A couple of years ago I went to an industry association conference for (get this) assocation professionals.  I had no idea there were thousands and thousands of associations, and there were tons of people who have dedicated their careers to running these associations.

One session was dedicated to talking about employment and job search, presented by Peter Weddle.  Peter Weddle founded an assocation for job board owners and has been a thought-leader in the job search space for a long time.  There are two major things I took away from Peter, one of which was an ideal (or a good) job board strategy in a job search.  The other thing I learned was to really incorporate associations into a job search.

Regarding the association thing, I’ll give you the best resource you can find: Weddle’s Association Directory.  This is THE resource every job search needs to include because you can do a job search by industry.

How cool is that?

Not every association has abundant job search resources, but many associations have enough to get you started.  So hop on over to Weddle’s Association Directory and get started.  Don’t limit yourself to just one industry, either.

Bonus idea: Take some of the terminology you find in the Association Directory and apply them to LinkedIn research.  Use those terms in the Advanced LinkedIn search page and see who you find - hopefully you’ll find some new keywords that will help you expand your job search.

Good luck!

I’m not much for New Year’s Resolutions.  Personally, I make them, but I remember last year it seemed like half the bloggers swore by them and the other half wished they would go away.

I make resolutions I need to make, but don’t worry if I fall off the wagon.  But there is one resolution I’d like you to think about, and that is that you resolve to get canned in 2009.

Actually, how about if you resolve to get laid off in 2009?

Okay, let’s put this in a better, less-mischeivious light: resolve to do a real, serious job search in 2009.  Whether you are in transition or not.  You need to be prepared.

Here are elements of what you’ll need for your job search in 2009:

• The proper attitude. As a job seeker it’s easy to let bad emotions cloud our ability to perform. I had that happen to me, because i didn’t understand what to expect in my job search.  I know that the emotional roller coaster will set in, but understanding a little about what you might go through can help significantly!
• The right resume. You’ll need it eventually.  As I’ve mentioned earlier, my resume was nice but it kept me out of interviews.  Career Resumes helps you figure out what your resume needs to look like and include, and they work hard to get you into interviews!
• The right networking tools. You hear you are likely to get your next job through your network, right?  What have you done up to this point to make that happen?  You definitely should be using LinkedIn and JibberJobber at a minimum.
• The right techniques. My job search techniques were 99% garbage, and I was too proud to get real help.  The articles I read seemed like they were written on another planet, for another audience… nothing was indepth enough or seemed to work for me.
• ___________ - your suggestion?

What do you think you need to have to successfully navigate your termination?  There will be hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions who are in transition next year… you won’t be alone, but you can be more prepared.

Wednesday we did the LinkedIn and Facebook for Executives webinar - it was almost 90 minutes of material but there was room for questions throughout and at the end of the webinar.  It was cool - the only thing that I dislike is not having enough time for questions.

Here is a bonus followup thought on getting value from LinkedIn - remember, I say LinkedIn is NOT optional if you are a professional… you must be on LinkedIn and you should create a LinkedIn strategy.

Use your email signature

When someone invites you to connect on LinkedIn, or if they ask for an Introduction, or if you answer a question in Answers, etc., you should copy-and-paste your email signature into your message.

Why?  They can click on the link and see your Profile, but that takes effort, and your Profile is long.  Your email signature is probably just a few lines, concisely sharing your value prop (or whatever the most important information is that you want to share).

Here’s my email signature:

–
Jason Alba
::    JibberJobber.com CEO, Author, Speaker
::    http://www.JasonAlba.com
::  ** check out the second edition of my LinkedIn book:
::   http://www.ImOnLinkedInNowWhat.com **
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I know it’s a pain to open up a new message, copy-and-paste it, but I think it’s worth it and I try and do it about 80% of the time I communicate through LinkedIn.

As I mentioned in the webinar, you can get a LinkedIn Profile Makeover from Career-Resumes for just $200.  Click here to get started.

