This week, we very proudly welcome our newest Job Hunt Expert, GL Hoffman Job-Hunt’s “Expert at Large.”

GL is a serial entrepreneur and mentor, having founded two companies that “went public” providing excellent learning experiences for GL. Currently, he is chairman of JobDig which operates Job-Hunt Sponsor LinkUp, one of the fastest-growing job-search engines. His blog can be found at WhatWouldDadSay.com.  His latest book is StartUp, 100 Tips to Get Your Business Going, available in print at www.startup100tips.com or ebook at www.wiseandwiser.com. GL also blogs for US News & World Reports and FastCompany.

GL’s first Job-Hunt article, Staying Positive at a Tough Time, is a very important one because maintaining a positive attitude is such a difficult aspect of job hunting, yet so important for success in job search.

We also introduced four other new articles this week:

• Executive without a Degree plus the associated Sample resume
  Author and Job-Hunt Resume Expert Susan Ireland helps a senior level job seeker continue her career rise in the non-profit sector without a college degree.
• Monitoring Your Online Presence
  Job-Hunt’s Social Media & Job Search Expert Miriam Salpeter describes some of the ways job seekers can monitor and influence their online visibility.
• Keep Your Digital Act Clean
  Tory Johnson, Job-Hunt’s Fired-to-Hired Transition Expert, offers suggestions for keeping your “personal digital footprint” positive in.
• Using Google to Find Jobs Hidden in Dot-Jobs (not Dot-Com) Sites
  Job-Hunt’s Online Job Search Expert, Susan P. Joyce, introduces a new method of using Google to uncover jobs from your favorite employers in the Job-Hunt Job Search News blog.

Career Spotlight: If you are knowledgeable about construction and the building trades and comfortable poking around inside buildings, you may want to consider a job as a Building Inspector.  The average salary is $50,000/year; 23% have college degrees; andexpected 10-year job growth is 18%. More information on this and other careers in Job-Hunt’s Career Changers’ Guide.

In a sense, we’ve been using avatars in our job search for years. We called them “résumés,” and they are still important today, particularly  when you are reaching out to potential employers. 

Your 21st Century Avatars Bring Employers to You

Unlike resumes, which are similar in function to a product sales brochure, the new, 21st century avatars are more like a smart marketing campaign attracting employers and jobs to you!  You aren’t trying to find employers, employers are finding you because they are finding your avatars everywhere.

Seen Avatar, the movie?  (No?  GO!  Or watch the DVD!)  Picture your avatars in cyberspace, showing you at your best - demonstrating your skills and knowledge, cataloging your accomplishments and education, collecting and displaying recommendations, helping you pull the jobs in to you rather than you reaching out for them.

You don’t have a 21st century avatar? You could!  You should!  And you probably do, whether or not you know it.  Here’s how…

Now, in the 21st century, we have many more avatars than just our resumes, and they are much more active and visible than in the past.   We have our LinkedIn profiles, our Google Profiles, our Amazon Profiles, our Twitter Bios, and our Facebook pages, even our VisualCVs and (millions of) blogs.

More on Social Media & Job Search: Social Media & Job Search Home How to Get Started with Social Media Top 6 Employer Magnets Activate & Manage Your Avatars Social Media Is Like Online Dating Social Media No-No’s 5 Ways Social Media Keeps Skills Up to Date Social Recruiting LinkedIn vs. Facebook vs. Twitter vs. (Fill-in-the-Blank) Social Networked Out?

A recent study, funded by Microsoft, shows exactly how important those new avatars are to our careers and, particularly, our job searches: 

• 29% of job seekers think their online reputation is important, but…
• 79% of employers research potential employees online - always or most of the time!

Negative Avatars – or a Lack of Avatars – Can Damage Your Prospects

The newest aspect of 21st century avatars is that we haven’t created all of them, and don’t own all of them, but we need to monitor them, and, as best we can, manage them.

