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The Social Wolf – Planning Your Career Pack With Social Media

Posted by Carolyn Thompson on May 22, 2013 in Career Path, Job Search, Self Improvement

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How to Utilize Social Media Effectively in Your CareerWolf

Wolves live predominantly in packs to search for food, raise pups, and defend hunting territory. When a wolf leaves their birth pack, it could be in order to join a new pack that may not have as many members or packs that have better opportunities in the hierarchy. Sometimes the searching wolf may even establish their own pack. If a wandering wolf doesn’t find the right pack, it is usually possible to return to their birth pack. Wolves may cover a large area and travel long distances in search of the perfect fit and it often seems to be a hit or miss process. Social media networking can take much of the guess work out of finding your career pack.

People have always looked for ways to interact with their colleagues in order to develop a way of getting a step above the other competitors in their career. Many social networking websites that represent digital social media like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and others present an excellent way of not only staying close to your friends but at the same time offer various growth opportunities for one’s career. Let’s see how social media can help you in your career by allowing you to stay connected with professionals in the community.

How social media works to boost your career

Websites that focus on maintaining and managing one’s professional networks, like LinkedIn, utilize social networking software and principally work on the concept of managing and gathering multi-tiered contacts. “First connections” are those individuals with whom you have a direct connection, as in a co-worker or friend, and the further tiers, such as second or third connections, are professionals that are in your network sphere as a result of having relationships with your direct connections. An individual needs to become a registered user of the website in order to benefit from it. However, once registration is completed, that person can interact with thousands of professionals of the same or different fields as well as maintaining and managing a chain of direct professional connections.

With such career oriented social media websites one can look at companies in their respective fields and even apply for relevant jobs in order to plan a career move. This can be a great benefit to the individuals who are either looking to move companies or researching the first job in their career. Job seekers and employees are not limited by geographical boundaries, but only their own network. These websites realize the importance of personal branding in a job search and hence, suggest their users develop appropriate profiles which can help them represent their accomplishments, strengths, skills and academics to their potential employers or clients. Developing a personal brand with these social sites can make the professional a more valuable asset for the company they work for, their own enterprise, and for the potential employers as well.

Social media has evolved as a great advancement in social networking that boosts professional networking activities and career management for people in a resourceful manner. This electronic way of person-to-person networking is quite an effective marketing tool, which an individual can utilize to market his/ her professional skills. These social media platforms allow any individual to manage his/her own future and career just with a click of a mouse. These have made the professional connections and interconnections possible which grow into a wonderful professional web community. Not only does it offer career prospects, but professional discussions through forums and groups enable individuals to continue to learn many new things pertaining to their field or career.

The social media platforms have revolutionized career development for self management, personal and professional empowerment, as well as networking. It would not be wrong to say that one can indeed utilize the social media effectively for his/her career as it is a valuable way for building professional brand statement in the long run and for finding appropriate opportunities in their career.

Don’t be the lone wolf wandering aimlessly, research a pack with social media and develop the connections to move forward in your career.

This guest post was contributed by Patrick S. Patrick has been recently employed by a professional research paper writing service at SolidEssay.com, where he helps students fine tune their research papers and other academic work.

If you have a great idea for a jungle-themed post, let us know! Guest writers or requests are always welcome!

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The Monkey – Take A Survey!

Posted by Carolyn Thompson on Nov 29, 2012 in Career Path, Self Improvement

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Social Media. Social Networking. These are the two hot buttons around these days. How can you use these tools to reach the high performing/high potential candidates that make the best employees? Imagine if you could reach the best people faster, before your competition snaps them up.

We are currently conducting a confidential international research study to learn how people who have been identified as high performers/high potential employees use social media and social networking. Our goal is to gain clarity around where these people are spending their time online in order that employers can more effectively interact with them via social media.

