Guerrilla Marking for Job Hunters 2.0 - Jay Conrad Levinson [22]
Online Networks
1. Look for online networks that share your career focus, volunteer interests, geographical area, professional associations, or alma mater. Join them, offer to guest post on their blogs, participate in their forums, and share your expertise.
2. Get a LinkedIn account for your professional network. Then, create a group on LinkedIn focused on your profession (e.g., “Wireless Jobs” group has 11k+ members). Invite the experts in your profession to join the group.
3. Get a Facebook account (smart job hunters use the massive demographics of Facebook [100M+] to their benefit). Ditto with Twitter (use it to follow the online conversations about your profession—your company—YOU).
4. Check out podcasts and iTunes and listen to thought leaders—not just in your professional arena, but in other areas as well.
5. Get a StumbleUpon.com and/or Digg.com account for voting, and a del.icio.us account for social bookmarking.
Blogs
6. Create a blog and begin interacting with and reaching out to your target audience (e.g., CrunchWireless.com).
7. Comment on other people’s blogs. This is a great way for others to get to know you, especially when your ideas are pertinent and meaningful.
8. Promote others—their blogs, articles, and ideas—on your site.
9. Don’t let your blog go static. Keep it fresh with a daily mix (or at a minimum, 3 times a week) of information, opinion, interviews, and lists. Throw in an occasional self-recorded YouTube video and you’ll cement your brand quickly in the eyes of your audience.
10. Subscribe to Google’s web-based feed reader to keep up with the blogs and news pertaining to your industry (reader.google.com).
Tim Sanders said, “In the twenty-first century, our success will be based on the people we know.” Guerrilla job hunters get this—and because they understand that relationships serve as a predictor of our success, they include social media as a standard part of their job-search strategy.
Make no mistake—no other investment opportunity can compare with the global reach of the Internet in your efforts to evangelize the value of your brand. Social media will help you use the power of the network to gain opportunities and build relationships. In other words, it will help you get the attention—your brand in the crosshairs—of the people with whom you need to connect.
Dennis Smith web site address: www.WirelessJobs.com e-mail link: dennis@wirelessjobs.com.
Okay, put the exercise and results away for now. We’ll be using them soon enough, but first let’s talk about what really matters most when you’re job hunting: attitude.
■ ATTITUDE CHECK
Employers want to hire positive people as much as they need to hire people who are competent. If you have both characteristics, the employer’s decision becomes obvious. Most employers I know, including yours truly, would rather have an employee with a great attitude and some related work experience, than a more experienced one with a poor attitude. Why is that, and how do you show it?
➤ The Importance of a Can-Do Attitude
Attitude rates bigger than ever with interviewers these days because employers are facing a future of constantly accelerating change and need to look aggressively for ways to expand, grow, and stay in business. They are seeking job hunters who can have a positive impact on the company’s results. Employers want employees who:
• Believe they can change the impossible into the possible.
• Do things better, smarter, and faster as a natural force in their life.
• Can find new ways to accomplish something without a map.
• Will relentlessly search until they find a way.
Interviewers spot “can-do” people immediately. They’re the ones who can describe the obstacles they faced and how they overcame them—in fine detail. Can-doers are also quick to admit they haven’t been victorious every time, but they analyze each failure and take away