Watch for negative avatars (e.g. report of a DUI conviction) - even if the person involved is not you but someone else with the same or a very similar name. An employer may not be able to discern the difference, and could assume that the negative avatar  belongs to you.  You will drop off the list of “possible hires” as a potential problem or just someone to avoid hiring.

While being “invisible” is a goal for some, viewed as a means of protection against indentity theft and other hazards, having few or no positive avatars (e.g. a LinkedIn Profile)  is both a credibility issue as well as a personal marketing issue.  Without them, your job search will take much longer.  You will drop off the list of “possible hires” because nothing about you can be confirmed by another source online. 

So, Put These New Avatars to Work for YOU

Technology has changed the rules of the game, particularly in the last 18 months, and smart job seekers manage their avatars. For example, in addition to your résumé, you may – or should- have several of these avatars, too:

1. Your LinkedIn Profile and LinkedIn presence (Groups, Discussions, Answers, etc.)
2. Your Twitter Bio and Tweets (on-brand, hopefully)
3. Your Google Profile
4. Your blog and/or guest posts on other blogs
5. Your Facebook account
6. Your Amazon profile (books you read and review, etc.)
7. Your Business Week Business Exchange Profile
8. Your Fast Company Profile
9. Your Visual CV
10. Your Brazen Careerist Profile

Manage Your New Avatars

• Don’t wait until you need your avatars to create them. 
  The longer you work with them, the stronger they become.  Just like waiting until you are unemployed to start networking, waiting until you are unemployed to create your avatars is not the best plan.  Nurture your avatars when you are employed, and you may never need to job hunt again.
• Keep feeding your avatars – new information, new posts, new Tweets, new Friends, new Followers, etc.
  Keep them looking cared-for and current to present you at your best.

Put Google to Work for You

Google yourself regularly to see what’s online.  Is someone else’s avatar hurting your chances for a new job – has someone with the same name done something that could damage your chances at a job (murderer, child abuser, porn star, etc.)?  If you find bad stuff, pick a different version of your name (with or without your middle name or middle initial, etc.).  Then consistently use that new version of your name online to separate yourself.

Set up Google Alerts on your name and topics.  It’s simple to do and free (thank you, Google!).  Google Alerts  help track new or high-ranking references, comments, or posts about you and your favorite topics.

For more on this topic, check out my SlideShare show - 21st Century Job Search Revolution.

———————————

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.

The good news is that these sites are free for you to use, currently.  The bad news is that this will take some time and work to create and to manage.  Not a lot because much of what you create for one site (LinkedIn, for example) can be used with minor modifications on other sites.

In addition, these effort will pay off for you when you have captured the interest of a recruiter or potential employer who researches you to see what information is available about you on the Web because they will find these sites, often at the top of the first page of search results.

[If you haven't already set up a Google Alert on your name, do that, immediately.  This is not the time to be modest.]

More on Social Media & Job Search: Social Media & Job Search Home How to Get Started with Social Media Top 6 Employer Magnets Activate & Manage Your Avatars Social Media Is Like Online Dating Social Media No-No’s 5 Ways Social Media Keeps Skills Up to Date Social Recruiting LinkedIn vs. Facebook vs. Twitter vs. (Fill-in-the-Blank) Social Networked Out?

This will take a while, so get started ASAP, and set aside one or two hours a week (or more, if you are unemployed) to create and manage your Web identities.

1.  Your LinkedIn Profile

Whether or not you are actually job hunting right now, a LinkedIn Profile is a MUST-DO these days.  And, if you are currently happy in your job, a robust (”100% complete” in LinkedIn terms) LinkedIn Profile can make you more effective in your existing job.  It also lays good groundwork for your next job because LinkedIn is so important to recruiters.

See Add Common Misspellings to Your LinkedIn Profile and all of Job-Hunt’s Social Media for Job Search articles for more information.