We are conducting online surveys with high performing employees to learn:

  • how they receive their daily news;
  • what they are reading on a personal and business level and how they access and obtain that information;
  • what they do for continuing professional education;
  • how these individuals network on a professional level and what their level of engagement is;
  • how these individuals interact with their personal friends;
  • what they do when they are bored;
  • what sources they use to find jobs;
  • how these individuals share information;
  • what they think about their current employer;
  • how they feel their employer could better position themselves in the market;
  • their top business concerns and what type of research could be done to help resolve these issues;
  • who they consider an expert in their filed and the reasons why; and how do they follow those individuals?

If you would like to participate and receive a complimentary copy of the white paper we ask that you send the link below to any number of people you know that have been promoted within the past 18 months and/or whom you consider to be a high potential/high performer. We estimate that the survey will take no more than 10 minutes to complete. If you reply “yes!” in the comments we can send you the results after they are compiled in January.

The survey will close in one week so please send it out as soon as you can.  We appreciate your help in our research!

The survey can be accessed here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HWHZXMT

Thank you!

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The Ant – Get Powerful Together

Posted by Carolyn Thompson on Feb 1, 2011 in Job Search

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The ant is one of the most social creatures on the planet. As the saying goes: there is never just one. When you see an ant, you know there are at least hundreds, if not more, nearby. They are found on almost every continent. Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organization and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves.

Over the past few years, I have successfully obtained both candidates and clients from Facebook, one of the leading social networking sites. My team is nearing the 100 mark for transactions closed in some way shape or form from my social media strategy.

I recently placed another hard-to-find person I located by scouring Facebook for keywords.  As I sat across the table having lunch with this person who had just started their new job, I was overwhelmed with the power of this particular social media.  He was so grateful that I had reached out to him. We chatted on and on about each other’s families, personal interests, and recent activities because we had a lot of knowledge about each other before we met.  The conversation flowed naturally like it was someone I’d known for some time when, in fact, barely two weeks had passed since my first invitation to connect on facebook and their first day on the job. This incident really drove home how powerful your personal profile is, or can be.

I met with a Pinnacle Society colleague this week as well and was recounting this accomplishment. My story was met surprisingly with some hesitation on her part to put herself out there in cyberspace.  I never really worried about the dangers of on-line interaction.  I mean, look how many people meet and marry their spouses on-line. Why not harness that power to attract candidates and clients both? 

Remember in Meet the Parents, Robert DiNiro talks about the inner circle of trust?  How can you create an on-line persona that allows people to feel like they are in the inner circle of trust without sacrificing your personal privacy? How much do you give up to cyberspace?

·         Mix personal and professional

o   Just like people who are very organized keep one calendar that includes their personal and professional appointments so nothing slips through the cracks, putting a little of both out there gives people a real sense of who you are; what types of jobs you work on and what activities you are involved in.

·         Don’t rant and rave

o   I am always amazed at the profanity and negativity people post on their pages.  Keep it light, professional and positive.  After all, this is how people will ultimately form impressions of you, so if you see things with the glass half empty, you might consider visiting the sink for a fill up before typing.

·         Post regularly

o   I know I find myself browsing postings when I’m bored, at the airport, or just to fill a few minutes.  There’s nothing more boring than to read someone’s profile that is filled with dribble. Make it interesting, but not over the top.

·         Reach out

o   Use keyword searching techniques to link with those within your niche. This will directly impact how well and how many people you reach people with your postings.  Invite them to connect with a brief note as to how you found them and why you are reaching out to them for their assistance or participation in your project.

·        Create your own social media strategy

o   Who do you want to connect with and why?  What’s in it for them? 

·         Consider your personal safety when posting your whereabouts 

o   This is one thing I am very careful about.  I promote appearances and speeches but don’t generally advertise when I’ve arrived for a spa day or gym workout somewhere.  Posting your gratitude to the establishment after your treatment is one way to handle promotions about your activities without sacrificing personal safety.

If you were an ant in a colony, you would only be as strong and successful as your peers made you. Just like the Ant, whether you are using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or other social media, the more the merrier!

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