Yesterday a friend asked me if I have ever used my LinkedIn Profile as a resume.

Of course a LinkedIn Profile is NOT a resume :)  And since I haven’t been in a job search for a while (since I seriously set up my LinkedIn strategy), I haven’t really had a reason to give anyone a resume (well, except for potential investors, who for some reason wanted a resume).

And then, as I was about to respond back to my buddy, I remembered that I had in fact used my LinkedIn Profile as a resume.  I was doing some work with my insurance agent, getting some new services, and he said he would need my resume.  HUH?  My resume?  Okay.

My resume is about three years old, and doesn’t reflect what I’ve done in the last three years (which is a lot).  I could have changed it to include a few new job positions and roles, but it wouldn’t have the affect I would want on the overall document (my value prop has changed in the last three years, and just adding that to my existing resume would not accurately reflect or communicate my brand).

Even though it was for an insurance company, I didn’t want to give a wrong impression.

So I printed off my LinkedIn Profile.  It was the closest thing I had to give, and I did it right there while we were doing paperwork.

I still don’t think a LinkedIn Profile is a resume, but sometimes they can be interchangeable.  Benefits of your LinkedIn Profile include:

• It’s available online, with various privacy controls in place. I don’t believe much in privacy in social environments, but it is cool that you can say “show this to people who are not logged in (public view) and this to people who are.”
• It shows the strength (or weakness) of my network. If I have a bunch of connections (let’s say “a bunch” means over 100) and a number of recommendations (five or more, depending on the size of your network) that says something about me.  Would you rather hire a business development professional who has 3 contacts, or 500+?  Clearly, this doesn’t necessarily indicate whether the person can do the job or not, but it does show the person is (or isn’t) connected.
• LinkedIn Recommendations can be powerful. I printed my LinkedIn Profile and it was about 9 pages, because of the recommendations.  Just looking at all of those mini-stories gave me credibility.  I think 9 pages of that is overkill, and there comes a point where it looks like i might have fished for them, but still, having that many recommendations has to mean something.
• The Summary is cool, while an objective statement is questionable. I’ve heard that objective statements are on their way out (depends on who you ask), but the LinkedIn Summary is definitely not out.  in fact, I encourage you to use up to the 2,000 characters you get to write a well-crafted message to convey who you are and why people should talk to you.  This is your elevator pitch, and if it’s done correctly it can be a very compelling, credible messaging opportunity for you.

Once you use your LinkedIn Profile to get in the door, make a first impression, etc., and you get closer to a job opportunity, make sure you have a real, traditional resume ready… my experiences has been that eventually you’ll need to have it so they can check “submitted resume” off their little checkbox

In my blog post today on JibberJobber I talk about LinkedIn not being optional.  If you are (or want to be) a professional, you need to be on LinkedIn.  Period.

Facebook is optional.  It’s not a requirement in job search or career management… but it’s definitely something you should look at.  Not for necessarily social reasons, but definitely for relationship reasons.

“They” say it’s likely we’ll network into our next job.  There are plenty of networking tools out there, from JibberJobber (to manage your job search and relationships) to LinkedIn (to find and be found), and of course off-line, face-to-face networking.  Here are some reasons to seriously consider a Facebook strategy:

• Many Facebook users are professionals. Let’s assume many Facebook users started a few years ago when they were in college.  Now, some of them have graduated and are in management, decision-maker or influencing decisions.  I recently reconnected with a long-lost friend on Facebook who, to my surprise, is a VP of a major technology company.
• Facebook is a great place to find new network contacts. There is crossover between LinkedIn and Facebook, but in Facebook you’ll be able to meet contacts in a different setting.  Think formal meeting vs. the social gathering after the meeting… you get to see the same person in two different lights, right?  Facebook has a number of social places, like Groups, Pages, etc. where you can learn more about potential professional contacts and perhaps relate to them on a different (more personal) level.
• Facebook helps you reconnect with long-lost friends.  No kidding. A year ago I felt very disconnected from my old high school buddies… I thought we’d never reconnect.  And then one of them Friended me on Facebook.  And some of their Facebook Friends were our mutual high school buddies and now I’m connected to about a dozen of my old buddies.  I’m absolutely amazed at where people ended up and what they are doing for a living.  These are people I have relationships with, and they are in decision-making positions… at the very least, they have professional networks I might want to tap into.