And, don’t forget to join Job-Hunt’s Job-Hunt Help LinkedIn Group to get help with your job search issues.  It’s free for anyone to join.  Also join Groups that are associated with your profession and location, and be active in those Groups.  They are great for expanding your network!

2.  Your Google Profile

This will show up at the bottom of the first page of Google search results on any search with your name, and it can be as robust as your LinkedIn Profile.  Meg Guiseppi, Job-Hunt’s Personal Branding Expert, wrote an excellent article on Leveraging Your Google Profile.
3.  Your official Twitter account.

Be sure to complete the Twitter Bio, including a description of who you are and where you are.  Read the Twitter SEO for Job Search blog post for more details.  Stay on-topic with this account.  Use a different Twitter account to talk about the kids, the dogs, and Starbucks.

4.  Your Business Week’s Business Exchange Profile.

This will also connect with your LinkedIn account as well, and offers the opportunity for credibility in the business world.  Submit content on various appropriate topics and also comment on what has been submitted by others.  If you see a niche which is not covered by Business Exchange topic, you can suggest a new one and become it’s “currator” with personal credit in the description of the topic.  You can also follow other members of the BX community.

5.  Your personal account on Amazon.

Review products, books, videos, and other items on Amazon using your personal account and your real name.  Make them thoughtful, well-written, and logical.  You’ll be able to pull these into your LinkedIn account, and they’ll also be visible to the entire Web when someone Googles your name.

6.  Your own Website or blog (on your own domain name).

Register your name as a domain name, and also register the common misspellings of your name to forward to your “real” domain name.  You can register domain names at GoDaddy.com for $8 a year, and it’s worth it to “capture” your name, even if you don’t immediately create a Website using that domain name.  This is not a blanket endorsement of all of GoDaddy’s products and services, but they do a good job of inexpensive domain registration and make it relatively easy to manage domains, too.

Once you have registered your domain name, you can use it for many things that will enhance your online identity and help raise your visibility in the world as well as the job market.

• Use the domain name for your blog , your personal resume Website, and/or an online portfolio of your work.
• Put your personal URL in your email signature, along with your LinkedIn profile, etc.
• Use search optimization techniques with your name and profession as the keyword phrases to be optimized – in the title tags, in the meta tags, in the headings, etc.  http://www.job-hunt.org/resumeHTMLfinal.shtml
• Link TO your personal Website from the various online community sites LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo, etc. etc.
• Write articles or “guest” blog postings for various appropriate industry/professional sites which offer links back as “compensation.”
• Register your personal Website with Yahoo, even paying the $299 for a Yahoo Directory Submit.  Nothing puts a Website on “the map” (ANY Website) like a Yahoo listing. http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add?2052727
• If appropriate, add your speaking calendar, book reviews, testimonials/recommendations, mentions in the press, etc.
• Issue press releases offering new, relevant information about the appropriate industry/profession, distribute on the Web, with links back to your Website.

Also check out VisualCV, ZoomInfo, Emurse, and other similar sites where you can establish and control your public profile.  Google the name of someone you think has a good public profile and see which sites link to them.  That will give you some ideas on how to leverage the presence you have and increase it.

Bottom Line

We all need to become very good at establishing and managing our public personas, whether we label it personal marketing or personal branding.  It is unavoidable in the 21st century.  If you manage your public persona, you’ll be vulnerable to bad luck or someone else’s agenda.

And, remember it is VERY important to keep all of Job-Hunt’s advice in protecting your privacy, identity, and family in mind while you do this!

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.

Many good career Tweeps are not included in this version of the list because they are not currently active or not on-topic right now (vacation time, whatever).

And, there are many other popular Twitter accounts which provide a mix of content with “personality” and they are not included here. But, they could still be useful to you – it just depends what you want.

Note: Updated on July 15, 2010. Some Tweeters left, and new Tweeters arrived. Find all these Tweeps and more on Job-Hunt’s Job Search Experts Twitter List.

