and do ALL the exercises.  This will be time very well spent!

Focusing on the few job titles for jobs you really want enables you to be more effective in your job search.

2.  Choose up to 20 target employers.

Find employers who seem to be financially stable, relatively secure in their market niche, and in the right location for you:

• Check local Best Employer lists.
• Ask family, friends, neighbors, even employees of various local companies, for the names of local employers that are good places to work – good management, fair pay, good benefits, etc. – whatever is important to you.
• Go through the Yellow Pages of your phone book or search an online Yellow Pages for your location to find potential employers in the right kinds of businesses for you (e.g. food wholesalers, jewelry stores, IT consulting companies, etc. – whatever your target employers might be).
• Identify more potential employers by searching on job titles, type of business, or the industry/sector you want in one of the job aggregator sites, like Job-Hunt’s sponsors Indeed.com, JustJobs.com, and LinkUp.com.

3.  Thoroughly research those target employers.

Google/Bing them.  Study their Websites and what other sites publish about them.  What’s their latest news – new customers or large contracts might indicate a need for new hires. Look for product and service reviews – is there a problem you can help them solve?

• Do they post their job opportunities on their Website or Tweet about them?  (See Job-Hunt’s list of over 400 employers recruiting directly on Twitter and Job-Hunt’s Employer Directory which links to the recruting pages of over 8,000 employers by state.)
• Does their Website list the managers and/or the organizational structure or publish a directory of employees?
• Do you know anyone who works there?  (LinkedIn can help you with this.)
• Find the location(s) and contact information so you can contact them directly about job opportunities.

4.  Don’t allow yourself to spend more than 30% of your job search time “cruising” the job boards.

Job boards are not where you will find the vast majority of jobs.

This doesn’t mean that the job boards are useless.  You can find out about employers who may be hiring in your area, pick up job titles and keywords for your resume, get an indication of the state of the job market, and perhaps pick up some recruiter names.

But, if you are sending out more than 3 or 5 applications a day, you are probably using the “spray and pray” method of job application, which is NOT effective.

5.  Leverage and expand your network.

Don’t look at networking as “using people,” a comment I often hear.  Think of networking as getting reconnected with people you liked and respected in the past, and meeting new and interesting people.  Then, don’t “use” them!  Work with them.  Help them as much, if not more, than they help you.

• LinkedIn is wonderful for raising your professional visibility and growing your reputation.
  • Be sure your LinkedIn Profile reflects the job(s) you want, not the jobs you have had, and is 100% complete (according to LinkedIn).
  • Find LinkedIn Groups where employees from your target employers regularly contribute.
  • Find LinkedIn Groups for “alumni” of your former employers.
  • Find LinkedIn Groups related to your field or target industry or profession, possibly even one of your target employers.
  • PARTICIPATE in those LinkedIn Groups.  Just joining them doesn’t do you any good unless you also participate to raise your visibility
• Attend local industry or professional group meetings to stay up to date in your field and also to meet new people.
• Join a local job search support group or job club.
• Find an “alumni” group of people who used to work for one of  your previous employers – those groups are popping up all over, LinkedIn, Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, etc.  Job-Hunt has a directory of employer alumni groups, too, with over 250 groups in it.

Ask your network for help connecting with your target employers.

6.  Customize that resume for the employer and the job.

Yes, that takes time and effort, but the time and effort will show, and your results will improve.  Dr. Kate Duttro wrote a great article, “Your Kitchen Sink Resume,” that describes how to create a customized resume more quickly and easily than starting from scratch creating a new resume for each job.

7.  Customize that cover letter for the employer and the job.

This can be easier to do when you are focused on a few specific job titles and a “sector” of employers (e.g., telecommunications, retail, healthcare, etc.).

Create your own personal templates that go way beyond “Attached find my resume” by including the job title, the employer’s name, a short paragraph that describes why your background is a great fit for the position.

Then, close with a short paragraph about getting in touch with them on a specific date that is 5 to 7 days from the day you send it.

Using your own template, you can then plug in (VERY CAREFULLY!) the employer and their version of the job title you want and/or their job requisition number (if you are applying for a specific opportunity), adding other little bits of customization (names of their products/services/people) as appropriate.

8.  Stay up to date in your field.

This means everything from attending national conferences, if you can, to reading relevant books and white papers (and then commenting or reviewing them on Amazon or your blog).

9.  Raise your public profile.

A LinkedIn Profile is a must today, absolutely no question about it.  And, Google Profiles have the advantage of being available to everyone who has access to the Internet as well having apparently unlimited space available for as much information and as many links as you want to include.

10.  Monitor and manage your online reputation.

What Color Is Your Parachute author Dick Bolles has said, “Google is the new resume,” and he’s absolutely correct (as usual).

You need to know what Google is showing the world about you – AND about people who aren’t you but share the same name.  Use Google Alerts to help you monitor your online reputation.

Your job search can be sabotaged by someone else with the same name who has gotten into trouble.  Nearly 80% of employers do online searches before inviting an applicant in for an interview, and if you don’t know what they are finding or how to differentiate yourself from the person with the bad reputation, you will have a very hard time landing a job.

You can manage your online reputation to a certain degree, if you know what’s going on and if you have the tools.

Bottom Line

Take a bunch of that energy you’ve been wasting on spray-and-pray job applications, and focus your efforts on the job you really want.  You’ll find you are a lot more successful.

Note: In case there is any doubt, answering “a paycheck,” “a salary,” or “to retire” is NOT a helpful response to the question, “What are you looking for,” regardless of whether it’s your neighbor, a new networking contact, or the person in HR who asks.

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

LinkedIn has undergone some major changes recently, and one of the most useful ones is the addition of the capability to have “discussions” with members of the different LinkedIn Groups you may have joined.

For me, it has turned LinkedIn from an enormous collection of names to a collection of people.  LinkedIn now enables you to interact more directly with people with whom you have something in common (or, presumably, you wouldn’t belong to the same Group), but who are not part of your first level connections.

I’ve joined a number of LinkedIn Groups associated with my past – my college, for example, and groups associated with my profession (“Career Professionals”) and my previous jobs (“digital alumni” for people, like me, who worked for Digital Equipment Corporation in the past).

The Groups have evolved from being long lists of people you might be able to contact indirectly to interactive Groups which hold “discussions.”  It’s an enormous improvement in my ability to connect with people.  I’ve already scheduled a lunch in December with a group of fellow entrepreneurs in eastern Massachusetts who worked for Digital.  That’s the kind of “connection” that I think will be most useful for me.  Maybe the kind of connection that will be most useful for you, too?  Try it.

LinkedIn - the site.

LinkedIn Groups – find existing Groups from the directory.  You can also create your own Group, if you are a LinkedIn member.