Again, LinkedIn isn’t optional… if you need help with your LinkedIn Profile check out Career Resumes LinkedIn Makeover page, or the announcements I made on JibberJobber blog today.  If you want to get started on Facebook check out my blog (and book) at Facebook Advice dot com.

A few posts ago we announced that Career Resumes does LinkedIn Makeovers.  On December 17th I’ll do a 90 minute webinar on how executives can use LinkedIn (and Facebook) for their job search, and what roles they have in your career management.

Here’s the info for the webinar, you can click on this Experts Connection link to register (it’s only $50):

Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Time: 4:00-5:30 PM Eastern, 1:00-2:30 PM Pacific

Class Description: LinkedIn is the professional network recruiters and hiring managers use to find talent. As important, it is the social network other professionals and executives use to find partners, customers and business relationships. It is not a hotbed of job seekers…rather…decision makers. If you are not using LinkedIn, you are missing out on a viable way to optimize opportunities that are available. This presentation is designed for executives…to help you understand ways to optimize LinkedIn. We’ll cover a number of tactics you can implement immediately to grow your network, nurture individual relationships, while putting your professional brand in front of your immediate and extended network.

Facebook is regarded as a popular hangout for a younger crowd…but that crowd has grown up and started in hiring manager and influencer roles. We’ll explore techniques you can implement on Facebook to network, share your brand and communicate with other professionals.

In this 90 minute session you will learn:

• How to create your LinkedIn profile to increase odds of being found.
• How to best communicate with your LinkedIn network.
• How to use the LinkedIn search features for an executive job search.
• How to use LinkedIn “Answers” as a strategy to enhance your personal brand.
• How to use new LinkedIn features to communicate with network contacts and professionals who should know you.
• The best way to get the “right” recommendations on your LinkedIn profile.
• How to create a compelling Facebook profile.
• Two techniques to find professionals in your field on Facebook.
• Elements of a connection strategy for both platforms.

You can register here. Also, I just learned that Amazon is now shipping the second edition of my LinkedIn book … so if you order it from there you’ll get the newest stuff

I’ve been thinking a lot about the job search and networking during the holiday season.  Fourth of July is pretty easy, as it’s only one day (sometimes a long holiday), but in the United States, from Oct 30 through the beginning of January it’s a little more tricky.

Some people say to not do anything in a job search:

• no one is in the office as this is a time people have to use their vacation before they lose it,
• no one is making hiring decisions, partly because the boss isn’t around,
• people are going to office parties and other things for the fun of it, not for business networking,
• the budget is just about spent, and new expenses can’t get picked up until January (or whenever the fiscal year starts),
• January is really when people are making these decisions, right?

The list goes on.  What does this mean for you, in your job search… should you just put the brakes on, “enjoy” the holiday season, and wait until there is activity?  No sense in going fishing in an empty pond, right?

First of all, if you need a job (if you are an active job seeker), you aren’t going to enjoy the holiday season much if you have NO idea what 2009 will bring, especially wondering when you will get that steady paycheck again.

Second, it may be harder to get to the right person, be on their radar, and get their attention, but if many job seekers aren’t doing it during this month then maybe this is the month you can get the most relationship building done!

Third, hiring decisions ARE made this month.  They are made every day (even weekends, holidays, etc.).  Perhaps things do slow down but it doesn’t mean you should.