More on Social Media & Job Search: Social Media & Job Search  Home Twitter Toolbox 5 Ways Social Media Keeps Skills Up to Date Top 10 Twitter Job Search Lists 101 Best Twitter Career & Job Search Resources 8 Twitter SEO Tips for Job Seekers Top 50 Employers Recruiting on Twitter Top 50 College & University Career Centers Twitter Accounts

Who is included here:

• These are the people I’ve judged best at providing good content in their Tweets and trying to help people with the job search/career management process.
• These people Tweet regularly, on topic with new, fresh information.
• For me, the signal-to-noise ratio is usually good – these people are not focused on self-promotion or sending many off-topic Tweets.

I am acquainted with many of the people in this list. I’m happy to say that several of these people have contributed articles to Job-Hunt, sharing more of their advice and expertise with the world. If they have,  currently are or soon will be, contributing articles to Job-Hunt, their names have been bolded. But, that wasn’t a requirement for inclusion, obviously.

If you have suggestions about accounts which should be added, or even deleted, let me know.

Keep coming back. I will post new versions of this every month, and, of course, this is Job-Hunt.org – there will always be more resources added soon.

The 101 BEST JOB SEARCH/CAREER TWEEPS:

	Twitter Account	Person	Associated URL
Career Coaches
	@AndyInNaples	Andy Robinson	careersuccess.typepad.com
	@barbarasafani	Barbara Safani	careersolvers.com
	@Barry_at_IMPACT	Barry Deutsch	impacthiringsolutions.com
	@CrisJobCoach	Cris Janzen	JanzenAssociates.com
	@careerdiva	Eve Tahmincioglu	evetahmincioglu.com
	@CEOCoach	Deb Dib	executivepowerbrand.com
	@chandlee	Chandlee Bryan	bestfitforward.com
	@DailyCareerTips	Susan D. Strayer	susanstrayer.com
	@CareerTips2Go	Daisy Wright	thewrightcareer.com
	@ExpatCoachMegan	Megan Fitzgerald	careerbychoiceblog.com
	@KCCareerCoach	Meg Montford	abilitiesenhanced.com
	@LearnSolMary	Mary Wilson	learningsolutionsblog. blogspot.com
	@Leonard_Lang	Leonard Lang	beardavenue.com
	@phyllismufson	Phyllis Mufson	PhyllisMufson.CoachConsole.com
	@susanguarneri	Susan Guarneri	careergoddess.com
	@susanwhitcomb	Susan Whitcomb	CareerCoachAcademy.com
	@WorkWithIllness	Rosalind Joffe	CICoach.com
	@VaultCareers		Vault.com
Career Exploration
	@willyf	Willy Franzen	onedayonejob.com
	@GreenJobIdeas	Kathleen Lyons	greenjobideablog.com
Career Management
	@ActAsIfSite	Joe Lavelle	actasifblog.com
	@alevit	Alexandra Levit	alexandralevit.com
	@AnitaBruzzese	Anita Bruzzese	45things.com
	@askamanager	Alison Green	askamanager.blogspot.com
Internships
	@heatherhuhman	Heather Huhman (PR internships)	heatherhuhman.com
	@internweb		InternWeb.com
Job Interviews
	@InterviewAngel	Brent Peterson	interviewangel.com
	@InterviewCoach	Lewis Lin	seattleinterviewcoach.com
Job Search
	@alisondoyle	Alison Doyle	Jobsearch.about.com
	@AndreaSantiago	Andrea Santiago	healthcareers.about.com
	@BillVick	Bill Vick	BillVick.com
	@CAREEREALISM	J.T. ODonnell	careerealism.com
	@chrisrussell	Chris Russell	jobradio.fm
	@eExecutives	Harry Urschel	eexecutives.net
	@GLHoffman	GL Hoffman	jobdig.com
	@heymarci	Marci Alboher	heymarci.com
