One aspect of career planning that is sometimes overlooked is the importance of networking, both in the real world and online. Statistically, only a fraction of available higher education positions are publicly advertised, so it is critical to cast a wide net in your job search. Online networking can help job seekers connect to advocates and decision-makers.
Here are some great tips to help you put your name and credentials out there and land the right job!
Start with those who know you best, but don’t be afraid to branch out. The people who can help you most are those who know you best. Let your friends, family, and professional colleagues know you’re on the hunt. Not only can they provide you with valuable leads, they can introduce you to others and help you expand your network. Online networking is a great way to keep in contact with former coworkers, employers, and classmates, and enlist their assistance.
Learn to use social media effectively. Social media is a great tool for network building if you learn to use it right. Join professional outlets such as LinkedIn and actively engage other social outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. This is a good way to reach out to other professionals in your industry, reestablish contact with former associates, keep your network informed, and stay current on trends in your industry. It is also a good idea to do routine checks of your online presence.Google yourself on a regular basis to look for inconsistencies and false or unflattering information. Prospective employers are turning to web searches more often to check out job candidates ahead of time. Remember that what you do and say online can come back to haunt you.
Reciprocity is key. Networking is a give and take relationship, not a one way street. Share ideas and information with your network. Actively engage in forums, blogs, and other online communities. Add benefit to your interactions with others in your network, but do so with sincerity and integrity.
Narrow your focus and follow up. Know exactly what you’re looking for before you look to your network for help and information. Monitor your social media time as well. Remember that these sites are great online networking tools and don’t get caught up in the social aspect of the medium. While these sites are fun and interesting, they are sometimes also a drain on your time and productivity. Make sure to follow up any leads from your network with diligence. Information is only helpful if you use it, and it helps you to maintain credibility. People are less willing to recommend someone who lacks commitment and follow through.
Network for the long term. Networking should never considered be a quick solution to job placement, but a means of building ongoing professional relationships.
Online networking isn’t about applying pressure or asking for favors.Networking is an excellent way to make contacts and establish professional relationships that are fulfilling and mutually beneficial. Extending your professional network to cyberspace is an excellent way to expand your contact base beyond your immediate geographic location and increase your exposure in the job market.
When you work in Higher Education, it’s tempting to dismiss some of the conventional wisdom about social networking. If you’ve heard (or said) any of the following, then listen to today’s show.
In higher ed, it’s always about what you know, not who you know.
I’ve already got tenure (or a great job). I don’t need to worry about networking.
LinkedIn doesn’t really do anything.
I don’t need another place to post my CV. IT’s on my website and I can e-mail it to anyone who wants it.
“I don’t know anyone who uses LinkedIn besides my students, and I don’t see what good connecting with Johnny from my [insert class name here] is going to do me any good.”
In today’s Higher Ed Career Coach podcast, I’m going to tell you why all of the above are nonsense, and clue you in to what LinkedIn is really good for.We’ll also cover some higher ed and employment news, upcoming programs, new coaching packages, and site news.
The show airs at 11 a.m. ET today (Friday May 11). If you have questions or comments on today’s topic, or could use advice on a job search issue, call in to the show! The phone number is (347) 989-0055, or you can click on the Skype “S” click-to-talk button from the episode page.
LinkedIn rolled out a new feature the other day, and somehow I missed it until yesterday, when I was using it on my iPhone. It asked me if I wanted to activate the new calendar feature so I could find out more about the people I’m meeting with this week. This is a great enhancement to the app, and something I hope they integrate into the web version soon.
The move is also the latest proof that we have moved beyond the era of simple social networking and solidly into the era of social network intelligence, where the average user can take advantage of the vast data mines we so happily participate in. I’ve covered “social network intelligence” tools before, with my favorite being Gist, a free social CRM tool that was acquired by Blackberry as part of its efforts to integrate cloud-based features into the lagging Blackberry ecosystem and their related notebooks. I’ve also recently been testing Nimble, which does many of the same things, and have tested Rapportive, as well as Xobni’s Smartr Contacts app on iPhone. GMail also gives users the ability to see more about your contacts by turning on the “people widget” in their mail settings.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications have been widely used by sales professionals for years, but the advent of Social CRM apps (especially free ones) brings the possibility of better relationship management to the everyday user.