Fourth, if you find you are doing what you think you should and are getting no results, take the time to do something else (in your job search).  It might be going back and organizing all of the notes you have, and sifting through previous contacts to see if there is someone you should follow up with.  It might be restrategizing and figuring out another tactic.  Maybe it’s picking up a copy of Dave Perry’s Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters book, to get some fresh ideas.  Whatever you do, don’t slow down and lose momentum.

Mike Thomas at The Daily Machete a great great post suggesting what you could do, and when, in a holiday job search… check out the Holiday Season Job Search Calendar.

Peter recently asked his LinkedIn connections what they thought about the new Group Discussions feature.  I’m shocked (kind of) at the results.  By the way, if you are not happy with your LinkedIn Profile, check out the new Career Resumes feature of revamping LinkedIn Profiles.  Here are the results from Peter’s question:

Dave Maskin says:

Getting lots of gigs from both the Q&A and group discussions…
Businesses ffind me, call me, hire me. It’s as simple as that…

Jim Wahl says:

Group Discussions are nothing more than ads. I completely stopped looking at them.

Glenda Brown says:

I find it a waste of my time - nothing but advertisements and the majority of them have zero connection to the group’s focus.

Martin Thomas says:

it’s all ads or people looking for jobs

really boring

don’t go there any more

Ives De Busser says:

I must say that I am not that long on LinkedIn and I must agree with the comments so far. If you post the same question in the Q&A section or as a group discussion, you get a lot more feedback on the Q&A post. The group discussions are all about looking for people to hire or looking for a new job, and in that extend that I think they are lost for asking real questions that members of that group could possibly make a difference in.

Renato Beani says:

I am in about 15 groups. I thought it could bring me some new topics to think about or a new way to see something I really know. But it seems, like everybody said, people misuse them as a space to ask for a new job. OK, there are groups for that, but not all of them!

Josh Chernin says:

From what I’ve seen (I belong to about a dozen groups), they range from very useful to a complete waste; one of them is simply enjoyable and amusing.

Victoria Lowe says:

I ‘own’ two groups and have become a discussion Nazi. Spam messages get deleted immediately (well, as soon as I see them… I might have a life outside LI). I’ve found the discussions to be lively and very informative.

I left a number of high volume marketing groups, because it was all-spam-all-the-time, regardless of pleas to the groups’ owners to actually moderate.

Annemarie DeMarco says:

I wish I had the time for group discussions.

Melissa Sullivan says:

I have been utilizing the groups to foster industry discussion of topics. I was hoping to generate new marketing ideas or learn other successful marketing techniques being employed by others. In some instances I have generated lively discussions and have identified like-minded individuals. As others have also expressed there were a few individuals that used these lively group dialogues to ask for business and to hire their company to solve the business challenge proposed. To me, they completely missed the point of the interaction. I admire their gusto but wonder if there should perhaps be some “norms” established for group discussions so that they do not become “ads” or solicitations for personal business.

Firoze Zia Hussain says:

yes its a great place

Melissa Bianca de Teffe says:

Like all things some are good and some are not. It depends on who does what. I found some Q that were uninteresting and others were. I was of great help in providing further indepth answers to a young professional seeking info on EU legislation on immigration/muslims/christians. so you have the chance to link to neat people and although the percentage is low it still brings me happiness so is worth it. Never stop searching!

Grayson Walker says:

While some ‘discussions’ and ‘questions’ are just self-serving advertisements, the F1 (Formula One) group has some very interesting and lively discussions. I find the group more civil than some of the topical boards, such as run by SpeedTV. Nevertheless, they are what Steve Covey would call time wasters.

Gianluigi Cuccureddu says:

Unfortunately, group discussions are polluted with ads and alikes.
Amongst discussions there are interesting ones, but you have to search well.

Hope LinkedIn creates a marketplace or something like that to seperate both.

For the most part, I have to agree with the concensus… but I do think there’s a pretty good Discussions strategy to employ.  I’m going to blog about it on my LinkedIn blog later this week.