	@HotJobs_editor	Tom Musbach	hotjobs.yahoo.com
	@JacobShare	Jacob Share	JobMob.co.il
	@JobConcierge	JobConcierge	JobConcierge.com
	@JobHuntOrg	Susan P Joyce (of course)	job-hunt.org
	@JobSavants		jobsavants.com
	@JobSearchCoach	Jeremy Worthington	Linkedin.com/in/jeremyworthington
	@JobSearchNinja	Todd Bavol	integritycareertransitions.com
	@jtodonnell	J.T. Odonnell	careerealsim.com
	@keppie_careers	Miriam Salpeter	KeppieCareers.com
	@kevindonlin	Kevin Donlin	gm4jh.com
	@LatinosAtWork	Murray A. Mann	globaldiversitysolutions. typepad.com/latinosatwork/
	@OneJobHunter
	@RiseSmart	Sanjay Sathe	risesmart.com
	@RoxanneRavenel	Roxanne Ravenel	savvyjobseeker.com
	@wendygelberg	Wendy Gelberg	gentlejobsearch.com
	@WSJCareers		online.wsj.com/public/page/news-career-jobs.html
New Graduates
	@GradToGreat	Anne Brown	gradtogreat.com
	@Gradversity	Trevor Wilson	Gradversity.com
	@lindseypollak	Lindsey Pollak	lindseypollak.com/blog
	@Seiden	Jason Sieden	jasonseiden.com
	@StevenRothberg	Steven Rothberg	collegerecruiter.com
	@SweetCareers	Grace Kutney	sweetcareers.blogspot.com
	@QuintCareers		quintcareers.com
Personal Branding
	@Brandyourself	Pete Kistler	brand-yourself.com
	@danschawbel	Dan Schawbel	personalbrandingblog.com
	@LinkedInQueen	LinkedIn Queen	cliqueitmarketing.com
	@megguiseppi	Meg Guiseppi	executiveresumebranding.com
	@williamarruda	William Aruda	reachpersonalbranding.com
Recruiters, Recruiting,& HR
	@BillBoorman	Bill Boorman	billboorman.co.uk
	@Absolutely_Abby	Abby Kohut	AbsolutelyAbby.com
	@Ask_The_RCTR	Norman Harris	frustratedseeker.ning.com
	@BostonRecruiter	Joe Noonan	linkedin.com/in/joenoonan
	@campusdiva	Joanna Clark
	@CincyRecruiter	Jennifer McClure	CincyRecruiter.com
	@DavidGraziano	David Graziano	davidgrazianostaffing.blogspot.com
	@dmcgrath		hr.com
	@financejobs	Paula Wood	financerecruiter.com
	@Fishdogs	Craig Fischer	alistsolutions.com
	@FistfulOfTalent		fistfuloftalent.com
	@hrbartender	Sharlyn Lauby	hrbartender.com
	@HRSpace	Rob Moss	personneltoday.com/hrspace /default.aspx
	@jimstroud	Jim Stroud	jimstroud.com
	@jlipschultz	Jeff Lipschultz	alistsolutions.com
	@MikeVanDervort	Mike VanDervort	thehumanracehorses.com
	@PRjobs	Lindsay Olson	paradigmstaffing.com
	@salesrecruiter	Peggy McKee	phcconsulting.com
	@AngelaGuidroz	Angela Guidroz focus on veterans
	@SusanHeathfield	Susan Heathfield	humanresources.about.com
Resume Writers
	@dawnbugni	Dawn Bugni	thewritesolution.info
	@DebraWheatman	Debra Wheatman	ResumesDoneWrite.com
	@ErinKennedyCPRW	Erin Kennedy	exclusive-executive-resumes.com
	@GayleHoward	Gayle Howard	topmargin.com
	@louise_fletcher	Louise Fletcher	louisefletcher.net
	@MartinBuckland	Martin Buckland	anEliteResume.com
	@PowerCV	Sharad Verma	freshercv.com
	@Red_Inc	Melanie Szlucha	Redinc.biz
	@resumeguru	Robert Dagnall	resumeguru.com
	@resumeservice	Rosa Vargas	creatingprints.com
	@rezlady	Sheree Van Vreede	noddleplace.com
	@SusanIreland	Susan Ireland	susanireland.com
	@TheResumeBay	Jon Davidson	theresumebay.com
	@ValueIntoWords	Jacqui Poindexter	careertrend.net
Social Media
	@chrisbrogan	Chris Brogan	chrisbrogan.com
	@jasonalba	Jason Alba	jibberjobber.com
	@mashable	Pete Cashmore	mashable.com
	@SocialMediaWonk	Drew Selman	drewselman.com