Some typical features of social CRM apps:
Calendar and e-mail integration. Inside one app, you can see who you are meeting with, when you’ve met with the person before, and the e-mails you’ve traded. It’s great to be able to pull up e-mails and attachments you’ve traded as you meet with a contact. How many times have you been on a phone or web meeting and had to say, “I don’t know if I received that, let me search my inbox.” No more. It’s all right there.
Notes. You can make notes about your meeting.
Tasks. You can create new tasks and set deadlines. In some CRM apps, you can share tasks with colleagues, or assign them to specific team members for follow-up.
Social network integration. Add a social network profile to follow, and you can read tweets, Facebook posts, and LinkedIn updates from within the contact dashboard.
Web searches. Many social CRM apps integrate with Google API and will return possible results for the person, company, and industry related to your contact.
RSS feed integration. Follow a contact’s personal or corporate blogs, podcasts, and anything else with an RSS feed.
Maps. If you have a physical address for a contact, you can get a map and driving directions from within the CRM application.
LinkedIn’s foray into social CRM is interesting, but at this point, it’s also pretty basic. First, you click on the calendar tab (really a frame of sorts) in the upper right, and it shows your calendar. You’ll see the contact’s LinkedIn photo and name. Within the meeting, you see links to the LinkedIn profile for each person in the meeting (including you) and a pane with notes. If you want more information, you click through to view the person’s profile.
I’ll be interested to see how many more of the typical social CRM features LinkedIn integrates in the future. With access to so much user data, and its position as “the” professional social network, LinkedIn could bring Social CRM not only into your schedule, but into the mainstream.
We’ve all gone to a conference, met tons of great people and collected their business cards, and then returned home only to get bogged down in our work and put those business cards in a drawer. How can we move past this, and really make the most of that conference? How do we return home re-energized and continue to build those connections we made?
The five links below will help you remember why we have conferences and how to keep the conversations going.
What tips do you have for making the most of your conference experience?
Please post your best tips or links to articles you find especially useful in the comment section below.
This post revives a regular feature, Take 5. Each week, we’ll share links for five articles or resources to help you in your job search. Please send suggestions for topics or articles to Melissa Judy, our content development intern, at melissa@higheredcareercoach.com.
For this week’s #sasearch chat, we’re going to try something different. For a couple of reasons, it’s been hard to get a bunch of fresh ideas for each week’s chat and this week, Laura McGivern, my co-moderator (and the organizational powerhouse that makes tweets go out each week), has jury duty. I am knee-deep in writing resumes and coaching clients, as well as participating in a mentor coaching group each week as I work toward earning my ACC Credential with the International Coach Federation.
So it’s been a busy couple of weeks, and we know that many who would otherwise participate in the chat are going on Spring Break, going to a placement conference, or both. So we decided to keep it simple.
This Wednesday, from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm ET, tweet out your favorite inspirational quote, article, video, or Pinterest pin with the hashtag #sasearch. I will go in and re-pin as many of these as possible to my Pinboard titled “Inspiration for Student Affairs Professionals.” And if you are a Pinterest nut, like I am becoming, and would like to help co-moderate this Pinboard, let me know and I will add you. Melissa Judy, my content development intern, is also adding items to the board. I think this could be a fun way to share inspiration and also to use this Pinterest addiction I am building into something good.
So please join the #sasearch #pinchat this Wednesday and let’s get people all inspired and stuff. Woo-Hoo!
Networking is a skill that comes naturally for some, and less so for others. And it takes many forms. But ask most people if it’s essential to getting ahead in your field, and moving up, and you will get a resounding “yes” from most.
In a recent edition of the #sasearch Twitter chat, which I host each week with Laura McGivern of theSASearch.Org, we talked about networking and tried to give people some good tips on how to network, in person and online. You can find the full transcript of the chat at thesasearch.org/chats, so I encourage you to go there and download the pdf.
I think that networking is a skill that must be learned by doing. So while it was definitely nice to talk about how to network, and to learn about what people struggle with, I also want to help people move from processing and reflecting and into action. (And, as Mallory Bower pointed out in the networking chat, we often network without realizing that were are doing it.)
It also occurred to me that staying motivated is one of the hardest parts of any job search. It can be hard to keep your spirits up in the face of uncertainty. At times like these it’s useful to have a strong support network, and these days that extends oftentimes to online networks. Twitter in particular is one place where modern professionals find regular support and encouragement.