The EXTRAS

Many very useful and helpful people provide wonderful information that, while not specifically targeted at careers and job search, seemed worthy of inclusion.  So these are the “Extras:”

Other Useful Tweeps
	@2morrowKnight	News & information	2morrowKnight blog
	@CareerHero	Career Directors International	careerdirectors.com
	@ducttape	John Jantsch: Interesting stuff!	ducttapemarketing.com
	@jobangels	Help one person find a job	jobangels.org
	@keithferrazzi	Keith Ferrazzi: Networking	keithferrazzi.com
	@Mashable	Social Media News (LOTS of it)	phishbucket.org

As always, good luck with your job search!

(c) Copyright 2009.  Job-Hunt.org  All rights reserved.

About the author and list compiler…

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 @JobHuntOrg.

Blogs are not that hard to create, but they are harder to keep “alive.”

So, how do you become a blogger?

Free Blogs

There are at least 2 excellent places that will host your blog for free.   

1.)  Blogger.com - Owned and run by Google, Blogger.com blogs are free and easy to set up.  Just register, and start blogging.  Your blog’s URL will look like this – [you].blogspot.com

2.)  WordPress.com – Brought to us by the same people who create the WordPress blogging software.  The free functionality is fine, and additional bells and whistles can be purchased with a “premium” account.  Your blog’s URL will look like this – [you].wordpress.com  

Which ever free blog you use will probably be your partner for a long time, so choose the one with which you are the most comfortable.

Do’s & Don’ts

• Do name your blog carefully.  You can name it after yourself for personal branding (not a bad idea – look at Scoble) or after your topic (cab driving, to use scobleizer’s example) for quicker traffic generation.

  If you are still employed, be careful about establishing a personal blog. Your employer may correctly assume that it is part of a personal marketing campaign, interpret that as a job search, and be very unhappy with you. SO, better to name the blog after the topic, and play down your personal identity. Definitely DO link to your personal e-mail address so that anyone interested in contacting you can do it.

• Do think of your blog as personal marketing/personal branding as well as an information sharing service.  On scobleizer, Scoble has some very specific recommendations for creating your blog content.
• Don’t create more than one blog, even though you can do it cheaply, unless you create completely different blogs – different in both subject and content. Start with one – if you can keep it “live” and enjoy creating it, then you can branch out.

  Why “completely different”?  Because search engines hate “duplicate content” – the same article on two different Web pages.  Duplicate content takes up more space in their databases of Web content than necessary, and it can mess up the search results they provide to their visitors, making them look dumb.  So it’s an added expense that may hurt their reputations.

• Don’t “borrow” content from someone else’s Website or blog, unless they’ve given you permission. 

  Why not?

  1.)  It’s bad manners and bad for your online reputation.

  2.)  It’s copyright infringement – every page of every Website, including your blog, is protected by international copyright law, regardless of what you have heard (ask an attorney).The result if someone finds you have stolen their content is that your blog may be taken down – it’s the law (U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, and the European Union Copyright Directive of 2001).

  3.)  AND, it’s DUPLICATE CONTENT – so it won’t do you any good and it will hurt the site you borrow from.

Good luck with your job search!