But there is something to be said about taking networking relationships off-line, and dialing back the use of technology. Some great example that comes to mind are the “good luck” cards that many of us make a point to put in candidate mailboxes at Placement Conferences, and those times when people who have connected online send each other cards and faxes, or schedule phone calls or Skype dates. Bringing in a human element to your online relationships makes them feel more real, and can reaffirm the possibility of these virtual relationships resulting in long-term friendships, mentoring relationships, and even potential career opportunities. (My favorite example of this was the “parking lot pep talks” that Stacy Oliver and Shannon Healy discussed on a previous episode of my podcast.
In this vein, I would like to create an opportunity for readers and colleagues to engage in positive networking, to bring relationships off-line and into the real world, and to share a little bit of themselves and their talents with a broader audience.
I am a big fan of the simple artwork by Hugh MacLeod of gapingvoid.com, and of the simple cartoons by Mike Davenport of stickfiguresimple.com, who I worked with to create a brief video last year as part of the “What Higher Education Needs to Learn” series. These two artists post regular updates to their blogs in the form of simple drawings that creatively illustrate simple and powerful lessons for life and for work.
As the father of 2 small children I am also a big fan of arts and crafts. This was true before I ever had children and is a common affliction among many in student affairs. A while back, I came across an article about artist trading cards in Disney Family Fun magazine. You can find the article online at familyfun.go.com, but I’ll explain the concept briefly here.
Artist trading cards are tiny works of art on rectangles of paper, either cut by hand or bought in an art supply store. The artist trading card movement, also called ATC movement, began in Zürich Switzerland, and has become a favorite activity of many. The idea is that artists swap work in their communities and online and then kids and family discover art, and learn about trading, while expressing themselves, and developing a love for art.
There are just 2 rules in ATC. First, the cards must be 2.5″ x 3.5″ and second, they may be traded but not sold. I think that the ATC movement, crashed together with the kind of inspirational and motivational messages in MacLeod and Davenport’s art, could lend itself toward the creation of the great experiment in positive networking that could forge new off-line connections between members of the online student affairs community that might otherwise not happen.
You may have noticed that a while back, I posted some random cartoons that I drew on my Facebook business page and on Twitter. This was the mysterious project that I was beginning to work on. And now I need your help.
I’d like to feature artist trading cards designed by readers and other members of the student affairs communities that exist online on this blog. But I want to take it a couple of steps further as well, by not only sharing the art here, but by acting as an intermediary in the creation of potential real life relationships. If you would like to participate, here’s what you need to do:
Draw an artist trading card with your own original message and art on a 2.5 x 3.5 piece of paper or index card stock.
Mail the artist trading card, a copy of your current business card (if you do not have one, include a piece of paper with your name, telephone number, physical mailing address, and e-mail address written clearly on it), and a pre-addressed, stamped envelope to Cook Coaching and Consulting LLC, 191 E. Broad Street, Suite 217, Athens Georgia 30601
When I receive your card, I will scan it, and upload the images to a gallery that will be linked to my Facebook company page.
In your pre-addressed stamped envelope, I will return to you someone else’s art card and business card, in the hope that you will connect off-line. (Please remember to pre-address and pre-stamp the return envelope!)
This project will continue through the end of the year (if not longer), and the art contributed to this project will be considered for inclusion in upcoming products, including postcards, posters, online videos, presentations, and a possible motivational book for job seekers in higher education. Ideally, I’d like to choose a few of the best and make some cards that you can send to friends, colleagues and students to help them stay motivated in their search, or to
All submissions shall become the property of Cook Coaching and Consulting LLC. Artists will not be compensated for their contributions.
Proceeds from the sale of any products developed as a result of this project will go toward providing free or reduced-cost coaching, resume services and other career assistance to job-seekers in higher education, and to support other worthy efforts that benefit higher education job-seekers. Updates about proceeds collected, and services/assistance provided will be posted periodically on this site and the Facebook page.
Work with Sean. I help higher ed professionals take control of their careers with tailored services including resume and CV development, LinkedIn profile optimization and networking strategy, interview coaching, and one-on-one career guidance.
One aspect of career planning that is sometimes overlooked is the importance of networking, both in the real world and online. Statistically, only a fraction of available higher education positions are publicly advertised, so it is critical to cast a wide net in your job search. Online networking can help job seekers connect to advocates and decision-makers.
